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.

Update: Google has officially announced the changes on their blog and the new bar will begin rolling out now.

Original: While Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and a number of other Google services have been given a fresh coat of Google+ paint, each service still uses the same old top bar from when these services were first introduced, apart from it being black now.

But according to a realistic looking video found by TheNextWeb reader Koen Peeters, it sounds like the Google bar will finally be getting a new look. He found a video on YouTube which was quickly made private, which has happened a number of time with Google. Luckily a mirror was quickly posted to Vimeo and now we can see what could be rolling out very, very soon.

Image: sticviews.com/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Google has continued to refine its service lineup today with the announcement of a new “off-season spring cleaning”, the third mass shutdown of services to date.

While not all of the services are dead right now, the shutdown dates have been announced.
The services shutting down are:
Google Bookmarks Lists on December 19, 2011.
Google Friend Connect on March 1, 2012 for non-Blogger pages.
Google Gears on December 1, 2011.
Google Search Timeline which has already been removed.
Google Wave which will become read-only on January 31, 2012 and finally shutdown on April 30, 2012.
Knol‘s shutdown begins on May 1, 2012 and by October 1, 2012 will be gone.
Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal, an effort to drive down the cost of renewable energy, starting now.

It’s sad to see so much work get flushed down the drain, but it’s still good to see that Google is continuing to refocus on the big picture instead of a lot of non-integrated services that nobody knows about or are unused.

It still has a useless API that doesn’t let you write, but Google+ is slowly catching up with rival Facebook with its new Pages feature. Yes, now brands are able to create little profiles on Google+ to interact with their followers.

It’s a big move for Google, which was launched in June of this year. Many attempted to set up brand pages on Google+, but only to have them shut down due to their (controversial) names policy. A week later, reports emerged that Google was testing corporate accounts after many applied to Google begging to test it out.

Google+ Pages won’t be able to play any games or the option to share to ‘Extended Circles’ – meaning friends of friends – nor able to use its Hangout service on a mobile device (though, are able to do so on the desktop). In addition, Pages cannot add people to follow them until that person actually follows that page, or is mentioned at least once. Other than that, the features are still the same.

Google is also integrating these pages into its search results, and will directly take you there when you type +(brand name) into the search box.

And already, Google is hard at work in improving the Pages feature after requests from users. According to Dennis Troper’s Google+ page, they are already hard at work at multi-admin support, ownership transfer and page analytics.

By the way, you can follow TECHGEEK.com.au on Google+ now. +1 us!

Android is getting some more love today with the official announcement in Hong Kong of the much expected Samsung GALAXY Nexus. Running on the upcoming Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the phone is the flagship developer phone and it isn’t sparse on the features.

The GALAXY Nexus 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 come in 16GB and 32GB capacity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpLjvrKtOT4

The body is, like expected, a curved shape, and features no buttons at the front. It also includes standard features like an accelerometer, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The phone will also feature a NFC chip to power its Android Beam feature, allowing you to simply tap two NFC-enabled Android phones close to each other (similar to the Nokia N9) to share data easily such as contacts, websites and cat videos from YouTube.

It is Google’s flagship phone for Ice Cream Sandwich, and as such it features the core OS only. As such, it includes new features such as the aforementioned Android Beam, and the new Face Unlock feature that act as lock screen and requires a picture of your face to enter – though, the demo at the conference failed, miserably.

Like the Motorola RAZR announced earlier, the phone also comes in an LTE version, which will be released depending on the region.

The phone is coming in November in US, Europe and Asia. More precise availability, like when is it coming to Australia and who, are expected to come in the next few weeks. You can find more information on Google’s own microsite, where you can register your interest.

Google Buzz, the company’s other social network that was launched last year, and its Twitter clone Jaiku are being axed in its recent project cleanup in order to allow developers to focus on the company’s newest project Google+.

“We learned a lot from products like Buzz, and are putting that learning to work every day in our vision for products like Google+,” Bradley Horowitz, Vice President for Product, said in a blog post. “Our users expect great things from us; today’s announcements let us focus even more on giving them something truly awesome.”

Buzz, and its API, will be shut down in a “few weeks”. Jaiku, however, will shut down in January 15, 2012. That announcement follows 2009′s announcement that it would no longer be actively developing the service and open-sourcing the project to run on Google’s App Engine. It acquired Jaiku in 2007.

Google Buzz, however, had a chequered history. It launched to much fanfare from blogs. However, the product had several privacy problems and no ability to opt-out unless you close your Google account meant that users abandoned the project altogether. The privacy concerns went so far in getting the US Federal Trade Commission to investigate and as a result of a settlement from the case, Google is now subject to privacy audits for the next 20 years.

That could explain why Google+ has much better security measures at launch than Facebook.

Also announced to be shutting down by Google is Code Search and its API (allows users to find open source code across the web), iGoogle’s social features and its University Research Program for Google Search (provides API access to its search results for a small number of academic researchers).

New phones from HTC with Sense 3.5, such as the HTC Rhyme, will now recieve an extra 3GB of space on top of the 2GB default on Dropbox thanks to a partnership between HTC and Dropbox.

The extra storage will be given when the phone is connected to the service. This means that any upcoming HTC phone with their Android skin, Sense 3.5, will have the ability to sync up to 5GB of files and photos from the phone to the cloud. Users can also get up to 8GB of extra storage by asking friends to get Dropbox.

When Pocket-lint asked about the possibility of Dropbox storage on HTC Windows Phone 7 devices, the company said that the OS already has deep integration with Skydrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage solution which can handle up to 25GB of files.

