Mayur's Posterous

Giant Gingerbread statue arrives at Googleplex

Android users, rejoice!

Nothing is official as of yet, but from what I've read online, Android 2.3 will be known as Gingerbread and Android 3.0 will be known as Honeycomb.

Posted

Official Google Blog: What we’re driving at

What we’re driving at

Larry and Sergey founded Google because they wanted to help solve really big problems using technology. And one of the big problems we’re working on today is car safety and efficiency. Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use.

So we have developed technology for cars that can drive themselves. Our automated cars, manned by trained operators, just drove from our Mountain View campus to our Santa Monica office and on to Hollywood Boulevard. They’ve driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe. All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles. We think this is a first in robotics research.

Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps (which we collect using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain.

To develop this technology, we gathered some of the very best engineers from the DARPA Challenges, a series of autonomous vehicle races organized by the U.S. Government. Chris Urmson was the technical team leader of the CMU team that won the 2007 Urban Challenge. Mike Montemerlo was the software lead for the Stanford team that won the 2005 Grand Challenge. Also on the team is Anthony Levandowski, who built the world’s first autonomous motorcycle that participated in a DARPA Grand Challenge, and who also built a modified Prius that delivered pizza without a person inside. The work of these and other engineers on the team is on display in the National Museum of American History.

Safety has been our first priority in this project. Our cars are never unmanned. We always have a trained safety driver behind the wheel who can take over as easily as one disengages cruise control. And we also have a trained software operator in the passenger seat to monitor the software. Any test begins by sending out a driver in a conventionally driven car to map the route and road conditions. By mapping features like lane markers and traffic signs, the software in the car becomes familiar with the environment and its characteristics in advance. And we’ve briefed local police on our work.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million lives are lost every year in road traffic accidents. We believe our technology has the potential to cut that number, perhaps by as much as half. We’re also confident that self-driving cars will transform car sharing, significantly reducing car usage, as well as help create the new “highway trains of tomorrow." These highway trains should cut energy consumption while also increasing the number of people that can be transported on our major roads. In terms of time efficiency, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that people spend on average 52 minutes each working day commuting. Imagine being able to spend that time more productively.

We’ve always been optimistic about technology’s ability to advance society, which is why we have pushed so hard to improve the capabilities of self-driving cars beyond where they are today. While this project is very much in the experimental stage, it provides a glimpse of what transportation might look like in the future thanks to advanced computer science. And that future is very exciting.

I want off this planet Google, please make it happen.

Posted

Control Android from Gtalk, get Notifications

Notifier app for Android delivered all alerts– notifications for calls, SMS, battery status to your PC over Wifi. But what if you wish to do all that plus control your Android Phone, wirelessly?

The new app called TalkMyPhone lets you do all that and more using Gtalk. This application opens a gtalk conversation with you to Notify the following:

  • Incoming sms
  • Incoming calls, before it even rings on your actual phone (this is the fastest thing)
  • Battery state

And you can control your Android phone with following commands:

  • Reply to the incoming sms from PC (using “reply:<message>“) e.g. “reply: see yaa soon, I`ll be there”.
  • Send sms from PC (using “sms:<contact>:<message>” – contact can be a name or a phone number)
  • Read last 5 sms from a contact (using “sms:<contact>” with no argument)
  • make you phone ring in case you loose it (using “ring”)
  • Find your Phones GeoLocation :  it will send you google maps links (using “where”)
  • Copy text to the keyboard (using “copy:<text>“)
  • Get Contact info (using “contact:<contact>“) e.g. “contact: father”. (Partial searches work.)
  • Open any url in Android Browser (just paste it in the conversation) and it will open URL in browser
  • Confused? Get commands help using ‘?’

Excited? Should be! This is the most powerful app I’ve ever seen on Android.

How to Setup TalkMyPhone

Its easy, you need to have two Gtalk accounts (one source & one destination, where you receive alerts). Just fill in the credentials and start the app’s service, you are all good. All future notifications will be delivered to destined Gtalk address and you takeon full control.

The best part is, its Open source.

 

Posted

Google pushes WebP as new Image Format for the Web - I4U News

Good bye JPG and PNG?

Oct 1 2010, 2:33am CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

 

Google pushes WebP as new Image Format for the Web

 

Google pushes a new image format called WebP that is supposed to make the web faster. Google is on a mission since while to make the web faster. They released tools like Page Speed to help webmasters optimize their site. Google identified that the majority of the latency on pages across the web are caused by images. Google wants to tackle this issue with the new WebP format that promises to significantly reduce the byte size of photos on the web, allowing web sites to load faster than before.

Images and photos make up about 65% of the bytes transmitted per web page today. Images on the web consist primarily of lossy formats such as JPEG, and to a lesser extent lossless formats such as PNG and GIF. Google focused on improving compression of the lossy images, which constitute the larger percentage of images on the web today.

To improve on the compression that JPEG provides, Google used an image compressor based on the VP8 codec that Google open-sourced in May 2010. Google ran a test on a million images from the web and achieved on average size savings of 39%. This is pretty impressive as they ran their tools on already compressed images.

