Hangout with Larry Yang

eferz · Jan 2, 2012

Here is my transcipt of the video

Hi, My name is Larry Yang. I'm a product manager with Google TV. I'm responsible for the platform partnerships, working with the consumer electronics device partners and helping them deliver devices to the market and the consumer, like you guys. Thanks for joining our hangout today. I wanted to cover a couple of logistical things. First of all, we are taking questions via the chat window. So, please mute your audio so we don't get multiple audio going and just kind of causing difficult for others to hear. Also, as you may or may not know there's a ten person limit in the hangout. So, out of respect for others who may be waiting to get in the hangout, after you've kind of heard enough please exit the hangout and give other people a chance to join in. Please chime in with your questions in the chat window and while we're waiting for that let me address a few questions that folks already posted on the site overnight.
[HR][/HR]Since I was a Google+ participant. I added information that was available in chat window inside [brackets]
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(@ 01:14) I think one of the top questions has to do with the Logitech update. Let me address that right off the bat here. The Logitech update is out. There are users who have already received the update and have reported receiving it. As you may or may not know, we work closely with our partners in phasing the roll out very slowly initially to make sure that there aren't any issues with the roll out. So, that we can stop that. We start with a very small number of folks, about 5% of folks who are randomly selected. And we monitor those updates and make sure there are no issues. And then over the next several days, we'll slowly ramp that up. I would say if you're still eagerly awaiting your Logitech update, if you don't receive something within a week you should contact Logitech support and ask them perhaps there's an issue with your device. Give a few days. Please be patient. I know you guys have all been very patient waiting for the Logitech update. Our partners have their own development and releases processes. They work carefully to make sure that they only release a product when they believe is ready for their customers. Again the Logitech update is rolling out now. You should be receiving it in the next few days.
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(@ 02:36) Let's see if we any questions on the chat to cover. Robert, you have a question about "Why does it say that apps aren't compatible on my Logitech Revue?"

I assume you're referring to apps in the Market. I think there are, I'm not sure why it would do that. You just got your Logitech update. Sometimes the market takes a little bit of time to synchronize. What I would suggest is you wait a little bit and then try connecting via your market again and see if it continues to say that if it does I would suggest that you contact Logitech support and see if they can help you with your specific issue.

I think Earl is referring a specific mechanism that Android applications use to determine if a device has all the features required to support an application that's the Manifest.XML that's used filter devices. That's kind of the under the hood mechanism on how that happens.

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(@ 04:15) Israel has a question about OnLive. Our partners and us, we've been talking with OnLive off and on. They are very interested in bringing their application to Android and Google TV but right now there's nothing to announce about that but there's still conversation going on with them.
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(@ 04:36) There were a number of questions that had to do with version of Netflix, Amazon HD, and a few other ones. In general, those are all decisions that are made by the application developer and so those questions will be best directed to the particular third-party developer as to when they are ready to deliver a particular feature or new version to our product. We are not able to speak on behalf of their plan. Your best bet would be contact their support and ask them for what their plans are.
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(@ 05:17) Some questions about Chrome. The version of Chrome that is in this update is Chrome 11. The version of Chrome for Google TV does not support the Chrome Web Store because it does not fully support all of the extensions feature for Chrome. That is a feature that we're working on bringing to Google TV and so stay tune on any more updates on that.
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(@ 05:48) There's a question about product managers. Yes, I saw that, Earl. It does seem like there's a lot of us but we're far outnumbered by the engineers. The way we divide up the product managers, we are each responsible for a particular aspect of the product. I am responsible for working with the partners and all the low level software that gets ported into all of the devices.

We have other product managers working with third-party application developers enabling them to get the right tools and getting their applications into the Android Market. We have a product manager responsible for all the internally developed Google TV applications, such as Photos, the YouTube for Google TV, and the TV & Movies application that's what Jurek does.

