Gnarl'd

Social GTV – Participate in the “Madness” on Google TV

Guest Author — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:04:13 +0000

There’s nothing like it. March Madness is the craziest, most entertaining, unpredictable and arguably the absolute best nationwide championship tournament on earth. Why, you might ask? I think It’s because of the intense pressure that produces the drama of the UPSET. Everyone roots for the underdog, and because this tournament is a “one and done” situation, upsets are pretty commonplace.

Consider a quick recap of the six big upsets in the 2012 tournament so far…
USF Bulls (12 seed) beat the Temple Owls, which were a number 5 seed. The NC State Wolfpack (an 11 seed) knocked of The Georgetown Hoyas (3 seed). The Colorado Buffaloes (an 11 seed) trampled a 6 seeded UNLV Runnin’ Rebels team. The Ohio Bobcats (13 seed) beat the mighty Michigan Wolverines (4 seed). The Lehigh Mountain Hawks (15 seed) beat historically dominant Duke (2 seed). And finally, the Norfolk State Spartans (15 seed) took down a 2 seeded Missouri Tigers.

And the “big dance” is not over yet! The madness picks up again soon and and by the end of the weekend we’ll be down to the elite 8. Bring on the pressure cooker!

This year has been especially fun and interesting for me because of one reason. My brother and I have created an Android app for the Google TV that allows you to see what the country is chattering about during the games. The app is called Social GTV and it allows you to show specific tweets based on keyword, username, or hashtag overlayed on top of live tv during the game. Here’s an example of how it looks:

You have complete control of the appearance of the tweet including whether the it appears on the top or bottom of the screen, duration, font style, size, and more. It’s a great way take the the pulse of what the fans across the country are thinking and chattering about. The game experience is more fun and social, especially when the there are lulls in the game because it keeps the conversation going.

Also, we plan to continually update the app. Our most recent addition is the ability to save searches so that you will be able to keep a good sets of #hashtags for your favorite teams. More updates are in the works, which will center around improved tweet filtering and the addition of other social networks (Google+ and Facebook).We love feedback. Please visit us on Google+ plus and let us know what you think of the app and how we can make it better: http://gplus.to/SocialGTV.

Social GTV is free in the Google Play store. Download it today because the current version 4.4 has a FULL FEATURED 3-DAY PREVIEW. It’s perfect timing for the basketball madness that will fill this weekend!

This was a guest post from Will Carter, Android developer and creator of Social GTV.

No related posts.

Top 6 Google TV Apps for News

Israel Kendall — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:38:30 +0000

One of the main things I use Google TV for is to get news. There are lots of news apps out there for Google TV, and some of them offer unique approaches to delivering the news to your television. Here are my top six Google TV apps for getting the news (in no particular order, really).

Al Jazeera

The Al Jazeera Google TV app is a great choice for delivering up to date news on a variety of topics. The Al Jazeera Google TV app is basically like watching a cable news channel, with some on-demand videos to choose from as well. Launching it brings up the channel and constantly streams news to your GTV, or you can choose certain programs and customization features. There are also some text articles to read within the app, but these seem like a second thought. This one is really great for you cord cutters out there in particular, as you’ll still be able to get your “cable news” style broadcasting on your Google TV- without the cable.

News Republic for Google TV

I’m not sure why the News Republic Google TV app is not more popular. It gathers news from across the web into categories and displays them in a simple and easy to navigate interface. It’s very easy to add and remove categories and personalize News Republic’s content to your liking. The articles in this app have always loaded quickly for me as well.

You can also set notifications for one topic, two, or as many as you want, and you’ll get a notification whenever there are new articles in your chosen topics. Update frequency can be set anywhere from every 30 minutes to once a day.

And lastly, I can’t end this without mentioning the extra navigation features that are built into the News Republic Google TV app. Clicking any blue text in an article will bring up the news category for the text you clicked. If you were reading an article about the Galaxy Nexus, for example, and you clicked on the text “Google”, the app would instantly take you to the category of news related to “Google”.

Overall, News Republic is a very solid Google TV app and I’d recommend giving it a shot if you’re looking for a good news aggregator.

BeyondPod for Honeycomb

For me a podcast app is a must-have for keeping up with current events and news. And, if you’re looking for a podcast app for your Google TV, look no further than BeyondPod. This app is so packed full of features I couldn’t even begin to list them all here. Just do yourself a favor and give BeyondPod a test spin, you won’t be disappointed!

