Week in review: Google TV, gadgets galore

Gadget news took the spotlight this week, perhaps shining most brightly on the launch of Google TV. But devices were also being touted from stages across the globe, from the fall CTIA wireless trade show in San Francisco to the futuristic Ceatec gadget trade show in Japan.

The Google TV launch party kicked off this week with a bicoastal unveiling of Logitech's Revue set-top box, the first to arrive with the Google TV software.

Google TV is designed to blend the Web experience with the television experience, something tech companies have been trying to do for at least a decade. In addition to Web browsing and video watching, Google TV users will also be able to download apps for their TVs. Sony will be following up with its own Google TV product launch next week.

The Revue is set to come out at the end of October with a $300 list price, and preorders are already being taken. (Click here for CNET's first take on the device.)

Of course, it's a bit early to tell whether the traditionally passive couch potato will actually buy into the idea of a TV-plus-PC this time. And Google has little to share so far regarding its plans for ads in Google TV or data-sharing policies. These will be things to watch as the Web giant tries for an Android sequel. As CNET's Tom Krazit puts it, "Think of Google TV as the second season of Project Android: open-source software, backed by industry partners, created in hopes of unlocking a potentially huge new repository of Internet searches."

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