Google has finally invaded consumer electronics, and by extension, your living room. For most of us, Google had already taken a firm hold of our Internet and cell phones. Now, with Google TV, Google has created a hardware and software platform that brings its searching awesomeness (and big-brother creepiness) to television.

The NSX-32GT1 is a mid-size model from Sony's new line of LCD sets with Google TV. (There's also a Blu-ray player with the Google TV feature.) At first glance, the NSX doesn't reveal its secrets readily. The TV's gloss-black front and gloss-white cabinet is indeed stylish, but they don't set it apart from many other attractive flat panels. The remote is the first sign something is up. It's smaller than it looks in pictures - just large enough for you to type with your thumbs, like NE gd txtr wd do. Two thumb pads adorn the remote's top. The one on the left is a traditional rocker with a button in the middle. The one on the right is an optical thumb tracker that works reasonably well to move the onscreen arrow, at least, for a 10-foot interface device. You won't be scrambling to replace your mouse anytime soon.

Setup
Getting the NSX-32GT1 up and running isn't that different from any other TV. Even the Web setup isn't too surprising, given how many devices use the Internet now. Logging into Google was certainly different.

One of the steps that the onscreen setup guide asks you is what provider you use for TV, and I told it AT&T U-verse (one of the options) then plugged my Motorola VIP1225 box into the NSX-32GT1 via HDMI. I next aimed the supplied IR blasters to talk to said box.

Once up and running - the process took no more than ten minutes - I was watching TV, controlling everything with the Sony remote. There was fraction of a second lag between inputting commands to the remote and the Motorola box responding, but it was barely noticeable.