CNBC Real Time for Google TV

The CNBC Real Time is one for all you stock market junkies out there. It has a CNBC video stream to keep up with all the latest financial news as well as stock tickers that you can customize to keep track of the companies and markets you follow. While I would love to see them add more features (like charts and portfolio tracking), this is the best financial news app I’ve found thus far on Google TV. Also another good one for us cord cutters who might otherwise miss this standard fare of cable television.

WSJ Live

Lots of people just think of business and finance news when they think of the Wall Street Journal, but it’s really much more of a full fledged news organization. The WSJ Live Google TV app doesn’t focus on business and finance either, it’s a source for all around news on topics from politics to tech, life and culture, and yes, even business and finance. WSJ Live is a great choice if you’re looking for an all around news “channel” for your Google TV.

RSSDemon

If we’re talking Google TV news apps, we have to mention an RSS reader without a doubt. And my RSS reader of choice on Google TV is RSSDemon, hands down. It does all the things an RSS reader should do, and only has one “slightly annoying” ad at the bottom.

One thing I really like about RSSDemon is the “Mobilize” button. Some sites have so many flash ads and scripts running on their pages that they run really clunky on GTV (or my PC for that matter). You can avoid these clunky web pages with RSSDemon. If you want to click from your RSS feed to the full article, using the “Mobilize” button in RSS Demon will strip away all the clunkiness and leave you only the meat of the content. It’s almost instant and smooth loaded of web pages on your Google TV, try it out!

What are your top Google TV apps for News?

Those are my “go-to” Google TV apps for news, what are yours? Is there something missing from the list, some hidden gem in the market? Let us know in the comments below, or on the brand new Google TV Forum!

Google TV Hangout On Air Weekend at SXSW

Israel Kendall — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:19:44 +0000

If you follow the Google TV page on Google +, then you may have already heard about all the Hangouts they have planned this weekend at SXSW. If not, then you’re about to find out all about them!

Update, March 10: Due to weather conditions the LG Hangout has been moved to 7:00 pm central time and the MOVL Hangout has been moved to 7:30 pm central time.

The first Google TV Hangout on Air is slated to begin Saturday, March 10, at 1:30 pm central time with MOVL. If you haven’t heard of MOVL, you should check out this blog post on the official GTV Blog, these guys are doing some cool stuff with Google TV. If you have any questions for the MOVL guys, post them in this thread on Google +.

Click to add this Hangout to your Google Calendar! (all times CT)

The second Hangout on Air will be Saturday, March 10 at 2:00 pm central time with LG. If you have questions for the guys at LG, post them in this Google + thread prior to the event.

Click to add this Hangout to your Google Calendar! (all times CT)

The final Google TV Hangout on Air will be on Sunday, March 11 at 11:30 pm central time with Pandora CTO Tom Conrad. This Hangout discussion is slated to be “an under the hood look at how Pandora was built from the ground up for Google TV”. If you have any questions you’d like asked to Mr. Conrad, submit them in this Google + post.

Click to add this Hangout to your Google Calendar! (all times CT)

And one last bonus to leave off with. If you want to catch all the highlights from Google SXSW, you can catch them on the YouTube Presents channel Thursday, March 15 from 7:00 am – 3:00 pm central time.

Click to add SXSW Highlights on YouTube to your Google Calendar! (all times CT)

OnLive on Google TV 2.0? Dominance in Summer 2012? Future Logitech Revue Updates? – Q&A with GTV Product Manager

Gnarl’d Deal Alert: Free Roku with Purchase of PlayOn

Israel Kendall — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:42:52 +0000

I don’t normally make these “Deal Alert” kind of posts on Gnarld, but this is a pretty sweet deal and I thought a lot of you would want to know about it. Long time readers here probably know that PlayOn is my favorite way of streaming movies all over my house (PS3, Google TV, etc). Not only that, PlayOn is also the workaround I use to watch Hulu on Google TV!

If you don’t know what PlayOn is, it’s worth taking a few minutes to find out about it. It streams media content to multiple devices in your home (including iPads, iPhones, Android Phones…) via your PC, movies, television station, etc. Oh, and that Hulu “web exclusive” content you can’t watch on your TV? Well, you can stream it to your television if you’re using PlayOn.

For a limited time, get a free Roku when you purchase a Lifetime PlayOn License. Try PlayOn for Free now!

