Google has been working on a voice assistant service similar to Apple’s Siri and last we heard it was going to be called Majel (named after the woman who provided the voice of the Federation Computer on Star Trek). According to the latest rumors, that name seems to have been dropped in favor of the simpler “Assistant.” This information comes via an unnamed source who spoke with TechCrunch about the project. The project, which is being led by the Android team along with the help of search engineer Amit Singhal, is expected to launch Q4 and includes three core layers to achieve its goals:
We have some good news for anyone interested in the world of app development. App Inventor has returned! For anyone who remembers, App Inventor was a way for your average person to learn about development while creating simple apps using a drag-and-drop concept. A year and many cat apps later, App Inventor was discontinued by Google and open-sourced for anyone looking to further its development. Being an educational tool, it wasn’t surprising when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) decided to scoop it up and continue the work Google started. Fast-forward to today, and the first beta-version of MIT App Inventor is ready for download to anyone with a Google account.
At this year’s Mobile World Congress, Google all but confirmed that Android’s next iteration would be named Jelly Bean. Of course it’s still unofficial, but even Benson Lin, Asus’ Corporate Vice President, is talking about it and has every intention of being the first on the upgrade list.
Mobile World Congress has ended and as everyone looks forward to catching up on some sleep and digesting those Ice Cream Sandwich shakes, Google and the Android team take us on a farewell ride through MWC 2012. Take a look at all the hard work that went into this year’s Android Booth and all the fun that resulted from it. As always, Google did an impressive job and we’re already looking forward to next year. Farewell MWC 2012, you gave us quite a show.
In case you haven’t heard, Google made a few changes to their privacy policy that has some people up in arms. No matter who you are, or what OS you use, chances are you use a Google product so this news is concerning. Now we say Google made changes but the reality of it is, Google didn’t really change much of anything. They haven’t changed what data they collect or any of your privacy settings. Everything remains the way it has always been, aside from the fact that they can now share your data across their own services. That means if you’ve been searching luxury cars on Google and head into Youtube, you’ll probably see video suggestions for Mercedes-Benz. To me, it’s more personalization rather than a cause for concern.
