Mobilityfeeds

HTML5 takes off very slowly due to high app development cost and browser fragmentation

This week during a panel discussion at the Open Mobile Summit in London, Andrey Doronichev, Google's executive in charge of YouTube, recently explained why the popular video sharing site has been slow in fully adopting HTML5.

There are several factors involved, the biggest of which is the cost of building apps using the new markup language.

"Building apps with HTML5 is its own skill, it's harder than [Apple's] iOS," he said. "The app has to work across Websites on different browsers, so browser fragmentation is an issue."

There's also a problem of distribution.

Don't expect a Chrome OS tablet anytime soon

There are no plans for a Chrome OS tablet, according to Google, although the Internet giant has said that there will be more convergence between the Android and Chrome Operating Systems (OS).

Linus Upson, Google’s Vice-president of engineering said:  

“We are not working on a Chrome OS tablet. We have our hands full in delivering a wonderful experience on desktop and laptop and the Android team have their hands full bringing a great experience on phone and tablet. But the two teams are working together even more closely.”

Citing Microsoft’s somewhat disastrous previous efforts to run one Operating System across both smartphones and desktop computers, Google is following the lead of Apple, which has maintained a degree of separation between it’s Mac OS and the iOS platform used on the iPhone and iPad. 

Google comes back with a Samsung Chromebox and Chromebook

Google and Samsung have announced a desktop PC sporting an overhauled Chrome Operating System (OS), with the Chromebox joining a brand new Chromebook laptop.

With Chrome OS reshaped entirely to much closer resemble familiar Operating Systems like Apple's Mac OS and Microsoft Windows the new products are hoping to capture a share of the low-cost market.

With Chrome OS trying to take advantage of the move to cloud computing, both Chromebook and Chromebox are all about connectivity and the Chrome browser remains front and centre in the Operating System.

Google 'Cloud Print' allows printing to an Android device

Although modern computing devices and software offer much richer ways to consume, manipulate, and share content, there are still people who prefer to put their documents and images on slices of dead tree.

Google introduced a service called Cloud Print in 2010 with the aim of helping said people print physical copies of their files from smartphones and Chromebooks.

Google Cloud Print got an update today with several new features, including improved Android integration and the ability to print a file to a local FedEx office (sdelected locations only).

Google also announced that Canon has joined the lineup of hardware vendors who natively support the service.

Google Chrome browser beta for Android brings new features and languages

The Android Operating System (OS) version of Google's Chrome browser is now available in a host of new languages and has gained several new features, but it remains in beta testing and is afflicted with a variety of bugs.

First released in February 2012 for tablets and phones that run the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, Chrome for Android now has its User Interface (UI) in 31 additional languages and is available in all countries with access to Google Play, which was previously known as the Android Market.

China to become worldwide main smartphone market in 2012 - Report

 

China is poised to displace the United States as the number one smartphone market worldwide in 2012, according to the latest figures from the research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

Although China is only expected to surpass the US by a very slim margin, Wong Teck Zhung, a Senior Market analyst with IDC’s Asia/Pacific Client Devices team, warned in the report: 

“There will be no turning back this leadership changeover.”

Apple updates its Safari Web browser with 83 security flaws patched

 

Apple has released a massive security update to its Safari Web browser, patching a record number of flaws, nearly 90% of them leaving a critical component open to attack.

The newest version of the browser, Safari 5.1.4, tackled 83 security glitches in the browser, 72 of which of existed in WebKit, the library used in Safari as well as in other browsers like Google Chrome, and on iOS and Android.

The WebKit vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to carry out several attacks, including cross-site scripting, memory corruption and HTTP authentication credential theft, on a target's unpatched system by luring them to a maliciously crafted Website.

LG signs a patent deal with Microsoft to cover its Android and Chrome devices

Microsoft on Thursday announced a patent licensing agreement with LG Electronics covering the South Korean manufacturer's tablets, smartphones and other consumer devices running Google's Android or Chrome Operating System (OS).

In a press release, Microsoft said it marks the 11^th deal with a device manufacturer leveraging Google's Operating System platform, noting:

"More than 70% of all Android smartphones in the US are now receiving coverage under Microsoft 's patent portfolio."

Google tries to add feelings to its brand and to attract the non-tech-savvy user through a new ad campaign

Google, one of the biggest advertising companies in the world, has finally embraced advertising for itself. 

The search giant made its first push into advertising with a Super Bowl ad in 2010 about a young couple falling in love.

But through last year it began a more focused national television campaign in the United States, as well as taking on other efforts, like hosting Google-themed conferences in an effort to represent its online brand in the offline world. 

The CyanogenMod team starts releasing their first Android Ice Cream Sandwich builds

CyanogenMod, one of the most popular after-market versions of Google's Android available for a wide variety of devices, just introduced the first few builds of its system based on Android 4.0, which is also known as Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

It's great news for those who hack their own Android devices, but it could be less-than-welcome news for IT managers.
If users can install CyanogenMod on their phones - which means rooting a phone - all bets are off as to how manageable, and how safe, those phones will be in the enterprise.

HTC thinks of merging some Chrome with Android

Reports have claimed HTC is looking at the Chrome Operating System (OS) as a solution for mobile Internet access, which it would somehow combine with Google's Android to create what would undoubtedly be a disaster no one would ever want.

According to DigiTimes sources, HTC is considering the hybrid OS for a new range of devices that would sit somewhere between the notebook and tablet markets, presumably developing alongside its existing Android tablets and massive phones.
The combined OS would take the best bits of Chrome — boot speed and hardware compatibility — and somehow stitch it together with Android.

