Seth Weintraub

We’ve gotten word from inside HP that the company is set to release an inexpensive Android smartphone aimed at the prepaid and emerging (BRIC) markets. We’re hearing the street price will be around $200 and it will be released in more than one market. Our source has pegged the launch at next week but delays can’t be ruled out at this point (and we’ve yet to hear anything publicly). Nokia Meego defector and new HP SVP Mobility  Alberto Torres is said to be heading up the group which has been working on the product for a year and a half.

We’re hearing that the device resembles the 5.5-inch Galaxy Note with obvious cost cutting measures to get the device down to the $200 price point. With HP’s Slate Android products, the company cut costs by using low pixel density displays so having a 720P display would seem about right and put it on a collision course with Samsung’s Galaxy Mega line with its 6.3-inch display and current street price of around $400.

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HP CEO Meg Whitman last year confirmed the company was building a smartphone on the trail of dumping its WebOS ‘detour’.

“So a smartphone is not if, but when, for Hewlett-Packard?” – Whitman replied:  “[HP has] to ultimately offer a smartphone, because in many countries in the world that is your first computing device. You know, there will be countries around the world where people may never own a tablet or a PC or desktop. They will do everything on the smartphone. We’re a computing company, we have to take advantage of that form factor.”

Computerworld UK reported that she indicated it wouldn’t be in 2013.

“We don’t have any plans to introduce a smartphone in 2013, but we’ve got to start thinking about what is our unique play, how do we capture this element of the personal computing market?” Whitman said.

HP has to offer every kind of device, from workstations through all-in-one PCs, laptops, hybrid PCs, tablets “and, ultimately, smartphones,” she said.

“I believe that five years from now, if we don’t have a smartphone or whatever the next generation of that device is, we’ll be locked out of a huge segment of the population in many countries of the world,” she said.

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The story of the Nokia Normandy project to get Android on low cost smartphones got some more real today with yet another leak of the phones, this time with some OS shots on them. If what we’re seeing is legit, and most evleaks are, this one has two SIM card slots and very thick custom overlay.  I can’t wait to see if these are released so I can not buy one. 
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In a Blogpost today, Google announced the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA). The move seems to indicate that Google is hoping to repeat its Open Handset Alliance but with cars. It currently has Audi, GM, Honda, Hyundai and Nvidia signed up but is open to anyone who wants to join.

The OAA would bring open source Android to cars and a common platform that could go from tablets to phones to cars and back again. For Google, it gets to spread its influence to yet more places and in turn gather more data for advertising and other purposes. 
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There has been rumors and even leaked reviews of these Chromebooks due to be announced tomorrow. We were just given this look at the Toshiba booth where they will be displayed.  We’re told the display is prominent and one of the bigger ones on offer. Word is also that Asus, the inventor of the netbook, would be showing off a Chromebook this year but so far only whispers.

Additionally we’ve seen a 30-ish-inch 4K display from Toshiba that will compete with Sharp’s and others for 4K desktop workstation market.

A review of the Toshiba Chromebook that was pulled from the web is pasted below:
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[tweet https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/418957387249119232]

The Ev-er reliable @evleaks’ latest leak? Some images of the LG Flex with some markings of the US GSM carriers. That’s right, if you are a T-Mobile or AT&T customer, you’ll soon have some ‘flexible’ options when it comes to Android phones.  Sprint? Yeah there too.  Verizon? Fashionable late as usual.
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I’m not always in full agreement with Wired’s Mat Honan, but his I, Glasshole piece definitely struck a chord with me and my mostly similar experiences with Google Glass.  I can agree with almost everything he’s said on the experience of owning and operating them, at least to an extent.

