Android 2.2, Google TV take center stage (photos)

For developers, San Francisco is the place to be this week as Google holds its I/O conference, where it's touting making devices smarter, more open, and better-connected. A huge red Google Maps marker tells attendees Moscone West is the spot Thursday, the second day of the show.

A large crowd has already gathered at 8 a.m. outside the hall for the keynote speech, where the company later announced Google TV and upgrades to the Android OS.

Google's stance on open-source standards is different than Apple's, but their respective events at Moscone Center are beginning to feel more and more similar. It's a full-on race to the front row when the doors open at Google I/O.

Vic Gundotra takes a few shots at Apple early into the keynote speech Thursday morning,

Google TV group product manager Rishi Chandra and technical director Vincent Dureau give a demo of the new integration of Web and television.

The company announced its strategy Thursday for intermingling TV and the Web in home electronics via a platform dubbed Google TV.

Google announces Android 2.2, also known as Froyo, the next version of Google's mobile-phone operating system.

One part of the Web TV experience will be the integration of content. Here, we see a demo showing an NBA game, alongside a fantasy basketball scorecard.

Many sites will run as-is on Google TV, but Google will also release APIs for Google TV applications. The NBA has developed a site for Google TV.

Standing in front of a slide reading "TV meets Web. Web meets TV," Google CEO Eric Schmidt says of the melding of media, "We've been waiting a long time for today."

Schmidt and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen share the stage at Google I/O Thursday.

Schmidt brought partners from Intel, Logitech, Sony, Dish Network, Adobe, and Best Buy on stage to discuss the future of TV and the Web.

Following the keynote presentation, Guntodra and Schmidt appeared at a question-and-answer panel with executives from such companies as Adobe, Sony, Best Buy, and Intel.

Schmidt leans over to speak to Gundotra during a question-and-answer session following the keynote speech.

Greg Allen, a developer at Demand Media, receives his free HTC Evo, which Google handed out to all conference attendees.

Froyo will have support for Flash Player 10.1 as well as an Adobe AIR developer pre-release.

With a "1984" image behind him, Gundotra recalled his first day at Google, when Andy Rubin, the head of the Android project, said that "we faced a draconian future, where one man, one carrier, one device would be our future" if Google didn't act. The clear allusion is to Apple and Steve Jobs.

A free, open-source operating system is critical, Gundotra says, so that developers and hardware makers can build what they want.

Google TV technical director Vincent Dureau, right, with Intel's Ottelini at the question-and-answer session.

Gundotra says that Android partners were selling 30,000 units a day. In February, they were selling 60,000 a day. As of this point, 100,000 Android phones are being activated a day.

Gundotra says Google's Navigation app native to Android devices has provided driving directions covering more than 1 billion miles of road trips.

In Android 2.2, you can make your Android device a portable Internet hot spot and tether it to a computer for Web access.

The updated Web browser in Android 2.2 will be the fastest mobile browser available, says Google.