Google media server: A giant toe in the door?
It already dominates the Internet - why not the TV? Probably Google wasn't thinking exactly in those terms when it conceived the idea for Google Media Server, its latest addition to a ballooning product line. But planting a foothold in a medium in which it so far only dabbles is clearly the driver behind this release.
Google Media Server is the company's latest enhancement to its Google Desktop suite. Basically, it is software that allows users to view content from the Internet on a television.
Unlike many other media server software applications, it can support videos from YouTube and photos from Picasa Web Albums - both Google properties.
It runs using Google Desktop technology - e.g., Desktop gadgets for the administration tool and Google Desktop Search to locate media files. "All you need is a PC running Google Desktop and a UPnP-enabled device such as a PlayStation 3, wrote Software Engineer David Garcia.