The deal is this: buy a lifetime license to PlayOn, and get a free Roku. The license is about $80, then you never have to pay for PlayOn again + get a free Roku ($50 value) + free shipping. If you’ve been sitting on the fence, thinking about buying PlayOn, this might just be the time to pull the trigger!

Top 10 Spotify App Now Available!

Guest Author — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:51:43 +0000

Napolean Hill once said, “Indecision is the seeding of fear…” Well Napolean, I’ll let you in to a little secret, I’m extremely fearful. You see, as a Spotify listener, I can never, ever, ever make a decision on what artist to listen to. In fact I hear this wave of indecision affects the majority of music lovers the world over. The end to indecision may sound like a title for the latest ColdPlay album, but for me finally being able to wave goodbye to uncertainty will be a fantastic feeling and one I look forward to whole heartily.

Will it be Bob Dylan or The Clash, I just don’t know? It’s safe to say that this has left me cowering under the duvet of indecision. Ok, that may be a huge exaggeration, but you get the idea..? Overall, Spotify is a really uber cool tool. At just a touch of a button I have access to thousands and thousands of artists. However, with so much choice on offer, it’s hard to make a decision. The new Top 10 Spotify app certainly goes some way to end any musical indecision.

This sleek new app allows users to drag and order tracks into top 10 playlists. This means playlists can be made for any occasion, whether it is a list composed of your favourite band, such as Top 10 Beatles songs or it could a Top 10 made solely for the purpose of working out. It was only yesterday, that my sister created a list titled, “ Top Ten Female Artists with curly hair,” The list included tracks from Kate Bush, Donner Somers, 90’S Madonna and Tina Turner. I spent the afternoon listening to the soulful tunes of Turner and Bush without a hint of indecision at hand. Fantastic! Or as Summers would say, “I feel love!”

That all sounds quite simple right… but where the app truly offers something unique is with its cool social features. Once users have made playlists, they can then share these amongst friends via Facebook, and ultimately compare opinion. Friends can then make their own lists and Top 10 will help to show the most popular tracks amongst your group of friends.

The app also can also explore playlists from wider users, which also makes it useful music discovery vehicle. You can venture into other peoples musical tastes and subscribe to Top 10 playlists made my certain users, viewing different genre tastes and more. The app also builds value by pooling huge amounts of opinion data. From such data cumulative and definitive top 10’s combining all users’ choices are created.

Last words…

Overall, Top Ten’s Spotify app is extremely easy to use, fun and completely addictive and it shows the potential of social music. You also no longer need to worry about indecision. You could say it stops uncertainty dead in its “tracks.” Music tracks. Ok, I’ll stop….

FlickStream – Google TV App Review – Kung Fu, Cowboys, and Grindhouse!

Israel Kendall — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:58:01 +0000

FlickStream is a new Google TV app that hit the Android market last week (also available on Roku and iPad). The FlickStream GTV app provides a curated collection of classic movies through four channels; Drive-In Classics, Moonlight Movies, Cowboy Classics, and Kung Fu Theater. Through these four channels FlickStream delivers several genres of films to your Google TV; Kung Fu, Western, Sci-Fi, Horror, Grindhouse, Gang Flicks, and Crime Dramas to name a few.

I’ve been testing out the FlickStream Google TV app for the last few days, read on below for my review:

Interface

FlickStream has a simple and easy to navigate interface. Upon loading the app, you’re greeted by a screen displaying FlickStream’s four Google TV channels (Drive-In Classics, Moonlight Movies, Cowboy Classics, and Kung Fu Theater). Choose a channel, and the app sends you off into a Chrome browser to the channel’s page (optimized for Google TV). Choose your movie from among the many sub-genres and start watching!

While the movie is playing you still have navigation options; you can scroll through a selection of movies from the sub-genre you chose without stopping your movie. There are the standard pause, fast forward, and rewind buttons, as well as a button to return to the sub-genre menu and a button to get the details of the movie.

I like the simplicity of the navigation; it’s easy to find movies through the interface and the presentation is nice. One thing that irks me about the interface though, is that I can not find a button to bring me back to the home screen of the app, I have to alt+tab over or keep pushing “back”.

It would also be useful if movie descriptions were provided on the movie selection screen. As it stands now, the only place I can find movie descriptions in FlickStream is in the screen where I’m actually watching a movie. Sure, it’s nice to be able to click over to the movies description while watching it- but it would also be helpful to have access to this information before choosing the movie.

