Google Archive

Liz Gannes at AllThingsD has an interesting perspective on the Google Reader shutdown. According to her sources, the shutdown was motivated by concerns over compliance - especially privacy. She explains how every product team needs compliance officers, and that Google was unwilling to create such an infrastructure for Google Reader. "The context for this concern about compliance is Google's repeated public failures on privacy due to lack of oversight and coordination. It's pretty clear why Page is trying to run a tighter ship."

"Google's Chrome and Android operating systems will remain separate products but could have more overlap, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said, a week after the two came under a single boss." That's that, then.

"We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months." This makes me very, very sad. Any good alternatives - alternatives with Windows Phone and Metro applications, that is?

Andy Rubin, who created Android and has led its development both at Android Inc. and later at Google, has decided to step down as the big Android boss at Google. Having created the world's "most-used mobile operating system", as Google CEO Larry Page refers to it, I'd say his stint has been successful. Interestingly enough, he will be succeeded by Sundar Pichai - Chrome OS boss. Yes.

"Google contributed $25000 to honor the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission while the company was under investigation by the agency for antitrust violations, Senate records show. Google donated the money to Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based advocacy group that gave FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz an award for his work in developing policies to help children, according to a January disclosure report." I'm totally sure this is just a coincidence.

"Google has opened a public kernel repository, marked as experimental, for the Linux 3.8 kernel. The kernel repo is built from the standard Linux kernel, with Android modifications added by the folks in Mountain View working on the Android project. The reason this is good news? 3.8 includes three important and interesting changes for mobile devices - support for open source NVIDIA Tegra and Samsung Exynos DRM drivers, support for the Flash-Friendly File-System, and a lower memory footprint - in some cases much lower. Having native support means less development time by Google or anyone else building the kernel for Android, and everyone loves more memory for apps instead of the system."

"Thanks to a source close to the Glass project, though, we're excited to give you some insight into what magic actually happens inside that wearable eyepiece, what that UI looks like, and how the innovative functionality will work, both locally and in the cloud." Lots of interesting details. The key to Glass? Developers have to use Google's server-side Mirror API, so everything goes through Google's servers. This keeps local processing needs to a minimum, keeps everything tightly controlled, and, of course, gives data to Google.

Lucky bas... Joshua Topolsky got to use and test Google Glass. "Is it ready for everyone right now? Not really. Does the Glass team still have huge distance to cover in making the experience work just the way it should every time you use it? Definitely. But I walked away convinced that this wasn't just one of Google's weird flights of fancy. The more I used Glass the more it made sense to me; the more I wanted it. If the team had told me I could sign up to have my current glasses augmented with Glass technology, I would have put pen to paper (and money in their hands) right then and there. And it's that kind of stuff that will make the difference between this being a niche device for geeks and a product that everyone wants to experience. After a few hours with Glass, I've decided that the question is no longer 'if', but 'when?'" No wonder Google is going into retail. They need physical stores to sell this.

This is amazing. Not only has Google just opened up the pre-order program for Google Glass to 'creative individuals', it has also unveiled what the user interface looks like and how it works. It's... Nothing short of amazing. I'm throwing money, credit cards, my car keys, my house keys, my Surface RT, my cats, everything at my screen. I want this so bad.

"Sebastian Holst makes yoga mobile apps with his wife, a yoga instructor. The Mobile Yogi is sold in all the major mobile app stores. But when someone buys his app in the Google Play store, Holst automatically gets something he says he didn't ask for: the buyer's full name, location and email address. He says consumers are not aware that Google Inc. is sharing their personal information with third parties. No other app store transmits users' personal information to third-party developers when they buy apps, he said." Oh Google.

"Stitcher Radio, one of the most popular news, radio and podcast apps on Android recently underwent a complete redesign. Lead Android developer at Stitcher, Tyler Pearson, was kind enough to take some time out of his day after the launch of the new app to talk to us. We had a chance to (virtually) sit down and talk to Tyler about their newly redesigned Android app, Google design guidelines and the state of the Android ecosystem." The rate at which Android applications improve thanks to Holo and Google's guidelines is astonishing. There's more and better Holo applications every day, and my self-professed credo to only install Holo applications - 'Holo or nono' - requires zero effort these days. That nonsense about Android applications being inferior to those of other platforms? A bunch of outdated nonsense.

"People are, unsurprisingly, upset that Microsoft have imposed UEFI Secure Boot on the x86 market. A situation in which one company gets to determine which software will boot on systems by default is obviously open to abuse. What's more surprising is that many of the people who are upset about this are completely fine with encouraging people to buy Chromebooks. Out of the box, Chromebooks are even more locked down than Windows 8 machines." Good point.

"Native Client enables Chrome to run high-performance apps compiled from your C and C++ code. One of the main goals of Native Client is to be architecture-independent, so that all machines can run NaCl content. Today we're taking another step toward that goal: our Native Client SDK now supports ARM devices, from version 25 and onwards."

"Google's fourth-quarter earnings rose 7 percent as online advertisers spent more money in pursuit of holiday shoppers. The financial results announced Tuesday were a mixed bag. While the company's earnings topped analyst estimates, an accounting quirk caused net revenue to fall below the projections that guide investor expectations."