Donagh hosted a hangout recently. He is responsible for all of our content partnerships. Working with all of the third-party developers. Rishi runs it all. We all work for Rishi. It does seem like there's a lot of us but there's a lot of different part of this product that we have to pool together. It's all how we kind of divide up the work.
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(@ 07:15) Google Music. Not sure you mean about integration and future plans, but we are working on an application that is optimized for Google TV devices. We're not ready to go into any specific details on what the timeline and plans and features around that are, but obviously Google Music is a very important application and service for Google and for Android. We have people working very hard on getting that out and we'll have news on that shortly.
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(@ 07:52) We are working with Logitech and Sony. They have been great partners and they are releasing this update and we're talking to them about their future plans. There are other consumer electronics partners who we're talking to; some of them we've announced earlier in the year. Some of them we haven't announced yet and we'll be able to say more about what our plans with them in the near future. There is a lot of exciting news around new devices and partners that you'll be seeing by the mid part of next year.
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(@ 08:40) The Enhanced DVR and Advance Integration. We have publicized that protocol with all of the operators and some of them; for example, Dish Network has decided to implement a version of that protocol so that we can have the Enhanced Integration with Google TV. Others have not decided to do that. That's their decision. My advice is for you to contact your service operator and ask them why they haven't done that and you are a happy Google TV owner and you would like them to add that capability.
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(@ 09:22) There's a question about mirroring. That's a great idea. We are actually developing a number of features for Google TV along with the Android guys. We're not ready to go into any specific announcements on what features are coming out and when. We have a large team of engineers here working very hard on a lot of new capabilities. One of the questions for example, was around new versions of the Android operating system. Ice Cream Sandwich in particular, so we are working on that. We have other capabilities and features under development. In the near future, we will start announcing more specifically what those plans are, but today there's nothing to announce yet.
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(@ 10:15) There's a question about the Logitech Revue. Logitech still has a team in place working on the Google TV software for their devices. We are working with them on what specifically the future releases will be. And so, when Logitech is ready to say more specifically about what their next release will be and what it will include then they'll announce more at that time.
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(@ 10:55) Here is a question about, "If and when Google provides cable and internet I suppose... " I suppose you are addressing the project that Google is doing in Kansas City and rolling out high speed internet access. That team will need to speak specifically what their plans are in terms of any additional services or whatnot. But, right now all they've said is that they're rolling out Gigabit High-speed Internet access out to select communities around the country.
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(@ 11:47) Cloud Printing. So, yes. That's another example of a feature that we're currently investigating. We're really at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the capabilities of Google TV. There are a lot more features we can add and certainly with the additional support from the Android Market, we have a lot of third-party developers also adding a lot of new features to our platform. We're still at the very beginning and this platform will continue to grow over time. You'll see more applications, you'll see new updates, and add more and more features. You'll see more device partners over time. There's a lot of runway ahead of us and we're looking at a lot of features and products to add.
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(@ 12:37) Spotify is another example. It is a great Android application. You'll have to ask them when their plans are to release a Google TV specific optimized application. All the Android developers are very excited about the possibilities for Google TV. They're all eagerly working on creating applications for our platform.

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(@ 13:09) Earl has a question about Flash. He's referring to, if you haven't heard, Adobe has made an announcement that they will be ramping down support for their Flash player in embedded devices; non-PC and Mac desktop devices. We still have Flash support in our current version of the Google TV software release and we'll continue to include that in our release. We're looking into what additional bug fixes or versions of Flash makes sense for us to add on, but at this time we don't have any plans to announce exactly what we're going to be doing.
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(@ 13:58) We have a question here about Samsung's announcement or claims about their changes. I can't speak specifically about what Samsung's plans are, we'll have to let them address their specific claims. But, I will say in general, we encourage our consumer electronics partners to add their own differentiation or features or customizations that makes sense for their particular target consumers and customers.

A great example is if you look at the differences between Logitech and Sony have done in terms of their applications that they've added. Logitech, for example, had their video conferencing capabilities and their Harmony capabilities. Both are very important to Logitech, so they built those into their product. Sony has their own video service, Qriocity, so they choose to make that a big part of their product. So, that's an example of how they're adding differentiation.

