google i/o 2009

Perhaps because the Google Android operating system is already a year old, because the Android Developer's Challenge will be kicked off after Google's I/O developer conference instead of before, or because the platform differences between Android 1.0 and Android 1.5 aren't as dramatic as those between iPhone 2.0 and iPhone 3.0, Android apps and the 1.5 Cupcake update failed to produce as much excitement this year compared to last.

However, that didn't stop a couple dozen publishers from showcasing their applications developed for Android 1.5, and it didn't … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--When developers are comparing your new product to the unveiling of the iPhone, you know you've probably got something on your hands.

Such was the reaction at Google I/O in the hours following Google's first demonstration of Google Wave, a bid to redefine the way people communicate on the Internet by blending e-mail, instant messaging, file sharing, and collaboration software into one service. Following a session in which developers were given a peek under the hood at the technology and what it might let them do, several were quite impressed and already pondering what Google Wave … Read more

At the Google I/O conference in San Francisco Thursday morning, Google detailed Google Wave, an ambitious project to create the "e-mail of the future" by combining a number of communication methods, including instant messaging and nanoblogs. CNET News reporter Tom Krazit is covering the conference and has more.

Also in this podcast: Time Warner tells AOL, "You've got breakup."

Today's stories:

Time Warner to spin off AOL

North Carolina House OKs tax break to attract Apple

Apple continues investing during bad economy

Server sales drop 25 percent worldwide… Read more

Updated 12:28 p.m. PDT with additional comments from Google.

Google is ready to start talking about its answer to demand for real-time--yet organized--Internet communication.

Google on Thursday publicly demonstrated Google Wave for the first time at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. Billed as "the e-mail of the future," Google Wave is the result of a multiyear project inside of Google to reinvent the inbox, blending e-mail, instant messaging, photo sharing, and perhaps, with input from developers, connections to the world of social networking.

Google Wave is an attempt to "combine conversation-type communication … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Google provided a few glimpses of what will be possible with Android 2.0 on Wednesday, before it promptly made every developer in attendance at Google I/O forget those details with a good old-fashioned giveaway.

Calling it his "Oprah moment," Google's Vic Gundotra received the biggest applause dedicated to any moment of the Google I/O conference here so far when he announced that everyone in attendance would be getting a free unlocked Android handset. Lost in the moment were the announcements of a few APIs (application programming interfaces) that will appear in Android 2.0, code-named Donut.… Read more

Updated 12:15 p.m. PDT with additional comments from Google and Mozilla.

Corrected at 12:57 p.m. PDT: This post initially mischaracterized Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera. They are all open standards browsers.

SAN FRANCISCO--Google spent Wednesday morning trying to get developers excited about the next generation of Web technologies by showing off how future Web applications will mimic desktop apps.

"It's time for us to take advantage of the amazing opportunity that is before us," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, kicking off Google I/O 2009 in San Francisco. Schmidt was referring to the … Read more

Google has made it easier for novice Web publishers to spruce up their sites with feeds of Google's products.

Google Web Elements, set to be unveiled Wednesday at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, is an easy cut-and-paste way to add a Google News feed, for example, to a Web page. The company plans to demonstrate the service later on Wednesday at the conference.

Web publishers have been able to add such feeds to their sites in the past using Google's APIs, said DeWitt Clinton, technical manager of Google's developer relations team. But using … Read more

Among all the companies fighting to grab a piece of the brightest star in computing--the smartphone--Google seems the least interested in taking the spoils.

Android, Google's mobile operating system, doesn't generate revenue for the company, and likely never will--at least in the direct sense. But Andy Rubin, Google's director of mobile platforms, thinks Google and the world will benefit from any device created with the intent of getting more people onto the Internet, and isn't shy about explaining why the open-source approach chosen for Android holds the most promise of reaching that goal.

Android made its debut in 2007, … Read more