Content and Viewing Experience

There are fewer titles available compared to some other video streaming offerings, but FlickStream has what seems to be a carefully curated collection of films in their Google TV channels. There are several Bruce Lee flicks, Jackie Chan, some John Wayne, and lots more. The movies in FlickStream’s collection are mostly what I would think Quentin Tarantino would pick if he were putting together a Google TV channel- great classic genre films, very much like his movies are based on.

The picture quality of these movies is about what you would expect from really old films, grainy with some visual artifacts. That being said, better quality versions of these old films may not even exist, and some would even argue that these visual artifacts add to the experience of watching classic cinema. FlickStream also offers some 3D movies, but I did not test these out due to a lack of 3D glasses.

When watching movies through FlickStream you’re going to have to see a few commercials. There are two commercials that will play when you first launch a movie (roughly one minute of commercials) and after that there seem to be two more commercials every ten minutes, like clockwork. Commercials aren’t a deal breaker for me, developers have to get paid somehow- I’m only mentioning this for the sake of being thorough.

I have run into the occasional bug when watching movies through FlickStream. Things such as commercials not playing (the screen goes black, there’s a timer, but no commercial). On a couple of occasions movies would not play, but after a few minutes they played as if nothing ever happened. Once, after lots of playing with the interface, the menu got stuck on screen for the rest of the movie I was watching. While these bugs are minor irritations, they’ve not deterred me from using FlickStream one bit.

Click the FlickStream logo above to get it in the Android Market

Conclusion

I’d like to see some improvements in the user interface, such as a “Home” button and movie details in the selection screen. Also, some minor bug fixes may be needed. These little flaws don’t deter me from using FlickStream, though. I’m a big fan of some of the genres offered by FlickStream’s Google TV channels, and it’s really nice to have all the movies gathered together in one place. I’m enjoying the app and would recommend any other fans of the aforementioned genres to give it a try.

FlickStream fills what was an empty niche in Google TV’s offerings and they fill it rather well. I’m looking forward to future updates of FlickStream with hopes they will continue to add content, and continue improvements of the of the overall application. FlickStream has the potential to grow into a “must have” Google TV app for Kung Fu, Cowboy, and Grindhouse fans (among other niche genres).

Able Remote for Google TV – Android and Google TV App Review

Israel Kendall — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:48:20 +0000

Able Remote is a new app for Google TV that turns your Android device into a remote control for your GTV. Google has already provided users with an official Google TV Remote app- but Able Remote’s developer, Entertailion, aims to one up them with a more intuitive interface, improved voice command functionality, and one touch app launching. How does the Able Remote Google TV app stack up against the competition? Read on below…

Features

Able Remote boasts all the same features of the official Google TV Remote app, plus a little extra. Here is a quick rundown of the features:

Touch navigation and controls -- Simple swipes across the screen of your Android device provide navigation of your Google TV. This includes touch controls for playback and a cursor touch navigation and tap to click option.
View Pics and Vids on your Google TV -- From the gallery of your Android device, you can send pictures and videos directly to the big screen of your Google TV.
Viral button -- A push of the “Viral” button will take you to a trending viral video.
Send web pages to Google TV -- Just click “Share-->Able Remote” while viewing a web page on your Android device and it will be sent directly to the screen of your Google TV.
One touch app launcher -- A single touch on your Able Remote can launch an app, no need to navigate menus.
SMS and Caller ID sent to Google TV -- If you receive an SMS or phone call while using your Android phone as a remote, the SMS and caller ID notifications are forwarded to your Google TV.
Voice commands -- Change channels, launch apps, or search using voice commands.
Control almost everything -- You can control certain features of devices such as receivers, set top boxes of different types, and televisions with the Able Remote Google TV app.

User Interface

Able Remote’s user interface is a refreshing change from the official Google TV Remote. Able Remote has the same buttons (functionally) as Google TV Remote, but spreads them over two screens. This allows for more space to make the buttons larger, and leads to a less cluttered interface. Able Remote’s buttons are a dark grey highlighted by day-glo green, giving it the look similar to a standard television remote with glowing green buttons. These grey buttons contrasted with the day-glo green highlights make the interface dark enough to not disturb your television watching, but also bright enough to easily see what you’re doing in the dark.

