9to5 Staff

Image credit: dropit2entrecard.blogspot.com

Something fell off our plate amid the late craze in tech reporting, especially with Google buying Motorola and HP abandoning PC biz and webOS devices. That doesn’t mean this little nugget is not worthy your attention, quite the contrary. Three years ago, Google mentioned it would eventually enable the so-called native code execution in Chrome. The latest beta of Chrome 14, unleashed a week ago, now supports this functionality, the Google Operating System blog has discovered.

In Layman’s terms, native code execution lets the Chrome browser run snippets of web code specifically optimized for your computer’s processor rather than analyze, interpret and painstakingly turn HTML code line by line into a machine-readable format – that takes a lot of time, slowing down code execution as a result.

Google’s definition simply states the technique lets developers “build web applications that seamlessly execute native compiled code inside the browser”. For our tech-savvy readers, Google outlined some of the benefits of this technique in the announcement blog post three years ago:

Modern PCs can execute billions of instructions per second, but today’s web applications can access only a small fraction of this computational power. If web developers could use all of this power, just imagine the rich, dynamic experiences they could create. At Google we’re always trying to make the web a better platform. That’s why we’re working on Native Client, a technology that aims to give web developers access to the full power of the client’s CPU while maintaining the browser neutrality, OS portability and safety that people expect from web applications.

The stable Chrome 14 release is expected within a month, when native code execution will become standard feature for the 160 million active Chrome users, as of May 11. So, why should you care? Read on…

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUdI-XADqB4]

As you may know, Google likes to pitch themselves as one of the greeniest tech firms out there. The notion has its merrits. They went through great lengths constructing an innovative system of heat exchangers and pipes that return water into the Gulf of Finland at temperatures similar to intake, thus minimizing impact on environment. Likewise, Google hired a bunch of award-winning green designers from Sydney to Stuttgart to come up with an environment-savvy 600,000-square-feet office for rookies near Shoreline Boulevard. It’s gonna be a self-sustaining building that will require no heating, cooling or mechanical ventilation, plus it’ll operate at near-zero emission. Those two examples are just a tip of the iceberg. Google’s green team lead Anthony Ravitz took it upon himself to summarize his employee’s green strides and the company put together a nifty little video explaining why using theirs – not the other companies’ services – helps preserve the environment.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R3V9qjzD40]

The $12.5 billion acquisition of handset maker Motorola has spurred an intense debate on the web as to what Google might do with the company and whether or not it could affect Apple negatively. Unfortunately for us tech watchers, neither Apple nor its boss – who’s been on a medical leave of absence since January – have reacted publicly thus far. Heck, even Microsoft voiced its opinion. Taiwan based Next Media Animation took it upon themselves to illustrate how Apple’s head honcho might react to the deal and what it could possibly mean for you and me. The YouTube description teases:

Motorola was once at the forefront of mobile communications, but has lost its way. Meanwhile, one-trick pony Google is desperately searching for a second act.

Check out the full animation embedded above or watch it on YouTube.

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Rivals and press for decades had been ridiculing Apple for insisting on controlling the whole widget. The iPhone maker took it on the chin, but nowadays many companies have come to realization that the best way to create delightful experiences is to approach product design from Apple’s  perspective rather than slap together off-the-shelf components which run outsourced software.

For example, Google will pay $12.5 billion for phone maker Motorola. In exchange, the Android team gets to instruct Motorola’s hardware unit on how to build handsets sporting a greater interplay of software, services and hardware. Samsung, too, is looking to bolster its software as competition with Apple intensifies, reports Reuters, quoting head of the Samsung Group office Kim Soon-taek:

Chairman Lee told top managers to come up with various measures including M&As to enhance software competitiveness.

The revelation doesn’t come entirely out of blue, however. Samsung already makes Bada, its own operating system for feature phones that some think is the company’s plan B should their bet on Android go down the hill. They also create custom software for consumer electronics devices such as networked television sets and their smartphones run custom user interface built atop Android, dubbed TouchWiz.

