Not content with ruling the online search and advertising space, Google has joined forces with Panasonic to create a television set that will also display dynamic, live web content like YouTube video and online photos.
These Panasonic plasma-screen TVs from manufacturer Matsushita will be available sometime this spring in the US, with no release date given as yet for the European market.
Viewers will be able to watch content from the Google-owned YouTube in a high-definition widescreen format and access their online photos from Picasa, also owned by Google.
Matsushita is currently the world’s leading plasma TV maker and saw its shares rise higher after this announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show, now running in Las Vegas.
“Panasonic’s cooperation with YouTube and Google’s Picasa Web Albums exemplifies our commitment to leading the natural evolution of the internet and extending it to the high-definition television,” Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company’s vice president Merwan Mereby said in a statement.
By Marie Boran
