Google TV is an Android-based platform that brings the full Android experience to televisions and connects TVs to the web, cable/satellite content, and other devices. Developers can build apps for Google TV using the Android SDK and target features like the 10-foot interface, D-pad navigation, and TV-specific APIs. Building successful Google TV apps involves considering the large screen size, static location context, and focus on multi-user viewing experiences without touch input. The Google TV developer platform will help open up new opportunities for apps on the largest screens in people's homes.

1. @googletvdev

2. name = {"Paul", "Saxman"}

3. dept = "Developer" + " Relations"

4. paul.talkAbout(" ")

5. specifically...

6. I'll provide answers to a few
fundamental questions:

7. What? Why? How?

8. more specifically...

9. what is
(the soon to be released)
Google TV?

10. why should developers be
interested in Google TV?

11. how does one build apps for
Google TV?

12. questions?!?

13. so then... what exactly is
(the soon to be released)
Google TV?

15. for your TV

16. meaning...

17. everything that you've learned
today also applies to
Google TV

18. which includes your favorite
Honeycomb features, such as...

19. fragments

20. the Action Bar

21. more interactive app widgets

22. more content-rich notifications

23. Renderscript

24. et cetera.

25. Google TV works with...

26. your TV (device)...

27. your cable/satellite (content)...

28. your Internet (connection)...

29. and the Web.

30. there are a number of devices
running Google TV

32. and there are definitely more
coming!

33. Google TV is controlled with
devices, such as...

35. which all support...

36. keyboards
search
d-pad
pointing devices
media keys
back/home/menu
favorite

37. Google TV can also be controlled
by one or more of...

39. it has integrated search....

40. and it also includes TV specific
features, like...

41. picture-in-picture

42. a channel changing activity

43. a channel listing content provider

44. device pairing and
communication protocols

45. and more...
with more to come!

46. the Android Market is coming to
Google TV...

47. and finally, in addition to all the...

49. Google TV has a full version of...

51. meaning that developers who
love the Web and...

53. can also develop apps for
Google TV!

54. so... why should developers
build apps for Google TV?

55. to help answer this, here are a
few points to get you thinking...

56. 001/ TVs are, by far, the largest
displays in most households

57. which means they're great for
watching videos, playing games,
photo slideshows, etc.

58. 010/ TVs are connected to the
best sound systems in most
households

59. 011/ TVs are near very
comfortable furniture in most
households

60. 100/ TVs are great for multi-user
viewing and interaction

61. 101/ TVs are used by over 5
billion people worldwide

62. 110/ on avg, Americans watch
nearly 5 hours of TV daily
(which is increasing)

63. 111/ in 2009, the avg US home
had 2.5 people vs. 2.86 TV sets
(source: The Nielsen Company)

64. one more point to consider...

65. TVs aren't only found in people's
living rooms...

66. they are also commonly found in:

67. bedrooms

68. hotel rooms

69. classrooms

70. airplanes

71. hospitals

72. lobbies

73. bars

74. and quite a few other places

75. basically, TVs are everywhere...

76. a lot of people watch them...

77. a lot...

78. and they're getting smarter
every day

79. and finally... how does one build a
Google TV app?

80. well, since Google TV is...

82. app developers can use:

83. 01/ the framework

84. 10/ the SDK

85. 11/ the Market

86. there's also a
Google TV add-on, which
includes...

87. an image for the KVM
accelerated, x86 emulator for
Linux (SDK Tools r12)

88. Mac and Windows support is on
the way

89. for development, there are some
important things to keep in mind
about Google TV:

90. 0001/ the (soon to be released)
Google TV is Android 3.1
(API level 12)

91. 0010/ Google TV supports two
HD resolutions:
1920x1080 and 1280x720

92. and two densities:
tvdpi (213) and xhdpi (320)

93. but it's always just large

95. remember, however, that the
closest resources are used

96. and don't forget to test both
resolutions!

97. 0011/ due to overscan, you may
not get every pixel/DIP

98. I know this sounds crazy, but let
me explain...

99. TVs don't display all the pixels!

100. so let your views stretch out,
with some scalable
padding between them

101. and scale full-screen bitmaps
yourself

102. 0100/ at 10ft, TVs are notouch

103. <uses-feature
android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen"
android:required="false"/>

104. 0101/ d-pad navigation
is (generally) better than pointing

106. so focus, focus, focus...

107. allow it
android:focusable
android:focusableInTouchMode

108. show it
<selector>
<item
android:drawable="..."
android:state_focused=["true" | "false"]
android:state_selected=["true" | "false"] />
</selector>

109. control it
android:nextFocusDown
android:nextFocusLeft
android:nextFocusRight
android:nextFocusUp
android:nextFocusForward [tab]
requestFocus [default focus; tag and method]

110. and make sure there's always a
short path between focus-ables

111. 0110/ location is coarse and static

112. android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION

113. LocationManager lm =
(LocationManager)this.getSystemService(
Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);
Location location =
lm.getLastKnownLocation("static");

114. 1000/ apps can be "made for TV"
(but only if necessary)

115. <uses-feature
android:name="com.google.android.tv"
android:required="true" />

116. 1001/ be sure to require only the
features that you need

117. com.google.android.tv
android.hardware.location
android.hardware.location.network
android.hardware.usb.host
android.hardware.wifi
android.software.live_wallpaper

118. if a feature is used for everything
but TV (GPS, vibrate, etc.)...

119. getPackageManager()
.hasSystemFeature("com.google.android.tv");

120. 1010/ NDK is on the way, but not
here yet

121. 1011/ users' channel listings are
available

122. com.google.android.tv.permission.READ_CHANNELS

123. content://com.google.android.tv.
provider/channel_listing

124. callsign
channel_name
channel_number
channel_uri

125. 1100/ channel changing is
possible, too

126. so that's about it!

127. what to share your ideas for
Google TV?

128. http://bit.ly/googletvadl

129. FIN!
http://code.google.com/tv