Google Unveils Web Software for TV With Intel, Sony

Google introduced software that puts Web content on television to persuade more consumers to use the Internet in their living rooms and view advertisements that generate revenue.

The new tool, Google TV, will work with Intel Corp. chips in products by Sony Corp. and Logitech International SA, Google said today at a conference in San Francisco. The companies are trying to benefit from growing demand for Web-based programming and information on large screens, in more rooms of the house. Google, with the largest share of online advertising, wants a slice of the $175 billion TV-ad market. Intel aims to land its chips, already in about 80 percent of the world's personal computers, into a wider range of electronics. "Television is becoming the true third window, with the computer and the phone, allowing you to access what you want when you want it," Eric Kim, who heads Intel's digital home division, said in an interview. "The dumb tube is turning into an intelligent device, a smart TV." Google TV serves as an "entertainment hub" that lets viewers search channels, recorded shows and websites.