This could be the best thing the Internet has produced in some time.
Category: Google
A Visual History of Android
Without a doubt, Ice Cream Sandwich is the best looking version yet. Granted, that’s not saying too much.
The Instapaper Challenge
I can’t afford to invest months of development time into learning the platform and making an Android app, then supporting and maintaining it in parallel with my iOS app indefinitely, with so many other data points telling me that it almost certainly won’t be worth the investment.
So I’ll make it more interesting.
The Motorola Droid Xyboard
Well, the contest for the worst product name ever is over.
Research Unveils Major Security Issues in Android
Daniel Dilger at AppleInsider:
Researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated that Android’s permission-based security system can be easily circumvented due to flaws in the software that licensees add to their devices, according to security testing performed on popular HTC, Samsung, Motorola and Google-branded smartphones.
Yikes.
Google Including Ads in Chrome Browser
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNet:
Google has started to roll its own ads in the Chrome web browser. Is this a deal-breaker for you?
The ads appear at the top of the new-tab page and currently seem to be advertising Chrome OS-powered Chromebooks.
While I hate that Google is doing this, I’m not surprised. Google makes its money from ads. The company seems unable to produce income any other way.
Millions of Smartphones Tracking Users’ Every Move
The Android developer who raised the ire of a mobile-phone monitoring company last week is on the attack again, producing a video of how the Carrier IQ software secretly installed on millions of mobile phones reports most everything a user does on a phone.
Though the software is installed on most modern Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones, Carrier IQ was virtually unknown until 25-year-old Trevor Eckhart of Connecticut analyzed its workings, revealing that the software secretly chronicles a user’s phone experience — ostensibly so carriers and phone manufacturers can do quality control.
Samsung Goes After iPhone in new Galaxy S Ad
Why T-Mobile is Screwed
From The Verge’s live blog of the Google Music announcement:
75% of T-Mobile’s devices are smartphones, and 90% of them run Android.
I bet T-Mobile gets more Google love in the future now that everyone else has the iPhone. In fact, there will be exclusive Google Music tracks for T-Mobile customers. That sounds great.
That Magical Place
MG Siegler, on Google X:
Whatever is going on inside of Google X, I’m fairly certain it’s filled to the brim with the kind of stuff that made us all fall in love with Google in the first place.
Agreed.
Mike Chambers, Flash and Adobe PR
The other day, I linked to a blog post by Adobe’s Mike Chambers, in which he let loose concerning the company’s recent announcement about killing off mobile Flash.
I’ve been thinking about Chambers’ blog post all weekend for several reasons.
After listing off his history with Flash, Chambers re-caps the company’s announcements. After that, he writes:
It is this last point which received the most attention, caused the most confusion, and essentially overshadowed all of the other information. Given the very public recent history of the Flash Player on devices this was understandable. However, it is clear that we did not do a good job of communicating why we are are making this shift in strategy. I know how frustrating this has been for the Flash community, and for that I want to apologize. Our goal was to be very clear about WHAT we were doing, but in doing so, we didn’t pay enough attention to explaining WHY we were doing it.
ICS Can Be Unlocked via Photo
I know Google likes Android to be thought of as open, but come on…