Google I/O 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010 at 1:52PM | Print Article Over the past few days Google have been running their annual I/O conference. It was at this event last year that they first unveiled Google Wave.
There were two main announcements that grabbed my attention this year:
Google Android 2.2 (Froyo)
Like the iPhone OS 4.0 we already know quite a bit about Android 2.2, however it is always nice to get the official announcement. The features that really excite me are:
- New Just-in-Time (JIT) compiler resulting in 2x-5x performance improvement over Android 2.1.
- New V8 Javascript engine resulting in 2x-3x performance boost in the browser.
- Optimisations for using the camera, orientation (accelerometer) within the browser.
- Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and AIR compatibility.
- Tethering for Wifi and USB. (iPad here I come).
To get the full list of new features head over to the source - Android Developers.
Google TV
The second announcement was Google TV, which is a new product designed to integrate your television and Web experience. Intel, Sony and Logitech have already signed up and even have products available for testing (video). To help understand how Goggle TV will work, the development team have put together a short video.
So who is Google TV's competition? Is it Microsoft's Media Centre and Boxee or even Apple's "hobby", the Apple TV? It seems like most other major TV and set-top box manufacturers are keen to integrate the technology and use it alongside there own and if taken seriously, I think Google TV has some real potential.