You'll see as more and more different devices are coming up, they'll all have their own tweaks or customizations or different user interfaces or whatnot that the different partners have decided where they wanted to really differentiate and create a unique experience for their customers.
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(@ 15:27) Hi! You might have just joined, I'll answer your question about Europe but for the new folks that just joined please mute your audio and ask your questions via chat. So that the audio is easy to hear for others on the hangout. And for the new folks, let me introduce myself again. My name is Larry Yang. I'm a product manager for Google TV platform and partnership responsible for working with the consumer electronics partners and helping them bring device out to market.

Your question specifically about Europe. Along with all the features and partners that we're currently working on, being able to over capabilities overseas and other countries besides United States and North America is another feature, if you will, that we're working on both in terms of the software that we're implementing as well as the partners on how to deploy that. We don't have any specific plans that we're ready to announce yet, but certainly Europe is an important market for us as well as our partners and we're working actively with them on a product for that market.

[follow up question for updates outside of USA asked by the same participant who cannot follow simple instructions]

Again, please ask your questions in chat. But, you'll have to ask Logitech specifically about how that will work. That's a technical question that's unique to the Logitech device. You should contact Logitech support and ask them.
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(@ 17:14) There's a question about Game Mode and I think another question about video. Let me talk about video chat. As with the other third-party services and applications. We're working on adding those capabilities to the product. Obviously, Hangout is a big capability for Google as well as for companies like Logitech and others who sells cameras. That's another feature that under development right now and we'll have more to say about that in the near future.
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(@ 17:48) The Game Mode is a great question. That's a question that is best directed to specific consumer electronics manufacturers; Sony or whomever else announces television devices. As a gamer, myself, I know that's an important capability that I know, I always ask about. Believe me that the TV manufacturers appreciate this is an issue and they're working to address it.
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(@18:23) Why is the Revue update delayed. It's fine. I'll repeat what I said in the beginning since we're rotating people through the hangout that it's no problem asking the same questions again. Each of our partners have their own development processes and different testing and release process. They make their own decisions as to when they feel a software update has gone through a sufficient development and release testing. They make their own decision as to when it is ready for their own customers. Logitech was working through their development process. They went through their testing. And they now feel that it is ready for the update.

