Google’s latest easter egg: “Do a barrel roll!”
Google’s latest easter egg is for the gamers and Nintendo fans alike. Simply search “do a barrel roll” in either Google Images or Google Web Search and the page will do exactly what Peppy says.
Note that this “easter egg” is confirmed not to work on the iPad (tested on our in-house generation 1 iPad). The easter egg also requires CSS 3.0 for proper operation – older browsers won’t support the new CSS version.
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), Galaxy Nexus, and all that jazz…
Google has announced their latest milestone in their Android Operating System, which is codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich today. It’s the fourth major version of Android, and is geared towards smartphones, unlike how Honeycomb (Android 3.x) was designed for tablets.
Simply put, Ice Cream Sandwich is a combination of Gingerbread and Honeycomb into a “cohesive whole”.
A Ice Screen Sandwich overview video is available on Google’s Android Website. A video featuring the Ice Cream Sandwich home screen can be found here on YouTube.
The hidden shortcut codes of Android – what google didn’t want users to see
EDIT: Link updated.
A twitter user by the name of @RunTimeWorld has compiled a extensive list of shortcuts that work on most Android devices. Interested users should head here to check out the list.
To enter the codes, press the “Call” button or enter the “Phone” app on your device, tap the “Dial” tab, and then tap the code into the dial box on-screen. Some unofficial devices running Android, such as the HTC HD2 may not respond to some of the shortcut codes, however most of the codes should work. If they don’t, it’s most likely that code was intended for another device or version of Android.
Nexus S Prototype shown off at Web 2.0 Conference; looks impressive
Move along, Google Nexus One, you’ve got a sister coming in to play! At the Web 2.0 Conference today, Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed the world what looks like to be a prototype version of the Nexus S, or previously rumored Nexus Two/HD. The Nexus S prototype was also developed by Samsung, who also made the Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab devices.
Google’s Self-Driving Vehicle; It’s so easy, you don’t need a license!
Just recently, Google has announced that they have been working on a project called the “Google Self Driving Vehicle”, which was spotted a year ago but mistaken for a car used to take Street View photos for Google Maps.
According to TechCrunch:
Plannr: We’re closing down; Backup your saved data or it gets erased!
Just recently, Plannr themselves announced they will be closing down. In an email sent to current Plannr users, The Plannr team will erase all stored user data on their services within 30 days. They also offered export tools for easy importing of exported Plannr user data into Microsoft Office Outlook and other third party apps.
Fake TweetDeck Application in Android Market
TweetDeck, a powerful Twitter client for operating systems, has been a victim of a scamming attack by another party. The issue came into attention when the lead TweetDeck developers found out that an unofficial version of their product for Android devices was released by “Hijacked Account, GmbH” with the price tag of $1.00 USD on the Android Market. This fake version has numerous features removed and may be incompatible with some devices.
Android: Over 200,000 Units Activated each day
Google, the creator of the Android operating system, has broken records with over 200,000 android devices being activated every day.
In May ’10, Google was activating over 100,000 android devices per day. When May rolled into June, that number increased by 60,000 to 160,000 android devices per day. Now, in August, that number has hit an all-time record of over 200,000 devices being activated every day.
New-Look Gmail Leaked
The version of Gmail used by Google Employees has been revealed in a screenshot that was contained in a user-submitted bug report. The overall look and feel of Gmail has been improved slightly, and there are numerous adjustments to the theme – especially new Chat and Buzz features, as well as Google Voice integration and other tools that users can enable using the “Labs” feature of Gmail.
Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S Advertisement spotted in-the-wild
The Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S has got a iPhone pose-mimicking advertisement in a newspaper that a twitter user, under the username of @jmcomms found while reading their local newspaper one day. With Android devices stealing a page out of Apple’s design book now with the iPhone-styled phone shape and 4 button front panel layout (while the iPhone only has the “Home” button on the front panel), it looks like Apple needs to step up to the plate and up their advertising a bit more. Despite considering the issues with iPhone 4, it looks like people who want real performance and don’t mind extra buttons, the Samsung Galaxy S may be a worthy contender for people to make the switch from the iPhone platform on to the Android platform.