Google Archive

Wired's Steven Levy got to interview Google CEO Larry Page, and it's a good read overall. When asked about how he feels about Jobs' infamous remark that he would go 'thermonuclear' on Android, Page defiantly responds "How well is that working?" He's got a point. He's even harsher on Facebook, stating that the social network does "a really bad job on their products". My favourite quote from the interview is in response to questions about Google X, and projects like Google's self-driving cars. "If you're not doing some things that are crazy, then you're doing the wrong things."

"Developers who want to get their hands on Google's Project Glass won't have to wait much longer. Google announced plans Tuesday to hold a 'Glass Foundry' in San Francisco and New York in the coming weeks: two full days of hacking that will allow developers to get an early look at Glass and start developing for the platform. The first day of the event will be an introduction to Glass, while the second will explore the Mirror API, which 'gives you the ability to exchange data and interact with the user over REST'. Google engineers will be on site to help developers at any point in the process." Can't wait to see what developers can do with this.

A blog post on the Free Software Foundation Europe site is making the rounds around the web. The blog post, written by Torsten Grote, claims that 'the Android SDK is now proprietary', because upon download, you have to agree to terms and conditions which are clearly not compatible with free and/or open source software. What Grote fails to mention - one, these terms have mostly always been here, and two, they only apply to the SDK binaries. The source is still freely available.

So, Gingerbread has finally dropped below 50% of devices accessing Google Play. Ice Cream Sandwich has almost hit the 30%, and after six months, Jelly Bean (4.1 and 4.2) almost hit the 10%. Google's page listing these numbers is like a trainwreck in slowmotion.

"Google Sync was designed to allow access to Google Mail, Calendar and Contacts via the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol. With the recent launch of CardDAV, Google now offers similar access via IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV, making it possible to build a seamless sync experience using open protocols. Starting January 30, 2013, consumers won't be able to set up new devices using Google Sync; however, existing Google Sync connections will continue to function." Others are free to implement the open protocols.

"Google has revealed that it has no plans to develop dedicated apps for Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 for its business app products such as Gmail or Drive." Product management director for Google Apps, Clay Bavor, told V3 that Google "will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8". Ouch - but for now, hard to argue with.

As the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 go on sale, several Galaxy Nexus owners are already getting the update to Android 4.2. Luckily, updating your Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 manually is easy - download the update file from Google, and install it through adb. I did so earlier today, and it all went smoothly. Chrome seems to perform better (yay!), but for the rest this is clearly a point release. Two issues for me: the new lockscreen with widget support is a joke (only three Google-sanctioned widgets are available), and on the Nexus 7, Google did something I just can't wrap my brain around. Whereas on phones you open the new settings dropdown with two fingers, on the Nexus 7 you swipe down with one finger on the right to get the settings dropdown, and one finger on the left to get the notifications panel. Unintuitive, and incredibly cumbersome and confusing on a relatively small device like the Nexus 7. No more one-handed operation, either. Why Google didn't just employ the same two-finger gesture on the Nexus 7 as they did on the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus is beyond me. Such a massive UI fail - it almost makes me want to go back to 4.1.2. Luckily, my new HTC 8X will arrive in the mail tomorrow to distract me.

After the short story on Chrome for Android not entirely living up to the promise of its desktop sibling, I went on a serious Android browser testing spree - fueled by suggestions from readers here and on Twitter. The conclusion? As much choice as there is, they all seem to be lacking in one important aspect: user interface. Ugly, inconsistent, non-Holo, confusing - and this applies to Chrome as much as it does to third party browsers. Since I really want a good Android browser, I sat down, and about 23 seconds later, I realised that all the ingredients for a really good and distinctive Android browser are right here in front of everyone using Android. Also: this approach would result in a tablet interface, all for free!

"Google's quest to guess what we want before we want it has produced an unusual side effect: a disparity in the results the company presents about the presidential candidates. A Wall Street Journal examination found that the search engine often customizes the results of people who have recently searched for 'Obama' - but not those who have recently searched for 'Romney'." A confirmation bias' wet dream, this. The confirmation bias is already one of the root psychological causes of much of the problems in the world as it is - we really shouldn't have technology companies make it worse. Technology - and more specifically, the internet - should fight this bias, not affirm it.

"The Nexus 4 is absolutely wonderful, but it's also vexing. Frustrating. Annoying. It's easily the best Android phone on the market right now, and has some of the most powerful software that's ever been put on a mobile phone. It's an upgrade from last year's Galaxy Nexus in every way. It's terrific - save for one small thing. " Lack of LTE, obviously. Bigger issue for me as a European: glass back. Apparently it cracks. Who'da thunk?

While Microsoft is unveiling all about Windows Phone 8, Google ruined the party a little bit by 'leaking' all about Android 4.2, the Nexus 10 tablet, and the new Nexus phone, the LG Nexus 4. There's some pretty awesome stuff in here from Google - except for the fact the devices themselves are kind of ugly.

The Next Web: "Google has also been working with Samsung to launch a 10-inch tablet, confirming leaks which suggested Google had teamed up with the Korean manufacturer for another device. Our source tells us that internally the tablet goes under the name 'Codename Manta', runs Google's new Android 4.2 operating system (previously referred to as Key Lime Pie, but is set to retain the Jelly Bean branding), and will offer a 2560x1600 pixel (10:16) resolution, which we believe will offer around 300 pixels per inch compared to the new iPad's 264 PPI." Between the iPad and this supposed Android tablet... Poor Surface. Poor, poor Surface.

"Google was scheduled to post third quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday, but unexpectedly they were released around 12:31 PM in New York, revealing a big miss on profit. The company also missed expectations on revenue." I have no idea if the figures are bad, and if so, how bad. I mean, missing analysts' estimates doesn't really say anything useful, does it?

Pretty cool: an alpha image of Android 4.2 from the leaked LG Nexus device includes SELinux. "According to the layout xml, SELinux will have a status readout tacked-on to the current About Phone screen. It will now list 'SELinux Status' at the very bottom, right under 'Kernel version' and 'Build Number'. If you're wondering why there are 3 options and not just 'on' and 'off', 'Permissive' is a logging mode, which will tell you when it would have blocked something, but won't actually block things. The other key piece of information to get from the string file is that this is an optional mode, don't go around saying that Google is shutting down root functionality or anything. This is for security conscious enterprise and government-types and probably won't be enabled on consumer phones."