Summary
- Google TV’s News Briefs feature may be incorporated into Ambient Mode in upcoming updates.
- Users may receive daily news updates on their Google TV home screen without actively using the device.
- All of this was discovered in code, and it’s unclear when and if this option will be released to the public.
Just last month, we reported on a Google TV experiment that brings News Briefs to your home screen. And while this is still in testing and hasn’t launched to the public quite yet, it appears that we’re getting some information about this feature and how it could evolve in its next form.
The folks at Android Authority have dug through the latest release of the Google TV Ambient Mode app, version 3.1.0.721404302, and found strings of code that give us clues about what to expect when it comes to the News Brief feature. And there’s a good chance that it may just be a part of Ambient Mode.
Google TV could be going through some changes
What’s great about this is that you’ll be able to get the day’s top news while you’re not really using your Google TV. Of course, some will be concerned about this invading their Google TV experience, and while there is a way to turn this off in the code, the news outlet reports that it’s unclear whether this will be implemented.
Of course, since this is just being read in code, there’s a chance that none of this will come to fruition as well. Regardless, it’s interesting to see Google play with the feature and make changes prior to its formal release. While most would like to keep their Google TV menus as clean as possible, having the ability to catch up on all the news in a day in an instant could be highly beneficial.
This would especially be the case if you’re someone that doesn’t have time to read the news that happens throughout the day. However, it’s going to be a constant battle between users getting a clean interface, and Google trying to pack in as many things as possible. Google TV has become even more cluttered over the past couple of years with things that you really don’t care to see.
Perhaps the most alarming addition to Google TV devices is the increase in ads over the past year. We even recently reported that Google TV was showing ads for ads now. While we’d love to think that Google will exercise some caution with News Briefs, there’s a good chance that it won’t, and the experience will become more of what we don’t want.
