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Google Announces Android 4.3, Netflix, New Nexus 7, and Q Successor Chromecast
At a press conference dubbed "Breakfast With Sundar," Google announced two new pieces of hardware and a minor revision to Android. Complete stories and commentary are still coming in, but in the mean time you can skim a liveblog or two
First is the new Nexus 7. The hardware is slightly improved (full HD screen, better graphics, etc.). The specs managed to "leak" hours before the event through Best Buy opening preordering too early. On the software side, they've announced a minor revision to Android, 4.3. It features improved Bluetooth support (including Bluetooth 4.0), OpenGL ES 3.0, enhanced internationalization, enhanced DRM, and multi-user support. The multi-user support looks most exciting: now you can share a tablet with more than one person. One of the features Google focused on was restricted profiles: a device owner can create accounts that e.g. cannot make in-app purchases (Junior won't rack up a $3000 bill again). Bad news: Google is implementing stricter DRM for books and video, locking down the entire video stack. The consolation prize is that Netflix will work on more devices and at 1080p. Also demoed were a new version of Chrome that brings the tablet experience closer to the desktop, improved hangouts, and improved maps. Google also appears to be making a push into gaming, emphasizing tablet-only games that integrate into Google+. In addition to gaming, they have secured deals with five major textbook publishers to sell students presumably DRMed electronic textbooks that can be purchased or rented, enhanced with better search and highlighting (because PDF readers don't support those features already). As usual lately, all of the really nice additions to Android are proprietary and tied to Google services, further eroding the open nature of Android.
Finally, they announced a tiny $35 dongle named Chromecast that appears to be the successor of the Nexus Q. Running Chrome OS, it connects to any HDMI port, finds your Wi-Fi network, and Just Works (tm) for online video. The online and mobile Youtube and Netflix interfaces will allow you to hit a single button and forward the video to your television as well. Google Music streaming to the television is also supported. The Chromecast looks like a handy little device, hopefully it is turns out it can be reflashed. Of course, when using your browser as a remote, all of the commands go through The Cloud. An SDK and more details on the software side of things are slated for release later today, although conspiciously absent on their supported platforms list is GNU/Linux, listing only Chrome OS and Android. Update: 07/24 18:01 GMT by U L : The Chromecast SDK is out, but with an awfully restrictive license that requires written permission from Google to distribute any cast enabled applications, which appears to make it completely incompatible with Free/Open Source software.
Multiple user accounts have been available in Android for ages, this is just some enhancements. Same with sending YouTube and Netflix video from your phone/tablet to your TV - I can do that with my Panasonic Viera and Galaxy S3.
Features being tied to Google services is hardly new either.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
That's all fine and dandy, but what I'm the absolute most stoked about is that action bar is now supported back to API 7 http://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/v7/app/ActionBar.html
Glad I skipped this one.
The thing is $35, and (at least for now) includes 3 free months of Netflix (even for existing subscribers).
That means that if you want a 1080p Netflix box for your TV, this thing costs you $11... that's one heck of a lot cheaper than an AppleTV or Roku.
My parents have been complaining about how ridiculously slow Netflix is on their Samsung bluray player (the streaming works fine, the interface takes forever to load pages), so this might just be their solution...
How would that even work?
If you control the kernel you can have it lie and return whatever signature you want. If it tries to hash something, let it hash a copy of the signed kernel you backed up.
It doesn't matter if the encryption is solid or not. It could be a simple XOR if they wanted to. What matters is that the DMCA makes anyone who fiddles with it a criminal.
More Twoson than Cupertino
I don't understand. You can use android with the Google stuff disabled. You don't even need to use a Google account. All you really lose out on is the Google play store. But here's the best part: you can install other app stores! Like the Amazon one, or F Droid, or one of those porn ones that Steve Jobs griped about.
Hell, you could forego an app store altogether and just download apks from websites if you wanted. That's the beauty of Android. Ulike iPhones or Windows Phones, you're free to install what you want. It's like an actual PC in your pocket.
The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity.
If someone wants me to migrate away from Android to their pet OS, then not having Google+ will be the kilelr feature. (Having some God-awful Ubuntoid+ instead is not it though).
And No, I will not buy into the Apple world, either)
--
A million lemmings can't be wrong.
So tell me why you will not buy into the Apple world?
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve