Tag Archives: Andy Rubin

Computers

Twitter, Pinterest, Skype founders advise Japan entrepreneurs

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A host of celebrity tech executives, including the founders of Twitter, Pinterest, Evernote and Android, converged in Tokyo this week, invited as part of an ambitious effort to modernize Japan‘s economy through entrepreneurship.

Their advice? Stay upbeat, because it’s not going to be easy.

“Don’t be afraid of failure, because usually that is the best learning experience,” said Niklas Zennstrom, who founded failed file-sharing service Kazaa before launching the Skype platform.

Zennstrom and other attendees mingled with Japanese business leaders and top politicians, then gave advice to thousands of attendees at a conference in central Tokyo on Tuesday. Many shared early tales of woe at their creations, including Google executive Andy Rubin, who first founded Android as an operating system for digital cameras.

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From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2034724/twitter-pinterest-skype-founders-advise-japan-entrepreneurs.html#tk.rss_all

Computers

Android founder: We aimed to make a camera OS

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The creators of Android originally dreamed it would be used to create a world of “smart cameras” that connected to PCs, a founder said, but it was reworked for mobile handsets as the smartphone market began to explode.

“The exact same platform, the exact same operating system we built for cameras, that became Android for cellphones,” said Android co-founder Andy Rubin, who spoke at an economic summit in Tokyo.

Rubin, who became a Google executive after the search giant acquired Android in August 2005, said the plan was to create a camera platform with a cloud portion for storing photos online.

He showed slides from his original pitch to investors in April 2004, including one with a camera connected “wired or wireless” to a home computer, which then linked to an “Android Datacenter.”

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From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2034723/android-founder-we-aimed-to-make-a-camera-os.html#tk.rss_all

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Forget Google's Chromebook — Where's an Androidbook?

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Search giant Google‘s Chromebook push is less than three years young. In that time, Big G has expanded the lineup to include numerous OEMs, and most recently added a super high-end Pixel model that sports a touchscreen and $1,299 price tag.

There’s also been much speculation that Google may eventually merge Chrome OS and Android, a possibility that Fellow Fool Tim Beyers is betting on, even as Chairman Eric Schmidt seemingly shot down that idea last month. Android chief Andy Rubin stepping down and handing over the mobile keys to Chrome exec Sundar Pichai certainly fuels the speculative flames further.

What about an Androidbook?

That’s what DIGITIMES is now suggesting is in the works; the Taiwanese publication is pegging the late third quarter or early fourth quarter as a tentative launch date for such a device. There are some laptops running Android already out there, but none officially from Google.

While an Androidbook would theoretically be able to benefit from the massive number of Android apps available in Google Play, most of those apps are tailored for smartphone displays and to a lesser extent, tablet displays. Android has integrated scaling algorithms, but that sometimes results in wasted space in apps that are just scaled up.

At the same time, it would likely be a cheap experiment for Google to pursue. PC vendors would probably sign up to further diversify their portfolios away from Microsoft Windows 8, since that platform has received a lukewarm reception at best. Hewlett-Packard now offers Chromebooks for exactly this reason as part of its multiplatform strategy, making it conceivable that the PC giant could be interested in Androidbooks, too.

Thus far, Chromebooks have failed to make a meaningful dent in the broader PC market, while Android is taking the mobile world by storm. Would you buy an Androidbook?

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other web companies, it’s also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn’t sold. That’s why it’s more important than ever to understand each piece of Google’s sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool’s new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this invaluable resource.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The War for Your Next Web Browser Is Heating Up

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By Eric Bleeker, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Tech investors who lived through the dot-com crash can remember back to a time when Web browsers were seen as a killer technology. Microsoft made defeating Netscape its defining battle of the late ’90s; competition was so fierce that Microsoft’s tactics in the Web browser space was a central part of the antitrust case that aimed to break up the company. 

In the 2000s, the importance of Web browsers faded. Having defeated Netscape and with little revenue from the browser itself, Microsoft let a full five years pass between the release of Internet Explorer 6 and IE 7. Internet services such as search had become the real moneymakers of the online world, so Microsoft moved its resources elsewhere. 

Yet Microsoft‘s inaction in the browser space led to a host of new competitors such as Firefox and Google‘s Chrome. As these browsers proved faster and more reliable, Internet Explorer‘s share faded. 

In the following video, Motley Fool senior technology analyst Eric Bleeker looks at not only the history of mobile browsers, but also where the next evolution of the browser is headed. He notes that when Android chief Andy Rubin recently departed for a new challenge in the company, Google tapped Sundar Pichai, the senior VP of Chrome, to head up Android. 

