IFA, the world’s largest consumer electronics and home appliances trade show, announced today that Google’s Chairman of the Board and Cheif Executive Officer, Eric Schmidt, will deliver the closing keynote for the conference at 12:30 pm on Tuesday, September 7 in Berlin, Germany.
Considering that Samsung’s Tab will be announced at the beginning of the conference, and that Google’s next version of Android is designed to be very tablet-friendly, and considering that many suspect the Tab will run Android 3.0, there is reason to believe that Mr. Schmidt’s keynote could very well include – or revolve around – the announcement of Gingerbread. Then again, possibly not.
DroidDog will not be on site to report from IFA over the next week, but we will be providing coverage. We are just as excited about this event as you are.
It turns out that Google’s mystery announcement wasn’t about Market improvements, Gingerbread, or any of the other topics guessed at in the blogosphere over the last 24 hours. (Am I wrong? leave a comment, with link.) What Google actually dropped today was a new method of controlling your 2.2 Android with speech called Voice Actions, and a sort of inverse Android2Cloud implementation that allows you to send links, maps, and phone numbers from your computer to your phone via a Chrome browser extension (also requires Android 2.2).
Voice actions comes pre-installed on the DROID 2 and allows you to initiate and control your media player, browser, Maps, email and much more. See Google’s Mobile Blog for details and watch the first video below. You will need to update some apps to enjoy all features. (cont.)
Chrome to phone is a piece of cake to set up and use, and facilitates simple sharing from your Chrome browser with your Android. See Google’s Mobile Blog for more details.
That seems to be the general consensus anyway. After all, there is good cause. Take for example, the changes already made to the Android Market in the last day. When you used to search, you didn’t see history and search icons, and now you do. It also doesn’t hurt that Google has been whispering about carrier billing on more than just T-Mobile.
So take these new features, and sprinkle in a little mystery… you got something worth hosting an announcement for. I should note: It’s been long rumored that Google will open a web-based market variant this fall as well. It’s not exactly fall yet, but I wouldn’t put it past Google to pull something like that out of the hat. Of course there is other things that would be nice like making paid apps available in more countries. Paid app availability has been under fire as of late, and this may just be the perfect opportunity to douse the fires of protest.
You don’t have long until we figure out exactly what will be told, but does anyone have a new guess today? This whole thing being Market related sounds right on the money to me. If that’s not it, I don’t know what to think.
Today, Google started sending out invitations to a special event scheduled for August 12th where they plan on “unveiling a couple of cool new mobile features.” The last time Google did this, they announced that turn-by-turn navigation will come free with Google Maps; Something a lot of people shouted from the roof-tops over. This time around, no one’s quite sure what will be announced. Sure this is the day the DROID 2 is supposed to go on sale, but this just may be something bigger. I’m hoping for something flavored with a little more sugar and spice. What do you think?
As rumors bubble about Apple’s potential foray into cloud-based music storage, Google is apparently set on the strategy from the get-go in a bid to change the way we consume entertainment. (I say “from the get-go” in that Google haves’t seriously approached media management for Android as of yet.) And what else but a calculated sea change and technological leapfrogging could capture the imaginations of the masses and spirit users away from iTunes (as we know it) and into the clouds with technology from the recently-acquired-by-Google Simplify Media?
According to Israeli finance newspaper, Calcalist, Android product manager Gaurav Jain says that the streaming music service will launch with the release of Android 3.0, Gingerbread. The trouble for Google is, that this may come on the heels of a similar announcement by Apple. But while the new product may not cause a mass exodus from Apple camp it sure will go a long way in addressing the regular complaints and justifications from patrons of an undeniably lesser media management system. Let’s hope this is more than just a rumor. (I happen to be one of the complainers.)
IFA, the world’s largest consumer electronics and home appliances trade show, announced today that Google’s Chairman of the Board and Cheif Executive Officer, Eric Schmidt, will deliver the closing keynote for the conference at 12:30 pm on Tuesday, September 7 in Berlin, Germany.
That seems to be the general consensus anyway. After all, there is good cause. Take for example, the changes already made to the Android Market in the last day. When you used to search, you didn’t see history and search icons, and now you do. It also doesn’t hurt that Google has been whispering about carrier billing on more than just T-Mobile. 
Today, Google started sending out invitations to a special event scheduled for August 12th where they plan on “unveiling a couple of cool new mobile features.” The last time Google did this, they announced that turn-by-turn navigation will come free with Google Maps; Something a lot of people shouted from the roof-tops over. This time around, no one’s quite sure what will be announced. Sure this is the day the DROID 2 is supposed to go on sale, but this just may be something bigger. I’m hoping for something flavored with a little more 
