Google working with Intel, Sony on TV project

Internet search engine giant Google has teamed with Intel and Sony to develop Google TV, a platform for bringing the web into the living room via televisions and set-top boxes, says a media report.

The Google TV project has been underway for several months and is based on its software Android, which is available in some smartphones, The New York Times reported.

The effort would help Google and Intel to extend their dominance of computing to television, an arena where they have little sway. For Sony, which has struggled to retain a pricing and technological advantage in the competitive TV hardware market, the partnership is an effort to get a leg up on competitors, it added.

Spokesmen for Google, Intel and Logitech declined to comment, while a Sony spokesman said he was not familiar with the project, the daily said.

According to the publication, the partnership would make it as easy for TV users to navigate Web applications, like the Twitter social network, as it is to change the channel.

In addition, the report said that three companies have tapped Logitech, which specialises in remote controls and computer speakers, for peripheral devices, including a remote with a tiny keyboard.