The biggest point to bring home is the outward awkwardness, but I wouldn’t characterize it as 100% negative across the board like Honan’s experience. He said that even in a room full of Wired writers he’s still ostracized for wearing them. That may be true, but at certain events like his Google event image, they felt pretty normal. I wasn’t at the one pictured, but at Google I/O every 4-5 people at the show were wearing them, even if Google’s own presenters weren’t.  No one was uncomfortable in that environment. I imagine it isn’t uncomfortable at Google or any number of the places that are beta testing the Glass in large numbers relative to the population.

At home or in the general public, I agree – it is definitely jarring wearing them around. You get the same kind of attention that you’d get if you had a massive headwound at the grocery store or if you were waving a light saber around on the way to the coffee shop.  The attention isn’t entirely negative, but it is certainly one of discomfort and curiosity.  Some people ask about them and want to find out what the experience is like. I’ve let tons of people wear mine, and those who’ve tried have usually thought they were ‘cool’.

I’ve found a good way to mitigate the attention is to wear a low lying baseball cap coupled with the Oakley Blades wrap around shades attachment. With this setup, about 90% of the people don’t notice the Glass and just think you are some dork wearing Oakley Blades from 1987. Clearly, Google could innovate here – getting them on normal glasses hides the appearance. They’ve already promised a prescription lens attachement and even shown off some demos.

The 2014 model Glass, as I am now calling them, won’t do much for the appearance.  The inclusion of a mono or stereo headset is just going to complicate the setup rather than simplify it.  Note the left stereo earpiece  comes out of the same right side hole as the right side ear piece.

I feel a little claustrophobic looking at them, and I imagine the final consumer version will have the earpiece coming out of either the back or the other side of the glasses.

Appearances aside, how does it work?
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Google recalled the power adapters to its popular little HP Chromebook 11 last week after an investigation by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said that some of the AC adapters were overheating and could be dangerous. Google had previously pulled them off the shelves of various retailers pending the results of the investigation.

The recall was an unfortunate stain on rep of the little guy which we loved in our review (and didn’t see any overheating on) – especially since the revolutionary feature of the device was its ability to be charged by ANY micro-USB cord from almost any USB port, battery or charger (including other laptops).

Today, Google sent me an updated HP Chromebook 11 with the new power cord which actually looks like a smaller version of the Chromebook Pixel’s power supply with a micro-USB tip. The power supply is made by LITEON in China and send 5.25V of power to the Chromebook at 3.0A. That’s a lot more than your average micro-USB charge, which will still power/recharge the battery of the HP Chromebook 11, albeit at a much slower rate.

These should be shipping out to retailers and online soon. Google’s Play store still says “Coming Soon” but I imagine if I have one, Google’s Store will soon have them as well.

The new adapter works as advertised in the little amount of time I’ve given it and we can again give the green light to those who might want to pick up a last minute $269 holiday item.
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When I wrote for Fortune in 2010 that inexpensive hardware would allow Android to ‘take over the world’, the concept of smartphones that were priced only slightly above feature phones was just starting to take hold.  Fast forward three years and Android has by some accounts cleared 80% of the world smartphone market. The low end of that Android spectrum, with the exception of a few mediocre handsets (LG’s Optimus line comes to mind), has been, frankly, a mess.

Today there is a truly great, inexpensive Android phone that costs less than $200 unsubsidized, and it is made by Google’s Motorola division.  I’ve tested the Moto G for the past week and a half and I love it. It could easily replace any high end handset on a day to day basis in terms of speed and functionality. The one caveat being the camera is mediocre, but still functional.

I’ll rundown the specs, but the important thing to consider is the price and positioning of Google (and believe me, this is a Google phone, not an old Motorola one).

The $179/$199 8GB/16GB Motorola G comes with a 4.5-inch 720P display, which isn’t the best by any means, but it also isn’t far from the best out there. I’ve argued for awhile that you can’t hardly make out the difference between 720P and 1080P on a display without some very close inspection. Even those with sub 20/20 vision don’t notice much day to day.

The G  has a quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor which falls along the same lines: Not the best, but not far from it. It is a little heavier than what I’d now expect from a 4.5-inch display phone, but that heft is largely because of the all day 2,070 mAh battery.