The touch pad portion of the screen, where you swipe and tap, is located at the bottom of the screen (where your thumb would naturally fall) on Able Remote versus the top of the screen on Google TV Remote. This is a nice change, making overall use more intuitive and virtually eliminating any accidental button clicks.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3PtZAIrbLA

The first two screens house the same buttons as the Google TV Remote, but there is a third screen with buttons that are not available on the Google TV Remote. These are the quick launch buttons that will launch apps with one touch. No need to navigate to the home screen or your app drawer, just click the app and it launches from whatever screen you’re on. The drawback to these quick launch buttons is that the only apps currently available (aside from the Viral button) are pre-installed apps like Netflix, Pandora, Chrome, Android Market, etc. There is no ability to customize what apps are on your quick launch menu, but Able Remote’s developer tells me this feature will be included in a future update.

Another aspect of Able Remote’s user interface is the voice command function. With the official Google TV Remote’s voice control users must push a button, speak, then push another button to either “Search” or “Send”. Able Remote eliminates the need for that second button push, and adds more functionality to the voice command feature. With Able Remote you can not only search by voice- you can also launch apps or change the channel by the sound of your voice.

Performance

While I didn’t do full feature tests, I did put the Able Remote through some heavy usage (with Motorola Droid and Samsung Galaxy Nexus) and have had no major issues with it’s performance. My Logitech Revue responds promptly to my swipes and taps from the Able Remote. Voice commands work well as do the one touch app launcher buttons. Sending pictures, video and web pages from my phone, although a bit sluggish, works as well as it does with the official Google TV Remote app.

Click for Able TV Remote -- Google TV App

Click the image above for the app you need to install on your Google TV

Then install this app on your Android device

Conclusion

Able Remote has replaced the official Google TV Remote app on my Android phone. It offers greatly improved functionality over Google TV Remote and is so intuitive that I rarely have to glance down at my phone when using Able Remote. The buttons are big enough for regular sized hands, one touch launch buttons are quite convenient, and the voice commands are well implemented.

On the negative side, I think the GUI could use a little more polish. Perhaps rounding on the buttons and icons, and giving them a more three dimensional look would be nice. Customization of the apps available on the quick launch menu is a much needed feature. You will probably have several apps on the quick launch that you won’t use and will wish you could replace.

In conclusion, I give Able Remote four stars out of five. With a little more polish, and some customization features Able Remote would get that fifth star in my book. I’d recommend Able Remote to anyone wanting to get more out of their Google TV remote control app.

10 Awesome Airplay Games for the Apple iOS

Guest Author — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:21:38 +0000

When the announcement for the release of Airplay came from Apple last year, there was a great deal of hype. The program was what everyone had been waiting for: the ability to flawlessly transfer files for playability from one screen or device to another, specifically from a handheld of Mac/PC to different media docks. The day it came out and it was tested, it was obvious that while a few points didn’t meet expectations in the first release, it was a keeper.

Usually when people think of Airplay, they think of traditional media. You can play your iTunes wirelessly through speakers in any room with compatible hardware. Users are able to transfer video from the small screen of their iPad to their Apple TV to watch on full screen. All of this with only a few seconds of buffering and a seamless detection process that doesn’t seem to have that pesky crashing problem of older Apple products.

Airplay for Games

An option that is still slightly new given the lack of compatible options in the beginning is game play. With the introduction of the iOS 5 software update in October, a number of game developers began offering updated versions that could be used with the new mirroring feature on the operating system. Pangea was perhaps the biggest developer to offer these updates to their games, making them useable on Airplay for the first time.

You can find a full list of Airplay apps here, but let’s take a look at some of the games they are currently offering for Airplay.

Free Games

Mega Jump

This fun little game puts you in control of a cute, little red guy who has jumped so high he has flown clear into space. His goal is to go to the very edge of the universe, collecting coins, avoiding targets and monsters and using power ups to boost energy as he goes. It’s addicting, especially as it is free.

MetalStorm: Wingman

Most air combat apps are expensive, so this was an impressive game for free that gives you all of the best of flying war games without the price. The graphics are solid and the gameplay exciting. They also have plenty of features to help simulate the controls of a complex and advanced piece of air machinery.

Atari’s Greatest Hits

Who can resist the old Atari arcade classics? This app takes a number of their most popular games from the 70′s and 80′s for you to enjoy on your iPad and AppleTV. It wouldn’t be worth creating a full list of the rather thorough game inclusion. Suffice to say, you will find all of your favorites here.

Dollar Games

SHIFT 2 Unleashed

If you were a fan of the original SHIFT, you will be happy with the update. Still one of the best racer apps on the market, this time the graphics have been improved, the maps expanded and the controls are smoother and more intuitive.

