$1000 Bounty Offered to Root Google TV

I have been closely following a thread on XDA Developers about hacking Google TV. Though this thread has been up for over a month, not much progress has been made to root any of the Google TV products out there.

Unfortunately, it seems like the devs and hackers have very little incentive to root these Android devices. My guess is probably because Google TV is not as mainstream and universally available as Android mobile phones are – well at least not yet. With that said, digging up $300 or more to buy the device to root has not been a priority for many developers.

As an incentive to root the Google TV, $1000 USD is being offered for the first person to root the device, allowing it to run third-party apps.

The Google TV Root Bounty reads:

I will give $1000.00USD to the first person who roots/add third-party app support to Google TV subject to the following rules:

• The Google TV device must be hacked before Google officially unveils third-party App development support for the Google TV.
• The person must contact me via email and detail the procedure to hack either the Sony NSZ-1 Blue-Ray DVD Player with Google TV, or the Logitech Revue. I will verify the procedure on one of my devices.
• For the Google TV to be considered rooted, the procedure must result in the end-user having the ability to install third-party apps.
• The procedure must be applicable to production versions of Google TV devices.
• The procedure should be doable using a software-only approach. Partial consideration ($500.00USD) will be given for other methods that involve hardware hacks to the Google TV. A hardware hack is one that involves opening up the Google TV device, including, but not limited to: Reprogramming via JTAG, serial console access, reprogramming FLASH memory chips using a FLASH programmer, etc.
• The successful hacker should include a YouTube video of Better Terminal Emulator Pro running on the Google TV.
• Payment will be made via PayPal.

The website offering this bounty is MagicAndroidApps.com. Check out the Google TV Root Bounty wiki for resources by clicking HERE. You can also checkout the XDA Developers forum for more details on the root status of Google TV by clicking HERE.

I anxiously wait to see how Google TV’s capabilities will be enhanced with root. Wouldn’t Android Market access be lovely? I would easily dish out $300 for this.

Happy Hacking!

Source: Magic Android Apps Wiki