The Guardian have developed an app for the Google TV despite the platform not being available in the UK. The beta app has new, sport, pictures and videos and the newspaper says the reason for focusing on Google TV is because Chrome (the browse that Google TV is based on) enables them to build apps quickly and release new version whenever they want, over time they plan to roll it out to other connected TV platforms.
The app works pretty well just using Google Chrome on the desktop and in a way it reminds me of the HTML addins for Windows Media Center back in the XP days, give it a try at http://gtv.guardiannews.com/
TVs are made for viewing, so we’ve tried to keep the experience clean and simple. When you first click on the app from the Google TV home screen, you’ll see the latest full-screen image from our acclaimed Eyewitness news photography series.
Then a menu and grid of content appears. Down the left is the menu of options. Read our headlines for news, sports or arts and features. Watch some of the Guardian’s video (we make 10 hours a week) in HD. View the latest photo galleries. The rest of the screen has a grid of pictures and headlines.
We’ve focused on Google TV for now, because Chrome allows us to build an app quickly. In theory, this means we can create and release new versions of the app as often as we want, avoiding the lengthy approval processes required by some other connected TV platforms. We’ll experiment in real time with the content on offer and the user interface, tweaking both as we go.
Once happy that we have a “stable” prototype – v0, if you will – we’ll lock that design down and replicate it across other platforms, with a clear focus on the major UK platforms.
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