Image: Dimitar Nikolov/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Back in November 2010, the European Commission launched an antitrust investigation into Google after two websites complained. Now, the results are in – and Google could face a suit on its hands, after it found four areas where it may be considered an abuse of its market dominance.

The four areas include:

• Linking of its own ‘vertical’ search services – or search engines that focus on specific topics (like restaurants, news or products). It notes that, “Google displays links to its own vertical search services differently than it does for links to competitors. We are concerned that this may result in preferential treatment compared to those of competing services, which may be hurt as a consequence.”
• How Google copies content from vertical search engines and put it in its own offerings “without their prior authorisation”. It says that by doing this, it is essentially “appropriating” the benefits of others and the Commission is worried that it could reduce incentives to invest of original content from others for the benefit of all internet users.
• Advertising is their third concern – most importantly, the “exclusivity” of the agreement which says that they have to obtain most or all of its advertising from Google. They fear that this will shut out other providers.
• Their fourth concern is the portability of advertising campaigns on its AdWords platform. Basically, they want Google to allow campaigns from AdWords to be easily transferable to other platforms so they could use another platform, but run the same campaign.

The European Commission, however, have said that they are willing to negotiate a “remedies package” – which means Google has to provide ways in easing the concerns of the Commission on the four areas. They have not started any case yet, and Google could stave off a massive fine if they negotiate and are able to find some agreement to the four areas of concerns.

“If Google comes up with an outline of remedies which are capable of addressing our concerns, I will instruct my staff to initiate the discussions in order to finalise a remedies package,” Joaquin Almunia, the Vice President responsible for Competition Policy, said in a statement.

“This would allow to solve our concerns by means of a commitment decision… instead of having to pursue formal proceedings with a Statement of objections and to adopt a decision imposing fines and remedies.”

And if not, then we could see massive fines – like Microsoft and Intel – and be forced to change their policies to comply (only for Europe, however). For Microsoft, the European Commission has basically forced them to allow more competitors – like not allowing Internet Explorer being bundled with Windows 7 (and giving you the option to choose and download another browser).

The Samsung GALAXY Nexus (Image: Samsung/supplied)

RUMOUR MILL: By Thanksgiving, we could see five new ‘Nexus’ smartphones and tablets – the title given to Android’s flagship phone for a particular version – being sold directly to consumers through Google, as opposed to the traditional carriers. Well, that’s if a report by the Wall Street Journal is true.

The paper notes that:

Google will work with as many as five manufacturers at a time to create a portfolio of “Nexus” lead devices that include smartphones and tablets, and it plans to sell the gadgets directly to consumers in the U.S., Europe and Asia through its website, and also potentially through some retailers, one of these people said. The smartphones are expected to be sold unlocked, meaning they come without a wireless contract and can run on multiple wireless networks by inserting a SIM card.

The phone will also run on the upcoming (and much rumoured title) Jelly Bean, which is expected out in the third quarter of this year.

However, the Wall Street Journal also notes that it plans to give many other hardware manufacturers to produce ‘Nexus’ devices, as opposed to one – suggesting that manufacturers aren’t that happy with Google buying Motorola, even fearing that Google “will try to boost the struggling Motorola business at their expense”. Previously, Google partnered with one manufacturer to create a ‘Nexus’ device – currently with Samsung, but previously with HTC.

Google’s plan to sell direct to consumers is also being said to “help supercharge the sale of Android-powered tablets”. Those tablets have been unable to find much of a market due to the dominance of the iPad, and the Kindle Fire’s attractive price tag (the irony is that the Kindle Fire is running Android, but heavily customised).

The plan also suggests that it wants to “exert more control” on the platform and “reduc[e] the influence of wireless carriers” over its phones. The plan does allow Google to have more control, since it will be selling and distributing the phones in addition to marketing the overall Android name – something that has always been left with the carriers.

Is it a good idea, however? It is. But it will depend on the markets, because if Australia or the United Kingdom aren’t allowed to purchase phones via Google, then it goes to show that the carriers have some power in that country.

The next big OS is the internet. Here’s what Google’s doing to make sure of it.

Google’s always been known for their lack of unity, internally and externally, with their products and teams. Whether it’s ideas like Buzz and Google+, from completely different departments, mixing functionality, and both completely missing the mark, or services left to gather dust, Google has always found itself with pieces of a puzzle that just can’t find eachother. But, by the looks of things, Google’s finally found a direction, and it’s racing to the starting line.

Obviously, that direction is the cloud. Yes, that new buzzword that everyone loves to use for anything that is stored on the internet. But behind the word, there’s a new breed of computers, and Google finally seems to have found a focus, and is also having ideas actually match, instead of products just feeling like disconnected pieces.

