Can Google TV do what so many have failed at?

Second, Google seems willing to play well with others. The company's announcement gave visual or explicit nods to Microsoft, Netflix, Adobe Flash, the NBA, Pandora, Amazon, and Hulu.

That last name is huge for two reasons. Streaming Hulu on your TV is the next best thing to a DVR – possibly better since you can watch old programs that you didn't think to record. But perhaps more important is that Hulu has previously shut down services that delivered its videos on a TV. The Sony PS3 once allowed you to watch Hulu shows; then the Web company killed the feature. If Hulu is part of Google TV, as today's keynote suggested, it shows that Google is ready to cut interesting deals and pull in reluctant companies. That bodes well for the service as a whole.

This corporate magnetism brings us to the third hopeful sign: People love Google. There's no metric to define this, but Americans want Google to amaze them and trust that it can. Millions of people have embraced Google Search, Google Maps, Google Voice, YouTube, Blogger, Google Doodles, Google News, Google text-message searches, Android phones. What's next? Maybe Google TV.

We'll find out this fall, when the first devices go on sale.

What do you think? Share your praise and pans in the comments.

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