Google TV未死，谷歌瞄准开发者

Google正积极推动开发社群对于Google TV的兴趣，Google TV是Google针对互联网电视推出的Android版软件平台。Google在日前于美国旧金山举行的Google I/O大会上介绍了这款Google TV工具及其相关计划，期望带动任何Android或Web开发者发表针对Google TV环境的应用软件。

Google将在今天夏天打造一款基于Android 3.1版的Google TV 2.0版。Android 3.1是专为平板电脑而升级的Android Honeycomb系统。为该平台开发应用程序的开发厂商将能最先进入一个全新的Google TV领域──Google将在今夏推出可支持Android线上应用商店(Android Market)的Google TV。

开发人员们可用现有的Honeycomb模拟器来测试目前的Google TV应用程序。Google表示不久将会推出针对PC用的Google TV模拟器。该公司并发布了一个名为Fishtank的应用程序，预计将自今夏起为特定的Android开发厂商提供数量有限的Google TV 2.0硬件模拟器。

在另一场会议中，Google表示目前正着手打造一个可让Web开发人员编写有关电视应用开放源代码的软件资料库。由于Google针对日益扩展的互联网电视提供了一些编写相关应用程序的参考准则，开发人员们争相挤进几个探讨Android和Web开发的研讨会场中。

“80%的美国家庭中都拥有个人电脑(PC)，90%的人都有手机，但99%的人至少拥有一台电视，”Google I/O大会中Web议程主持人Chris Wilson指出。

全球有四分之三的家庭中都拥有一台电视机，但目前只有两百万户家庭连接到网络，预计这一数字在2018年时可提高到4,300万户，Wilson说。在美国，一般认为电视机的数量比PC更高三倍，他补充说。

这家网际网络巨擘去年在Google I/O大会上就已经大张旗鼓地发布Google TV。然而，至今也只有Logitech与Sony等最初的合作伙伴推出了搭载Googel TV软件的两款机顶盒(STB)与一款电视产品。三星和Vizio的Google TV电视产品现正开发中，而其他合作伙伴正准备推出相关产品中，Google TV开发人员表示。

下一页：谷歌寄望于开发者

{pagination}

一场探讨Google TV的Android应用程序相关研讨会吸引了750位开发人员，场外还有等待进场的人潮大排长龙。另一场有关Web开发的议程参与人数较少一些，但基本上与会者也挤满了会场。Google希望借由提高开发人员的兴趣，从而激起电视制造商对此平台的兴趣与开发意愿。

Yahoo抢在Google TV之前先推出了一款连接电视平台，现在也已经获得包括LG、三星、Sony和VIZIO等电视制造商的采用。

在一场有关Android的研讨会中展示了Pandora与CNBC等开发厂商如何将智能手机应用程序的源代码重新应用于Google TV中。会中还探讨现有Android应用程序与Google TV环境之间存在的明显差异，包括更大的显示器，以及缺乏触控、GPS以及TV软件的通话功能支持等。其中，还有一位开发人员也指出，它还缺乏对于像USB网络摄像机等周边随插即用的支持。

Google还发布了可在Android或苹果iPhone上开发虚拟电视遥控器的一些应用程序。Google开发人员Christian Kurzke表示，该公司将在Apache 2授权下，推出Android应用程序的开放源代码，这一点还获得了现场与会者的热烈掌声。

该公司并计划建立一个可维护广播电视频道的资料库计划，提供开发人员可用于应用程序开发的一项资源。“随着电视相关产品的发表，未来我们还将提供其他更酷更有趣的东西，因此我们将在电视资料库公开更多电视功能，”Kurzke说。

“这真是一个激动人心的时刻，因为这是第一次我们够为电视应用开启一个新市场，”他补充说。

探讨Google TV的Android应用程序研讨会吸引了750位开发人员，场外还有等待进场的人潮大排长龙

点击参考原文：Google TV turns on Android, Web apps

《电子工程专辑》网站版权所有，谢绝转载

{pagination}

Google TV turns on Android, Web apps

Rick Merritt

Google is turning to its developer community to stoke interest in Google TV, its Android-based software platform for connected televisions. The company described tools and plans at its annual Google I/O developer conference here, enabling any Android or Web developer to release apps for the TV environment.

Google will create this summer a version 2.0 of Google TV based on the 3.1 version of Android, an upgrade of the Honeycomb version of Android for tablets. Developers who build apps for that platform will for the first time be able get access to a new Google TV area coming this summer to the Android Market, an online applications store.

Developers can use an existing Honeycomb emulator to test Google TV apps today. Google said it will release a Google TV emulator for the PC soon. The company also announced a program called Fishtank to provide starting this summer a limited number of hardware emulators for Google TV 2.0 to select Android developers.

In a separate session, Google described software libraries it is making available for Web developers to write code for TV apps. Developers packed into both Android and Web sessions where Google provided guidelines for writing apps for a growing category of connected TVs.

"Eighty percent of US homes have a PC, 90 percent have a cellphone but 99 percent have at least one TV," said Chris Wilson, a Google presenter at the Web session.

Worldwide three quarters of homes have a TV. Only two million are connected to the Web today, but that is expected to grow to as much as 43 million by 2018, Wilson said. In the US, TVs are viewed three times as much as PCs, he added.

The Internet giant announced Google TV with much fanfare at Google I/O a year ago. So far only two set-top boxes and one TV from initial partners Logitech and Sony are shipping with the software. Samsung and Vizio have Google TV products in the works, and other partners are in the pipeline, said Google TV developers here.

A session on Android apps for Google TV drew an estimated 750 developers with a long overflow line of others waiting to get in. A separate session for Web-based developers garnered a smaller but still substantial crowd. Google hopes increased developer interest will spark more interest in the platform from TV makers.

Yahoo beat Google to market with a connected TV platform, now used by a number of TV makers including LG, Samsung, Sony and Vizio.

The Android session showed how developers such as Pandora and CNBC reused code from smartphone apps for Google TV. It also reviewed the significant differences between existing Android apps and the Google TV environment including the larger display and lack of support for touch, GPS and telephony on the TV software. One developer also noted the lack of plug-and-play support for devices such as USB Web cameras.

Google released applications for creating a virtual TV remote control on an Android or Apple iPhone. The company will release the source code for the Android application under an Apache 2 license, said Google developer Christian Kurzke, drawing enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

The company also plans to create a program that maintains a database of broadcast TV channels that developers can use as a resource in their apps. "There's a lot of other cool and interesting things we can do with the TV feed an in future, so we will expose more TV functionality into a TV library," said Kurzke.

"This is a really exciting time because we are enabling a market for apps on the TV for the first time," he added.

About 750 developers packed a session on Android apps for Google TV.