Google, Tv | featured news

Google Fiber has a lot going for it, both as an ISP and a pay-TV platform. There was was one gaping hole in the service though: no HBO. Lets be honest with ourselves, its the big geeks that are looking to hop on that 1Gbps service first. And what do geeks love almost as much as blazing-fast Google-branded internet? Game of Thrones. Now Kansas City (and soon Austin) based nerds will be able to watch Joffrey become an even bigger monster live, rather than wait for some torrent site to get an illegal copy of it up (or, if they're smart, mooch off of someone's HBO GO account). Alongside HBO, Google Fiber has also added Cinemax: Home Box Office's less cool sibling. The branded families of channels are both available today for $20 a month or $10 a month respectively. Or, if you're a real premium TV fan, you can get both, plus STARZ and Showtime for $40 a month. Hit up the source for a few more details.

Back in the day, watching television was as simple as hitting a switch, maybe messing with some rabbit ears and flipping through all eight of your channel choices. The sound wasn't so great, and the picture was kind of grainy, but at least it was simple.

Google, seeking to reboot its flagging efforts in television, said consumers will soon have a broader choice of TVs using its software--with lower prices also a likely outcome.

Logitech Chief Guerrino De Luca isn’t going to sugarcoat the gadget company’s troubles with the $300 Logitech Revue, which it introduced last December. At Logitech’s investor day Wednesday De Luca said the Revue was a mistake that will cost Logitech $100 million in operating profits. The set top box was built around Google‘s Google TV software, which remains a work in progress. We “executed a full scale launch with a beta product and it cost us dearly,” De Luca said.

Google's Eric Schmidt faces a wary audience of British television professionals on Friday following a major acquisition that could turn Google TV into a real competitor for TV advertising dollars.

“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek says he snapped his Achilles tendon while running after a burglar who had stolen cash, a bracelet and other items from his San Francisco hotel room. The 71-year-old Trebek tells KGO-TV that he also injured his other leg while falling down during the chase early Wednesday. He was on crutches later Wednesday when he hosted the National Geographic World Championship at Google headquarters in Mountain View.

The search giant is hard at work on its new Google TV 2.0 product. Developers have been joining Google’s new “Fishtank” program to get early access to tools that will allow them to create compelling new content for Google’s next attempt at entering our living rooms. Google TV 2.0 runs a barebones version of Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) and there are reportedly only 50 developers partaking in the initial Fishtank program.

Google TV has the network television industry's attention. Certain television shows on the Web sites of broadcast networks CBS and ABC are currently being blocked when Google TV users try to access those sites.

Two weeks after the Logitech Revue unveiling, PCMag finally has a review unit for the Google TV-based box. Before we put the system through testing with our DISH Network set-up in the PCMag Labs, we thought you might like to see some unboxing photos of the new product.

Google has been in talks with the major TV networks and the major cable and satellite distributors, but it announced only a few concrete partnerships on Monday.