Big Data. Big Decisions
 InformationWeek
Special Coverage Series


Google TV Update Improves Voice Search

An updated YouTube app puts Android device content on Google TV screens.

By Thomas Claburn InformationWeek
November 14, 2012 03:38 PM

10 Ways To Get More From Your Android Device
10 Ways To Get More From Your Android Device
(click image for larger view and for slideshow)
Google says it will begin sending out a software update to select Google TV devices this week to add several new features, with broader distribution to follow.

Google TV customers might experience a sense of deja vu: The update makes Google's Voice Search available, so viewers can speak into their Google TV remote to watch shows, play YouTube videos, open applications, visit websites, or conduct Google searches.

More Insights

Webcasts

More >>

White Papers

More >>

Reports

More >>

Google previously made voice search available in December 2010 -- before it had gone upscale with capital letters -- as part of the Google TV Remote app for Android and iOS devices.

But this latest update integrates Voice Search into the Google TV platform, taking it beyond voice transcription and content navigation. The new Voice Search relies on Google's Knowledge Graph, which allows spoken queries to be understood more accurately.

[ Read The Petraeus Affair: Surveillance State Stopper? ]

As an example, Google TV product managers Greg Funk and Eric Liu explain in a blog post that speaking the phrase "how to tie a bow tie" will prompt an appropriate YouTube video to play. That's the Knowledge Graph in action, interpreting the query and launching a relevant video. Without the Knowledge Graph, you'd have to speak the video's title.

Google also has replaced its TV & Movies app with an integrated viewing guide called PrimeTime, which is intended to make it easier to find interesting content to watch on Google TV devices.

In addition, YouTube on Tuesday updated the YouTube app for Android so it can stream content from Android devices to Google TV screens. Think of it as Google's answer to Apple's AirPlay technology.

Google says it will make the update available for Google TV-enabled LG devices this week and to other second-generation Google TV hardware in coming months. First-generation devices such as the Logitech Revue will only see updates to PrimeTime and YouTube.

Asked about sales of Google TV devices, a Google spokesman said only that the company was pleased with adoption so far.

In February, the number of Google TV customers appeared to be somewhere in the 500,000 to 1 million range, based on counts of default app installations. Current installation counts published on Google Play suggest those numbers have not changed much.

, join the conversation


Related Reading

News

Commentary

Most Popular

On the Web

Slideshow

Video



Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments:

Single tags

These tags can be used alone and don't need an ending tag.

<br> Defines a single line break

<hr> Defines a horizontal line

Matching tags

These require an ending tag - e.g. <i>italic text</i>

<a> Defines an anchor

<b> Defines bold text

<big> Defines big text

<blockquote> Defines a long quotation

<caption> Defines a table caption

<cite> Defines a citation

<code> Defines computer code text

<em> Defines emphasized text

<fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form

<h1> This is heading 1

<h2> This is heading 2

<h3> This is heading 3

<h4> This is heading 4

<h5> This is heading 5

<h6> This is heading 6

<i> Defines italic text

<p> Defines a paragraph

<pre> Defines preformatted text

<q> Defines a short quotation

<samp> Defines sample computer code text

<small> Defines small text

<span> Defines a section in a document

<s> Defines strikethrough text

<strike> Defines strikethrough text

<strong> Defines strong text

<sub> Defines subscripted text

<sup> Defines superscripted text

<u> Defines underlined text

BYTE encourages readers to engage in spirited, healthy debate, including taking us to task. However, BYTE moderates all comments posted to our site, and reserves the right to modify or remove any content that it determines to be derogatory, offensive, inflammatory, vulgar, irrelevant/off-topic, racist or obvious marketing/SPAM. BYTE further reserves the right to disable the profile of any commenter participating in said activities.

Disqus Tips To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy.

Follow InformationWeek

By The Numbers

What Are Your Primary Concerns About Using Big Data Software?

Base: 417 respondents at organizations using or planning to deploy data analytics, BI or statistical analysis software
Data: InformationWeek 2013 Analytics, Business Intelligence and Information Management Survey of 541 business technology professionals, October 2012

What Do You Think?

What's your attitude about SQL analysis on top of Hadoop?
We want fast, standard SQL analysis capabilities on Hadoop ASAP
Hadoop is for unstructured data; SQL is for relational databases
We'll give SQL on Hadoop a try, but relational DBs will remain the mainstay
Given strong SQL support on Hadoop, we'd nix the data warehouse
We're not interested in Hadoop
No opinion



Related Content

From Our Sponsor

Five Big Data Challenges and How to Overcome Them with Visual Analytics

Five Big Data Challenges and How to Overcome Them with Visual Analytics

Business leaders often need a visual snapshot of data to quickly grasp and use it. This paper identifies five challenges in presenting data and how visual analytics can resolve them. Solutions are suggested to overcome the challenges of: speed, data clarity, data quality, displaying meaningful results, and dealing with outliers.

Game-Changing Analytics: How IT Executives Can Use Analytics to Create Innovation and Business Success

Game-Changing Analytics: How IT Executives Can Use Analytics to Create Innovation and Business Success

Today's competitive advantage requires a deeper understanding of your business, your market and your customers. As an IT executive, you can drive that knowledge transformation. In this white paper, learn how to make decisions as a strategic business leader and three steps to begin an analytics initiative within your enterprise.

Data Visualization Techniques: From Basics to Big Data with SAS Visual Analytics

Data Visualization Techniques: From Basics to Big Data with SAS Visual Analytics

High-performance data visualization turns sophisticated analyses into meaningful graphics, leading to faster and smarter decision making. In this white paper, learn how visual analytics can transform big data, with additional features such as real-time functionality, mobile compatibility, robust applications for technical groups and accessibility for nontechnical users.

Big Data: Lessons from the Leaders

Big Data: Lessons from the Leaders

Financial performance, competitive advantage, operational efficiency, strategic decision making - every business goal can extract value from big data, and the time for doubt or inaction has long passed. In this Economist Intelligence Unit report, in-depth interviews with data pioneers reveal the link between the effective use of big data and the bottom line among other results.

Decision-Driven Data Management: A Strategy for Better Decisions with Better Data

Decision-Driven Data Management: A Strategy for Better Decisions with Better Data

Which came first, the data or the decision? This white paper makes the case for having a decision in mind, then tailoring big data's volume, variety and velocity to achieve business results such as overcoming customer dissatisfaction or creating well-informed strategies in real time.

Informationweek Reports

Research: The Big Data Management Challenge

Research: The Big Data Management Challenge

The challenge of big data is real, but most organizations don't differentiate 'big data' from traditional data, and nearly 90% of respondents to our survey use conventional databases as the primary means of handling data. We'll help you understand what constitutes big data (it's not just size) and the numerous management challenges it poses.