At Google’s annual I/O conference on Thursday, the search giant announced that it is leading a group of companies, including Sony and Intel, in an effort called Google TV. Google’s Android software, originally developed for smartphones, will power the new service, set to run on a range of high-definition TVs and devices that connect to TVs, which will go on sale later this year. Google said its Google TV service would combine traditional television programming with Internet video, and would allow people to easily search for programs without scrolling through unwieldy onscreen TV directories.
