The Google I/O conference has dominated tech news this week, but here are some highlights:
Video News
– Google TV vs Apple TV: Android vs. iPhone round 2
o http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/20/apple-tv-google-tv/
o Google launches web TV platform. Like Apple TV, but open (of course). Device manufacturers like Sony will be able to create their own devices that contain the Google platform (similar to how mobile manufacturers can create their own devices that contain Android).
– WebM Project – a new royalty free codec
o http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/19/webm-google-h-264/
o The H.264 codec is the current standard video codec for non-flash video players. It is in common use at the moment, but may change when they introduce royalties. Google has donated the WebM project, a royalty free alternative they acquired. Mozilla and Opera are throwing their support behind WebM… will Apple swallow their pride and follow, or push for a web video standards war?
Music News
– Google launches iTunes competitor
o It’s iTunes, over the web, with auto-syncing. Coming soon to Android.
– Soundcloud hits a million users
o http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/05/18/now-a-million-on-soundcloud-this-startup-is-scaling-globally/
o “Vimeo / Flickr for music” — The audio sharing site that’s geared towards those who work in the music industry is an online audio platform which lets musicians collaborate, promote and distribute their music via widgets and apps.
Mobile News
– iPhone And Android Now Make Up 25 Percent of Smartphone Sales
o http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/19/iphone-android-25-percent/
o Android share is growing faster than iPhone, but iPhone still still accounts for most sales per month
Misc News
– Google Wave is now open and ready to roll
o http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/19/google-wave-open/
o It was one year ago at Google I/O that company unveiled one of its most ambitious projects to date: Google Wave
. Sadly, ambition doesn’t always equal success. In fact, you might say Google Wave was too ambitious. It was promising to be too many things — it needed focus. And it needed polish. Now, all this time later, Google believes it finally has both.
