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Gfinity's eSports broadcasts now offer multiple perspectives
While Gfinity is known for its eSports stadium in London, the company is also committed to building an audience online. In addition to streaming on Twitch, the company has now launched a new GTV player in open beta. With this, you can have multiple feeds open and change each window depending on what's important to you. During a Counter-Strike tournament, for instance, I could switch between the "main stream" shown on Twitch, dedicated feeds for each team, and a few player facecams. In addition, I could change the audio between full broadcast style commentary and strictly in-game music and sound effects.
Google TV gets voice search and a quick guide to make content discovery easier than ever
Thought Google TV emptied its bag of tricks with that nifty new YouTube feature that lets folks shoot videos from their phones to their Googlefied TVs with a single tap? Think again, friend. GTV's far from a one-click pony, and today the platform's getting voice search and a new quick guide to make finding your favorite shows, movies and videos a more painless experience. Voice search allows users to now access channels and apps by simply speaking their names into either a Magic Remote or Android phone with the GTV remote app -- it's rolling out to folks with LG Google TVs this week, while other GTV hardware should get the update in the coming months. Searching by show titles and movie genres is supported, and it returns results from YouTube, live TV, Netflix and more. Plus, the system can also answer natural language queries with results from the web, too.%Gallery-170870% In addition to voice search, GTV has renamed its TV & Movies application and added a quick guide version of the app to let folks find other video content without having to navigate away from what they're watching. Called PrimeTime, the quick guide is a less obtrusive means for finding shows, videos and movies. It still uses the suggestion engine to make recommendations based upon viewing habits, and, of course, the full PrimeTime app experience is still available. We got to chat with Google TV's Director of Product Management, Rishi Chandra, about the updates, so join us after the break to hear what he had to say.
Google TV now lists movie New Releases, to let users control YouTube vids from phones and tablets
While hardware manufacturers like Sony and Vizio have been hard at work making new Google TV devices, the folks in Mountain View have been in the lab cooking up new software features for the platform. We got to speak with Google TV's VP of Product Management Mario Queiroz today, and he shared a couple of tasty tidbits with us. Firstly, he informed us that there's now a New Releases section in GTV's listings, which makes it easier than ever to find the latest and greatest movies. Additionally, it turns out that GTV's taking a page from the Nexus Q and YouTube Remote playbooks to let users control YouTube videos on the big screen from their phones and tablets. Essentially, you'll be able to bring up a video on your mobile device and have it populate on your TV with the tap of a finger. However, unlike Apple's AirPlay -- which delivers a similar UX by streaming video from a mobile device to an Apple TV -- Google's tech simply has your Google TV device stream the video directly from the web. Naturally, Mario wouldn't dish out any more details about new feature, nor would he say exactly when this functionality will be pushed out to the public, but rest assured we'll let you know when it does.
Sony Google TV gets update this week, brings speedier Chrome and 3D Blu-ray support
If a simple tweet by the Google TV squad is to be believed, those of you who own Sony-branded hardware should be receiving an update within the next few days. In a scant 140-characters, Big G promises a Chrome browser that "works faster," as well as the ability to get your Blu-ray content in all three dees (if that's your thing). Google's not telling precisely when the fresh features will make their way to Sony's set-top boxes, so you'll just have to stay glued to your GTV and wait for it to magically appear.
Google TV quick tour shows off the service's inner workings, Kenny Powers' dreams (update: Netflix support!)
Considering the level of hype that has surrounded Google TV, freakishly little is actually known about how it'll work. Of course, a lot of that is expected to be cleared up on Wednesday when Logitech unveils its Google TV lineup, but the Big G itself is giving us all a sneak peek beforehand. The company has just launched a new 'quick tour' portal that showcases the most prominent Google TV features, including Search, Web, Apps, Remote (complete with an Eastbound & Down plug), Personal, Dual View and DVR. Frankly, we're pretty jazzed by the look of the user interface, and we can hardly wait to see what kind of punches Logitech and Sony throw in the coming weeks. Hit that source link to draw your own conclusion. Update: Google has elaborated some on its plans, and it's all shaping up quite nicely. We're told that Turner Broadcasting has been working to optimize the websites of TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network and more for viewing on Google TV, and NBC Universal has collaborated with Google TV to bring CNBC Real-Time, an application that allows you to track your favorite stocks and access news feeds while enjoying the best financial news from CNBC directly on the TV screen. HBO GO will also be supported and the NBA has built NBA Game Time, an application that lets you follow game scores in real-time and catch up on the latest highlights from your favorite team in HD. Need more? Amazon Video on Demand will be present, and it sounds like Goog has hordes of other companies just moments away from offering compatible content portals. Hop on past the break for a quick video overview of the Apps segment. Update 2: Whoa, Netflix just confirmed that 'Watch Instantly' will be fully supported on Google TV devices launching later this month. Huzzah!
