Google TV Platform In Testing, Says New York Times

Following up initial reports that came out last week, the New York Times offers more details today about Google’s plans to gain a stronger foothold in our living rooms via what the paper is calling Google TV.

Postscript: See this article, FAQ: What We Know So Far About Google TV, for more information about the announcement of Google TV.

What is Google TV? Here’s how the Times describes it:

The Google TV software will present users with a new interface for TVs that lets them perform Internet functions like search while also pulling down Web programming like YouTube videos or TV shows from Hulu.com. The technology will also allow downloadable Web applications, from games to social networks, to run on the devices.

In many ways, that sounds like what Yahoo announced a year ago with its Yahoo Widget Engine for TVs. But Google’s version also sounds like it may offer more. While Google declined to comment to the Times, the paper cites people “close to the project” who provided these details anonymously:

• the Google TV platform will be open source and based on the Android OS, and developers will be able to build apps for it
• Google has built a set-top box to run this, but the software “may be incorporated directly into TVs and other devices”
• the set-top box is being tested now with Dish Network
• the software will use a version of Google’s Chrome browser
• the project is a partnership between Google, Sony, and Intel, and with Logitech on board to provide peripherals

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google was testing a “TV search service.”

Contacted this afternoon about these reports, a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land: “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation.”