I believe there is a reason that development isn’t simple. If you have something you believe should be developed, you have to approach a developer or do it yourself. To do it yourself, it usually means scouring the net for hours and reading a ton of information to get an idea of where to start. Even then it would take hours upon hours of troubleshooting and begging for peoples help to get something half usable out (in my experience…). Google are changing that rule, and lets hope it is a good thing.
Good have a cool application called App Inventor. What the video below to see how easy it is to create the simplest of apps.
As you can see Google are making it far to simple. Get prepared Google’s Marketplace to catch up with Apple’s App Store in a bad way.
Sometimes I forget that Android isn’t just a mobile phone OS but an open source operating system. While some people are already enjoying the loveliness that is Android 2.2, the open source version is only now available to us average Joe’s.
Now it is out hopefully all the loyal Android device owners can get their upgrade on. Warning, not for people who don’t know a crap load about development and Linux.
Viacom have been trying to score cash out of YouTube for a long time now. Today the battle was won by YouTube, and it was definitely an important one.
Viacom doesn’t like the fact that Google allows people to upload videos that could possibly have their content in it. That would be right, if YouTube didn’t almost instantly pull the content off. YouTube can only work so fast, and with thousands of hours of video going up everyday, they would have to change the way YouTube works to a large degree to make Viacom happy.
Viacom, being the evil corporation it is, has appealed the decision (as big companies who lose always do). Congratulations YouTube and a big f@#$ you Viacom. Why don’t you go sue some file sharers, at least you can win those.
FroYo is about to get a little sweeter with build FRF72 hitting the interwebs. Not much is known, but a proposed better Flash support, more free memory and faster webbrowser is rumored.
If you know what you are doing, and can’t wait for it to be pushed out, the 1.5mb patch is available from Android And Me.
Today while reading through the ton of bad press Google has been receiving over the whole wireless snooping situation, I decided Iwould send a letter to Google with some of my thoughts.
Read below -
To whom it may concern,
Recently there has been a lot of bad press regarding WiFi snooping. I would like to say I believe that what Google did as a company was a bad move, but I also believe it was an important one.
People’s homes are their private worlds. They are the last places where freedom can be practised without the pressures of society. It is a persons sanctuary. What you have effectively done is highlight a gaping hole in that sanctuary by demonstrating the weaknesses in the securities we rely on. The problem isn’t as much that you were able to drive a car around and collect information. The problem is that anyone is capable of doing it.
While the lawsuit you will be facing is going to be very real, there is something that our governments and their citizens aren’t considering. If Google can drive around and collect information, anyone can and probably has.
People are reacting in fear which is pointless. Sure someone might score some cash out of you, but is that going to fix the unsecure wireless networks that exist almost everywhere?
Consider piracy. Previously it was underground and almost unknown, except for people in the ‘scene’ or people who brought DVD’s from many Asian countries.
When companies reacted by highlighting piracy in the media, it was free advertising for piracy.Now I hear people talking openly about it on the bus. Anti Piracy groups have made the problem much worse.
The gaping hole in wireless is very real. The gaping hole in the way information is sent over wireless is very real, and the media coverage regarding your data collection has magnified the problem.
What happens now when other companies see an opportunity to collect information? How about the people who do it on small scales to blackmail people? To collect information for identity theft? The people who use it to spread malicious software?
The best solution is to use this as an opportunity to fix the problems with current wireless configurations all over the world. Google can pave the way by creating an informative website, and have information sent out to the people who have especially insecure networks.
Your experiment has successfully shown how frail and weak the security people hide behind really is. Perhaps with the right motivation it can be used in a positive light to stop it from happening again.
Lately it seems a lot of people are attempting to bring down the juggernaut that is Google. Starting with Apples move to rid all things Google from the iPhone and then the recent push for antitrust lawsuits (that are possiblity coming from Microsoft). Now it seems Android, its very own OS, is kicking Google out for Yahoo.
It is only AT&T doing it at the moment, but how interesting it is. Spend millions to make an OS that is pretty much free, hoping and dreaming that one day you will make money from the services rendered on the device, and then someone comes along and strips those stinking services out.
This is AT&T’s first Android handset (Motorola Backflip), so after it is a gigantic flop, they may just realise that people only buy Android because of the included Google apps. Then, even if AT&T are too arrogant to do it, some enterprising hacker will re-add the Google goodness.
I’m sorry Google fanboys. I know you expected a miracle from the god machine, but it seems that Google has simply made a phone.
The first full fledged Google Nexus review is in and guess what, it is a solid smartphone, but it’s an evolution and not a revolution. Engadget gave it much praise for build quality and performance, but under all the added flash that Google have added is the same Android 2 OS that the Droid (and Milestone) use. That isn’t bad news if you like Android. If you expected the Google phone to teleport you into the future where you become instantly better looking to the opposite sex, and gain copious amount of respect from your peers, then you may be a little disappointed.
The rumour says that Dell is planing on buying Motorola. After last years $US388 million operating loss, Motorola has been visited by a whole lot of people. To heat the rumour up to a further extent (and to almost volcanic levels), Dell and Google are going to partner with android.
My opinion on the matter is this is a good thing. Motorola hasn’t really done anything exciting since the Razr came along, and even that was a overrated piece of rat poo (it was really really slow don’t you know?). If Dell and Google was to input some of their development skills and technology know-how into a new Motorola handset, we could get an iPhone and N95 (or 96) competitor.
The rumour originally came from Richard Windsor, from Nomura International (some financial services group), who has said that Motorola’s probably going to let go of its mobile arm, and stick to doing enterprise and government work. He also said that it wasn’t the hardware, but the software and the platform (the hardware wasn’t fantastic though).
It is still only speculation and no one really knows if Dell has made an offer. Will try and keep you updated if any more news comes out.
The rumour says that Dell is planing on buying Motorola. After last years $US388 million operating loss, Motorola has been visited by a whole lot of people. To heat the rumour up to a further extent (and to almost volcanic levels), Dell and Google are going to partner with android.