Google takes heat over Android tablet OS - Computerworld

IDG News Service - Android device makers around the world are anticipating great things from the next version of Google's mobile software, and they need the boost. Apple has a strong head start with sales of its popular iPad, while the App Store and iTunes give it apps and content, to boot.

But after a year of prodding Google, device makers think they've finally won with the upcoming "Honeycomb" upgrade to Android, which is expected by the end of the first quarter and is supposed to be the first version of the software designed for tablets instead of smartphones.

Earlier this year, for example, Samsung Electronics, had to fight to have the Android Market app, which connects users to the software's online treasure trove of over 150,000 apps, on its Galaxy Tab, according to one executive who asked not to be named due to his company's close relationship with Google.

At the time that Samsung was developing the Galaxy Tab to use Android, Google was struggling to decide if it wanted to put its upcoming Chrome OS in tablets and make Android exclusive to smartphones. The Chrome OS better fits Google's Cloud strategy, the executive said.

A Google spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.

Google's decision to make a tablet-friendly version of Android became a must after Apple launched its groundbreaking iPad, analysts say.

"Earlier in the year, Google probably thought that Chrome OS might be the right platform for tablets. However, the importance of the compatibility of apps across smartphones and tablets, evident from the iPad experience, has created the need for Google to ensure that the commercial success of apps can be preserved in the tablet proposition," said Martin Bradley, an analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Apple sold nearly 8 million iPads through the end of September, making it one of the hottest products of the year. (That tally is from official Apple figures from its quarterly earnings conference call and doesn't include holiday sales.)

By being first, Apple has set the tone for the entire market. Tablet makers need to put out the same OS for their smartphones and tablets so apps can be shared on either device. Even more important, apps specifically designed for tablets need to be made available, to take advantage of the larger screens, more powerful processors and expanded memory on board.

Of the 300,000 or so apps available to Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users, 40,000 are specifically designed for the iPad, and they are marketed that way on Apple's App Store.

By contrast, Google's Android Market does not offer any tablet-only apps to users, only smartphone apps. However, upstart Appslib is filling the void with its own tablet-only app store for Android lovers. Appslib is not affiliated with Google.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2010 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Colorado Senate: Michael Bennet Takes Razor Thin Victory - CBS News

November 3, 2010 6:14 PM Michael Bennet (D) and Ken Buck (R)

(Credit: AP Photo )

CBS News is now projecting that Democrat Michael Bennet will win the Colorado Senate race over Tea Party-backed Republican Ken Buck in what was an extremely close contest.

With 3156 out of 3246 precincts reporting, vote totals show Bennett leading Buck 794,724 to 779,280. That's a difference of just 15,444 votes.

The Associated Press, Fox News and the Denver Post projected the race for Bennet earlier today. CBS News declined to make such a call until now because of outstanding ballots and the possibility of a recount.

According to the Post, a recount takes place if the difference between the candidates' voter totals is less than one half of one percent. The difference between the two is about twice that now.

Bennet claimed victory this morning, thanking "the thousands of Coloradans who made this victory possible, who gave so much to our campaign, knocking on doors, making calls, and working tirelessly to ensure we leave more opportunity to the next generation."

"Yesterday, Colorado chose to move our state and this country forward. I will do everything I can to live up to the confidence you have placed in me," he said. Bennet was appointed to the seat to replace Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Buck conceded and called Bennet to congratulate him this afternoon. His campaign said Buck told Bennet that "while the final margin in the race is very small, Colorado voters have spoken and he wishes Senator Bennet well."

Buck's apparent loss is a blow for the Tea Party movement, which on the Senate side had a rough night last night. There are now three Tea Party-backed candidates - Buck, Nevada's Sharron Angle and Delaware's Christine O'Donnell - who lost in seats that Republicans might plausible have won with stronger candidates.

Democrats are now projected to control at least 52 seats in the new Congress. Two races remain outstanding: Washington, where Democrat Patty Murray holds a slim lead with many precincts yet to report, and Alaska, where the results might not be known for weeks.

