$1,000 Bounty for first Google TV hack

Developer Howard Harte is offering a bounty for the first person to successfully root and add third-party application support to a Google TV device before Google does – Google will reportedly bringing support for Android applications to the platform some time next year. The reward for doing so will be $1,000 paid via PayPal, but there are several rules. For example, the hack must first be verified on one of Harte's Google TV devices and must allow an end-user to install third-party applications.

While Harte says that the procedure must be possible using a software-only approach, he will give partial consideration ($500) for other methods involving hardware hacks. Additionally, a YouTube video of Better Terminal Emulator Pro running on Google TV should be included with the submission. The full list of rules can be found on the MagicAndroidApps.com Wiki.

Originally announced at this year's Google I / O developer conference, Google TV is Android based and Google has said that it hopes that the platform will seamlessly bring the best of the web to the "high-quality viewing experience that TV offers". The only currently available devices that feature Google TV are Logitech's Revue set-top box and Sony's Internet TVs and its NSZ-GT1 Blu-ray player with built-in Google TV functionality. While the devices launched more than one month ago, many have already been deeply discounted as Google TV has been blocked by all of the major US networks – ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

See also:

• Google publishes additional Google TV details, a report from The H.

(crve)