There is no word on whether old Sense users will get 3.5 and/or Dropbox storage upgrades, but the deal does put HTC in a competitive space with Apple’s iCloud and Microsoft’s Skydrive.

Latest figures are showing that Google+, its new social networking venture, is struggling to retain many of its users in the Australia and Asia Pacific region – except for one country that has bucked the trend. Singapore.

According to analytical firm Experian Hitwise, Google+ has seen usage drop in Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand drop to be nearly zero, while India falling to be 0.002 percent of social networking and forum traffic in the region. However, Singapore is steady increasing, even breaking the 0.01 percent mark sometime in August.

Why is that? Well, according to CNET Asia, Singapore is the largest market of iOS devices – given that it has a small population, it means that most people are using an iPhone or an iPod touch. Especially given that Google+ now has an iPhone app, it means many more are using the app to update their statuses on the service.

Hong Kong’s share, however, wasn’t a surprise. The fact that local Chinese services have dominated the market for so long is affecting their growth. Granted, it is also having an impact on Twitter and Facebook. In addition, India – despite its large population – isn’t attracted to the service. As The Next Web points out:

Given that both Facebook and Orkut command substantial numbers of users in the country already, perhaps there is no space — or limited enthusiasm — for a third competing social networking service.

Although not shown, Google+ could also find it tough in South Korea and Japan, where local sites also dominate.

Australia, however, was surprising given the amount of buzz – which is reflected in signs of growth iin the first week. We seem to have followed India in rejecting the service mainly because no one can be expected to manage three different social networking profiles – and Facebook and Twitter are far more popular (though, Google+ has one thing that is pretty good – there are no stupid and idiotic Justin Bieber fangirls/guy).

In addition, as I have pointed out in an opinion piece, it lacks applications to manage multiple accounts from different services. Google+ might need to reconsider attacking Facebook or Twitter by forcing people to use the service, and release a god-damn API.

However, it isn’t the death kneel for Google+ just yet. It’s getting more popular in the US and in Europe. But once we get the numbers of visits and active users, then we’ll see if it is heading on a similar path to Wave.

As promised at Google I/O 2011, Chromebooks and Windows, Mac and Linux browser, Google Chrome can now access Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs anywhere without an internet connection.

Previously Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar had been available offline with a Google-made plugin called Google Gears. But a few months ago that was removed and it’s finally been replaced with a native HTML5 version.

The feature, in Gmail’s case, currently just looks like the mobile version of Gmail in a browser. If this is the case, it means that they’ve simply moved over the iPad version of the website to Google Chrome. It doesn’t feature the same look and feel of regular, desktop Gmail and, while it works, it’s pretty disappointing. Especially when the Google-gears version of offline Gmail used the full, desktop interface.

Google Calendar is also available, and uses the full, desktop interface, as Gmail should. It allows you to view and RSVP to events, but the ability to add events appears to be unavailable for now. It’s been working great for me, but I haven’t used it thorougly.

And last, but definately not least, Google Docs is finally available offline. But don’t celebrate yet. Editing and creating Docs offline is currently unavailable, with viewing Docs being the only option. This is also disappointing, but it’s still exciting to have the ability to view your documents when offline. And Google says that they are, “working hard to make it [offline Google Docs editing] a reality.” I still wouldn’t hold my breath as it may be months away.

To use offline Gmail, Calendar or Docs you will need Google Chrome (or Google Chrome OS) and have the Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs web-apps installed.

Google has announced what may be a surprising, but looks necessary, deal to acquire Motorola Mobility – its handset division – in a deal worth US$12.5 billion, or US$40 a share. For investors, that represents a 63% premium on its closing price last Friday.

Motorola has been a big supporter of the Android platform – and its full support of the Android operating system actually saved it from the abyss where it was unable to replicate the success of its popular RAZR phone. Now, Motorola is gaining some sort of resurgence – and Motorola phones have been some of the more popular Android phones.

Google’s acquisition means that it now will compete with Apple head on with mobile phones as it will now produce its own phones. Google notes that it will “supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition”. However, the deal could also alienate some of its other backers, such as HTC and Samsung.

Some of Google’s biggest partners – HTC, LG and Sony Ericsson – have added their voices to the deal, all of them supporting the deal (or they would have not been mentioned by Google).

“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem,” Peter Chou, CEO of HTC said.

Buying Motorola, as confirmed by Google’s own blog post written by Larry Page, also means buying a lot of patents that it could use to strengthen Android, and possibly the attacks from its rivals over at Microsoft and Apple. Motorola has 17,000 patents that cover a wide spectrum of mobile technologies, and after the fiasco over the Nortel patents that were recently acquired by a consortium of Microsoft, Apple and RIM, you can see their reasoning by buying Motorola – it’s the strongest Android player in terms of patents.

However, what will Google do with these patents? Play tit-for-tat with its rivals over patent infringement? Or could, and this a big stretch and highly optimistic, but try and use its now large patent portfolio in order to come to a deal where we could see all the mobile patents grouped in one pool and shared amongst each other and so innovation isn’t stifled?

Page also quelled fears that Android will not remain an open platform after the announcement.

“This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business,” Page wrote.

The deal needs to be approved by the US and the European Union, and could be done by early 2012 or at the end of 2011.

Full press release below:

Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

Combination will Supercharge Android, Enhance Competition, and Offer Wonderful User Experiences

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, “This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.”

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, “We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals in the US, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and the approval of Motorola Mobility’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Yes, it’s another Infographic Sunday, and this time we bring you one that shows you where Google is making the big bucks. Everyone knows it’s in advertising, but what are the very keywords that make Google roll in the money? That’s is all to be revealed in our new infographic chosen from Visual.ly. Hope you enjoy it.