Around the time that Google Drive was officially revealed, I started to feel my distant craving of Chrome OS return. I’m not sure if I’m alone here, but sometimes, even with the weirdest things, I get tech cravings, with an example of this being webOS, and now Chrome OS. I’m in love with it.

And there’s a reason why this craving has returned: Google is finally moulding it’s occasionally disconnected products back together again, starting with Drive. And it’s got me very interested.

The idea felt poorly thought out at the time, but now it’s looking like Google did have a plan. What I’m rambling about is Google Drive being used as local storage on Chromebooks. It’s fascinating. Truly amazing. Whether or not this was just a new idea or not doesn’t matter, but when Google says that Chromebooks are nothing but the web, they mean it. And Google is making themselves the next big OS. Apart from it’s shortcomings, the internet will be the next big OS in the next 10 years.

But Drive integration is insanely simple idea, but it’s just never been done. Right now, when you save anything from the web, it goes to your computer. If you want to save it to Dropbox, you can. But you still have to explicitly say so. Otherwise, that file just stays on your computer. But the difference with Google Drive is that you’re constantly saving to the web. Not only can you never lose a file again, unless Google loses it, but you’ll never have to worry about whether something is online or not. Because it just is.

Sure, there are privacy problems, but I just find this idea amazing. And it’s made me really think that, while I cannot replace a desktop with a Chrome OS matching, I can truly replace a laptop.

Google, obviously, still has a long way to go. Picasa is still a weird mess, and could’ve easily been integrated into Drive, but for some reason wasn’t. Google Play looks weird, but still has some nice ideas, but also terrible ones. But Google Drive is Google’s future. And as soon as it’s integrated with every Google product, then I’m sold on the cloud.

Because, up until now, the cloud has been disconnected too. But that’s about to change.

Microsoft can do this. Apple can do this. But they won’t. The difference with Google is that they don’t want OS’s to live on your computer. They want the web to live. And soon, I believe that they will get their wish.

And while Dropbox has an ecosystem, you’d be a bit silly to not move away from that if you want cloud document editing and a web interface that actually can work on its own.

To try and help with your decision, here is a comparison between SkyDrive and Google Drive. As always, it’s completely up to you. I’ve tried to give reasons for using both services, as there are reasons.

 For new users, it creates a hard decision as to which ecosystem to go into if you’re serious about going cloud. There is no definitive option. If you want an API and document editing that tries to replace desktop apps, go Drive. If you want 2GB extra, or 25GB in total if you’ve used it before, and less functional web apps, but more compatible with the desktop version of Microsoft Office, go with SkyDrive. You can still work with Office with Google Drive, but it won’t allow any web editing.

Google Docs has replaced Office for me, for over 2 years now. For what I’ve needed to do for school, I’ve never needed to use Office, bar from more graphically advanced documents. Unless you know you need something in Office, I seriously would recommend going Google as the Google Docs web editors really try to replace desktop applications, something I can’t always say about SkyDrive.

I personally have replaced Office with Google Docs for some time now and have 80GB of space, so Google Drive is what I’ll be using. But, as Terence Huynh proves time and time again, people are different and some may find SkyDrive as better for them. It’s truly up to you. Try them both out and see which one works for you. After all, they’re both available for free. I’d recommend trying to use both for an entire week, and seeing what you can and cannot do.

The service, which has literally been rumoured, and then reportedly killed, over 4 years ago has finally arrived with Google Docs, Google+ and Gmail integration, a better API, 5GB of free storage and native file-syncing, basically like DropBox or SkyDrive offers.

The biggest difference is Google Drive’s ecosystem, which has gained a more acceptable API for viewing and editing your files in other applications, as well as creating files in formats made by developers. Google seriously wants to be your hard drive on the internet, with basically an open storage system that allows any app to store any files. It’s also integrated into Google+ and Gmail, meaning you can add photos to a Google+ post from Drive, and attach files in Gmail using Google Drive.

Google also now offers a range of clients for desktop and mobile (sadly leaving applications like InSync, which tried to make your Google Docs into a DropBox, out in the cold). Right now you can download Windows, Mac and Android apps, with a iOS app coming soon. Linux is not included, but I doubt it will stay that way, with Google almost always supporting the Linux community with services like Google Music.

Sadly, there is bad news. Just like Microsoft’s SkyDrive, Google has changed their prices for storage, greatly increasing prices and changing from a yearly fee to a monthly one. It shows that the two big cloud players were giving you that much storage for free or for a very low price because they knew you probably wouldn’t use it. For example, the US$20 I used to pay for 80GB would now be around US$60 for 100GB. For smaller accounts, 25GB comes in at around US$30 a year. It’s really disappointing to see Microsoft and Google increase prices when they create easier upload options. And both companies, especially Google, should really have offered more storage for free.