Zombie Gunship

Zombies, a gaggle of survivors you have to protect, and a powerful, heavily-armed AC-130 attack jet. What more could you possibly hope for in a game? This simple and addicting shoot ‘em up lets you fly over a city overrun with the undead, which come in an endless stream of flesh hungry carnage. You blast them to bits to save the few remaining living souls on the ground below. If you spend a dollar on any game from this list, I would recommend this one.

RAGE HD

While it is $1.99 instead of $0.99, it is still a great value for the price. Based on the popular post-apocalypse, mutant killing shooter, you go through the barren wasteland of the future world searching for supplies and taking out those who would tear you apart. Any fans of the original will enjoy this surprisingly advanced mobile version.

Full Cost Games

Enigmo 2

The original Engimo was one of the most popular games released from Apple. Now, they have a sequel with tons of 3D puzzle fun. You navigate the streams of water and lasers to their proper containers using the randomly generated puzzle piece. It only costs $2.9

Nanosaur 2

Have you ever wanted to be a dinosaur from the future with an explosive laser strapped to its head? If you said yes, you will like this Nanosaur sequel. You basically fly through a dino landscape, blowing things up as you look for the missing dinosaur eggs. It’s a lot of fun, and all for $3.99.

Jurassic Park: The Game

Like your dinos explosive free? Then you can always go with the more traditional Jurassic Park: The Game, which is set during the second half of the classic movie. The security systems keeping the massive, lab-created historical beasts have failed, and you have to navigate through the park without losing your life to the carnivores. While it costs $6.99, this game is worth that, easily.

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

Fans of the Modern Warfare series will enjoy this blatant (but fun!) rip off of the monumental first person shooter. The third installment finds better maps, better weapon controls and a great storyline as the freedom of the US is fought for in an apocalyptic landscape in the early days of the current empire’s fall. This is another game worth the $6.99.

Conclusion

There are at least a dozen more games compatible with Apple Airplay out right now. But these are some of the absolute best, and worth a download.

Guest Author: Annie Wallace

Annie is a geeky blogger for Mobile Phone Finder, the free mobile phone comparison app based in Australia.

OnLive on Google TV 2.0? Dominance in Summer 2012? Future Logitech Revue Updates? – Q&A with GTV Product Manager

Israel Kendall — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:34:05 +0000

Continuing their latest trend of communicating directly with their users, another Google TV product manager, Larry Yang, held a Q & A Hangout session today. There was a lot he wouldn’t comment on in detail, but he did offer up some great information on Google’s plans for Google TV 2.0 and beyond.

I’ve paraphrased some questions and answers from the Hangout below. Larry goes into more detail in some of his answers, and there are also some questions that I’ve not included here. I posted a full video of the Hangout at the bottom of this post for those who are interested.

Comment regarding Logitech Revue Google TV 2.0 Honeycomb update:

The Logitech Revue update is already out. There are users who have already received the update. They are phasing the roll-out very slowly initially to make sure there aren’t any issues. They are starting by updating a randomly selected 5% of Logitech Revue boxes. They will monitor these updates and ramp up the roll-out over the next several days. If you don’t receive the Google TV 2.0 update after about a week then you should contact Logitech support.

Why do I get a message saying some Google TV apps are not compatible with Google TV?

If you just received the update, give the Android market time to sync, then try again. If you continue to get the message, contact Logitech Support.

Can we expect to see OnLive on Google TV?

They have been talking with OnLive off and on. They are very interested in bringing their application to Android and Google TV- but right now there is nothing to announce.

Regarding Amazon Video in HD and the performance of the new Netflix app for Google TV:

These questions would be best directed to the developers of the respective applications.

Will we get access to the Chrome web store (extensions) on Google TV?

The version of Chrome running on Google TV 2.0 (Chrome 11) does not have access to the Chrome web store because this browser version does not support all extensions features. But, they are working on bringing the Chrome web store to Google TV- stay tuned.

Regarding Google Music app for Google TV 2.0:

They are working on a Google Music app that is optimized for Google TV 2.0 devices. No details on timeline or features right now.

Eric Schmidt recently said Google TV will be embedded in most new TV’s by summer of 2012. Are there a LOT of new manufacturers hopping on board with Google TV that we don’t know about yet?

