TechCrunch calls it first: Google Android could conceivably work on a television set top box. More than that, it seems destined to, from my perspective. Look inside Android:
Look down in the media layer. H.264, MPEG4, MP3, AAC, you name it, it’s in there. Plus OpenGL graphics for 3D.
How many phones have the processing power to take advantage of OpenGL? Not many. Maybe the Nokia N series.
How many set top boxes have OpenGL ready 3D graphics chips? More than a few. Here’s Eagle Broadband‘s set top box.
Android is written on Dalvik, the virtual machine that looks a lot like Java and quacks like Java, which is what a lot of mobile phones run. However, lots of set top boxes do as well, plus Windows Embedded and Linux… which is what Android’s core is.
Google already serves up TV ads on EchoStar, according to the TechCrunch article. How much more powerful could it be if it controlled the set top box?
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