6 million+ Android tablets on the market, Android 2.3 now over half of Android’s user-base

Jake Smith

Every 14 days, Google publishes an updated pie-chart laying out all of the details about what Android versions are most prominent. Yesterday’s chart reveals that Android 2.3, or Gingerbread, now makes up 50.6% of Android’s user base, followed by Android 2.2, Froyo which has 35.3%. Interestingly, there are still close to 12% of users on lower levels of Android. Where the shocker really comes in to play is the percentage of users that are rocking Honeycomb, the Android version exclusive to tablets.

Figures also updated by Google’s team, was a pie-chart showing different screen sizes that feature Android. The chart showed that 3.1% of all Android devices are tablets with a 7-inch or larger screen.  If all 200M Android devices are still active and represented here, that means that 6.2M Android Tablets are in the market.

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Confirmed: Google isn’t affiliated with Carrier IQ

Jake Smith

Confirming our report from last night, Google has told The Verge that they have no affiliation whatsoever with Carrier IQ, but rather the OEMs of Android handsets do.

We do not have an affiliation with CarrierIQ. Android is an open source effort and we do not control how carriers or OEMs customize their devices.

Carrier IQ news has blown up this afternoon, after being found on numerous handsets currently offered on the market. While Verizon has said that Carrier IQ can’t be found on their devices, Apple, RIM, Nokia, Windows Mobile, and most Android devices do have the tracking software. For now, if you’re Android device is affected you can install CyanogenMod or just wait for all of this to blow over after an update, in a few days.

Carrier IQ’s statement:

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YouTube redesign finally gets official with new UI and Google+ integration

Jordan Kahn

We already gave you an early look and detailed some of the changes included in the major YouTube UI overhaul a couple weeks ago, and now Google has finally made things official. On top of a completely redesigned homepage with gray background and brand new layout, the update also brings improved channel integration for both users and content providers including new channel templates. The major focus, however, is Google+ integration with new sharing and filtering options based on your Google+ account preferences.

Another addition included in the update is the official launch of TrueView, the advertising model that allows users to skip an ad after five seconds or select from one of three pre-roll ads. It also allows advertisers to pay only for users who don’t skip their ads. However, traditional ad formats will still be available in addition to TrueView.

YouTube has had no problem staying relevant amid a growing number of competitive content providers, especially in the mobile space. As of today, YouTube is reporting around 400 million views a day on mobile, up 3x year/year (13% of the service’s daily views which gets approx. 800M uniques a month). The rollout is happening today, so you should be seeing the redesign anytime now.
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Google reportedly talking with partners about a new fast-delivery program

Jake Smith

In a move to combat Amazon’s dominance in the delivery of physical products, Google is said to be in talks with “major retailers and shippers” to create their own rival service, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The companies that are reportedly considering partnering with Google — Macy’s, OfficeMax, and Gap Inc– are some of the same that recently signed up to integrate the company’s Google Wallet NFC platform into their retail locations. Google’s service will compete directly with Amazon’s Prime, which offers same-day or next-day shipping on all of their products.

Google plans to meld an existing product-search feature that directs shoppers to retail websites with a new quick-shipping service that the Internet giant will oversee. The quick-shipping service will be based on a Google behind-the-scenes system that allows shoppers to figure out whether stores have a product in stock and that allows them to find out whether they can get that product shipped to them within a day.

Amazon has seen huge success with their $79 a year Prime program. Not only do customers get expedited shipping on products, but get added bonuses on Amazon’s Kindle Fire when it comes to media downloads and their MP3 store. The report mentions that Google has talked to UPS to also partner in the program.

It’s not clear if the program will cost a subscription fee like Amazon Prime, or if it will be offered free through the help of their partnerships. Google seems to like to stick with the free model more than anything, so I wouldn’t discount the possibility.

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Yay! Google takes aim at copycats with search refinements

9to5 Staff

The search Goliath, Google, has been pushing out various product updates at a relentless pace throughout much of this year. For example, they redesigned the main navigation bar, updated the Search app for iOS and are testing new ‘Sources’ section inside of search results, all the while catering to the bright side of technology with notable gems such as this 6-minute clip touching on the history and future of search.

But the company isn’t resting on its laurels as today they made known in a blog post a number of enhancements to their key product, the Google.com search engine. It’s been improved with nearly a dozen new capabilities since the last update on November 14, most of which aim to protect original content on the web.

Google now indexes more long-tail documents and has more accurate autocomplete predictions described as being “a little more flexible for certain queries, without losing your original intention”. They’re also better at figuring out which of two similar web pages is the original one. As a result, shady sites blatantly lifting content that hard-working bloggers produce should have a lesser chance of appearing in search results.

Other refinements include live results for Major League Soccer and the Canadian Football League, minor color and layout changes to improve usability on tablet devices, a change to how they determine image freshness for news queries so they can find the freshest images more often and other under-the-hood tweaks.

With those changes in place, users should benefit from more relevant search experience freed from lifted content that sneaks its way into their search results.

Google+ hangouts extra brings free phone calls to the US and Canada

Jordan Kahn

A nice addition to Hangouts with extras has been made available today over at plus.google.com/hangouts/extras, bringing with it the ability to place phone calls directly from within a hangout. Much like phone calls in Gmail, which recently got an international rollout, the feature will be available for free, initially to users in the US and Canada. Also, outgoing calls will come from your Google Voice number, if applicable. If you’re interested in trying it out, here’s how to do it:
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