Google has released a refresh to the Android SDK. The improvements are most noticeable in the GUI which now look a lot more acceptable. I still think they’re very candy-ish but it’s a huge improvement from what we saw recently on the dull palm-esque devices. Developers will now also be able to create their own animations for their applications. In addition the platform now supports OGG among other media codecs. This is a big step forward in maintaining the same concept the platform is built on, openness. While Microsoft may boast of the big depth of 3rd party applications available for it’s products, the WM platform’s openness is limited. Apple at this point is not even worth mentioning. But they should take a page from Google’s book and the direction it has taking the Android platform in. I believe the platform will take off even more once the initial wave of devices start coming out this summer.

Screenshots: http://www.helloandroid.com/node/258

Google adds yet another egg to its basket of acquisitions. The latest being California based Green Border which it acquired on the 11^th of May for an undisclosed amount. “GreenBorder creates a protected environment on your computer. Any type of activity and interaction, while you are on the Internet, will be directed to the protected environment. For instance, if you go to a website that is trying to maliciously infest your PC with malware, GreenBorder will keep the malware contained to the protected environment and simply discards it at the end of the session”

While many are speculating this to be a move towards establishing it’s own desktop antivirus, I believe Google has much bigger plans. Given what we know, or assume that Google’s OS will be a Linux Live CD with a built in browser with all apps working on top of that (think Docs, Spreadsheets, Calender); the “protected environment” will actually serve as an online defence mechanism. The browser bundled with the distro will have GreenBorder built right into it confirming to the ‘all apps be web based’ structure.

While the speculations may never come true, one thing we can almost be sure about is that the GreenBorder services will become free. And anything free can never be bad, right ?

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