There are other consumer electronics partners who they are talking to. Some of them have been announced already, but there are some new partners for Google TV that have not yet been announced. There is a lot of exciting news about new hardware and partners coming soon.

Could we see mirroring (similar to Apple iOS mirroring) for Google TV?

No comment on upcoming features.

Will the Logitech Revue continue to be updated?

Logitech still has a team in place working on Google TV software for their devices and Google is working with them to determine future releases. When Logitech decides on what the next release will include, they will announce it at that time.

What will be different about Samsung’s version of Google TV?

No comment, wait for Samsung to announce it.

Will the Logitech Revue Google TV 2.0 Honeycomb update roll out in Europe also?

No specific plans to announce yet, but Google is looking at moving into other countries in the future.

I live in Europe and already have a Logitech Revue- will the Google TV 2.0 update be pushed to European IP addresses?

He doesn’t know, contact Logitech support and ask them…

Will we be getting Hangouts on Google TV any time soon?

They are working on it, nothing to announce now but stay tuned for news in the near future.

Will we be getting a game mode to fix the lag experienced when playing console games through Google TV?

He is a gamer himself, and always asks about it. TV manufacturers know this is an issue and are working to address it.

Why was the Google TV 2.0 update delayed for the Logitech Revue?

Each manufacturer has their own development, testing, and release processes and they are the ones who determine when the update is ready for release to their customers. Logitech was working through their own development and testing process. The update is rolling out now in a phased approach.

Will we be able to get movies and music through the Android market on our Google TV’s?

He can’t speak specifically to market plans, but getting this content onto Google TV is important. They are working with multiple partners to bring more premium subscription and rental content to Google TV.

Will someone make a Google TV set top box to fill the gap left by the discontinuation of the Logitech Revue?

He expects that consumer electronics companies will provide multiple devices including set top boxes similar to the Logitech Revue and Sony Blu-ray player with Google TV. There are also companies talking about other form factors that he can not discuss the specifics of currently.

Will we see a “move to external hard drive” option to solve storage issues that will surely appear as users download more and more apps?

It’s on the list of features they are working on.

Ice Cream Sandwich for Google TV?

It’s definitely something they are working on, but they are not ready to announce any specific time frame for Ice Cream Sandwich to arrive on Google TV.

Is there a “pure” Google TV in the works? (like Nexus)

They are working on a number of different Google TV devices, but they don’t have anything to announce right now.

Future plans for video conferencing?

They are working on adding those capabilities to the platform. They’re working with the Google Hangout team, Skype, and other 3rd party video chat services to bring them to Google TV.

When will you bring Google TV to Europe?

They are working with local content providers, consumer electronics partners, distributors, etc to bring a full Google TV experience to Europe- but nothing to announce just yet.

Will Google TV be giving us a “kids mode”?

It’s currently under development.

Watch the videos below:

(Note that the GTV team will probably be publishing a high quality recording of this Hangout, but it’s not available at the time I published this article)

Update: The Google TV Team has now posted their official version of this video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlyAxfYp2uE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVIhImC_mNE

Logitech Says They’re Rolling Out Google TV 2.0 Honeycomb Update – For Real This Time

Israel Kendall — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:03:01 +0000

Logitech posted to their official blog today that they will begin rolling out the long awaited Google TV 2.0 (3.1) Honeycomb update to the Logitech Revue this week! If you’ve owned a Logitech Revue for any length of time, you’re probably not holding your breath- or maybe you’re pinching yourself to see if you’re awake…Is Logitech actually going to give us Google TV 2.0 Honeycomb this week?

Sometimes it feels like one of those “Free Beer Tomorrow” jokes for Logitech Revue owners waiting for their updates from Logitech. But I think this time they’ve finally got it ready to go and you can actually expect to see a pop-up window asking you to install an update to your Revue sometime this week.

Hopefully good things come to those who wait, and Logitech Revue owners won’t have to deal with any of the bugs that some Sony Google TV owners experienced after updating their devices to Google TV 2.0.

Now it’s a good idea to note that Logitech did not say the update is being pushed out “today”, but just that it will be sometime “this week”- so I wouldn’t advise anyone to sit by their television waiting to click that update button today! Also, I’ve not seen any confirmation of anyone actually receiving an update on their Revue yet.

In the mean time, check out some of our articles on Google TV apps and get an idea of what GTV apps you’re going to download first when you get the update!

Have you received the Google TV 2.0 Honeycomb update on your Logitech Revue yet? What are the “must have” apps that you’re going to download first?