As television and other entertainment industries battle video games for people's free time in today's environment, they might want to keep their eyes on future generations as well.

A study by Common Sense Media finds that 17 percent of five to eight year olds are already gaming on a daily basis – while 81 percent have played games through their lifetime.

That's a higher percentage than the number of parents who have played.

Television still chews up the majority of a child's screen time, coming in at 74 perent. Home computers weigh in at 13 percent and games are coming up fast with 10 percent.

Mobile media is also showing huge gains. In a typical day, the study found, 11 percent of all 0- to 8-year olds use a cell phone, iPod, iPad or similar device for media consumption.

Boys were more likely to play games than girls (by a 56 percent to 46 percent margin) – and were much more likely to play on a daily basis (14 percent for boys vs. 5 percent for girls).

(Disclaimer: I write app reviews for Common Sense Media.)

The first iteration of Google TV fell flat. It was, at its core, a good idea that was marred by poor execution and mismanagement. Now the search giant is ready to give it another go.

Starting Sunday, Google will roll out a software update to existing owners that's meant to serve as a reboot of the service. The update will bring a new interface as well as selected apps from the Android Marketplace – but it will also bring a lot of baggage and hurdles from the existing service (most notably the lack of any support from the major networks). 

Sony Internet TV units will get the update first, with Logitech Revue devices receiving theirs a few days later.

The interface is a much more streamlined row of options that will adorn the bottom of the screen (much like the home screen of a Mac), which is entirely customizable. Gone is the screen dominating collection of small screenshots.

The focus this time is on content discovery, helping people find what they want when they want it. Network streaming sites and Hulu still aren't playing ball with Google, so the company instead has launched a TV & Movies app, bringing your cable/satellite company's offerings with the major paid streaming services. Google+ is being planned as an additional offering in the months to come, which will add a social element.

See a series of videos explaining the product after the jump.

The rumor mill is, somewhat predictably, in overdrive about an Apple-built television set these days, following mention of it in Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs. And some of what's being talked about is pretty fascinating – assuming it's not just an elaborate game of telephone.

The latest suggestion is that the set, collectively dubbed iTV, will feature extensive voice control that's run by Siri, the intelligent assistant that's the star of the iPhone 4S.

Nick Bilton of the New York Times, says an Apple-made set "is not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when." The project, he maintains, has been in the works for years – with origins that could reach as far back as 2007. However, the company still has a lot of work left to do.

"It’s the stuff of science fiction, " writes Bilton. "You sit on your couch and rather than fumble with several remotes or use hand gestures, you simply talk: 'Put on the last episode of Gossip Girl.' 'Play the local news headlines.' 'Play some Coldplay music videos.' Siri does the rest."

The TV market could be a lucrative one for the company. Barclays predicts that even excluding content deals, Apple could generate an additional $19 billion in revenue a year from an iTV.

As Walter Isaacson's fascinating biography of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs continues to dominate best seller lists, PBS is offering its own take on the tech and new media mogul.

"Steve Jobs – One Last Thing" will premiere on the network Nov. 2 (10pm ET), featuring interviews with a number of people who knew him well.

Included in that bunch are Ronald Wayne, co-founder of Apple with Jobs and Steve Wozniak; Ross Perot, who invested in NeXT Computer when Jobs was running out of money; Walt Mossberg, principal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, who interviewed Jobs every year from 2003-2010; Dean Hovey, designer of the original mouse for Apple; and Bill Fernandez, who introduced Jobs and Wozniak in Sunnyvale, where the three hung out in his father’s garage and tinkered with electronics.

The documentary will also include clips from an unaired 1994 interview with Jobs where he shares some thoughts on life.

It's an interesting mix, but the trick will be including information that Isaacson's extensive bio doesn't – and that hasn't been widely disseminated in news reports covering the book.

Pioneer Productions produced the documentary for Channel 4 (UK) and PBS. It was funded by PBS, Channel 4 and Mentorn International.

Richard Kerris, the former chief technical officer of Lucasfilm who hopped over to Hewlett-Packard in February, is on the move again.

Kerris, who was head of worldwide developer relations at the Silicon Valley firm, "has decided to leave HP to pursue an opportunity outside of the company, effective immediately," according to a company spokesperson.

The departure isn't a complete shock. Kerris, who was named by Variety in 2008 as one of the entertainment industry's 10 Innovators to Watch, joined HP to boost developer interest in creating applications and programs for the company's webOS platform – including the now-infamous TouchPad and Pre 3, devices that were cancelled within months of their launch and less than six months after Kerris' arrival.

While at Lucasfilm, Kerris led an effort to streamline the way the company's divisions worked together – sharing assets and, in essence, getting filmmakers, animators and game makers to speak the same language.

It was his Apple experience that HP coveted, though. While at that company, Kerris was responsible for convincing developers who were working on other platforms to make the move to Apple's operating system.

No word, as yet, on where he's headed next.

The long standing whisper in the consumer electronics space has been that Apple is working to find a way to innovate in the television industry as radically as it had impacted the music, telecommunications and tablet fields.

Now, with the launch of Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, those whispers are becoming a roar.

Isaacson quotes Jobs as saying he struggled with the idea of an integrated television set that was as easy to use as other Apple products – but towards the end of his life, he found a solution he liked

From the book:

"'I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,' he told me. 'It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.' No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. 'It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.'"