A little bit like SkyDrive, users who had already paid for storage will continue to pay the same price until they cancel their subscription or anything else, such as your credit card declining. In this case, your prices will switch to the new prices.

You can head over to drive.google.com right now to switch over from Google Docs, but some users may have to wait a little longer to get access.

It’s a big day for the cloud, isn’t it? Microsoft, only this morning, released a preview for their Dropbox-style desktop clients for SkyDrive, while also (disappointingly) cutting out 18GB of data for new users, leaving you with only 7GB of free space. It’s still competitive, but sadly it shows that the 25GB was only for show with the previously web-only interface.

Meanwhile, in camp Google, it appears that their big day has arrived, with Drive beginning to roll out. As you can see in the image to the right, that’s my old Google Docs account and it currently has 5GB compared to the previous 1GB. My regular account is also up from around 82GB to 87GB (with $20 of paid storage). While the branding hasn’t changed yet, this is certainely a sign that Google Drive is about to drop. It’s a little sad to see that the company that was once the king of storage with the, at the time, massive 1GB with every Gmail account, is now only offering 5GB free, but I’m quietly hopeful that, if Google Storage remains at the same price as it is right now, it will be very competitive in dirt-cheap storage.

As well as the image that I’ve seen first-hand, Reuters is also saying that the release date is today (to tomorrow for Australian’s) and that you will be able to get up to 100GB of paid storage, which is also a little weird considering Google Storage can go all the way up to 1TB for US$256 a year or even 16TB for US$4096 a year.

All will be revealed, if rumours and also the current bump in Google Docs storage is to be believed, very, very soon. And we’ll have it all here on TECHGEEK.com.au.

But the good news, sadly, comes with bad news. Microsoft has also revealed that, while previous users will still be able to get 25GB, new users will only be getting 7GB.

That’s still a lot of data for Microsoft to be giving away for free, but it really does show that the previous 25GB was just for show, and Microsoft did know that, with the website only, it was almost impossible to fill it up. It’s really disappointing to see this change, especially since many Microsoft fans are happy to see this happen, whereas I would’ve expected people to be disappointed.

You will soon be able to upgrade your storage, but the upgrade page currently only says:

Sorry, other storage plans are unavailable right now. Please check back later.

The Verge’s Tom Warren is saying that storage was expected to arrive as soon as the desktop clients did, with $10, $25, or $50 per year for an extra 20GB, 50GB, or 100GB. He also said that the clients were going to be made available in the coming weeks, but that’s been contracted to right now, possibly a reaction to Google Drive rumours. While the storage plans aren’t yet online, I’d expect it to come soon.

As some may say, I’m being a bit negative with this news. I am. But I really feel that the more we think critically about the things we love, the better they can be. And letting Microsoft do this, without any backlash, will be unfortunate.

For the rest of the week, one eye will be on Google for now, to see whether Google Drive, as rumours suggest, arrives this week, what Google Drive offers comparitively (whether it’s a DropBox clone or not), and to see whether Google Drive’s 5GB limit changes as a reaction to this news. Or to see whether Microsoft can offer competitive storage upgrade prices with Google Storage, which is already shockingly cheap if Google uses the current prices for storage upgrades. Hopefully Microsoft doesn’t mine our data. Oh, wait, sorry, we’re only meant to say things like that about Google.

Just in case you were doubting the already obvious signs and reports that Google Drive exists and is coming very soon, an Android developer has accidentally shown that he has a Google Drive application installed on his Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

During the “Friday App Review” Google+ Hangout by the official Android Developer’s team, one developer was showing an application that scans documents using the phone’s camera. When sharing the document as a PDF, the usual Android share menu appeared, revealing one of the options as “Drive”, with the same icon as seen in previous leaks, alongside services like Dropbox and Gmail.

While it doesn’t prove that the application or service is coming to the average Joe anytime soon, it does show that Android developers, as well as presumably other Google employees, are using the unannounced service already.

Rumours are getting very loud that Google Docs will soon be renamed to Google Drive and I think Google, themselves, have just proven the existance of the rebranding and change.

Last week when you went to drive.google.com the domain wouldn’t resolve. This week, however, drive.google.com shows a 404 Not Found message. This means that the drive.google.com subdomain has been added by Google, making the rumours much more believeable.

The Wall Street Journal published a piece last week saying that a Dropbox-like rebrand of Google Docs would be coming, with a local syncing client and the same document editing available at the moment, so this might just confirm that’s true.

Since Google started allowing other file-types to be uploaded, the Google Docs brand has become fairly irrelevant. Sure, they still have document editing, but if Google wants Docs to be a one-stop shop for file storage, a rebrand is needed.