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We previously told you that HTC is gearing up to launch a tablet with a stylus later this year. They are calling it the Puccini and it’s said to include a 10.1-inch display plus a 1.5GHz processor, 4G LTE modem and HTC’s Sense interface on top of Honeycomb software. Today, their finance chief Winston Yung indicated that the device might launch at the end of the third quarter or early fourth quarter, reports DigiTimes, quoting the Chinese-language Liberty Times. It’s the first official confirmation we’ve gotten concerning the Puccini launch date and with a fourfold sales increase in China, the Puccini should be off to a nice start.

The company should also benefit from an increase of sales outlets in the country from 650 to about 2,000 by the end of the year. HTC is embroiled in a legal spat with Apple over an alleged patent infringement involving the iPhone. Today, HTC countersued Apple, Reuters reported, charging that Macs and all iOS devices infringe upon their patents, a day following Google’s stunning $12.5 billion takeover bid for Motorola Mobility. Per latest Nielsen survey, HTC is America’s #2 smartphone maker and the nation’s leading Android vendor accounting for a 14 percent of all Android smartphones sold. The company shipped 12.1 million phones in the second quarter for a 104 percent revenue growth year-over-year.

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The Google Operating System blog spotted a revamped interface over at Google’s OneBox that provides a better way to browse movie showtimes. For those uninitiated, OneBox is a way to display information at the top of search results for queries that can be answered instantly or through a direct link, such as weather, stocks and more. You can now click the Show More Movies link to reveal more information and compare movies. Clicking the links takes you to the Google Movies site that provides more in-depth meta data about your selection, including brief description and links to movie reviews, photographs and quotes from sites such as IMDb.

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According to this partial close up leaked by TmoNews, HTC’s upcoming smartphone will pack in a gorgeous 4.3-inch qHD display and run a dual-core 1.5GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. Back and front cameras sport eight and two megapixels, respectively. The exterior design calls for a myTouch-like enclosure, but don’t let this fool you – this one’s gonna be a completely new phone allegedly branded under the HTC Ruby moniker.

Other perks include dedicated buttons to quickly take snaps and capture video and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity. The Ruby should arrive “later this year” via T-Mobile, the publication reports. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the device comes with Android Ice Cream Sandwich which is slated to debut on select phones in the fourth quarter of this year.

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We here at 9to5Google are no strangers to Chrome Experiments, sweet little snippets of code that highlight the many advances Google’s been adding to its browser. Take, for example, a tech demo where you write your message and have the band in a music video dance it out. Today, Conceivably Tech points us to another interesting showcase that highlights the efficiency of Google’s WebGL support in Chrome.

WebGL is for the web what OpenGL stands for on your desktop, a standardized way for web developers to tap the power of your graphics card directly, by embedding an OpenGL code right inside web pages. The WebGL Water demo runs smoothly full screen on my 1.6GHz Core i5 MacBook Air and the water ripple effect, particles and lighting effects have to be experienced first hand in order to be fully appreciated.

The code runs best in Chrome due to the use of the OES-texture-float extension, which is currently only available for Chrome. If this is a sign of things to come, soon we will be able to run complex visualizations and shiny 3D games right inside our browser.

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The web is abuzz with the news that Google is snapping up Motorola Mobility in a deal valued at $12.5 billion. And while there are concerns that Google is pursuing the deal purely for the patents, CEO Larry Page said in a blog post that the agreement will let them “supercharge the Android ecosystem” by fending off patent threats from Apple, Microsoft and other companies. In addition, he dropped hints of “wonderful user experiences” in a nod at tightly integrated devices that Apple famously builds.

Now, conventional wisdom has it that the transaction will put other Android backers in an uneasy position as they get to compete with Motorola on an uneven playing field. Not to worry, Boy Genius Report has reactions from major Android backers that appear to be upbeat about the deal. For example, J.K. Shin, president of Samsung’s Mobile Communications division says:

We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.

