Googling Friday #9

Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Googling Friday. Sorry for no GF last week, but I was en-route to Nashville for BarCamp and had no time to devote the attention I like to give my blog writing. So this week I am going to talk about something I have been meaning to for a while, address the new GoogleTV and the Logitech Revue. So lets dive right in!

GoogleTV

I’ve been reading up on GoogleTV and here is what I have come away with. It looks cool, but I’m not sure my mom and dad or most people want to check the internet while they are watching TV on the TV. It will appeal to a lot of folks like fellow tech enthusiasts, but for the most part, when I turn on my TV it is because I want to do one thing, watch video content.

This is where Roku and TV “get it”, their purpose is to use the web to deliver video and photo content to your TV. If I needed TV to update my Twitter status, I would have WebTV. That being said, the interface of GoogleTV is very cool and I think the video content side of GoogleTV is nothing to sneeze at, but I would like to see them focus more of their offering in that area. Like the TV, GoogleTV lacks Hulu which I prefer because it is a one stop shop for the different content providers in TV.

Logitech Revue

The first set top box for GoogleTV is the Logitech Revue, but at $299 that is going to be a hobbyist device like the first TV was and you need a keyboard. The last thing I want is yet another device I have to use to watch TV content, I just want to use my remote, if I need to do a search then I’ll use the onscreen keyboard for that like I do when I search for shows, keywords and actors on my DirecTV box.

In Review

So to summarize,, there is still not a device out there that makes me want to say, “Hey, I’m going to call DirecTV and cancel my service today.” But, I think we are getting closer to that point in the next generation or 2 of these devices. GoogleTV brings something to the table that will push innovation by TV and Rook forward.