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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Up to $200 off Sony Internet TVs and blu-ray players

Our friends at Sony are so excited about the holidays that they are spreading the joy by reducing the price of their Google TV powered Sony Internet TVs -- for a limited time only. From November 25th to November 29th, they are reducing the price of the 46” TVs by $200, while the Blu-ray player and 40” TV are reduced by $100. That means you can get an awesome 46” TV powered by Google TV for $1199, a 40” model for $899, or a Blu-ray player with Google TV for only $299 (all prices exclusive of tax, etc.).*
These deals are available at sonystyle.com, Sony Style stores, Best Buy, and other select dealers. Happy shopping!
*Quoted prices based on information from Sony. No offer to sell or price guarantee made by Google.
Posted by Peter Sherman, Marketing Team

Thanksgiving made easy with Google TV

Best Of Google TV Series
It’s that time of the year again - the time when your kitchen and house are buzzing with family, friends and food. The holidays are of course all about spending time with loved ones, but for many, it’s also a great time to experiment with new recipes. This year Google TV has made discovering new recipes and ideas for fun decorations much easier.
This past weekend, a few friends and I were watching "Boy Meets Grill" on the Food Network on my Google TV powered TV and Bobby Flay was showing how to make a delicious modern day turkey. It got us to thinking about our own thanksgiving menus, so we put the TV into Dual View mode (which lets you browse the web while you watch TV in the smaller window) and we scooted on over to FoodNetwork.com to browse other recipes. There are more than 1,400 Turkey recipes on Food Network's site alone, and we now had access to them al on the big screen to browse together. The possibilities for how to prepare this staple main course are endless and we found recipes that suited each of our tastes - from Black Pepper-Pomegranate Molasses Glazed Turkey to Deep Fried Turkey.
Next we hit Epicurious.com where we found categories of recipes for more Thanksgiving staples like stuffing, veggies and pies - with a truly beautiful imagery of each recipe so we could see what the finished dish would look like.
We didn’t stop there. We then navigated over to Chow’s optimized site for Google TV where we were met with a slew of educational videos to help prep us for our feasts. We learned how to truss a chicken or turkey, how to roll pie dough with a wine bottle and how to make a quick and easy holiday centerpiece. 

Before we knew it, our holiday menus and decorations were planned - from the comfort of my living room - and we could get back to watching TV. For the cooks out there, Google TV is a great way to help you plan your next celebration! Happy Thanksgiving.
Posted by Gina Weakley, PR Team

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Best of Google TV

Hello Google TV fans! Today we’re introducing our “Best of Google TV” series, a set of posts about our favorite things to do and watch on Google TV. Check back in weekly or sign up for our email list to catch these as soon as they are posted.

In the Spotlight
Here are some new websites that have been optimized for Google TV. If you have a device, you can try them out in the Spotlight gallery linked from your Home Screen.
  1. Chow - Learn how to become a better chef with these smart cooking tips.
  2. CNET - Watch reviews of all the latest gadgets and tech sites.
  3. Vimeo - Kick back and enjoy your videos in stunning high quality.
  4. PBS Kids - Watch videos of shows like Curious George and Dinosaur Train!
  5. Flixster - Catch the latest Rotten Tomatoes movie reviews, watch trailers, and get showtimes.
Team Picks
A list of our favorite websites, Spotlight sites, apps, and/or interesting features within Google TV.
  1. Net-A-Porter.com - “A place where I can watch runway videos and shop for the outfits at the same time.” - Gina
  2. ESPN.com - “I can put the game in dual view and use the larger part of the screen to check my fantasy stats online.” - A.K.
  3. SesameStreet.org - “My son will not watch Sesame Street, but he LOVES Elmo. With the Sesame Street website, I can create a playlist of Elmo-only videos and keep my son entertained for hours on end.” - Rishi
  4. TED.com - “A place where I get inspired.” - Dean
  5. Tumblr.com - “I love to follow all of my friends’ latest blog posts here. The TV experience makes it so much easier to browse them all on one screen.” - Brittany
We hope you enjoyed this week’s picks! Please post your thoughts in the comments, or send us a reply on Twitter or Facebook. If you’re a developer and want to submit your TV-optimized site for inclusion in a future post, please do so here (a Google Account is required).

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Ten things to try on Google TV

We’ve just posted these tips to our Help Center and we thought our readers would find them useful too.

1. Search using the Quick Search Box
The Quick Search Box (QSB) makes scrolling through channels a thing of the past. Press the search key and harness Google’s search power to discover TV offerings and web content. Navigate anywhere you want to go-- type in a URL in to surf the web, or type in a channel name to go there instantly. With the QSB, you can:
  • Quickly search for online videos. Try typing “Lady Gaga” to find a music video.
  • Navigate to all of your favorite websites. Try typing “YouTube.com.”
  • Easily find your favorite TV shows. Try typing in the name of a series like “The Office” or “Colbert Report” and view the series results page to see where you can find episodes across TV, the web and apps. Click on an episode and watch directly from Amazon Video On Demand®.
  • Surf directly to a channel by typing its name. Try typing “CNN.”
  • Search the web. Try typing “Google TV” and selecting “Search the web.”

