Google Tries Again With Google TV

Google TV arrived last fall to lukewarm reviews. Its remote control was big and complicated, its software was clunky and confusing, and it didn’t live up to the promise of Internet-connected TV’s — that they would allow us to cut the cable cord and watch whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.

Google redesigned the YouTube app so it feels more like TV.

Now Google is trying again. On Friday, it will introduce the second version of its Google TV software. The hardware, which is made by Sony and Logitech, will stay the same for now. New devices, including from Samsung and Vizio, are scheduled to arrive next year.

This time, Google TV has a simpler user interface, smarter tools for searching, and is open to developers to build TV apps. It also has much humbler goals. Google no longer has visions of cord-cutting. Instead, it says it wants to complement what is already available on TV by offering new channels.  Full story

What’s Really Next for Apple in Television

“I’ve finally cracked it!” Steven P. Jobs, co-founder of Apple, told his biographer, Walter Isaacson.

Although Mr. Jobs was referring to Apple’s plans to build a full-fledged television, he was not actually referring to the TV set, which is how the comment has been widely interpreted. Instead, it is becoming clear that Mr. Jobs was talking about Siri, Apple’s new artificial intelligent software on the iPhone 4S.

Apple engineers and designers, spurred by Mr. Jobs, have been struggling for years to find a new interface for the television. One of the biggest hurdles, according to people with knowledge of the project, has been replacing the television set’s annoying best friend: the awkward and confusing remote control.  Apple would give people a way to choose the content on their television that is as easy as choosing the content on their iPod, iPhone or iPad.

Alternative remote ideas floated by Apple included a wireless keyboard and mouse, or using an iPod, iPhone or iPad as a remote. None of these concepts worked. But there was one “I finally cracked it” moment, when Apple realized you could just talk to your television.

Enter Siri.  Full story

Top Directors Lead Opposition to Premium Video-on-Demand Plan

LOS ANGELES — About two dozen prominent film directors and producers — including James Cameron, Michael Bay and Peter Jackson — joined Wednesday in an open letter challenging a plan by four studios to make some films available via video-on-demand shortly after their release in theaters.

“As leaders in the creative community, we ask for a seat at the table,” said the letter, which called on others to join in opposition to any rush toward on-demand services that might undercut the viability of films in theaters. The letter campaign was organized by the National Association of Theater Owners, an industry trade group that has voiced strong opposition to a plan by Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers to show a small number of their films on a premium on-demand service as quickly as two months after their release.

Full story.

American Internet Use Catches Up With TV Use

Americans are now spending as much time using the Internet as they are watching television, and the amount of time people spend on the Internet has increased 121 percent over the last five years, according to a survey published Monday by Forrester Research.

While people younger than 30 years old have spent more time with the Internet than television for several years, Forrester’s survey shows that this is the first year that people in older age groups are also doing so. The amount of time spent on the Internet for personal uses tails off among older groups, ranging from about 12 hours for adults under 30 to about eight hours for people over 66 years old.

Full story continues here.

Big Networks Block Web Shows From Google TV

In the latest sign that Google may struggle to transform television viewing with Google TV, its new service for Internet-connected TVs, three major broadcast networks and Hulu are blocking people from using the service to watch full-length TV shows on their Web sites.

Initially, people could watch the full shows on TVs and set-top boxes that use the Google TV software, which Sony and Logitech began selling this month. But as of Thursday, most of the full shows on the sites of NBC, ABC, CBS and Hulu were blocked. People could still visit the sites to read text and, in some cases, watch short vignettes, but not full shows.

Full story continues here.

YouTube Moves Closer to the Boob Tube

YouTube Goes XL

With the recent release of www.YouTube.com/xl, YouTube is beginning to give TV a run for its money.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/youtube-moves-closer-to-the-boob-tube/