Androium

Google is bringing its Chrome browser to a mobile platform! The only problem is that the platform is Android. It also isn't going to be a port of Chrome, but a version of Chromium instead. Chromium is Chrome's open-source counterpart. I really like Chrome. I really, really like Chrome, in fact. However, I despise Android. I'm a big iOS fanboy. When I try to list the problems with iOS, one of the first things that comes to mind is "no Google Chrome." So, it'll be sad to see Android sporting Chromium as its default browser and iOS not even getting an Chromium app. I sure hope someone figures out how to get Chromium onto an iPhone or something using this new Android browser.

(Full story here.)

Radio silence

I don't post too much here, and I didn't expect to. The plan was to kinda empty my nerdy joy here, whenever that happened to materialize, and that only happens when something awesome or big (in my opinion) happens in the tech world. I guess I could say that Google recently shelled out $8837 to people who found security issues in Google Chrome. They released an update to fix all those security issues, too. So, until next time, go do something notable in the world of tech!

HP gives up...?

This kinda saddens me. HP, by the looks of things, has just given up on their very promising (in my opinion) webOS mobile platform. They recently announced that they were discontinuing it, along with all their desktop and laptop computers. That really bums me out. My netbook is by HP, and every other computer by HP that I've used before has been wonderful, much better than my dad's favorite company which is Dell. But, the topper on the wedding (no, divorce) cake of webOS being killed is that HP is bottoming out the Touchpads that run the OS. The 4 and 5 hundred dollar tablets are now down to $100 and $150. I want one, to be honest. However, it would just about drain my iPhone savings. Decisions, decisions... Another thing that I have a problem with is that HP apparently is going to continue with software. I said before that my netbook is HP, and the only HP thing I like about it is the hardware. All the junky HP programs that come with it are, well, junky. They're annoying and unneeded. And I don't want HP's future to be in those junky programs. Hopefully, they'll make them better with all their manpower focused on them. I guess I'll say RIP, HP and webOS, RIP.

Weather in Google Maps!

And here I was, thinking that Google just programmed up the greatest weather radar in the history of circular weather forecasts. But no, it's just little temperature numbers in various locations with current weather conditions. I am disappointed. I use Google Maps for route-planning, and I suppose that if you're going to be travelling through a lot of places, it'd be nice to see what they're like, but Weather.com is a much better resource for that. I give a thumbs down to this new feature.

Google Music Beta is alpha on my netbook

Ever heard of Google Music Beta? Well, it's a music service by Google that's in beta. Pretty simple. You can upload up to 20,000 songs from your computer for free and then play them on any other Internet browser. I find it pretty cool. So cool, in fact, that Music Beta has replaced my other casual music players on my netbook. The reason? Believe it or not, one tab in Chrome takes up less computer resources than a full-blown music player like Windows Media Player, Quick Time, or iTunes. And, on a netbook, you need all the RAM and CPU power you can get. So, it works out well. I've used Chrome's "Create application" feature to make Music Beta a stand-alone "app" of sorts. I do have a few invites to Music Beta, so if you can figure out to contact me and ask, I might just give a few away. I say it's a very useful service. It is beta, so there are some bugs, but they can all be fixed or worked around.

Google gets relevant!

Google just put a new tool out called Google Related. You know those annoying navigational bars at the bottom of your screen that some sites use? Well, Google has made their own. Except, it isn't annoying or for one specific site. It's a bar that displays at the bottom of web pages that have information about a certain person, place, thing, or idea. It shows videos relating to what you're browsing for, in which you can watch right from the bar without having to go to YouTube, images that have something to do with the web page, news on the subject, and even maps and locations, if they apply. It is a browser extension for Google Chrome (duh) and Internet Explorer ONLY. Sorry, Firefox users. It's a fairly low-requirement extension, too. Right now, it's only using 7 MB of RAM on my netbook. I've only tested this out on a few pages (a local restaurant, Weird Al's homepage), but I'm loving it. I'd really recommend it to anyone who uses the Internet to find stuff out. It's like all the Google searches that you would have made about something, right there at the bottom of your screen. You can learn more about Google Related at Google.com/Related. The official blog post announcement can be found here, and the Chrome extension is here. I'll put the official video from Google after the break.

Minecraft (not-so) Pocket Edition

Gamers rejoice! Minecraft has finally hit the mobile arena! Or, not so much... "Minecraft Pocket Edition" was released today, except it isn't very universal. It's on the Android Market only, and I'm pretty sure it's only for the Xperia Play. Nice going, Mojang. I say if you're going to make a mobile game, do it right: release it with more than one device being supported, or at least support all devices on the release platform. If it were up to me, Minecraft would be on Apple's App Store first. Then again, I am a huge iOS fan, and a big hater of Android. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait and see if the big guys at Mojang decide to put out an official Minecraft for the most fun mobile platform: iOS.

Emails and Google+

I'm trying out Blogger's "post via email" feature from my iPod because there aren't any good Blogger apps. Anyway, onto the blog.
Google+: it has so much potential. It can become so many things, and it already had. One thing that I've noticed is that it's a place for people who do constant YouTube videos to post their new videos when they post them onto YouTube. I have a circle specifically for people from YouTube, and that effectively transforms my post fees into a sort of interactive subscription box. And then there's everyone else's posts along with my YouTube subscriptions. It's just another way that Google wins.

Sent from my iPod Touch

Hello world!

This place is just about ready for some blogging! I'm just getting permission to use the epic Chrome-varied logo that's on my banner right now. I'm a massive fan of Chrome and Google, minus Android. Other than that, I think I'll start posting regularly soon!