2. Discover something new with Spotlight
Home Screen > Spotlight

Google TV Spotlight features websites that have been optimized for viewing on Google TV. Use the Spotlight folder for quick access to great content on the web, including streaming music videos on VEVO®, cooking tips on CHOW® TV and illustrated children’s books on MeeGenius!®. Click the link icon to open the website in Google Chrome, or click on “All Sites” to view the full selection of websites optimized for TV viewing.

3. View a photo slide show using Google Gallery
Home Screen > Applications > Gallery

No more crowding around the computer screen to see your vacation pictures: Google Gallery lets you easily view photos on your TV screen. View photo albums uploaded to your Picasa account, or simply plug a USB storage drive directly into your Google TV device.

4. Explore apps
Home Screen > Applications > NBA Game Time
Home Screen > Applications > CNBC Real-Time

Check out NBA® Game Time to view game information, standings and high-definition video highlights from the current NBA® season. When the game’s on, press the Dual View button to watch in a picture-in-picture box while you check scores or stats in NBA® Game Time-- and don’t miss a moment of the action! Or try out CNBC® Real-Time, where you can keep track of a customizable list of stock quotes while watching video clips on hot topics in the world of finance. Expect many more applications after we open the Android Market on Google TV in early 2011.

5. Subscribe to an audio or video podcast using Google Queue
Home screen > Google Queue

Google Queue keeps track of all your favorite online series, podcasts, recorded video and RSS feeds. Browse, search for and subscribe to new video and audio podcasts in Queue, or use press the Bookmark (Star) button while browsing to add a video or website to your Queue to view later. Your Queue will automatically update with new content from your subscriptions, so you won’t miss an episode of Jake and Amir or an update from NPR’s Talk of the Nation. Try out something new, like a high-definition underwater video podcast from Marine Channel HD.

Check out our Google Queue tutorial video

6. Find out What’s On-- the simpler way
Home screen > What’s On

You’re in the mood for a comedy show, but don’t want to waste time scrolling through an endless list of channels. Navigate to “What’s On” and click on Comedy to see what shows are playing now and how much longer they’ll be on, as well as what shows are coming up in the next few minutes. Browse Movies, News and information, Sports, Home and garden, Reality and game shows and many more categories.

7. Watch videos on YouTube Leanback
Home screen > Spotlight > YouTube Leanback

Not sure what to watch? Let YouTube entertain you! Leanback selects videos based on your YouTube viewing preferences and plays them in full-screen high definition-- just like watching TV. Leanback’s interface lets you easily browse or skip ahead in your video queue, and pressing the Down arrow will allow you to rewind, fast-forward or open the video in the YouTube.com website. Press the Up arrow or start typing at any time to search YouTube for something different.

8. Stream a movie
Home Screen > Spotlight > Amazon Video on Demand
Home Screen > Applications > Netflix

Visit the Amazon Video On Demand® service to stream top movies and TV shows directly to your  TV. Browse a wide selection of premium content offerings and only pay for the movies and TV shows you want to watch. If you’re a Netflix® subscriber, use the Netflix® app to access your Instant View queue.

9. Coming soon: Use your phone as a remote

No more fighting over the remote! Control your Google TV device from your Android phone or iPhone.

10. Multitask!

Use the Pandora® or Napster® app to create a soundtrack for your photo albums in Gallery, or to listen to music while browsing the web. Use Dual View to check player stats online while you watch football, or update your friends on Twitter® while the news is on. Be creative! More apps are coming soon, and as Google TV continues to grow, the possibilities will multiply.

**Learn more at our Google TV Help Center.

Posted by Daniel Pickens-Jones, Consumer Operations Associate

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Get the Logitech Revue for only $179

DISH Network has announced that they are offering the Logitech Revue with Google TV to new and existing DISH Network subscribers for only $179. That’s $120 off the retail price!

Once you are a DISH subscriber, you’ll have access to an enhanced Google TV experience. What is “an enhanced Google TV experience”? Glad you asked. There’s an explanatory video below, but to put it simply, this means that DISH has enabled Google TV to better integrate with your DVR content. For instance, you can search for a TV show, and in addition to searching web content and live TV, Google TV will also search your DVR recordings for that show. If it’s not on for a few days, it’ll automatically find the show and allow you to record it with the click of a button.



We are extremely excited about the possibilities of a more integrated TV + DVR + Web experience and we hope you are too. Head over to the DISH website to learn more about how to get started with the enhanced Google TV experience.

Posted by Michelle Olson, Technical Account Manager, Google TV

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Google TV giveaway update

Last week we announced that we'd be giving out 10,000 Google TV devices over the course of the next several weeks. As part of those efforts, today we sent an email to thousands of U.S.-based web developers in the Google Code community to offer them a free device. This program, combined with last week's Adobe MAX Conference giveaway and our Google TV Giveaway Contest for Web Developers, is going to allow us to realize our goal of getting these devices into the hands of web developers so they can start building optimized websites for TV.

We're also excited to share that our Google TV Giveaway for Web Developers had an overwhelming number of entires prior to last night's contest expiration and we'll be reaching out to notify winners soon.

Thanks for your continued interest and support of Google TV.

Posted by Amanda Surya, Google TV Developer Relations Team

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