The WebP tools are now available as a developer preview. While WebP images can’t be viewed until browsers support the format, Google is developing a patch for WebKit to provide native support for WebP in an upcoming release of Google Chrome. So there is no hurry yet for webmasters to convert to WebP.

More details on WebP are available on Google.

 

 

Posted

Nexus One update pushing out now - Android 2.2.1 and Build FRG83 | Android Central

Nexus One Android 2.2.1 update

There have been so many updates in the past week that it seems like every Android device is deciding to receive an OTA just to not feel left out. 

This time, Google's own flagship device, the Nexus One, receives an update to its OS. Here is the information on the update, courtesy of Devastatin from the XDA forums:

  • Android version: 2.2.1 (!!!!)
  • Baseband version: 32.36.00.28U_4.06.00.12_7
  • Kernel version: 2.6.32.9-27240-gbca5320
  • Android-build@apa26 #1
  • Build number: frg83

Update instructions after the break. Thanks, Anthony!

1. Download the Android 2.2.1 firmware for the Nexus One Here
2. Rename the file update.zip and copy it to your microSD card via USB. [Note: make sure the file is named update.zip and not update.zip.zip.]
3. Power down your Nexus One
4. Hold down the “Volume Down” button as you power the phone back on.
5. A screen should appear showing your phone’s system searching for various files. Scroll down to “recovery” and press the “Power” button.
6. When you see the triangle with an exclamation point symbol, press the “Power” and “Volume Up” buttons at the same time.
7. From the menu that appears, select “Apply sdcard:update.zip.”
8. When the screen displays “Install from sdcard complete” select “reboot system now” and wait for the phone to power back up. (this will take a long time)

Just a software update as far as we know. We have heard that once it is updated, some of the 3rd party keyboards have issues. Swype was reporting an issue while not working and Swiftkey wasn't predicting words. So if you do this update, watch out as you may not be able to use your favorite keyboard right away. 

This is a very new update, so we'll keep you up-to-date as we hear more. [XDA forums] Thanks to Anthony and Devastatin for providing info!

I can't find what changes does this update give.

Posted

Android Task Killers are dead and here's what you should be doing (MUST read for Android owners)

As a general rule, people have a hard time dealing with change. Android, being perhaps the fastest changing mobile OS in history, can leave people in the dust as the platform evolves. Things don't work the same from release to release. Some of this is user-facing, and people can adapt. But some changes are deeper system level alterations that people might not notice at first, and then might not understand why they've changed. The functionality and usefulness of task killers is one such advance. A lot has changed in the underlying Android OS regarding how background processes are managed. 

Read on to find out why task killers are obsolete, and why that's actually a good development.  

How task killing became dogma

In older versions of Android, memory management was an issue. These phones, like the G1, had too little internal memory for the heavy background processes that many apps chose to run. An app could spawn background services, but never kill them. Even if the app wasn't doing anything, these services would remain in memory. Over time this led to poor performance and overall system sluggishness. The solution, at the time, was to use task killer apps.  

Task killers like Advanced Task Manager and Advanced Task Killer became extremely popular in the Android Market because people saw performance and battery life benefits from ending background services. It was the snowball effect from here on out. Every new Android user was told to go get a task killer first thing when buying a new phone. Some carriers even included them on on phones and recommended them to customers. It became Android dogma that you had to kill tasks. 

But starting in Android 2.0, memory management got much, much better. Apps couldn't spawn processes only to leave them forever. The OS would gauge the level of system RAM, and close unneeded background services. Users on phones like the Droid could clearly tell that this was happening. With only 256MB of RAM, some memory-heavy apps would reliably cause the OS to close other apps running in the background. This is why many apps now use persistent notifications. Having that notification running will keep a background process it is connected to from being ended.  

What Froyo changed

When Android 2.2 Froyo was released, users and developers alike noticed something had changed again. Task killers didn't work properly anymore. If a user closed a particular app, it would just show up again. That's because the API for closing other tasks was removed. Now the "end" command has basically become "restart". Only the immediate background app can be closed. Associated services will stay put.

In modern versions of Android, you don't need to worry about clearing out memory, but this new tweak changed things in a bigger way. This change to the app shutdown API completely alters the risk/reward ratio. If you're not ending tasks, but rather restarting them, you actually use up more battery trying to free this memory. The apps will just restart, putting additional strain on the system. The only way to completely end a process now is to find it in the Manage Applications area of the Settings app, then tap the Force Stop button. It's just as destructive as task killing was, but it is more hidden and not accessible via an API.

Google likely changed the API because ending tasks at random can cause system glitches in the worst case. At best, you'll likely notice worse performance from your apps as they try to reconcile their assigned tasks with the fact that you are constantly interrupting them by them. 

What you should be doing

We've said in the past that the only legitimate use for a task killer is to get rid of processes that go rogue and eat up CPU. A better way to manage that is to actually monitor what's happening in the background. The app you'll want for this is called Watchdog. We told you all about it a few weeks ago in a Market Roundup. Check that out for the full rundown. 