Sure, it’s small, but it’s still a big change and it could prove the existance of the change.

Both the European Commission and the Department of Justice in the United States have cleared a deal that will see Google and Motorola finally tie the knot, after the US$12.5 billion deal was announced last August.

In Europe, the European Commission approved the deal with no conditions after evaluating that the deal will not “significantly impede effective competition” in the Eurozone. . However, it will continue to monitor the situation because of the highly competitive nature of the mobile industry.

“We have approved the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google because, upon careful examination, this transaction does not itself raise competition issues,” Joaquin Almunia, Commission Vice President of Competition Policy for the European Commission, said in a statement.

“Of course, the Commission will continue to keep a close eye on the behaviour of all market players in the sector, particularly the increasingly strategic use of patents.”

The deal was approved in the US with the closing of another investigation into Apple and Microsoft having ownership of Nortel’s patents – which is rumoured to be the cause of why Google decided to by Motorola in the first place. The DoJ said in its investigation that, essentially, Microsoft has little market share to use these patents as weapons against Google:

With respect to RIM’s and Microsoft’s acquisition of Nortel patents, their low market shares in mobile platforms would likely make a strategy to harm rivals either through injunctions or supracompetitive royalties based on the acquired Nortel SEPs unprofitable.  Because of their low market shares, they are unlikely to attract a sufficient number of new customers to their mobile platforms to compensate for the lost patent royalty revenues.  Moreover, Microsoft has cross-license agreements in place with the majority of its Android-based OEM competitors, making such a strategy even less plausible for it.

It also has come out and said that all patent owners must play fair with each other, giving fair or equal terms to each other to use another’s patents.

Apparently, according to Android Central, the last country to approve is China – but again, if Europe and the United States say yes, then China’s approval looks set.

Google Wallet’s week hasn’t been that great. A second major security flaw has been revealed today which could allow a thief to have access to your funds via Google’s prepaid card. This comes on top of revelations that it was possible to crack the PIN on rooted Android devices.

The first, revealed yesterday, is a simple hack – using brute force after gaining access to the encrypted file storing the PIN. The main problem was that it was on device, not on the NFC chip, so it can be accessed by those who have managed to root their phone. So, if you didn’t root your phone, you were fine.

Google, however, denies there is a problem with the study, which was conducted by Zvelo.

“The zvelo study was conducted on their own phone on which they disabled the security mechanisms that protect Google Wallet by rooting the device. To date, there is no known vulnerability that enables someone to take a consumer phone and gain root access while preserving any Wallet information such as the PIN,” it said in a statement.

Now a second vulnerability has bee found, by TheSmartphoneChamp, and this one does not require a PIN. The thief can simply clean the data via Application Settings, reopen the app and start a new PIN. Once that is done, the thief then can add a Google Prepaid card and then has potential access to your funds because the cards are stored.

It should be pointed out that it has to be a pre-paid card. This vulnerability has been independently verified by The Verge. Google has also confirmed that this security hole does exist, and are working on a fix to patch it up.

So basically, if you’re using the service – put a lock screen on it. Or, uninstall it.

Google’s popular Chrome browser is now heading to Android with the launch of Chrome for Android beta for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This means, you can now experience the same speed and simplicity of the browser on your phone or tablet.

While the version for your smartphone looks almost like the native browser on Android ICS, the tablet version is more like its desktop counterpart – including having the tabs on the top. Despite the stylistic changes, the browser includes many privacy tools – including Incognito mode if you wanted to do a bit more private browsing on your tablet or phone.

Other new features include easy bookmark syncing between your phone/tablet with your computer, so all your favourite sites are present no matter where you are; and you can even open tabs you left open on your computer – so if you had to leave when you’re seeing live coverage of something, you can switch to your phone or tablet to continue seeing it.

It is now available on the Android Market – and again, only for ICS sadly and only for selected countries (which also include Australia, so don’t worry, you can use it).

As if Google Chrome OS wasn’t irrelevant enough, Google has today announced a beta for Google Chrome on Android. It’s only available in select countries, which includes Australia, and only works on Android 4.0, or Ice-Cream Sandwich.

The browser looks similar to the default Android browser on Android phones, and looks very much like desktop Chrome on tablets. The benefits include syncing your bookmarks and tabs between the desktop version and a new, very cool cards-style tab interface. Other than that, it is still very similar, at least in my experience on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, to the default browser.

This could very well mean the end for Google Chrome OS and Chromebooks, with an Android OS being much more powerful than a web-only OS and also the fact that Chromebooks haven’t sold very well anyway.