Brian Montopoli is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of his posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter. Tags:Colorado ,Senate ,Ken Buck ,Tea Party ,Michael Bennet Topics:Campaign 2010

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Post Tech: Android takes smart-phone lead from BlackBerry, iPhone - Washington Post

Android phones have replaced the BlackBerry and iPhone in popularity among new users, according to new data by Nielsen.

Statistics show that Google's operating system for mobile phones has become a greater threat in the dynamic and competitive market for wireless smart phones.

In August, 32 percent of new users (people who bought a phone within the past six months) purchased a device running on Google's operating system, more than double the portion of new users surveyed in January.

Research in Motion's BlackBerry operating system and Apple's iPhone were behind at about 25 percent of the market each.

Overall, BlackBerry continues to dominate the smart-phone market for new and longer-term consumers with 31 percent of all sales. But that portion is down from 36 percent in January. Google's Android sales have more than doubled from 8 percent to 19 percent of all customers.

Fierce competition is not only being displayed in sales but in patent disputes between phone makers. Microsoft, which has trailed all operating systems, sued Motorola for allegedly infringing smart-phone patents related to e-mail, calendar and other applications. Apple and HTC have a back-and-forth patents dispute. In March, Apple sued Taiwan-based HTC, the manufacturer of such Android phones as the HTC Hero and Google's Nexus One (since taken off the market), alleging that it had infringed on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.

Separately, Apple was ordered by a Texas jury to pay more than $625 million to a computer science professor for alleged patent infringements.

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Boehner Outlines Changes if GOP Takes House - New York Times

As minority leader, Mr. Boehner, of Ohio, is in line to become speaker if his party captures control of the House, and in his speech Thursday, he set out specific ways in which he would overhaul the legislative process, from upending the appropriations system to giving rank-and-file members more power and requiring that the enactment of any new program be accompanied by at least an equivalent cutback in another program.

Mr. Boehner placed Republicans and Democrats alike in the cross hairs, arguing that both parties had engaged in the sins of earmarking, overreaching and partisan pettiness. Mr. Boehner was perhaps trying to appeal to an electorate weary of partisan bickering and legislative inaction and to respond directly to the calls for “changing the system” that have fueled many Tea Party candidates this year and President Obama’s campaign in 2008.

“Republicans should not start from the assumption that all government is bad,” he said, “nor should Democrats start from the assumption that all government is good.”

He added: “Instead of clamping down even further, it’s my view that we should open this process up and let the battle of ideas help break down the scar tissue between the two parties.”

Mr. Boehner, in prepared remarks of his speech at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative policy group, proposed a series of largely procedural measures that he said would make government both more responsive and more transparent.

Mr. Boehner called for rewriting the budget act; ceasing the appropriations practice in budget bills of cobbling together spending across vast agencies; ending leadership-driven legislation that freezes out the vast majority of members; and instituting a cut-as-you-go requirement in which any member offering a new program must “terminate or reduce spending on an existing government program of equal or greater size — in the very same bill.”

In a final smack to members, who are fond of spending hours on the floor discussing things like the virtues of handcrafted beers and accompanying resolutions to honor them, Mr. Boehner said Congress ought to “consider taking all these commemorative moments and special honors, and handle them during special orders and one-minute speeches.”

Mr. Boehner was among a group of Republicans first elected to the House in 1990 known as the Gang of Seven who set their sights on ethics scandals and Congressional perks that tainted members of both parties. In his speech Thursday, Mr. Boehner seemed to put his own party on notice for a reform-minded agenda that he imagines under his tutelage, but framed it as an antidote to the practices of the current Democratic majority.

“It’s hard to guarantee a fair debate,” he said, “when the majority has the ability to change bills in the dark of night and literally drop them into the laps of the minority just hours before debate is set to start.”

How popular such proposals will be among even the Republican caucus is very much in question. Earmarks remain popular with many lawmakers, and watering down the appropriations process would fundamentally alter the power structure in the House by siphoning power from the appropriators.

But, Mr. Boehner lamented, “instead of tallying up a final flurry of legislative output, observers and constituents are asking, ‘What went wrong?’ ”

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