An Introduction to Google TV

I have a Google TV device.  AND I LOVE IT!  Google TV is a television operating system (TV OS) that sources content from your service provider, online sources, and storage media.  TVs with an OS such as Google TV are classified as “smart TVs”.

I believe that soon ( in the next to ten to twenty years) service providers such as Comcast, AT&T, Charter, etc will either go out of business or have to radically change to adapt to what smart TVs allow you to do.

With a smart TV you can have all your movies, pictures, and music on a hard drive plugged into your TV to watch or listen to at any time.  This is great if you own a lot of movies and music on disk, but this is not the most common scenario.  You can also watch (and record) shows from your TV provider.  Google TV provides a very clean and easy-to-use interface for interacting with this data stream, and in my opinion a better interface than what came on our Comcast box.

Those are two great features, but the best part is sourcing videos from online and streaming services.  Streaming services like Netflix are very easy to use, but that is a paid service; ones like Crackle are free!  The real power is that you can watch channels, both tradition ones like CNN Money, Fox News, CNBC, Cartoon Network, and internet TV channels like Blip or Vimeo, and some really great ones that you’ve never heard of like ReduxTV.

Also, there are apps available for your TV, like Cardio Trainer, Words with Friends, and many more.

I will be writing one post per week examining a specific feature, channel, app, device, or process associated with Google TV.

Here are a few links:
Main Site:  http://www.google.com/tv/
Twitter Feed:  https://twitter.com/googletv