Netflix and Google have both been trying to save television. And we are not talking about YouTube and Arrested Development for a change, but on the actual TV set – the device that’s in your living room.
Netflix has been talking behind closed doors to TV makers to make their so-called smart TVs less painful to use, Google has worked to replace the on-screen keyboard with voice search and both companies have cooperated to establish an open AirPlay competitor – work that eventually led to Google’s Chromecast device, which launched a little more than a week ago and immediately sold out online and in stores around the country.
This week, we chronicled these efforts to make TVs suck less in a three-part series called Making TVS smart that featured interviews with developers, executives and more. Here’s your chance to catch up in case you missed it:
- Making TVs smart: why most smart TVs still feel pretty dumb No one really enjoys using smart TVs, which is why Netflix has been talking behind closed doors to key manufacturers to up their game.
- Making TVs smart: why TV app developers struggle to succeed in the living room Developing apps for TVs isn’t as easy as it seems, thanks in part to countless of competing platforms. So what can ordinary developers do, and how does Netflix deal with these issues?
- Making TVs smart: why Google and Netflix want to reinvent the remote control Navigating online video apps with a traditional remote control is painful – which is one of the key reasons why Google’s new Chromecast device uses phones and tablets instead.

{"source":"https:\/\/gigaom.com\/2013\/08\/04\/from-dial-to-chromecast-how-netflix-and-google-want-to-save-tv\/wijax\/49e8740702c6da9341d50357217fb629","varname":"wijax_8d3a31645fefca7f13c84244ae7a64df","title_element":"header","title_class":"widget-title","title_before":"%3Cheader%20class%3D%22widget-title%22%3E","title_after":"%3C%2Fheader%3E"}