This thing looks and behaves like a flagship Nexus phone…from last year – all the way down to the hardly-touched Android 4.3 interface. Motorola has promised some form of 4.4 Kitkat by the end of next month. With the veracity that they’ve been updating their Moto X handsets, I have little doubt that it will get done.

But what does this all mean? Why this phone at this price? Why now? 
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Update: Back up but not very speedy. They will continue the sale for an additional day

If we’re not live by 9:30 PM ET tonight, we'll offer the price promo @ Noon ET on Wed and again on Mon 12/9, doubling the devices available.

— motorolaus (@MotorolaUS) December 3, 2013

Google-owned website down because of heavy traffic likely due to their Moto X Cyber Monday deal.

[tweet https://twitter.com/Motorola/status/407523478774894592]

Interestingly, it appears to be a front end issue because http://www.isup.me/motorola.com.

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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shocked Charlie Rose on Cyber Monday Eve (great timing for the PR-savvy retail giant) by showing him the future of delivery services – autonomous drones that will pick up and deliver wares from fulfillment centers. From which we can conclude that Charlie Rose doesn’t read 9to5Google, where the concept is old news.

We mentioned way back in February that Google was already working on drone delivery services:

Along with Glass, Google will have an opportunity to demonstrate other upcoming and Google X projects like driverless cars and mini-drone delivery systems at its stores.

We reference it again when the company launched the trial of its ‘Google Shopping Express’ same-day delivery service to Bay Area residents:

Google, in the long run, plans to use self-driving cars and flying drones as means of delivery.

And again:

9to5Google also heard this service was coming, and we have some more somewhat wild information on the program. Google, in the long run, plans to use self-driving cars and flying drones as means of delivery. We also heard Google’s delivery project came from the Google X incubator headed by cofounder Sergey Brin.

Clearly there are a lot of hurdles to jump on the way to this vision (privacy, theft, accidents, visual pollution, etc, etc). but it’s equally clear that these two Silicon Valley heavy-weights are prepping to battle in the skies above.

Google might have gotten there first, but Amazon definitely wins the PR battle so far: a short concept video for a service which doesn’t yet exist, and which even optimistically it doesn’t expect to launch for a couple of years, got everyone talking about them. Including Charlie Rose. Video below …

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DUXMFibDi8]

The holidays have hit Microsoft land and along with your Scroogled paraphernalia, you now have the Chromebook attack ad. Microsoft plays up the “no offline access” card even though many of Chrome’s most useful features can be used without access to the internet. Anyway, you’ve got the Pawn Star dude saying you can’t get to LA on the cost of a trade in Chromebook. Considering that new ones typically cost between $200–$300 new, that part might actually be the truth.

If these ads rub you the wrong way, you aren’t alone. Microsoft isn’t showing much taste in this campaign. 
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You want to get these for every member of your Google-paranoid family for the holidays. Oh, Microsoft. [$8 Microsoft Store]

Don’t want a mug? Microsoft has some propaganda apparel for you:

Click to enlarge

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Fresh from the Motorola Blog, it appears that Motorola will launch its first Android 4.4 KitKat update on Verizon first, with rollouts starting today. The KitKat update brings:

Excellent article from Burkhard Bilger at The New Yorker

Human beings make terrible drivers. They talk on the phone and run red lights, signal to the left and turn to the right. They drink too much beer and plow into trees or veer into traffic as they swat at their kids. They have blind spots, leg cramps, seizures, and heart attacks. They rubberneck, hotdog, and take pity on turtles, cause fender benders, pileups, and head-on collisions. They nod off at the wheel, wrestle with maps, fiddle with knobs, have marital spats, take the curve too late, take the curve too hard, spill coffee in their laps, and flip over their cars. Of the ten million accidents that Americans are in every year, nine and a half million are their own damn fault.

When you think about it like that, sure, let a search engine monetized by advertising drive me to work.