The update is going out now. I know folks have already started receiving it. It is rolled out in a phased approach where the first couple of days they are very small number that receive an update. So, that we make sure that there are no issues and that we can stop the update in case that there are any issues. The small number of people are selected at random and over the next several days they'll over that update to all of the devices. I would say if you don't receive an update within the next week or so, you should go ahead and contact Logitech tech support and ask them if there is perhaps an issue with your particular device that they need to address.
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(@ 19:50) A reason.. because of Engadget... I don't know what Engadget might be referring to, soo...
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(@ 20:17) Multi-tasking. That's sounds like a specific capability that's unique to your specific music application and specific photo viewer. Android gives applications a lot of flexibility for multi-tasking that's really up to the application how they decide to manage that. If it is not working the way you'd like, your best option is to give feedback to the application developer and ask them for supporting that feature.
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(@ 21:09) There's a question about music and movies on the Android Market. I can't speak specifically to the Market plan but the ability to watch movies and listen to music is important for a television type of device and so we're working with the Android team as well as YouTube team as well as third-parties being able to bring premium subscription or rental content. As more and more of those applications become available we'll be announcing those.
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(@ 21:50) We believe that there needs to be a variety of different types of form factors and devices that use Google TV. A television is an obvious device to integrate the Google TV software, but anything that connects to television is also a good candidate. We expect companies are still continued to bring out either stand-alone companion devices, like the Logitech Revue, as well as Blu-Ray integrated devices, like the Sony Blu-Ray player. There are other manufacturers that are talking about other type of form factors that I cannot get into specifics on but there are people working on devices other than just television.
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(@ 22:47) Is it possible to share the USB hard disk. I think you're talking about sharing over network. Again, that's a feature that we're looking into implement. We have a long list of. There are a lot of people on the Google TV team who are big local media consumers who either want to plug a device into local USB connecter or over the network. That's certainly something that people are working on. There are, as someone mentioned, third-parties who are also working to implement that capability. As I mentioned there are a lot of potential. We're just scratching the surface for Google TV and over time, you'll see more and more features either delivered by Google as part of the Google TV platform, by our partners as enhanced capabilities and features, as well as through third-party developers via Android Market.
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(@ 23:57) There's a question about moving apps to external drive. The same answer. I know that I sound like a broken record. That is also on the list of features we're working on and once we get that feature working well then we'll have more information to share about that.
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(@ 24:15) While we're waiting for others to finish typing. One thing that I should point out because we now have the Android Market, the applications getting better, you're product getting better over time. Since we first released Google TV version 2 on Honeycomb six weeks ago or so, we have already updated the YouTube application and the Photos application. Some of you who have the Sony device may have noticed additional features have been added to the YouTube application and the Photos applications. You are already starting to experience that your product is getting better now that the Android Market is available.
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(@ 25:10) There's a question about the hardware being a little bit slow. We know that speed and performance is very important and that's an area that we're continuing to make improvements on working closely with partners. Making sure they have sufficient, mundane things like CPU speed and memory and whatnot; as well as working with them on optimizing the driver device software, our software as well. With each release, you'll see better and better performance. We know that's an important capability that users often ask for, so you'll see that getting better over time.
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(@25:54) Raul asked about Ice Cream Sandwich. Like all of the other features we're currently are working on; porting to the newest version of Android is also an activity that we are working on. We're not ready to announce any specific time frame right now but that's an activity that's going on right now.
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(@ 26:20) Yeah so, Earl. I saw this question earlier [regarding codec compatibility between versions]. I'm not aware of this. So, I'll have to look into that but I'm not aware of this issue that you're raising here. I'm sure you're correct, I'm just not aware of it so I'll have to investigate more into it.
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(@ 27:00) For those that just joined, thank you for waiting to get in on the hangout. My name is Larry Yang. I'm a Product Manager for the Google TV platform and partnerships. I'm responsible for working with our consumer electronics partners in helping them bring up Google TV on to their devices and helping them get their device to the market.
So for those of you just joining. If you haven't please mute your microphone. And ask your questions in the chat window, so we don't have too much audio going on so people can hear clearly. And for those of you have been on the chat for the past half hour, if you want to give others a chance to get in on the last ten minutes or so of the hangout, I'm sure they would appreciate it.
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(@ 28:02) I'll have to let Logitech speak specifically about MKV files with DTS. I'll have to let Logitech address specifically which media formats that they chosen to add or support in their device. They usually have a pretty good website about things like support for that. And if that doesn't answer your question, you can try asking on one of their forums or contacting their support and asking them specifically.
