Sony is reportedly working with Google and Intel to develop
a technology platform designed to let television users
access Internet content easily, The New York Times reported
Wednesday.
Google envisions making it easy for TV viewers to search and
reach Web services such as Twitter blogs and Picasa photo
albums, the newspaper said.
Sony hopes to bring out the first appliances and possibly
TVs running the Google TV software, the paper said. The
technology will be based on Google?s Android operating
system currently used for some smart phones and will run on
Intel's Atom chips, according to the paper. The technology
could be included with future TVs, Blu-ray players or
set-top boxes, they added.
Logitech International is also involved and is developing
peripheral devices, such as a tiny keyboard, the paper
added.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, CEO Paul Otellini demonstrated a set-top box containing a processor from Intel. Instead of the traditional text program guide, users could see a display with multiple live programs showing at once.
Intel Executive Vice President Dadi Perlmutter said earlier this month at a conference in San Francisco that a 'big announcement' would be made later this year.
"Many things are going to happen to make TVs an Internet device, a computing device," Perlmutter said.
Representatives from Sony, Google and Intel did not have any
comment.