Google’s Android is not a Phone
Here’s the scoop on the Google phone: right now, Google is releasing a platform called Android that will run on existing mobile devices by mid-2008. This is only a platform, not actually a phone like we had previously hoped. But, Android promises to be open so carriers and manufacturers can customize software. Android also puts huge pressure on Apple to open up the iPhone so that developers can create free programs to run on it.
As Google writes “Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications — all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation. We have developed Android in cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance, which consists of more than 30 technology and mobile leaders including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile. Through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers, and others, we hope to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform. We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities.”
Here’s a YouTube video that will help explain the Android platform, if you’re still a bit confused!
Want 30 Million? Google Says Go to the Moon!
Google has set up a $30 million fund to encourage a moon race in conjunction with the X PRIZE Foundation. The winning team will receive $20 million, but in order to win you must land a privately created spacecraft on the moon and have your spacecraft perform certain tasks (travel 500 meters and transmit high definition video images back to earth). The second placed team will receive $5 million, and another $5 million is set aside for “bonus prizes.”
The Mercury News reports that “Peter Diamandis, chief executive of the X PRIZE Foundation, said in a statement that the goal of the competition is to stimulate the development of low-cost methods for robotic space exploration.
“The use of space has dramatically enhanced the quality of life and may ultimately lead to solutions to some of the most pressing environmental problems that we face on earth - energy independence and climate change,” Diamandis said.”