Google, Tv | featured news

Many worry that Silicon Valley will upend the entertainment industry just like the Internet ravaged the music and newspaper industries. Google revolutionized the way people access information. Now it wants to transform how people get entertainment.

Spec details of the box have yet to be fully revealed, but it's pretty clear what it will do. You'll connect the box to your existing HDTV, and then the Google TV platform will come to life via the internal hardware within the sleek, small black shell. Coupled with a Logitech Harmony remote, the total hardware solution could be compelling.

Google TV promises to integrate the Web and TV, but it relies on TV manufacturers to use its software.

On the heels of rumors that Google TV will be unveiled at Google’s I/O conference in San Francisco in May comes a report by The Financial Times that gives a name to the project: Smart TV.

Google is planning to introduce Android-based television software to developers at an event in May, according to people familiar with the matter.

Google has lined up big partners -- including Intel and Sony -- in its recent quest to move its technology into the living room. The joint effort includes software that navigates Web-based offerings on TVs.

YouTube, which is already trying out the movie rental business, wants to get into TV too

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar won a big battle against Google's (GOOG) top dealmakers in April, successfully convincing Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger to put ABC's full-length content on Hulu instead of YouTube.

Google wanted to make Disney the cornerstone of its new focus on premium content, but Disney ended up taking an equity stake in Hulu alongside prior investors News Corp (NWS), NBC (GE) and Providence Equity Partners.

A couple months later, the fruits of Jason's labor are here in the form of mega-hit "Grey's Anatomy," now live on Hulu.

This morning Google Voice was featured in a segment on the Today Show, during which NBC News correspondent Janet Shamlian outlined her experiences with the service over the last few months (her verdict - she loves it).