If you want to give the Chrome Beta a test-run you can download it here for your ICS Android phone or tablet. In my experience I’ve seen slight glitches with web pages, but they will likely be fixed when the browser goes out of beta. It’ll also be interesting to see whether Chrome for Android will be updated at the same time, or at least as regularly, as the desktop version. Release video after the break.

A threat of a crackdown “like China” by India has forced Google and Facebook to remove content that were deemed offensive to religions in the country. The threat comes after a lawsuit by one person claiming that both companies were violating Indian law.

The decision came after a lawsuit by a Muslim petitioner, Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasmi; with the court asking all 21 sites listed in the case to file a report within 15 days of content removed.

“The review team has looked at the content and disabled this content from the local domains of search, YouTube and Blogger,” Google spokeswoman Paroma Chaudhry told the Reuters news agency.

The law in question makes content providers responsible for all content that users upload, and they have only 36 hours to take down offensive material if there was a complaint. This was the basis of another successful lawsuit brought by a Hindu petitioner in the High Court. Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo are seeking to appeal the decision.

The Indian Government has been supportive of the move to seek Google, Facebook and others to remove content that are deemed objectionable to religious sentiments.

As Reuters have also pointed out:

While civil rights groups have opposed the new laws, politicians say posting offensive images in a socially conservative country, which has a history of violence between religious groups, presents a danger to the public.

India does have a history of religious conflicts, the last major was in 2008 that saw over 20 killed and 12,000 displaced because of riots. And obviously, they have a right to maintain stability in the country as, after all, a country of over one billion people with all different religious backgrounds can create some instability based on religion.

However, while the Indian Government want to see this implemented by companies, it is realistically impossible to monitor what is uploaded to their servers. The only move they can do is simply be reactive to what is happening, not proactive. It sort of echos the copyright lobby groups who, in SOPA, to make Google responsible to what searches come up or what appears on YouTube that is copyright infringing.

But it also does have a frightening impact on what you can and cannot say. While we can obviously identify what is highly intolerant comments, there are some areas where this can be abused. I mean, take the recent example of a Christian teacher in Perth going to ACMA over a simple 7.30 sketch by Clarke and Dawe. The teacher was offended by this, saying it vilified Christians:

Dawe: A lot of them must realise the damage they are doing?
Clarke: Oh, they do. A lot of them are Christians.
Dawe: So there would be a lot of guilt?
Clarke: A lot of guilt. A lot of denial.
Dawe: Look what they are doing to the asylum seekers.
Clarke: Perfect example. Perfect example.
Dawe: So they’d be blaming each other too, I’d imagine.
Clarke: Blaming everybody. I mean you can’t get anybody to admit to owning up to anything in the whole place.

If you saw the clip, and thank God for ACMA’s finding, it was not offensive to – as ACMA puts it – “an ordinary, reasonable viewer”.

It’s a very fine line, one that any decision should not go too far.

Image: Sudhamshu/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Previously to sign up for the social network you had to be aged 18 or over, however a number of people with fake ages on their profiles were wrongfully allowed in or locked out.

But the idea to change the age limit wasn’t an overnight decision, with a number of new safety features in place for teens. For example, if a user under 18 posts something as “Public,” they’ll get an extra warning message. Also, by default the user can only be contacted by people in their circles, although surely this can be changed in the settings. Also, if a user who is under the age of 18 is in a Hangout and another user who isn’t in their circles joins, the under 18 person will have their audio and video muted and will then be asked whether they want to continue. I’m not sure how this will work with big Hangouts, such as the recent Dalai Lama Hangout, or the upcoming Hangout with US President Barack Obama.

I’m not sure why it took so long, but it’s great to see Google+ now finally able to compete with Facebook and Twitter. Here’s hoping it isn’t too late to gain some traction in the space, especially thanks to the inclusion of the Google+ app with Android Ice Cream Sandwich and also the fact that new Google Accounts include Google+ now.

At launch, Google+ had a weird policy of not allowing users sign up who had a very unconventional name or had an alias to protect themselves or because they were simply known by that name publicly. Well, Google is about to change that, announcing a brand new, “more inclusive naming policy” for the social network.

“With Google+, we aspire to make online sharing more like sharing in the real world. And during the Google+ signup process, we’ve asked users to select the name they commonly use in real life,” said Vice President of Product for Google+ Bradley Horowitz in the announcement.

“Since launch we’ve listened closely to community feedback on our names policy, as well as reviewed our own data regarding signup completion. The vast majority of users sail through our signup process — in fact, only about 0.1% submit name appeals.”

The large majority of name rejections appeals, according to Horowitz, was simply because of nicknames, while 20 percent preferred to use a pseudonym or another unconventional name. Another 20 percent were businesses – and that has already been solved with Pages.