The publication quoted similar statements by executives from HTC, LG and Sony Ericsson that Google published on their site. On the other hand, as noted by Business Insider, Android backers cannot be satisfied with the outcome of this time, regardless of their voice of support. TIMN wonders what this deal means for the future of Motorola products and the level of Google’s involvement in product development. So far, this is about intellectual property. Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha revealed in a conference call discussing the Google deal that his company controls a rich patent portfolio of 17,000 issued patents and 7,500 patent applications filed, indicating that Google will use this patent war chest as a powerful leverage against legal pressure from rivals Apple and Microsoft.

Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond said this in the call:

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Call it a mobile platform heat map of sorts, but we love it. Mobile ad firm Jumptap is out with their July 2011 report analyzing ad-tracking data of about 83 million users on its ad network. The above info graphic immediately captured our attention (via GigaOM) because it tells the story of the iOS vs. Android war in an electoral manner that evening newscasters had trained us to get. As you can see, iOS is doing pretty well in the Northeast and Midweast states, while Android leads in the South and Southweast parts (no, we ain’t making any conclusions here).

Also, Hawaii is a state that falls in the iOS camp, and Alaska over-indexes for both Android and iOS. One word of warning: That pretty chart is sourced from a limited selection of people on Jumptap’s ad network rather then actual sales numbers so the usual caveats apply. One other surprising factoid:

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Fresh off its patent-related acquisition of S3 Graphics for $300 million, HTC this morning announced a new acquisition. This time they’re snapping up Dashwire, the maker of the Dashworks platform that lets users setup, personalize and access their content across a myriad of mobile devices. Dashwire will become a wholly owned subsidiary of HTC.

The company confirmed plans to tap Dashwire’s cloud-sync technology and device set up products “to extend the HTCSense.com cloud services it launched last year”. Here’s from HTC’s president of engineering and operations Fred Liu:

Cloud services are key to delivering the promise of connected services to our customers. People want access to all of their important content wherever they are on any device. The addition of Dashwire’s cutting-edge sync services and deep mobile cloud experience strengthens our ability to deliver these services in a more powerful way.

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Two nice-to-haves discovered earlier this week over at the Google Operating System blog. The first deals with using templates in Google Contacts. You can choose between two templates by hitting the More Actions button when creating a new contact: Standard and Business. The latter has added custom fields such as job title, company name, mobile phone and work phone. Hopefully, Google will allow us to edit and create our own templates in the future.

The other feature available in the Google Translate service seeks to tap the crowd-sourced knowledge in order to improve the quality of translations. From now on, you can mark each individual translation as Helpful, Not helpful and Offensive by clicking the Rate Translation button. Also, you can click on the translated word and up pops a menu with alternate translations that you can re-order by holding down the Shift key and drag the words around.

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Google’s rapid development cycle with Chrome not only lifted the browser’s version number into the stratosphere, it has as well produced some of the industry-leading features and innovations. Initially, those capabilities were late in Chrome OS, but with the operating system now in the wild and powering Chromebooks, Google has taken a more aggressive stance to keeping Chrome OS and Chrome on the same page.

Today, the search company announced on the Google Chrome releases blog that Chromebooks are getting updated to Chrome 13, the latest stable version which was released two days ago for Windows, Linux and Mac desktops. Chrome version 13.0.782.108 (platform version 587.100) is now available on the Stable Channel for the Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5 and Cr-48  Chromebooks. It includes all of the features of Chrome 13 plus several Chromebook-specific additions. Release highlights after the break:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyJIbTVEkp8]

Samsung is showing no signs of downplaying their tablet marketing amid the ugly patent spat with Apple. On Thursday the company aired a trio of new adverts that pitch its Galaxy Tab tablet as being “thinner”, “lighter” and “faster”, presumably compared to the market-leading iPad. The “Lighter” commercial brags about the Galaxy Tab weighing in “at a dainty 565 grams – as light and portable as they come“. iPad 2 weighs in at 601 grams.

