Android phones are taking over. The OS is becoming hugely popular and could very well dethrone Apple, not this year, not next year, but soon. As the only real rival in the market, coming from Google, Android phones are popping up across the various cell phone providers to include T-Mobile and Verizon, and now Android will debut on the AT&T network with the Motorola Backflip.
It has been reported that Google is working on a tablet computer with HTC, the company that built the hardware for the Nexus One “Google Phone“.
The report by Australian news site SmartHouse claims that HTC has “been working closely with Google for the past 18 months” on “several working models of a touch tablet”.
A lot of people will argue that Google will never promote a tablet computer of its own: that would endanger its relationships with other hardware makers.
I find it very interested that Google mentioned they would never get into the hardware industry, but they now seem to have a phone and a tablet PC on the development line. Google need to be very careful!
[image for illustration only, courtesy Gizmodo]
Last month we reported here on Crenk that Google had secured a deal will AdMob – a leading advertising company in the mobile market. They agreed to pay $750 million for the successful company.
However, the FTC has been asked to review the case as there are grounds for concern in areas such as privacy and market domination. Obviously an acquisition from Google would greatly expand the company and it’s worried that market domination could crush the mobile marketing industry along with several other large companies who currently act as competitors to AdMob.
A decision is likely to be made shortly concerning this deal between AdMob and Google which has gone wrong – however with issues such as customer privacy at steak the consequences (such as restrictions imposed on Google) could be dire.
Bollywood film-maker Vinod Chopra has announced that their latest film, Three Idiots, will soon be available for download on the YouTube website.
YouTube has a lot of revenue options and here is the newest, pay-per-download business.
You could always download videos from YouTube using “hacks” but this is probably the first time where people will be able to “legally” download a full-length movie from YouTube after paying Google a certain fee.
Currently most people involved are keep very tight lipped about how much each download would cost, the size of the downloads, and other key details.
Engadget has some how managed to get the full spec of the new Nexus One or Google Phone!
The device reportedly comes with a 512MB RAM, 4GB microSD in-box expandable to 32GB, A 3.7 inch display, 5mp camera and Android 2.1.
If Engadget’s sources are to be believed the device will be available on the 5th of January except by invitation only. How you are invited is anyone’s guess.
A 5-minute video of the Nexus One’s UI has also surfaced on YouTube, complete with detailed looks at plenty of the features of the device. Enjoy.
Over the past week, Yelp and Google have been in heated debates concerning Google acquiring the service which was founded by two former PayPal employees and allows users to submit reviews of their local services. After days of deliberation both parties had agreed on a price – half a billion dollars. It seemed that everyone was quite happy with the deal until the CEO of Yelp Jeremy Stoppleman notified Google over the weekend that the deal was off.
What happened?
Well nobody knows for sure but it must have taken something big for Yelp to walk away from half a billion dollars and pressure from internet giant Google. My guess is that another offer has been tabled. Obviously, Yelp wan to keep their cards close to their chest should this deal fall through and need to go back to Google. Perhaps one of Google’s rivals such as Microsoft or Apple have decided they want Yelp?
It’s no big secret that the Russian market has been a tough one to crack for major western companies. Nintendo wouldn’t even bother trying to sell the Wii there as they feel Russia just isn’t ready for social gaming and the internet seems to hold less cultural value when compared to other countries.
However, Google are trying desperately to get a firm foot-hold in the market and as such have made a bid of around the $200 million mark for the country’s most popular instant messaging service; ICQ. Skype are also rumoured to be interested in the deal.
AOL owns ICQ at the minute having bought it in 1998 for $400 million (they’ll be making a loss). It now has over 30 million users with in excess of eight million of them living in Russia. So getting such a huge chunk of the market instantly would be a huge help for Google. Or whatever Western company manages to close the deal for that matter.
Everyone’s been going a little crazy about the up and coming Google Phone which will carry the Google brand and supposedly be super cool. Speculation and excitement are a couple of words that come to mind. What will it have? hat can it do? What kind of apps are going to be available?
Well, to be honest, I’d say we’d know much of the information before Christmas sets in.
The reason I’m so sure? Because everyone at Google HQ and beyond are now testing the device daily and using them as their mobile phones so they’ll star making videos etc.. and slowly leak them. As these thing go.
A blogger who apparently got his hands on the phone tweeted the picture below of the phone.
At this stage, the phone must be nearing completion as it’s rumoured to be launching early next year. But I must say, fair play to Google for keeping the lid on next year’s most anticipated phone to the extent that they have (we were always expecting a few grainy pictures). But have no misconceptions, Google want a few blurry pictures or a 20 second clip to be leaked. It ads to the anticipation. Remember when the first pictures of the PS3 emerged? To be alerted as to when more information is leaked, stay tuned to Crenk.
If there’s one corporation that can make a business venture a success, it’s Google. If your company is lucky enough to be taken under its wing then you know your in for success. Or at least a ton of money.
A bunch of ex-Google employees founded a service called Ardvark which allows users to ask people for information and post questions. It was originally developed as a mobile-only app but has recently launched a website version.
They have just received a huge offer from Google amounting to $30 million dollars. Despite all the benefits that an investment from Google would bring to Ardvark the original creators are left with a dilemma. Clearly the project has promise if Google are showing interest, so they may like to roll the dice on this one and refuse to sell hoping for more money in the long run. But then if it’s a flop they could be $30 million down and looking rather foolish indeed.
Other investors and bidders are said to be making offers. To be honest, I can’t see them holding out much longer. That much outside pressure and money dangled in front of them must be swaying debates in the conference room.
In the battle over email application supremacy, Thunderbird has been one of the most highly developed for web application next to Google’s Gmail. Consistently we’re treated to new releases, updates, and efforts to make the user experience more comfortable and seamless with other email providers as it works to be the catch all for all of our digital communication. Most recently Thunderbird introduced a bevy of plug-ins over the summer that increased the usability of the application, but also made it more fun. Millions of dedicated Thunderbird users keep this email client in constant development and whats being released this week is no exception.
Since this is a tech blog, there’s a good chance most readers know that their Domain Name System is what compares the typed URL of a website against the IP number of a given website. http://crenk.com, for example translates to 954.236.55.186 on your DNS, which then points your browser to the right place. This checking process has to happen before the page you’ve requested starts downloading, a process that generally takes a fraction of a second.
Google has decided that this fraction of a second is too long for it’s valuable customers to wait, and is now providing its own publicly available DNS. You can change your network settings to point at their service from the one that your ISP uses. Should you bother? Only if your network is making thousands of lookups a minute. For domestic use the 0.01 of a second that switching DNS could save you is largely irrelevant, but if your network is dealing with hundreds of thousands of lookups, as in a big office building or other massive corporate environment, then you could significantly reduce the wait time for your network, which might filter down enough to be appreciable by individual users on your system.
Of course, google will then know every single page that every single user on your system uses, an information gathering facility which is more likely to be their motivation for providing the service than any altruistic time-saving opportunity for users.
Google is currently testing out new pages in terms of search results. We reported a few days ago tha Google was adding a sidebar to their search results, but now you can try it all for yourself.
Simply head to Google.com and add then type the following code into the address bar and hit enter.
javascript:void(document.cookie=“PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com”);
Then head back to Google.com again and the changes should be in affect. Enjoy!
Make sure you let us know your thoughs in the comments!!
