Last month, Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca reportedly called Google TV “a big mistake,” and said the company would stop producing the Revue.

“The initial version of Google TV wasn’t perfect, but launching it gave us the opportunity to learn. These are still early days, and we’re working hard to move forward with each update,” Google said when it initially launched the update.

Today, Logitech announced it will begin delivering a free software update of the Android 3.1 platform to the Revue this week. On the company’s blog, Ashish Arora, VP and GM of the company’s Digital Home Group writes:

Some of the key developments include more entertainment choices such as access to Android Market; faster and more comprehensive search and browse capabilities; a simplified user interface, and improvements to the Logitech Media Player.

With the Android Market now available through your Logitech Revue, you’ll get new and useful apps all the time, such as the new Google Music app, making your Logitech Revue the fastest growing entertainment hub in your living room. At launch, the Android Market will feature around 50 apps optimized for HDTV, and we expect number of apps to increase over time.

A short message on the Google TV blog also says:

As Logitech announced, starting today all units of the Logitech Revue will begin to receive an over-the-air (OTA) update of the new Google TV software. The update will include a simplified design and interface, an improved search functionality, a TV & Movies app for easily finding great shows and movies to watch, access to the Android Market with many apps optimized for Google TV, as well as an improved YouTube application.

If you have the Revue, Arora just says to make sure your unit is turned on and connected to the web, and accept the update when it pops up on the screen.

Thanks to a just-in-time-for-Valentine’s-Day survey conducted by Logitech, they discovered 36 percent of Americans would rather give up having sex instead of their remote control.  It’s been said that those who wield the remote control, wield the power of the household, but at what cost?

If you’d rather go without physical love-making because your remote is so precious to you, perhaps a couple of trips your neighborhood therapist is in order.

While the study hasn’t been posted — in fact, the Logitech blog links to a press release from November of 2010 — ZDNet has some of the depressing details:

Yuck mouth over the power of the remote control?  Perhaps a trip to the therapist isn’t enough, Perhaps some electro-shock therapy is in order.  Granted, I, too, love my remote control, but certainly not to the extent where I’d sacrifice healthy dentifrice and a healthy sexual relationship to be in charge of it.

Granted, 64 percent of those surveyed come across as sane, got-my-priorities-right type of respondents.  The other 36 percent?  Not so much.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Sons of Anarchy as much as the next SoA fan, but I’ll be damned if I let it get in the way of some well-earned quality time.

On the bright side, if you’re one of the unlucky ones who has a significant other who meets the “would not give up the remote for sex” criteria, I guess you know what to get them for Valentine’s Day now.

Fair warning: that may or may not be the case.  The first outfit to report the alleged delay claimed it was due to everyone waiting on a software update, and there’s no obvious reason why Google couldn’t just deliver the update on an over-the-air basis to new owners.

Also, Google’s gone on the record stating that it didn’t order any halt in production.

But that’s where the theory involving poor sales and overstock enters the equation, because Monica Chen and Steve Shen wrote after talking to "industry sources," "Logitech has reportedly informed Gigabyte Technology to temporarily suspend shipments of Revue set-top boxes (STBs) for the period from December 2010 to January 2011 . . ."

That would represent a real embarrassment for Google, which planned to take the world by storm with its "smarter" TV experience.

Another, more concrete, source of embarrassment: John Paczkowski reported this afternoon, "Last Tuesday Apple said it expected sales of its next generation Apple TV to top one million units before Christmas.  Today the company confirmed to me that they did just that."

Maybe this ad is just what Google TV needs to pick itself up after a disappointing launch. 

Logitech’s description for the video says, "Can watching too much Kevin Bacon on the Logitech Revue with Google TV actually turn you into Kevin Bacon? Ivan Cobenk has his fingers crossed."

It will be interesting to see if Logitech produces more Ivan Cobenk commercials in the future or similar ads with other celebrities. 

The Revue is arguably the most imporant device for Google TV’s initial success because its cheaper and much more practical for consumers than buying a whole new TV (from Sony). The true success of the platform, however, will really rely on the number of devices it can get on – the Netflix model (or Android for that matter). If it can get on a wide range of devices, including things like Sony’s Playstation, that will be a huge win for Google TV, even if it doesn’t get the TV networks on board (though that would be pretty helpful too, I’d imagine). 

(via Matt Burns at CrunchGear)

Logitech Revue is the company’s set-top box that will help the Google TV service launch (alongside TVs and Blu-ray players from Sony).

The contest is looking for a "social media rock star" to help promote the device. Google’s YouTube is pretty excited about it (as the device will no doubt bring a great deal more YouTube video watching to living rooms). You can read the official rules here, but YouTube Product Marketing Manager Peter Sherman sums it up nicely:

If you can prove that you are a true social influencer with a passion for the new universe of TV and video that Google TV will offer, Logitech may select you to become a Logitech host and pay you to spend time in one of their lofts in New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco. Your mission will be to host a bunch of parties, show off the technology, and spread the word through your social circles.

