Today Google announced that they have been devolping their own OS (seperate from Android) called the Chrome OS. This full blown operating system will be targeted at netbooks and other lightweight computers. The code will be open sourced later this year and released commerically in 2010.

Google is usuing a Linux kernal as the base and focusing on web apps in the OS. The OS will run on x86 processors and ARM chips as well. Google says that they hope the OS, “to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web.”

It it’s pretty clear here that Google is taking a stab at Microsoft, and hopefully this new OS will take off and force Microsoft to realize that open source is the new standard.

And the announcement of this new OS also affirms my belief that Google is indeed Skynet.

Read the announcment on Google’s official blog here.

It’s a paradox.

Now we all have that member of our family (whether it be grandma or an older uncle), that doesn’t know the difference between Apple and Microsoft. I know I’ve gotten many a call from a worried or concerned family member needing to know something that could have been solved with a simple Google search. That’s the beauty of Let Me Google That For You. 

Simply search what is being asked in the search box of Let Me Google That For You and it gives you a link to the real Google’s result page.

Then you can send the link to your friend or relative and be done with the nagging. While this isn’t a necessarily essential tool by any means, it is still for fun to use and a good reminder (and laugh), of how easy these types of things are.

So this is what you get when you Google yourself huh? O well at least there were results.

Google recently released a  HTC phone running their new open source operating system called Android. This phone has been anticipated as the iPhone’s arch-rival and something to shake up the cellular market. Apple has their totally locked down OS (operating system) and iron grasp on what goes into the iPhone. But is this G1 phone something that’s gonna make either current or potential iPhone users switch, or is it just something to satisfy a few geeks? The G1 had one of if not the biggest amount of pre-orders (over 1,000,000) in cellular market history, but it hasn’t really made itself known now that it’s been publicly released. 

 Don’t get me wrong the G1 has a lot going for it, but is it enough to convince the average user to pick it over the iPhone? It has some things that the iPhone lacks, such as a real full key board (something that has been one of iPhone user’s biggest complaints), turn-by-turn navigation, and most important- an open source operating system (any 3rd party application can be installed without the approval of Google or T-Mobile, and the source code can be re-written which allows one to edit the whole system). But with an open source OS comes problems, security is a HUGE risk especially for a common user who doesn’t know what not to do.

The stance that Apple takes in having a monitored OS is very legitimate, the common everyday user will most likely screw up their phone if they are allowed to do anything and download anything. There are plenty of “rotten apples” out there that some guy in a basement wants you to download to corrupt your phone, so Apple makes their users use the App Store and iTunes to download content. 

Apple’s stance in this situation makes a lot of sense, but the geeks in the world want more. Grandma may not care that she has to do everything through Apple’s store, but the more tech savvy users have voiced complaint. 

Now Google has delivered what the open source, Linux loving fanatics have clamored for, but is it really going to be enough for sales? 

I think it all depends on what you are looking for in the G1:

the ability to manipulate your phone to do anything and everything

a full, real keyboard

turn-by-turn navigation

Now let me clarify about the first point, I realize the iPhone can be jail-broken as well, it just isn’t like that out of the box. You can potentially make the iPhone able to download 3rd party applications and such as well, but it really damages the iPhone’s overall elegance and interface. You wouldn’t be able to install updates for your phone from Apple, etc. It takes away the iPhone’s compatibility and easiness, which gives the phone it’s elegance.  

So in the end I think for the most part the iPhone is the way to go. Now I’m not and Apple fanatic by any mean, it just hits the mark. It’s amazing because it can be used and manipulated by the tech savvy, and my 65 year old uncle can use it and it makes sense to him. The UI (user interface) is top notch and it’s got all the bells and whistles. You could even jailbreak it and install 3rd party apps if you really want. 

The only thing that you may want it is the real keyboard, so the G1 would be the way to go for that.

Sorry Google, you usually make great stuff, but I don’t think this phone will help you take over the world. 

david:

via nikography

marco:

 I’ve been out of town (and completely  disconnected) all weekend. Apparently I  missed a lot, including the announcement of a  Google web browser called Chrome with a  cute explanation comic.

What it is:

• a Google web browser
• using the Webkit renderer
• with some in-house innovations, including the interface, the Javascript engine, and some cool sandboxing and multiprocessing architecture

Why they’re doing it:

• Google currently pays Mozilla and Apple for embedding Google search boxes into Firefox and Safari, respectively. By stealing some users from those browsers, they’ll be potentially saving millions of dollars per year.
• They’re a web-app company. It would be nice to also be a player in the browser business, since the browser is the environment in which every important part of Google’s business runs.
• They’re minting money and have thousands of employees but no apparent long-term strategy or direction, so they’re really good at launching side projects.
• This could be a massive ad-targeting-information mine. (See final point below.)

Why this could be good:

• The web browser is the center of many computer users’ lives, but we can still only choose between a handful of mediocre choices. Competition is welcome.
• Webkit’s a great renderer — much better than Gecko (Firefox’s).
• The architectural ideas are very promising and could make for a very solid browser.

Why this could be bad:

• Google has historically been very bad at interface design.
• Google could use this to strong-arm their own markup or features into the browser marketplace by releasing features (or entire apps) that only work on Chrome, much like Microsoft did with Internet Explorer, VBScript, and ActiveX. Of course, since nerds are blindly in love with Google, it will be OK when they do it.
• This will strain Google’s relationship with Mozilla, which currently goes something like this: Mozilla desperately needs Google to survive, but Google doesn’t need to care much about Mozilla.
• Google is an advertising company, and they already collect vast amounts of personal data on everyone to target ads at us. Being the browser vendor will expose them to much more personal and behavioral data than they’ve ever had. Even if they claim that they won’t collect or use this data now, how long do you think a public corporation that would hugely profit from it will restrain itself from tapping this goldmine? There’s only so far that “do no evil” will take a public corporation in the advertising business.

I’m very curious about how this will turn out. This could be just what the browser business needs. Or it could fizzle out as yet another irrelevant, unpolished, unfinished Google side project.