TV networks are making it hard for Google TV, but hardware partners don’t seem to care since Toshiba and Vizio have plans to introduce Google TV products at CES 2011 this January. They either know something we don’t or are just trying to be trendy.

There’s no official confirmation from either company yet, but Toshiba’s American GM has been quoted saying that Google is a key partner on the PC side and will likely be a key partner on the TV side as well. Stay tuned.

Google has been working hard to bring the web experience to your HDTV, but it hasn’t been an easy road thus far. Viacom has just been added to the growing list of networks that are blocking access to Google TV. So far the only networks that allow streaming content to be viewable on Google TV are TBS and Time Warner.

With popular networks like Comedy Central, MTV, Disney and CBS already out of the picture, your choices for streaming content from your Google TV are not looking good at all. Google TV is just in it’s infancy, so this is a sad situation.

After a very long delay, Apple has posted Google Voice for the iPhone. It’s free in the App Store. The app lets users make outbound calls using a Google Voice number at its reduced rates and also supports free outbound messages. You can also check texts and voicemail with push notifications when they come in while the app is closed.

The app needs a Google Voice account of course. This comes after more than a year of controversy over its appropriateness for the store. Apple says that it never rejected the app but had let the title languish for months even after an FCC investigation. But it’s here now.

As if it wasn’t already great to work for Google, the company has announced that they will be offering their employees a 10% pay increase starting in 2011. CEO Eric Schmidt said in his email to over 23,000 employees, that the raise is in addition to a $1,000 holiday bonus.

One reason for their generosity is to help prevent their talented employees from going to other companies. Last month, Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said that the Internet industry is waging a “war for talent,”. Looks like he was right.

Looks like Google TV is being blocked by TV studios. The reason is because of piracy fears. Disney’s ABC and CBS have confirmed that they have prevented Google TV from watching their free Flash video sites. Both companies thought that Google did not do enough to prevent the threat of piracy.

We aren’t sure how Google will handle this. They will definitely need to implement something to prevent something like this from happening in the future. Do ABC and CBS even have anything worth watching on their flash video sites?

Google has announced a new version of its YouTube app for Android. Most Android phones come with YouTube preloaded already, but the new version is available as a separate download from the Android Market. Google is trying to make it easier for users to update key apps without waiting for their phone company to upgrade to the latest version of the Android operating system.

The new app currently requires Android 2.2 and up. It also supports in-page playback, allowing you to read comments while a video is playing. You can still watch videos in full screen, by rotating the display. It’s easy to search YouTube, view and subscribe to channels, even shoot videos with your camera and upload them directly to YouTube.

Sony’s Google TV controller has been leaked ahead of schedule, showing up on an episode of NBC Nightline. The controller looks like it combines a full QWERTY keyboard with two directional pads, your usual volume/channel controls for the TV, and a variety of playback buttons. The large layout leaves room for extra button rows with numbers and shortcuts for other functions. It looks pretty good.

Google TV-enabled devices are scheduled to arrive on the market next week. Sony will introduce its Bravia GT1 TV, while Logitech is readying its Revue set-top box. We aren’t sure if Sony will introduce the controller alongside the TV or not.

[electronista]

Folks are really eager to get them some Google TV, whether through hardware from Logitech, or TVs from Sony. Looks like Google already has a hit on their hands. The service should do well, though it has some competition from Apple’s Apple TV hardware.

Google has just launched a new site, so if you want, hit the link below and take a tour and get to know the features. If you don’t already, you will want to get in on Google TV after you check it out.

Google has now announced that it is offering Street View on all seven continents. Google has now added Street View coverage for Brazil, Ireland, and Antarctica to its offerings. Strange to hear Street View on Antarctica considering there are no streets.

The content was apparently either given to Google by people that have been there or the images were taken while walking around. The Antarctica content that is on the service is panoramas of Half Moon Island. There is also a cool image of a bunch of penguins standing around.

According to Digitimes, Google will ship over 1 million Google TVs by the end of the year. We heard earlier that the Logitech Revue Google TV set top box had already been shipped to retailers, and 500,000 units were on their way to stores, so they might just reach this figure.

That 1 million also includes TVs from manufacturers like Sony, and others who have already confirmed that they are producing hardware using Google’s TV software. We just have to see how it plays out.

Google just announced that they were celebrating a milestone achievement of more than 3 million business that have “gone Google” by switching their software to do their work using Google apps. The other announcement is the one we are concerned with. That Google Docs will soon be editable on Android and on the iPad.

This is great news for people who are on the move and need to edit Google Docs, but don’t have access to a computer. With Google Docs being editable from your phone and tablet, it’s going to raise the app’s productivity to a whole new level.

We know that Google TV is scheduled to arrive sometime in the fall. Now a leaked Best Buy document shows that the original launch date was October 3rd and has now been pushed back by two weeks, pointing to an October 17th launch date.

It makes sense. Best Buy is an official partner for Google TV and these dates are close to the upcoming holiday season, so there may just be something to this.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine has just overtaken Yahoo and is now in the second place spot for search engine’s in the US. That means it is now going to go up against Google, the top dog. At least according to The Nielsen Company.

In August alone, Bing grew from 13.6 percent to 13.9 percent of the US search market. Yahoo declined from 14.3 percent to 13.1 percent. While Google’s share went up from 64.2 percent in July to 65.0 percent. Google shouldn’t worry though. With Bing and Yahoo combined, their search share of 27.0 percent is still less than Google’s.

If you purchased the Samsung Fascinate from Verizon, then surely you have noticed that the phone comes standard with Bing instead of Google, and getting the Google Search application installed is a pain. This is because Verizon and Microsoft have entered a multi-device deal to promote Bing.

This might not be a deal breaker to most, but to some of us it’s pretty annoying. To anyone who prefers Google’s search engine to Bing, it is annoying. At least we have some good news. According to a Verizon Wireless spokesperson, when the Fascinate is updated to Android 2.2, users will be able to download the Google Search application to get easy access to Google’s search, but the downside is that users will still be unable to change the default search setting from Bing to Google.

There are many reasons why someone might want alerts sent to their desktop rather than only on the phone. For instance, my wife likes crappy music and it drives me crazy to hear it. She also gets 10 million texts per day so when she is wearing her headphones I end up hearing the text alert on her phone all day.

If she was using an Android device and a Mac or Linux computer a new application is available called Android-Notifer that would take those notifications for calls and texts and send them to the computer. The app sends notifications to the PC via Bluetooth or WiFi right now.