The “Thinner” advert says their tablet “does what other tablets can only dream of”, underscoring “the sleek design you’ve come to expect of all Samsung Galaxy Tabs”. iPad 2’s profile measures 8.8mm versus 8.6mm for Samsung’s device. Interestingly, design is one of the treats Apple said Samsung “slavishly copied” from them.

The “Faster” commercial touts Galaxy Tab’s processors capable of “handling even the largest of video files with ease” and making “buffering a relic of the past”. Go past the fold to check out the remaining two Galaxy Tab commercials.

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A Digitimes Research survey of tablet shipment expectations for 2011 indicates that Apple will retain its lead by a large margin, but also signals the Cupertino, California firm’s share of the tablet market dropping as Android vendors have begun flooding the marketplace with non-Apple tablets in various forms, shapes, sizes and price points. The report says shipments are expected to surpass 65 million this year, up more than 200 percent from 2010. “While Apple remains the dominant player with its iPad line, other major vendors have looking to gain traction in this booming market”, the report notes.

Some 40 million tablets should be sold between June and December, with Apple growing 76 percent compared to H2 2010 and clearing 25.5 million units in H2 2011. This compares to 15.65 million non-Apple tablets predicted in the second half of 2011, a 65 percent increase versus the first half of 2011. This puts Apple’s H2 2011 share of the tablet market at 61 percent versus 39 percent for all other vendors combined. This isn’t bad at all, but it’s worth noting that Apple’s choke hold grip on the tablet market is easing as consumers face tablet choices other than iPad. Research firm Strategy Analytics pegged Apple’s share of the tablet market in the June quarter at 61.3 percent, while Android tablets have gone from 2.9 percent market share in June 2010 to 30.1 percent in June 2011. Also…

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T-Mobile USA, the nation’s fourth-largest wireless operator which hosts over a million unlocked iPhones on its network, reported its June quarter earnings today. The results don’t bode well for the Deutsche Telekom-owned company: They lost 50,000 subscribers in the quarter, a continuation of the losing streak that saw them report 99,000 customer losses in the March quarter and 93,000 lost subscribers in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue came in $5.1 billion compared to $5.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. Net income was $212 million, down 48 percent from the $404 million reported in the second quarter of 2010.

Contract churn continues to be high, 2.4 percent, consistent with the previous quarter but up from 2.2 percent in the year-ago period. Blended churn that encompasses prepaid and contract customers declined sequentially to 3.3 percent.  The carrier cited “competitive pressures” for high churn and loss of customers. Their 3G/4G smartphone customers now account for 29 percent of total customers, up 27 percent sequentially and 19 percent annually. The company will continue expanding HSPA+ 42 coverage that encompassed 170 million people in the quarter. Nothing new to report on the proposed merger with AT&T which is pending approval and is expected to be completed in the first half of next year. Full release below the fold.

Cross-posted on 9to5Mac.com

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A little over a month ago, Skype brought video calling via wireless or 3G cellular networks to its mobile client on select Android phones. Today, the company announced on its blog Skype 2.1, a new version of the Android client that enables video calling on seventeen additional Android phones: The Acer A5, HTC Desire (2.2), HTC Desire HD, HTC Evo 3D, HTC Evo 4G, HTC Flyer, HTC Incredible S, HTC Sensation, HTC Thunderbolt – Verizon (2.2) (US only), LG Revolution – Verizon (2.2) (US only), Samsung Droid Charge – Verizon (2.2) (US only), Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro, Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY, Sony Ericsson Xperia ray. You can download the Skype 2.1 for Android app from Android Market or by visiting skype.com/m on your phone. If you cannot see the “enable video calling” option in Skype settings, it means your Android phone is not supported.

