Google TV Android 3.1 update adds apps and a new interface – The Verge

Vizio Co-Star hands-on: take a chance on Google TV at $99?

2012-06-29T22:31:06-04:00

Gallery Photo: Vizio Co-Star at Google I/O 2012

We showed you Vizio's tiny $99 Google TV and feature-heavy remote control back at CES, but it wasn't quite ready for primetime: here, at Google I/O in San Francisco, we sat down with Vizio CTO Matt McRae to discuss the impending July launch, and got our first real look at the Vizio Co-Star's UI.

In case you're not familiar, the Co-Star (formerly known as the VAP430) is an exceptionally small Google TV set top box about the size and shape of a large steamed meat bun, but far more sleek. It has just two HDMI ports, an ethernet jack, a USB socket, and a power plug to its name.

Like other Google TV set tops, it sits between …

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Google TV gets new Google Music app

2011-11-17T21:37:57-05:00

Google Music Google TV 1600

One day after announcing Google Music, the company is rolling out a fresh new Google Music app for Google TV. The app streams music directly from your library stored in the cloud and integrates deeply enough into the Google TV system to play in the background and allow you to set up a playlist to serve as a soundtrack to a photo slideshow. Google has promised "future updates" to the music app as well.

Google Music is available now via the Android Market on Google TV, assuming you've installed the Android 3.1 update that brought apps to the platform and signed up for the service on your computer. The app helps Google TV compete with the just …

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Logitech CEO: Google TV ‘cost us dearly,’ no Revue replacement coming

2011-11-10T22:12:05-05:00

Logitech review

Yesterday, Logitech hosted an Analyst and Investor Day and during his remarks, CEO Guerrino De Luca pulled absolutely no punches in describing the "mistakes" the company made with its Logitech Revue Google TV set top box. Calling the company's Christmas 2010 launch "a mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature," De Luca told investors that the company had "brought closure to the Logitech Revue saga" by making plans to let inventory run out this quarter and that there are "no plans to introduce another box to replace Revue."

De Luca suggested that Google TV was far from ready at launch, going so far as to call it "beta" software on one pre …

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Plex arrives on Google TV in app form

2011-11-03T04:08:36-04:00

Plex

Plex, the popular media streaming client that already had an Android app, is among the first pieces of third party software available for Google TV. It was only a couple of days ago that Google flipped the switch on the Android 3.1 update that enabled apps on its connected TV software, yet the Google TV Plex app is already available thanks to some advance work behind the scenes. Almost all the Plex functionality you know and love is available, whether you want to stream media from your PC or Mac through your local network or remotely. That includes support for the newly introduced myPlex, whose main attraction is a universal media queue that …

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Sony’s Google TVs getting Android 3.1 update next week

2011-10-28T21:50:24-04:00

google tv market

Logitech may have been first to "announce" its devices would be getting the Google TV Android 3.1 update by way of some stickers on its Revue boxes, but Sony claims its televisions will be the first to get the update. In a blog post, Sony said that Google would start sending out the update automatically "early next week," bringing access to the Android Marketplace and Android Apps.

The update should apply to both Sony Internet TV with Google TV devices as well as Sony Blu-ray players with Google TV. It doesn't appear that Sony is making any effort to add more access to content as a differentiator, but perhaps its assuming those rumors of new …

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Google TV updated to Android 3.1, adds apps and Market

2011-10-28T11:00:54-04:00

google tv android market

It's been a long while since we've heard anything about Google TV, but the platform just got its big promised upgrade to Android 3.1, complete with an overhauled UI and support for apps from Android Market. Google says the new, more realistic goal for its TV efforts is to complement traditional TV services like cable and satellite with alternative internet viewing options, and to that end the company is bundling in a new TV and Movies app that functions as an integrated program guide with the ability to aggregate content from multiple sources, including live TV, HBO Go, Netflix, and YouTube. The YouTube app itself has been updated to feature …

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Updated Logitech Revue leaks, with Honeycomb and apps (update)

2011-10-27T15:33:28-04:00

New Logitech Revue

We heard earlier this month than a new version of Google TV would be launching this fall, with Honeycomb and apps coming to the TV-based OS - now it looks like the update is imminent. Engadget posted a photo of a "New and Improved" Logitech Revue, with Android 3.1 and the Android Market inside. Details are sparse, and though Engadget says the device is on the sales floor of a "major electronics retailer," there's been no official word from Logitech or Google about the update coming. The packaging looks slightly different, particularly the burrito-looking object with the sparks coming out of it, so it's hard to tell if this is new hardware or …

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Google TV getting Android 3.1 Honeycomb, Android Market

2011-05-10T12:17:13-04:00

Google TV is getting a huge bump, with Android 3.1 and Android Market coming to a TV near you. Developers will be able to use one SDK and ship apps that work both on Honeycomb tablets and on Google TV devices. Google also hinted at new hardware from Samsung and Vizio (which we were getting wind of at CES), but there weren't many details there. Existing Google TV devices will be getting 3.1 as an OTA update, and all this goodness should launch this summer.

Developing. Stay tuned to our Google I/O 2011 liveblog for up-to-the-microsecond coverage.

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