android

An end to the Google bonus fairytale?

Clarification added December 30 (see text below).

For Googlers eagerly awaiting their famous holiday bonuses, be warned: Santa is tightening his belt too.

Google employees, some of whom have reportedly grown used to fairytale-like cash bonuses on the north side of $20,000, apparently got coal in their stockings this year. Certainly that's the takeaway for gossip blog Valleywag, which in a headline likened this year's bonus to "dogfood"--a euphemism for in-house testing--because Google would like some feedback. (Clarification: A few Google employees have contacted me to suggest that Valleywag's report on holiday bonus … Read more

Report: Garmin eyes Android phones for 2009

A couple weeks after Garmin signed up as a member of Google's Open Handset Alliance comes word that the company has plans for an Android phone next year.

Details, however, are scant. Here's the extent of the report from DigiTimes, citing Tony An, Asia-Pacific marketing director for the maker of GPS devices: "Garmin also plans to launch self-developed Android handsets in the second half of 2009, with production to be outsourced."

That quotation says "also" because the preceding sentence made reference to the long-drawn-out arrival of Garmin's Nuvifone, its first GPS-enabled handset, which … Read more

Google stuffs staffers' stockings with the G1

Google Australia employees--and those in many other countries--received an HTC Dream Android phone as a holiday gift.

"We've never developed anything like the Android software before, so this represented a unique opportunity to celebrate that achievement," a Google representative told ZDNet Australia on Monday.

Apart from spreading holiday cheer, having all the employees using the phone would help make Android better, the representative added. "Giving the Dream phone to Googlers also allows us to once again dog-food a product and make it even better."

Other Australians won't have to wait long for their own … Read more

In Google we trust?

The more Google grows, the more it becomes a cause for concern for many people--and not simply its competitors. But should it?

On the one hand, Google has become a privacy bogeyman, dropping off the list of the top 20 companies trusted with customer privacy. Ironically, this has come at the same time that Google has upped its commitment to open data policies, which enable users to control their own data privacy policies. Are users suggesting that they can't trust themselves?

This abandonment of trust in Google also comes in the face of an ever-growing commitment within Google to … Read more

Rumor has Android G2 in the works

On the heels of Google revealing enhancements to its Android mobile platform, rumors are circulating that we may soon be seeing a new Android device.

The T-Mobile G2, as the device will reportedly be called, will debut on January 26, according to "rumors" reported by Cell Phone Signal. The new device is expected to have a 5-megapixel autofocus camera, VGA camera for video calls, a full touch screen, and Wi-Fi connectivity, according to the blog.

Boy Genius Report has reported a follow-up rumor that says those specs are pretty accurate, but that the release date will actually be … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 876: A year without lawsuits, how did you know?

The RIAA has given us the greatest gift of all this holiday season, a promise not to sue you. However they are enlisting the ISPs into their fight against piracy. We also talk about how Universal is making bank, Apple fans are planning protests (Shah), and wish a fond farewell to Majel Barrett. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 876

In these troubled times, RIAA can’t afford to sue you http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10127003-93.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122966038836021137.html http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-recording-industry-moves-away-from-lawsuits-enlists-isps-in-piracy-figh/

Universal Music seeing ‘tens of millions’ from YouTube http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10126439-93.html… Read more

Google reveals upcoming Android features

Imminent enhancements to Google's Android mobile platform have been revealed this week, in the form of a development effort called "Cupcake."

Android is in the process of being turned by Google from its own development project into open source. This week, some of the changes made to the mobile operating system by a private group of developers came to light in Cupcake--the Android code the group shares with the outside world. Now, according to the Android road map, the Cupcake enhancements have started to be merged into the wider, open-source Android project.

The private development branch will … Read more

Report: Samsung readying Android phone

The latest to line up with word of an entry into the Android phone sweepstakes: Samsung Electronics.

Korea IT News reports that the electronics giant plans to offer a phone based on Google's Android operating system in the second quarter of 2009. The device will be released in North America through Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA, according to the report.

"To this end," the report says, Samsung "has added 30 experts in Linux and Java to the task force team of its information and communications division."

T-Mobile was the first carrier to offer an Android-based phone, the G1, … Read more

Google refines search results on iPhone

After revamping the iPhone's presentation of Google search results last month, the Internet giant has spread the change more broadly on the Apple device.

Previously, the new Google search results were available only when people typed Google.com into the phone's browser, then performed the search. Now the results also appear when using Safari's built-in search box, which, given that it's one fewer slow-loading page away from results, is how I use the service.

Google announced the change on its Google Mobile blog. The new results also appear on the T-Mobile G1, which uses Google's Android operating system. … Read more