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Samsung today issued the following statement announcing its planned Galaxy Tab 10.1 launch event in Australia has been postponed, citing legal spat with Apple (via Gizmodo):

In light of the current legal proceedings by Apple Inc. against Samsung Electronics Australia, Samsung regrets to announce it will be postponing its media launch event, scheduled for 11th August 2011, for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The company will announce a new date for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 media launch event “as soon as practicable”. It’s another PR blow for Samsung Mobile which has thus far confused the press with inconsistent messages about the Australia situation…

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Over the past few weeks, the patent arms race has been accelerating and the latest comes in a Bloomberg story that has old frenemies – Apple, Google and Samsung – locked in a fight for InterDigital’s patent portfolio. Samsung is said to be interested the most in InterDigita’s intellectual property their CEO claims is “stronger” than the 6,000 Nortel patents the Apple-led consortium recently acquired for $4.5 billion. People familiar with the matter tell the publication Samsung has been “approached to make a bid”:

Samsung is looking at the patents along with Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG) and other potential bidders, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. InterDigital, which holds patents related to mobile technologies used to transfer information, said last month that it hired bankers as it considers a sale.

InterDigital’s patent portfolio covers technology for high-speed cellphone networks “now used by the world’s biggest handset makers”, including Apple’s iPhone as well as BlackBerry and Android phones. The portfolio includes 8,000 patents in total and is estimated to be worth $5 billion or more. “To hedge the risk, Samsung could go ahead with bidding, although they may have to pay a big premium”, says  Shinyoung Securities Co. analyst Lee Seung Woo…

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Stunning 45-degree views are now available in Maps for more places in the US and abroad.

Never content with resting on its laurels, Google have been iterating their products at a pace faster than ever before. Here’s a quick overview of some of the noteworthy changes we spotted in Google’s popular services, such as Docs, Tasks, Chrome Web Store, Blogger and Maps. The latter now features breathtaking 45° imagery for many more US cities (full list here), including international locales, such as Córdoba, Spain. If you haven’t yet seen highly detailed aerial photography in action, definitely give it a try now by checking out the Córdoba, William P. Hobby Airport or the Houston Ship Channel 45° views from all four directions.

Chrome Web Store, the Google-ran online repository of web apps, now supports more markets, having added sixteen new countries for 31 countries in total. In-app payments in web apps distributed on Chrome Web Store are also a go-go: Google confirmed paid transactions in web apps will be available to users in twenty countries “later this year”. Zyngas of this world will love it, that’s for sure. More features in other services right below the fold.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EEOWbIqQdE]

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In response to media reports that it has halted planned sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia until Apple lawsuit is resolved, Samsung Australia has stepped forward and shed some light on the matter. The company clarified via the official statement published by Ausdroid.net that a court injunction involves a Galaxy Tab 10.1 variant that the company “had no plans of selling” in Australia whatsoever.

They re-iterate plans to launch a version for the Australian market “in the near future”. It is not clear from the statement whether or not said version will hit the market regardless of the outcome of the Apple lawsuit in the country. The company does stress that “this undertaking” will not affect availability of their smartphones and tablets around the world. Here’s Samsung’s statement in its entirety:

Apple Inc. filed a complaint with the Federal Court of Australia involving a Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 variant that Samsung Electronics had no plans of selling in Australia. No injunction was issued by the court and the parties in the case reached a mutual agreement which stipulates that the variant in question will not be sold in Australia. A Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 for the Australian market will be released in the near future. This undertaking does not affect any other Samsung smartphone or tablet available in the Australian market or other countries. Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communication business.

CNN has confirmed authenticity of the statement. 9to5Google has contacted Samsung Mobile seeking clarification and will updated the post accordingly when we hear back from them. We suggested that the very fact Samsung has bowed to Apple in Australia could be viewed either as their concession to Apple ahead of a possible settlement or a major setback in their legal spat with the Cupertino, California gadget maker. FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller concurs and points out that “if Samsung believed that the US version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn’t infringe any of Apple’s rights, it would have defended itself as a matter of principle”.

Cross-posted on 9to5Mac.com

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