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(@ 28:57) I think the issue that Earl is addressing, on some networks you actually need to have some additional authentication either via browser or having to actually know the MAC ID for example before being able to get on the network. We are aware of this issue and like all the other feature requests, we're working on this one with our partners. We actually just deliver just a template of the setup wizard to our partners and they add a lot of their capabilities that are unique to their product. I know that this is one that they're aware of and they should be addressing that soon.
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(@ 29:35) Wolfgang is asking if there is a pure Google TV like the Nexus. We're working on a number of different types of Google TV devices and we don't have any specific product plans that we're ready to announce right now.
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(@ 30:16) Earl is asking about video conferencing. I might have mentioned that a little earlier. We are working on adding those capabilities onto the platform. Working with the Google Hangouts team to be able to bring that capability. We're also working with Skype on bringing theirs and other third-party video chat services. And also working with camera manufacturers like Logitech to enable that. A lot of pieces that we have to put together. Nothing to announce unfortunately. I know that's a frequently requested feature. We wanna make sure we do have a really good experience, so we're working closely with all of the different players and hopefully we'll have more to say in the near future on that.
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(@31:08) Wolfgang is asking about stream the HDMI input to a mobile device. I guess you're talking about something like a Slingplayer or type of capability. That sounds like a great feature and I think we would need to see if third-parties are interested in implementing that type of capability via an application not only to run on Google TV but obviously an application that runs on the mobile device to receive that. A lot of great ideas and a lot of developers are interested in adding these type of capabilities. And so, look for more applications and capabilities and services such as these from third-parties.
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(@ 32:34) Earl is asking a question here about social. Obviously social is very important to Google. And there are a lot of social integration capabilities that are currently under discussion internally. So, like with all of the future features and product capabilities nothing to announce right now. But, hopefully we'll have something to say soon.
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(@ 33:08) GTVHacker. I cannot comment on what GTVHacker is up to, so I'll just leave that at that. You'll have to ask them.
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(@ 33:27) We have about five more minutes before we need to wrap things up. So, if anyone has any final questions they want to get in, now would be a good time.
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(@ 33:33) Wolfgang is asking about Europe. Yes, we know we have a lot of eager customers of Google TV in Europe. And we don't have anything to announce at this time but we're working with our partners. Our consumer electronics partners as well as local distributors and local content owners being able to deliver the full Google TV experience in Europe. So, when we have something more fully baked, we will announce that. But rest assured, we know that's more to the world than just North America and we're eager to bring Google TV to all of those places.
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(@ 34:23) Yeah, the bookmarking question. I saw that one as well, Earl. I'll have to look into that. For a variety of reasons we chose not to import all of the capabilities in Chrome. Part of it was just the timeframe. Part of it was that we didn't feel we can get a good user experience but this specific feature, I'm not sure about. I'll have to look into that.
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(@ 34:50) Wolfgang, you're asking about kids mode. I assume you mean some kind of a parental lockout or safe search type of capability. Yes, that is definitely a feature that we are aware that a lot of people are asking for and that's something that's currently under development as well.
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(@ 35:18) USB Tuner. I can't speak specifically to that but it is a good question that there are more to the third-parties for Google TV than just application developers and website developers. There are also third-parties that are interested in building hardware peripherals and accessories. Like USB Tuners and cameras and other things like that. We're talking with the variety of people who would like to develop hardware accessories and when they have a particular product they're ready to bring to market. You will hear more about that.
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(@ 36:00) I'll answer Wolfgangs's question and maybe take one more and then we'll wrap up after that. Wolfgang is asking about [download torrents and file hosters]. I don't know whether it is possible or not. I will certainly leave that up to third-party developers to see if they can implement capabilities like that but again we're an open platform. Developers will be creating all kinds of applications. We'll see what they will deliver over time.
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(@ 36:33) I'll take one more question. Okay, Earl gets the last question. Keyboard Shortcuts. I will have to look into that to see what might have happened there. I do know that some keyboard shortcuts had to change because of the way Android and Chrome vs the previous version. I'll have to look back specifically what the gaps might be and see if we can close some of those gaps.
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(@ 37:13) I think we're out of time now. I want to again, thank you all for all your great support and interest and passion around Google TV. We will continue to be doing these hangouts. They seem to be very popular. And it really gives the product manager a great opportunity to interact directly with our users. Look forward to more of these in the near future. And with that I'll thank you all for participating and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.
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chicha29 · Jan 2, 2012

When did this Hangout occur? Two weeks ago? Because @18:23, he writes "The update is going out now".

eferz · Jan 2, 2012

chicha29 said: ↑

When did this Hangout occur? Two weeks ago? Because @18:23, he writes "The update is going out now".
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The hangout was hosted on December 8th, 2011. This was the original message on Larry Yang's Google+ page the day before.

Larry Yang - Dec 7, 2011 - Public
Join me in a hangout about Google TV tomorrow at 11AM PST. Leave your questions in the comments below, and we will try to cover them during the hangout. Thanks!
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