Logitech

Reuters is reporting that during the Edinburgh television festival, Eric Schmidt said Google is bringing on more partners to help expand their Google TV platform. Schmidt explained the company’s commitment to the platform, and that bring on more manufacturers would solve problems.

Schmidt sourced the scant availability of a set-top box version to be the reason why Google TV isn’t selling well. He said at the moment, Google TV is designed into televisions, which consumers replace around every 5 years. What about the Logitech Revue, Mr. Schmidt?

Along with new partners, Schmidt said Friday that Google TV would make its way to Europe in the next six months. It looks like Schmidt, and company, are committed to improving Google TV for the long haul.

Last week we told you about the boys over at GTVhacker porting Honeycomb to the $99 Logitech Revue. Forum member cj-000 has now posted instructions for the recently released beta, which, be forewarned, is said to be full of bugs and “not meant to be widely used”.

Here it is everyone, Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) BETA On the Logitech Revue.This is BETA, it is not meant to be widely used and has bugs. If that’s something you don’t care about and would like to risk it anyway, install the update. Also, If you want to help Logitech and Google out buy another Revue ( preferably from logitech.com ), at $99 its worth every penny.

Installing the beta isn’t for the easily frustrated, involving copying the update to an external USB drive, connecting it to your Revue, and following a number of key presses to access the device’s recovery menu. Forum poster cj-000 also warns you may “notice some crashes”.

Original GTV poster Zenofex notes you may want to try the secondary USB slot on the back of the Revue if you are having issues with your initial installation attempt. You should also keep in mind forum posters who have attempted the update warn certain USB drives seem to cause errors during installation.
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As promised in their latest horrific earnings report, Logitech has lowered the Revue GoogleTV box to just $99.  That’s $200 less than it was yesterday, though sales had it near $150 in the past.  Best Buy has dropped the price as well.  Other retailers have yet to drop their prices, though that is expected to change soon.

Sony is also deeply discounting their GoogleTVs as well, though they haven’t made a formal announcement on the matter.

Google is expected to roll out a Honeycomb update for the Logitech/Sony GoogleTV by the end of summer which will give the device the ability to run apps on the big screen, a simplified interface as well as numerous other optimizations and improvements.  Via 9to5toys.com

Press release follows:
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