Google TV Is On Its Way

Not another friggin’ set-top box! How big do they think an entertainment center is?! Apparently, Boxee, Roku, Vudu, etc. etc. are all lonely because a New York Times  is reporting that Google has teamed with two other big guns, Intel and Sony, in working on a Google Web TV platform that will be rolled into televisions and, you guessed it, yet another set-top box. Logitech has also been tapped for its expertise in remote controls and accessories. Last week, the WSJ reported that Google was privately testing a set-top box with Dish Network.

 Google intends to use the same open approach to Web TV that it has to Android and hopes that TV apps will see the same type of enthusiasm from the developer community as cell phone apps, thereby expanding the Web-on-TV concept exponentially. Google plans to get the development tool kit out within a couple of months.

The hardware will use Intel Atom chips. For its part, Sony will likely launch some of the first TVs and other devices with the Google TV tech built in. The technology will be based on Android and will use Google Chrome for browsing.

The project is still being kept tightly under wraps and spokespersons for all companies except for Sony declined to comment for the NY Times piece. Sony’s spokesperson stated that he hadn’t heard of the project.

Despite the inevitable emergence of a new box, this is pretty exciting news. Web TV is pretty limited right now, but with this powerhouse team-up, we could see a much broader TV Web within the near future.  [via NY Times]