Google-hopping: how to watch TV and surf net at same time

GOOGLE has unveiled a smart TV that allows viewers to surf theweb while watching their favourite programmes.

The organisation has worked with Sony Corp, Intel Corp andLogitech International on the technology, which has been describedby executives as the biggest improvement to television since colour.

Other companies have tried to promote internet-connected TVs withlittle success during the past decade but Google and its partnerssay they have developed a system that will make internet TV simplerand more appealing.

Rishi Chandra, the Google product manager overseeing the smart TVproject, said: "Our goal is to make the same impact on television asthe smart phone has had on the mobile phone market."

Many households already connect their TVs to the internet, mostlyto watch video through set-top boxes, video game consoles and Blu-ray players. But the new technology would allow televisions to beturned into giant monitors for web surfing, enabling Google to reachthe multi-billion-dollar TV advertising market.

The development is a further step up in Google's rivalry withother technology firms, including Apple, which has been trying tobring more internet video and services to television.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs once described his company'sdevice for tethering TVs to the internet as a hobby, but ForresterResearch analyst James McQuivey said he expected the company tobecome much more serious about its efforts now that Google isexpanding into TV.

He said: "The whole game for Google is to become the (operatingsystem) for the living room and make sure Apple doesn't."

Consumers will be able to search on the internet using a drop-down box that appears at the top of the TV programme. The searchresults then point to videos and other content related to theprogramme on screen.

A telecast of a sporting event can be shrunk into a small box soa viewer can look at statistics or other material about the game onTV.

Viewers will make search requests by speaking into a remote thatruns on Google's Android operating system.

The company said yesterday that consumers who already have flat-panel TVs will be able to plug into the new technology by buying aset-top box made by Logitech or a Blu-ray player from Sony.

Chandra added: "Video should be consumed on the biggest, best andbrightest screen in the house. And that is a TV. It is not a PC or aphone or anything else in between."

The TVs are expected to go on sale in America in the autumn, butGoogle has not yet revealed how much they will cost.