We’re giving away 10,000 Google TV devices. To you.
One of the things that makes
Google TV different is that it has an Internet browser built-in
so users have full access to the entire web on their television screens. Over the past few
months, we’ve had many developers come to us seeking guidance on how to make their existing
websites even better for the 10-foot TV experience. Many have even come to us with completely
new designs for their existing websites.
For developers, building
websites for TV is a new opportunity for creativity and provides a distribution channel to
reach users in a new way. For users, better and more interesting websites mean that the
overall Google TV experience gets even better. We know that developers must be at the heart of
our ecosystem, building cool experiences for audiences to watch and enjoy, and we want to
encourage a new generation of TV developers to come forward. Which is why, over the next few
weeks, we are planning to give away 10,000 Google TV devices to help developers start building
for TV.
This morning, we gave away more than 3,000 Google TV devices to
attendees of the
Adobe MAX
conference. Additionally, we’ll be reaching out to thousands of web developers in the
Google Code community to offer
them a free device. Finally, if you are a professional web developer who wants to help make
the Google TV experience even better and you don’t happen to fall into one of those two
groups, please
submit an entry to our Google TV Web Developer Promotion and
include a short summary about the type of interesting website your company would like to
create or optimize for Google TV. We’re planning to select 2,500 winners from those entries to
receive a free Google TV device.
For a bit of inspiration, check out
some of
the
latest Spotlight sites that have just launched on Google TV. A few of our favorites
include
Net-A-Porter,
which lets you watch runway videos and shop for high fashion;
Meegenius,
a place where you can read and customize children’s books;
TuneIn, a personal radio for your TV; and
The Onion, which
always gives us a good laugh.
To get started building websites for
Google TV, we’ve provided new
documentation and a
Google TV Web forum
to help developers better engage in the process. We’re excited to see what you all come up
with. Happy coding!
Update on 10/27: To clarify,
this giveaway is only for U.S based developers. We hope to make Google TV available in other
markets soon.
By Amanda Surya, Google TV Developer Relations Team