Naturally, YouTube is encouraging its users to nominate themselves.

NewTeeVee looks at a new report from iSuppli, which finds that Internet TV is more popular than 3-D TV. That could mean good things for Google and all of its Google TV launch partners.

The phrases "open platform" and "seamless" were used by various executives from all of the companies involved throughout the whole day, and Logitech was no exception. Logitech does bring a unique perspective to the launch, however, as the company is known for its peripherals around the PC, as well as in the living room.

"We believe in open platforms," Arora tells WebPronews. "For a long time, we built a whole industry around the PC…when we first saw Google TV, we looked at it as a platform to innovate, and to build a new presence in the living room that consumers have never had before."

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"We’ve actually been in the living room for the last five years (and maybe even before that). Today we are North America’s largest provider of universal remote controls. And what that allows you to do is to have seamless control of your home electronics and your consumer electronic devices. Having said that, the platforms in the living room today are still very closed, and again, when we saw Google TV, what we really liked about it was to take all the experiences that we had built around the PC and offer them in the living room."

Logitech will initially offer a companion box for Google TV – an external device that connects to your TV through an HDMI port and utilizes the company’s Harmony technology, as well as a controller specifically designed to take advantage of all of Google TV’s features.

"Because we’ve embedded the Harmony technology inside the Companion Box, what that allows us to do is to use all of the devices in the Android ecosystem, so instead of using your remote control, or another remote controller, you can actually use your Android phone, whether it’s a Droid or a Nexus One, and have activities or have ways to control the entire entertainment experience by just one touch. So if you want to watch TV, you just press ‘Watch TV’, your TV turns on, your set-top box turns on, your channels switch, and you’re watching TV enhanced by Google TV."

Google TV devices such as Logitech’s companion box/remote will be available sometime this fall. Arora says they’ll be sharing more info in the coming months. Pricing is yet to be announced.

Logitech is a hardware manufacture specializing in PC peripherals – mice, keyboards, joysticks, and so on.  But you probably know that.  And you probably also know that Microsoft makes a lot of these things, and is quite successful within the industry.  So an acquisition might seem a little pointless.

Logitech is a strong competitor, though, and it wouldn’t be terrible for Microsoft to have such a money-maker in its stable.  Yet (and you can see that thinking about this subject requires a lot of back-and-forth) Beranger Guille and Ben Bschorthe point out that the combination of Microsoft and Logitech might be so powerful as to raise antitrust concerns.

We’ll be sure to report any additional updates, then, if there’s a change that they’ll bring clarity to the situation.  Generally speaking, though, it’s hard to completely discount this or any other rumor involving Microsoft – Steve Ballmer recently promised to buy companies at the rate of 20 per year for the next five years, and so far, we’ve seen little follow-through.

It’s the second headset I’ve bought in less than a week. This one, in fact, is a return-and-replacement for the one I bought a few days earlier. That one – a Plantronics Audio 510 USB - appeared to be faulty as every time I used it with Skype, the mute button would turn on by itself. Every time. Useless for my needs.

I’ve always bought Plantronics headsets until now. I have a Plantronics DSP 400 USB headset. It worked great right up until I stepped on the volume controller a few weeks ago. That resulted in sound out of only one headphone. Then I stepped on it again last week. Kaput – no sound at all.

So I’m happy with the Logitech product. Great sound quality with Skype, both for making calls and recording. And no weird self-muting.

While glancing through the Logitech website support pages – as one tends to do when buying a new product – I came across a useful bit of information about improving
the quality of your audio playback on a Windows PC.

A registry hack and worth doing. Very useful to know.

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Call it a product with no strings attached, as accessory maker Logitech does. The iPod can be up to 30 feet away from the user and still deliver its audio to the headphones.

The wireless headphones work with any iPod that has a dock connector. A wireless adapter weighing just over an ounce connects to the headphone jack of the iPod.

“No more untangling those earbuds when you pull your iPod out of the bag, or managing the cords while trying to enjoy your music. We believe our wireless headphones will truly be liberating for iPod owners,” said Ray Weikel, director of product marketing for Logitechs Audio Business Unit.

To transmit the audio from the iPod to the headphones, Logitech uses Bluetooth 1.2 wireless technology. Bluetooth includes adaptive frequency hopping to limit the effect of interference on the signal.

Rechargeable batteries power the headphones and should last up to eight hours on a single charge. Both the adapter and the headphones can be recharged fully in 2.5 hours.

Logitech should have the Wireless Headphones for iPod available in July. The suggested retail price will be $149.99.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.