The revelation – just one paragraph amidst over 600 pages – has got analysts in a tizzy. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, who has been pushing Apple to make TV more than a "hobby" for years, says he believes an Apple TV could debut by late 2012 or early 2013. Prototypes, he says, are already in the works.

User interface has been a growing concern for television manufacturers – and many feel the set is due for a makeover, given the ever-increasing amount of content that's being offered to consumers.

"Manufacturers often like to build closed systems -- and that makes it difficult to integrate them with each other," says Craig Engler, senior vice president and g.m. of Syfy Digital. "It could be that Apple does for the television industry what it did for tablets: create a new standard that everyone follows."

The speculation could be misplaced, though. Isaacson, in a conversation with CNET, further addressed the Apple-manufactured TV comment, saying "They weren't close at all. He told me it was very theoretical. These were theoretical things they were thinking about in the future."

Nintendo, which shied away from offering multimedia devices until long after its competitors, is getting more serious about video streaming.

The company has announced that its 3DS handheld system and the Wii will add Hulu Plus to their options before the end of the year. (No exact date was announced.)

The Wii is already the single biggest source for Netflix video streams, so the addition of a new service makes sense – and could be a big boost for Hulu, which has struggled to attract customers to its $7.99 per month premium service (in part because users still must watch ads with their shows after paying the subscription fee).

The addition also gives the 3DS a leg up on the forthcoming PlayStation Vita, which has yet to announce any third –party streaming services.

Meanwhile, Nintendo also announced it would enable 3D video recording on the 3DS starting late next month. The device can already be used as a 3D camera, but with the system update, users will be able to record stereoscopic 3D videos of up to 10 minutes. They'll only be able to play them back on the 3DS, however – not any other 3D capable device.

Taking on the undisputed leader in online search might seem like a fool's mission for any company, regardless of size, but MC Hammer says when it comes to searches that go beyond keywords, Google can't touch what he has planned.

The 80s rapper, real name Stanley Burrell, has spent the past two years working on WireDoo, a search engine he recently introduced at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco – and hopes will become the new standard for web inquries.

WireDoo, Hammer told attendees of the summit, adds relationship information to search results, meaning searches for cars would also pull up information on insurance, pricing and consumer safety.

On his shift from music to tech, he mentioned "no one is playing for singles anymore".

The site is currently in pre-beta and is accepting signups. 

Of all the video game publishers, none has been more bullish on 3D than Sony. Most of the company's original titles for the PlayStation 3 this year will be 3D enabled – and the company previously announced plans for a 3D starter set for players who were on the fence about the technology.

After a lot of dodging, Sony has finally unveiled the launch date for that set: Nov. 13. The 24-inch display will be bundled with one set of active 3D glasses, a six foot HDMI cable and (for those who preordered the device) a copy of the upcoming "Resistance 3" (others will get a copy of "MotorStorm Apocalypse"). It will retail for $499.

"Our commitment to 3D is unwavering, and we're adding more content all the time," said Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America said at the E3 trade show in June.

To really capture gamer interest, the set will allow two people playing a co-op version of the same game to see full screen images, instead of the truncated, split screen view players have become accustomed to.

The set is aimed squarely at college students and people who want to dip their toes into the 3D waters – and combined with the lineup of games featuring the technology, Sony is pretty confident that demand is about to spike for these sorts of titles.

"3D gaming is on the verge of completely taking off," says Tretton. "I think it’s a very similar analogy to HD. … Content will drive adoption."

To date, there hasn't been a lot of evidence suggesting 3D is about to take off. Nintendo bet big on glasses-free 3D with the 3DS, but sales haven't been particularly robust, even with a $70 price cut for that system. But the industry is counting on the fact that when it comes to early adoption of the latest gadgets, there's no better test audience than gamers.

"Gamers are usually technology adopters," says Tretton. "They're the first to go out and buy new tech. They played a big role in the adoption of Blu-ray. They played a big role in the adoption of high definition. And they will play a big role in the adoption of in 3D."

An unidentified actress is suing the parent company of the Internet Movie Database for over $1 million for revealing her age and refusing to remove it after she requested the site do so.

The actress, who is using the alias Jane Doe in the suit, is seeking $75,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages from retail giant Amazon, which owns the popular Hollywood database.

The suit describes the actress as being of Asian descent and using an Americanized stage name. She testifies that she subscribed to IMDB Pro in 2008, which required the use of a credit card, which included her legal name. Shortly after that, she noticed that her actual birthday had been added to her profile. She says she notified the site and requested that it be removed, but IMDB refused and the date of birth is still available for anyone to see.

The actress said she has taken pains to keep her legal name and date of birth hidden and there was no way IMDB could have learned of it independently. She accuses the site of misusing her credit card information "to perform unlawful records searches and then added personal and confidential information" to her public profile.

The suit claims the actress "has experienced a significant decrease in credits, earnings, and employment opportunities" since her birthday was posted.

"In the entertainment industry, youth is king," the suit reads. "If one is perceived to be 'over-the-hill,' i.e., approaching 40, it is nearly impossible for an up-and-coming actress, such as the Plaintiff, to get work as she is thought to have less of an 'upside,' therefore, casting directors, producers, directors, agents/managers, etc. do not give her the same opportunities, regardless of her appearance or talent."