Now, Google will allow nicknames and even names written in another script. These will appear alongside your ‘accepted’ name. As well, more unconventional or “abstract” names can now use the service but you’ll have to prove that it is your actual name. These can include news articles offline, scanning official documents and even proving that you have an “established identity online with a meaningful following”.

The “meaningful following” is very vague, but assume that it will be a big number. A very big number.

So, why do this now? A simple act of kindness, or a ploy to increase numbers? I say the latter since not everyone in the web speaks/writes/understands English and are more comfortable with their script, and there are some people with very unconventional names. And since it is now heavily competing against Facebook – it really needs the numbers.

Google has just pushed out an update for the Google+ iOS application which brings 3G and Wi-Fi video calling to the iPhone application, beating FaceTime to 3G video calling and also allows iDevices to video call not only other iDevices, but also Android and users on the website.

Also included is a new Photos user interface, which makes it easier to share your phones photos.

So grab your iPhone 4 or 4S, iPod touch 4, or iPad 2 and get ready to video call outside of your Wi-Fi’s reach, something FaceTime cannot do.

It’s no secret that Google’s Android is a hot potato in the mobile market, even against the consumers darling the iPhone, one area that Google however, hasn’t been so lucky with is Google TV – but that hasn’t stopped Google persevering.

Since it launched, it’s been panned virtually across the board as a mediocre product, nearly all the “major” TV networks in the United States have blocked it from accessing content (why they’ve done this is beyond myself or even Google) the other being well…the price, especially when it launched on the heels of the economic downturn

Google TV on its “traditional” x86 legs was well…expensive, Intel’s Atom is (personally speaking here) a rather…lackluster attempt to make a less power chugging CPU, utterly trounced by AMD’s (cheaper) “Fusion” CPU/GPU offerings, but irregardless, neither platform is “cheap” enough for what Google TV should be.

A USD$99 TiVo-like device marketed as Android for the TV, it should work with any old Bluetooth (or USB!) keyboard (and mouse, if applicable) that you can either run wirelessly (preferably with 802.11N, so HD and all that works) or via Gigabit LAN, if Google wants to go after iOS with it, then make it work with Android 4.1 (or 5.x) so I can control it via my tablet, or my phone, like that other device coming out in 2012 and it can link up with all my other devices (be they Windows, Mac or Linux)

A lot of that is extremely easy (and even done for them!) due to Android being a Linux base, making it possible to make an ARM Google TV out of “off the shelf” parts almost, helping move the platform along as Android’s open nature did and driving down prices

Oh, and Google, please actually market the thing outside the United States, don’t let it falter like that one other decent product nobody bought

Google TV has found a big backer. LG has announced that it will combine its own Smart TV offering with Google TV – which runs a version of Google’s Android OS – allowing consumers to experience both services and access much more content previously unavailable through LG’s Smart TV.

It appears that LG has heavily customised it to fit within its own Smart TV, and it will still continue to develop its own version. New additions by LG include multi-tasking – where search, Facebook browsing and TV functions can be run at the same time; its own CINEMA 3D technology, allowing it to view 3D content in what it calls an “immersive, comfortable, and convenient” experience. A single click of the remote will also convert 2D content to 3D.

LG is expected to announce its first TV with Google TV sometime during CES. Full press release can be found below:

LG TO INTRODUCE GOOGLE TV AT CES 2012

Combining Android OS with LG’s 3D and Smart TV Technologies, LG’s Google TV
Provides Consumers with a New and Attractive Home Entertainment Option

SEOUL, Jan. 6, 2012 -– LG Electronics (LG) will introduce its highly anticipated Google TV at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. LG Smart TV with Google TV combines the familiarity of Google’s Android OS with the convenience and comfort of LG’s 3D and Smart TV technologies, offering consumers a new and attractive home entertainment option.

“LG has constantly strived to provide consumers with wider choices in home entertainment that bring the highest level of sophistication and convenience,” said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Electronics Home Entertainment Company. “Through Google TV, LG has merged Google’s established Android operating system with LG’s proven 3D and Smart TV technologies, offering consumers a new and enthralling TV experience.”

LG’s Google TV’s most attractive feature is its ease of use, thanks to the combination of its Android-based user interface and the Magic Remote Qwerty designed by LG. LG’s Google TV’s user interface and main screen have been designed for convenient browsing and content selection. Multi-tasking is also possible, as the search, social networking and TV functions can be run simultaneously. The user interface can be accessed using the Magic Remote Qwerty which combine the user-friendly benefits of LG’s Magic Remote with a QWERTY keyboard.