Google launches best ever Google Search for iPad

Google has launched a fresh new version of its Google Search for Apple's iPad app.

The new version of the app has undergone a complete overhaul with a new look, and more visual interface for searching throughout.

The new searching interface is tightly integrated with Google Instant, which means that you will start seeing results immediately upon beginning your search query.

Once you’ve chosen a result, a pane slides in from the right-hand side, much like the official Twitter app for iPad.
This pane will allow you to continue to browse results while the page loads and to switch back and forth between the two sections quickly.

Kobo Vox Android eReader review

Though devices for reading electronic books with close to a tablet PC functionality were present on the market before, only the launch of the Kindle Fire allowed Amazon to make a bid for success in the segment of “purebred tablets”.

But in spite of positioning Kobo Vox eReader device, produced by Kobo, as a solution for reading eBooks, for the price and functionality this device can compete with the Kindle Fire.

The device came into the market on 28^th October, 2011.
In any case, the price of a new device is US$199.99 (€145.40), for which a consumer receives a seven-inch color touchscreen display that supports 1024 x 800 pixels and is multi-touch.

The colors completely pop on the unit. The apps which are worked up by Kobo are optimized for fitting the eReader’s screen.
The display is without glare, and this enables a user to read outdoor even in sunny weather.

Mobile ringtones are a highly lucrative business

Take a walk through the mall, or sit in your Doctors office this year and you’ll likely meet a barrage of ringing, beeping and crooning from custom ringtone.

Over the past two years, smartphone use has exploded, allowing users to use any song or clip as their ringtone, but despite the ease of DIY, the ringtone business is still making big bucks.

According to reports, we are talking of a US$2 Billion dollar a year ringtone business.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be.  

The ringtone business includes the ringtones you hear in public and the ever annoying ring-back tones that you hear when you call a friend.

Google is moving Chrome to Android

Google is heading toward the finish line for the first release of Chrome browser for Android.

According to a developer post, Google has set a build target for the browser.
The new browser is now evolving into a powerful cross-platform application that may help Google to aggressively push Chrome as a gaming and entertainment platform.

Google will soon unify its browser platform across Android, Chrome OS, Windows, Linux and Mac OS platforms.

Mozilla to enter the mobile OS competition aiming directly at Chrome

Mozilla revealed preliminary plans today to take the Gecko engine that drives its Firefox browser and turn it into an open-source Operating System (OS) that will eventually work on phones and tablets.

Called Boot to Gecko (B2G), it is known that the source code will be released to the public "in real-time," wrote Andreas Gal, a Mozilla researcher.
Gecko is the rendering engine that powers Firefox and the Email client Thunderbird.

By contrast, while Google's Android mobile Operating System is open source, the main development work on it does not become available until after Google has green-lit its publication - sometimes not until months afterward.

Google's Chromebook has little chance of success

Everyone wants what Microsoft's got, namely control of the most widely used computing platform.

Or, more accurately, everyone wants the billions and billions of dollars that flow in from the dominance of desktop computing.

Replacing Windows shouldn't be hard.
Everyone hates Windows, right?

That seems to be Google's thinking.
The company announced last week that its shiney new Chromebooks will become available to order online starting 15th June in the US, UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.

Chromebooks are laptops powered by Google's Chromium, which is an open-source, browser-based Operating System (OS).
The laptops will be built by Samsung and Acer, and they will be priced at US$499 (€350)  if you want 3G capability, with WiFi-only models available for US$429 (€300). 

From Android@Home to Chrome browser, Google aims at being your unique natural choice

When you have an App store which has delivered 4.5 billion installs and over 200,000 apps in it you know that you cannot afford to rest on your laurels.

Google certainly cannot be accused of that.
In a week in which Google has been busy with its I/O Developers Conference, its name has barely been out of the Press as one announcement followed the next.

First Google announced that it was now revamping its Android Market to include Editors’s Picks, recommendations and, for developers, a lowering of the cut the App store takes off the price of a Chrome paid app to just 5%, by far the lowest cut of any App store today.

Then Google topped that by announcing that it’s ready for the release of its first Chrome OS called ‘Chromebooks’ 
This comes on top of announcements which include Android@Home which will enable Android to become the heart and mind of any home straight from an Android tablet, and the launch of Google Music Beta.

Google I/O conference - Day 2 highlights

The second day of Google's annual Google I/O developer conference was all about Chrome.

Leading the charge on the news front was the announcement of the first Chromebooks, notebooks that are based on Google's Chrome OS and provide an always-on and always-connected computing experience.

During the press conference following the keynote address on Wedneday, where the first two Chromebooks were introduced, Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice-president of Chrome, emphasized that Chromebooks represent a new model of computing.

"It offers an end-to-end computing experience," he said. "It's very different from a (Microsoft) Windows machine. The always-connected and always-on capability of it offers a totally different experience."

Google's strategy related to Chrome and Android is everything but clear

We spent the last couple days at Google's big developer conference, Google I/O.

While officially a developer conference, the event is often a window into Google's overall thinking on where it's headed.
There are a lot of new products and features shown off  -  some more ready for prime time than others.

The clear takeaway from the overall event is that Google doesn't just believe that we're moving to a more connected world, it's grown sick of waiting for everyone else to develop it, and is laying the groundwork itself.
So much of the event was about new offerings that enable more advanced things to happen via the Internet and via devices.

From a standpoint of pure geekery, it's pretty cool to see that vision in action. 

However, there was one other thing that became abundantly clear at the event, and it's that Google is on an internal collision course with itself.