Google giving away Google TV devices to developers

Google, in a bid to promote and improve Google TV, which seeks to merge television and the Internet, is giving away 10,000 of the devices to developers.

Amanda Surya of Google TV's developer relations team said Google gave away more than 3,000 Google TV devices at a developers conference being held this week by software maker Adobe in Los Angeles.

"We are focusing our efforts on empowering the developers of the world to make Google TV an even better experience, through websites that have been built with the TV screen in mind," Surya said in a blog post.

"For users, better-looking and more interesting websites means that the overall Google TV experience is even better," she said.

"We want to encourage a new generation of TV developers to come forward to make this vision a reality," she said. "Which is why, over the next few weeks, we're planning to give away 10,000 Google TV devices to help developers start building for TV."

Japanese electronics giant Sony unveiled a line of high-definition TV sets this month featuring Google TV, which merges online content with traditional television programming.

The Mountain View, California-based Google unveiled Google TV in May at a software developers conference in San Francisco.

Developed in partnership with Sony, Logitech and Intel, Google TV allows users to mesh television viewing with surfing the Web.

Google TV, which is powered by Google's Android software and Chrome Web browser, can be accessed using the Sony TVs or set-top boxes from Logitech that route Web content to existing TV sets.

Google is not the first technology company to attempt to marry the TV set and the Internet. A number of electronics manufacturers offer Web-enabled televisions or digital set-top boxes.