Equipped with LG’s own CINEMA 3D technology, Google TV provides a home entertainment experience that is immersive, comfortable and convenient. Based on LG’s own Film Patterned Retarder (FPR) technology, CINEMA 3D glasses are battery-free, comfortable and lightweight. The glasses are also very affordable, making LG’s Google TV ideal for viewing by a large group of family and friends when used in 3D mode. And with a single click of the remote, any 2D program or movie can be viewed in 3D, thanks to the built-in 2D to 3D conversion engine.

Alongside Google TV, LG will continue to advance its own Smart TV platform based on NetCast, which will be available in more than 60 percent of LG’s flat panel TVs scheduled for introduction over the coming year. With a growing collection of content and services, LG’s Smart TV platform will continue to provide consumers with a unique user experience.

The first demonstration of LG’s Google TV will take place at the LG Electronics Press Conference on January 9.

Dropbox, the current leader in cloud file syncing, may finally have a worthy competitor in the form of insync, a new file syncing service which uses your pre-existing Google storage to keep you constantly hooked to the cloud.

One of the big hurdles of keeping your files in sync using Google Docs when compared to Dropbox is the fact that you always have to use the online editor or be forced to manually upload files via the website. While that may be fine with some basic tasks, more advanced document editing really does require a local editor for now.

You also have to either use the beta Google Docs offline mode, which only allows read-only, or Google Cloud Connect if you find youself without an internet connection.

Which is where insync comes in. No, not the infamous boy-band. This kind of insync uses your Google storage to offer a native Dropbox-like syncing experience, which means that storage a lot cheaper when compared to the prices Dropbox offers.

For example, if you want anymore than the 2GB account with Dropbox you will need to pay $100USD a year for 50GB on Dropbox. Meanwhile Google offers 80GB of storage, which you can share between Google Docs, Gmail and Picasa, for just $20USD a year, a massive discount. Or you can get 25GB for $5USD a year.

If price is no problem, Dropbox may be safer for now, seeing as it’s been out of beta for a long time and this service is only just getting close to that now. But if your looking for more space at a cheaper price, you might want to dedicate some of your time to giving insync a go.

Unofficial statistics from entrepreneur and founder of Ancestry.com Paul Allen have claimed that Google+ is already at 62 million users, and he expects that this would grow due to the heavy integration with it on almost any Google product.

Allen notes that by January, it would have reached 65.8 million and by February to 85.2 million. He also sees that there are 625,000 new signups every day, and he sees that number growing. For those questioning, here’s Allen’s methodology:

Each week my team from elance runs hundreds of queries on various surnames which we have been tracking since July. We revised our model based on the actual user announcements made by Google on July 13th and Oct 13th.

July 13 – 10 million
August 1 – 20.5 million
September 1 – 24.7 million
October 1 – 38 million (Larry Page announced “more than 40m users” on Oct 13th)
November 1 – 43 million
December 1 – 50 million
December 27 – 62 million
January 1 – 65.8 million (forecast)
February 1 – 85.2 million (forecast)

Allen is also making a very bold prediction that in 2012, it could end next year with more than 400 million users – something that can rival Facebook.

However, while it may have 62 million users signed up on the service, how many of these users are actively using Google+? That is a better question to ask, because while you can show numbers, there is no point of keeping a social network when no one else is using it. Google’s surprising stubbornness in not releasing a proper API (one that can actually read and write) can be attributed to this problem because there is no active engagement.

For me, 2012 is do-or-die with Google+. If it does not improve engagement with the already 62 million users, then it is dead. And it should hurry, because it will lose its appeal very soon if it does not – and apps could be the very thing that saves it.

The Galaxy Nexus is coming to all carriers with Optus confirming that they will also stock the phone. The carrier is the last of the major three carriers to announce that they will sell the phone – with Vodafone and Telstra already confirming they will also carry it.

Consumers will be able to pay for the phone for no upfront cost on its $79 Business Timeless or Optus Cap plans (with 3GB of data); or $5 upfront on its $59 Optus Cap plan.

Optus will sell the phone on 16 December, but is now accepting preorders – the phone, however, will not deliver to those preordered customers until December 20 (Metro) or 21/22 (Regional). Telstra, however, has announced it will be on sale tomorrow.

The Galaxy Nexus features the upcoming Android 4.0 – Ice Cream Sandwich, which acts to unify the two current versions of Android in the market, Honeycomb (version 3.*) for tablets and Gingerbread (2.3.*) for mobile phones. Android 4 also includes some updates, and integration with Google+ – which is happening a lot across Google products (granted, it is a reversal of its failed previous social strategies).

Hardware-wise, the phone features a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, with a very big 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display with 720p resolution. It also features a 5-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording, LED flash and “zero” shutter lag, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat. The carrier has confirmed that it will sell the 16GB model.

Gallery and press release is below.