What Watchdog basically does is poll the CPU to watch for apps that are getting greedy. This is really the holy grail of Android process management. It's quiet, sits in the background, and solves most of your task management needs. You'll be alerted is something goes wrong, and then Watchdog will allow you to restart the offending task. While doing this with an app that isn't misbehaving is a bad idea, you have little choice in cases when an app is legitimately out of control.  

Users with root on their device are able to undertake some additional steps to control tasks on Android. An app we really can't live without on our rooted handsets is called Autostarts. We introduced you to this last month, but we keep finding reasons to recommend it. Killing processes is a bad thing for system stability and battery life (especially under Froyo), but Autostarts lets you keep unneeded apps from starting up in the first place.  

Apps register with the Android OS when they need to start up based on a set of conditions. Autostarts lists all those conditions, so you can tell apps not to start up when they otherwise would. You can still launch them, but they won't launch themselves. This is perfect for those bundled apps that you use rarely, or simply don't need. If there's a lot of crapware on your handset, root users can also remove it completely with an app like Titanium Backup.  

Also for root users, is an app called AutoKiller. Don't let the name fool you; it isn't an aggressive task killer that's going to make your apps go all wonky. All it does is tweak the Android process manager to be more aggressive in ending background services. This won't end tasks midstream, it just ends unneeded apps a little sooner. You mileage may vary, some users find this helps quite a bit, others not so much. 

Most users that adopt a more modern way of managing (or not managing) their tasks see a big upside. A phone can feel faster, and the battery may last longer. When it comes down to it, killing tasks is just a hassle you don't need to deal with anymore. Everyone on Android 2.0 and higher should rely on Watchdog, or an app like it, to monitor for runaway background processes.  

     As more Android users are bumped up to Froyo, or just buy new devices, they will find their task killers inoperable. It's important they are steered away from this obsolete method of task management. Tell us about your task killing experiences in the comments.

 

Posted

Official Google Blog: Search: now faster than the speed of type

Posted

Today's Google Logo

Media_httpimgurcommau_nhoqk

Check out today's Google logo (type in a search keyword), like before, only available at the U.S. version of the website http://www.google.com/webhp?gl=us

Happy Birthday, Google!
Posted

Google's latest logo

Media_httpimgurcom1eo_hloga
I don't usually do posts on Google Logos but this one is super cool. At the time of writing this post, the new Google logo appears only on the U.S. version of the website which is http://www.google.com/webhp?gl=us
Posted

Google Rolling Out 'Priority Inbox' for Gmail | News & Opinion

 

Days after introducing voice calling within Gmail, Google on Tuesday unveiled a "priority inbox" feature within Gmail intended to highlight important messages.

Priority Inbox will automatically filter incoming Gmail messages to place the most important messages up top, followed by starred e-mails, and then everything else underneath. Priority Inbox can be customized, however, to display the categories of your choice.

Once enabled, there will be a link on the left-hand bar for "Priority Inbox" atop the "Inbox" link, so users can switch back to their regular view if they choose. Users can also choose whether Google takes them to Priority Inbox or regular Inbox upon sign-in.

 

What type of messages will end up in the Priority Inbox? The system is constantly evolving, Rajen Sheth, a senior product manager for Google Enterprise, said in a phone interview, but if there is a thread to which you respond very frequently or certain types of messages that you often read very quickly, they would likely end up designated as priority.

"They start to be useful to people right away," Sheth said.

If Google flags something as priority and you do not agree, you can use the plus and minus buttons atop the page to notify Google that that e-mail is less important.

Priority Inbox will be rolling out to all Gmail users in the next few days. When it hits your inbox, there will be a "New! Priority Inbox" link on the top, right-hand corner of your Gmail inbox, which you can click to activate.

The idea behind Priority Inbox was to combat inbox information overload, Sheth said, pointing to the extra time the average employee takes to sift through mountains of e-mail. Google has been testing Priority Inbox for "quite awhile" internally, Sheth said, and "testers are spending 6 percent less time managing their e-mail, [which] translates to over a week of additional time each year."

"This is the next evolutionary step in making the inbox more intelligent and letting people deal with information overload," Sheth said. "Over the past 20 years, the inbox has just been a chronological list [of e-mails], and this breaks out of that paradigm."

Google envisions this being useful for the average Gmail user as well as its Google Apps customers, who will be able to access Priority Inbox if their admin has selected "Enable pre-release features" in the control panel.

"Obviously e-mail is tremendously critical to business users, and being able to save time is very, very valuable," Sheth said. "And literally time equals money in the business context, [so] we think this is going to be a great feature for our Google Apps users overall."

"But we also think it's going to have a great impact on our consumer users," he said, pointing to the level of organization Priority Inbox has brought to his own Gmail account.

Given Google's experience with producing relevant results via its core search product, Sheth said taking that to the inbox was a natural progression.

"Google is very well-suited to do this in that we're all about providing you with relevant information," he said. "[We thought that] if we could bring Google.com-like relevancy to your inbox, it would make your inbox a lot better."

 

 

Posted