The new GALAXY Nexus to shine on the Optus Open Network™

Optus today has announced a partnership with Google and Samsung to offer the highly-anticipated GALAXY Nexus on a range of competitive pricing plans for Australian consumers and small and medium businesses (SMB).

SMBs can take advantage of the power of Android™ with the GALAXY Nexus for $0 upfrontˆ on a $79 Business Timeless Plan, enjoying unlimited¹ standard national calls and texts to Australian mobile & fixed line services and 1GB of included monthly mobile internet data (minimum total cost over 24 months is $1896).

Consumers will have the option to choose from a range of value plans to suit different budgets, including $0 upfrontˆ on a $79 Optus Cap Plan (minimum total cost over 24 month is $1896) or $5 upfrontˆ per month on a $59 Optus Cap Plan (minimum total cost over 24 month is $1536).

Rohan Ganeson, Managing Director, Optus Small and Medium Business Group said, “The GALAXY Nexus is the perfect tool for Australians to make the most out of their work and leisure time.

“Along with a variety of high-value plans and great rewards programs that give our customers more, the GALAXY Nexus marks yet another reason why Australians should choose Optus this Christmas season.”

The first smartphone to be powered by the latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system, the GALAXY Nexus showcases the ‘pure Google experience’ for users, presented on a 4.65” HD Super AMOLED display and run on a 1.2 Ghz Dual Core processor.

Vice President of Telecommunications at Samsung Electronics Australia, Tyler McGee, said “Samsung is thrilled to announce the GALAXY Nexus, a new milestone for the Android, Australia’s largest operating system. The GALAXY Nexus offers consumers improved functionality in a sleek new ergonomic design.”

Important documents and valued content featuring on both the GALAXY Nexus and a personal computer can be safely stored and accessed on the go with Optus Smart Safe™. SMB customers will enjoy a 500Mb Optus Smart Safe allowance with all Business Mobile Plans.

Optus consumers keen to reserve their spot as one of the first to own the GALAXY Nexus can pre-order now on www.optus.com.au/galaxynexus

SMB customers can also pre-order today on www.optusbusiness.com.au/galaxynexus

–

ˆCancellation fees apply

¹ Includes unlimited standard national SMS + MMS, voice, fixed lines and Australian mobiles (excludes 13/1300/1800 calls and voicemail deposits/retrievals with Australia). Excludes all other call and message types

This is great news as the previous flagship phone from Google, the Nexus S, was only available from Vodafone, whereas people who want this phone now have a choice of where to get it from.

Hardware-wise, the phone features a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, with a very big 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display with 720p resolution. It also features a 5-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording, LED flash and “zero” shutter lag, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

It will also come in 16GB and 32GB capacity – though Telstra has not confirmed it will be selling both, or just one or the other.

The Galaxy Nexus features the upcoming Android 4.0 – Ice Cream Sandwich, which acts to unify the two current versions of Android in the market, Honeycomb (version 3.*) for tablets and Gingerbread (2.3.*) for mobile phones. Android 4 also includes some updates, and integration with Google+ – which is happening a lot across Google products (granted, it is a reversal of its failed previous social strategies).

Telstra is selling the device under its more simplified four plans – Small (1.5GB) for $69, Medium (2GB) for $79, Large (2.5GB) for $99 and X-Large (3GB) for $129 a month. Of course, this includes the monthly handset repayments for the device – which is annoying, but at least they seemingly integrate this rather than just say the plan and tacked it on to the price list like before.

You’ll be able to buy it tomorrow from Telstra online or via its Sydney and Melbourne stores. Gallery of the phone is below.

Terence Huynh also contributed to this report – mainly because he was also going to do a write-up as well. So, we’ve decided to merge the two together.

UPDATE (11:45AM): Optus also announces it will also carry the phone.

As announced a couple of days ago, Google has begun rolling out a new bar for switching between services to replace the old black bar. But who wants to wait for a slow trickle of new features to reach you when you can get the new bar right now? Here’s how to do it, thanks to Google+ user Maximilian Majewski.

1) Firstly download Edit This Cookie for Google Chrome (sorry to users of other browsers) from here.

2) Go to google.com.au and then right click anywhere on the page. Select Edit Cookies from the drop down menu.

3) Select the PREF cookie and then in the spot called “Value” replace the code with:

ID=03fd476a699d6487:U=88e8716486ff1e5d:FF=0:LD=en:CR=2:TM=1322688084:LM=1322688085:S=McEsyvcXKMiVfGds

4) Now we’re almost done. All you need to do now is save the settings by clicking “Submit Cookie Changes” at the bottom of the page.

5) Now go to any big Google service and you’ll see the new bar.

I personally don’t like the bar as much as I liked the old bar, but Google is going to force it on all users so you might as well get it now and start getting used to it.