Beyond Google‘s structuring of its mobile OS and Web browser under the same leadership, there are other signs of the fusing of browsers and mobile. For example, Mozilla, the organization behind Firefox, has created its own mobile operating system known as Mozilla OS. 

The key point? Right now the line between mobile and Web browsers is fading. Google has begun running ads highlighting how Chrome easily syncs between PCs, smartphones, and tablets. That’s a move that makes tremendous amounts of sense as we move toward a world where, instead of a single PC, users have several different computing devices. In that world, you’ll want a browser that seamlessly has the same settings and bookmarks and remembers passwords between devices. 

Even further out could be the dream of an operating system that bridges all of these devices itself. Even if Android and Chrome don’t “merge” together, as has recently been speculated, the overlap between the two is a sign that the Web browser wars have moved off the PC, and toward meeting the needs of users across all devices. 

To see Eric’s full thoughts, check out the video.

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other Web companies, it’s also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn’t sold. That’s why it’s more important than ever to understand each piece of Google’s sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool‘s new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Articles of Interest

Android And Chrome Operating Systems To Stay Separate, Eric Schmidt Says

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Google Inc’s Chrome and Android operating systems will remain separate products, although there could be more “commonality” between them, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said on Thursday.
Google last week announced that Android architect Andy Rubin was moving to a still-undefined role at the company, while Sundar Pichai, the executive overseeing its Chrome web browser and applications like Google Drive and Gmail, was taking over Rubin’s responsibilities.
Schmidt also said any rumor that he may be leaving Google is “completely false.” He was responding to a question on whether his plan to sell about 42 percent of his Google stake was a signal that he was leaving the world’s No.1 search engine.
“Google is my home,” he said, adding that he had no plans to take on a job in government.
(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Tony Munroe)

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More on Eric Schmidt

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

1 Major Change to Watch at Google

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By Andrew Tonner, The Motley Fool

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In the following video, Motley Fool tech and telecom analyst Andrew Tonner looks at Google‘s Android mobile operating system division, and its coming change in leadership. Andy Rubin, who co-founded the Android OS in 2003 and has led that department ever since Google acquired the company in 2005, has announced that he’s stepping down. Andrew tells us about the new incoming leader of possibly Google’s most important department, and whether he has what it takes to continue driving Google’s incredible mobile growth.

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other Web companies, it’s also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn’t sold. That’s why it’s more important than ever to understand each piece of Google’s sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool‘s new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this invaluable resource.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ eventType: “TickerReportPitch”, contentByline: “Andrew Tonner“, contentId: “cms.23953”, contentTickers: “NASDAQ:AAPL, NASDAQ:GOOG”, contentTitle: “1 Major Change to Watch at Google”, hasVideo: “True”, pitchId: “119”, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

How Samsung Is Undermining Android

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Thanks to Google Android, Samsung has climbed to become the largest smartphone vendor in the world by market share. The open-source platform has proved critical to the South Korean company’s success in recent years, which has also greatly benefited the search giant, too.

Surprisingly, this partnership is just waiting to go sour, because ultimately Samsung and Google’s interests aren’t entirely aligned, even though the pair are still on their honeymoon.

Conflict of interests
Samsung’s goal in life is to sell hardware, and to it, Android is merely a means to an end. On the other hand, Google just wants more people on the Internet using its services and seeing its ads.

Over the years, Samsung has had countless software partners, and Google is just its latest flame. Samsung’s rise to power presents a unique threat to Android and Google, one that Google has already taken note of. If the company wrangles even more sway in the Android ecosystem, it could leverage higher ad-sharing agreements or other bargaining chips at Big G’s expense. Now-former Android chief Andy Rubin had internally voiced concerns over this distinct possibility.

In the extreme, Samsung could entirely fork Android for its own benefit, much like Amazon.com has done with the Kindle Fire family or what most Chinese smartphone OEMs are wont to do. To be clear, Samsung would greatly benefit from a forked version of Android, because it would be an important point of differentiation from other Android OEMs — much more potent than the current practice of customized interfaces like TouchWiz.

The main thing stopping Samsung from doing this right now is that it lacks the content and services that Google brings to the table. This is precisely how Amazon was able to fork Android very successfully, because it has plenty of content and services, and even has its own Android Appstore.

During Samsung’s Galaxy S4 unveiling Thursday night, though, it was very apparent that the company is trying to undermine Android.

Slowly cutting Android out
There’s no avoiding the fact that the Galaxy S4 is an Android device. However, what Samsung can and did do last night is highlight all of its new apps, services, and software features, while decidedly not emphasizing Google’s popular services.

Instead of talking about Google Play and all the types of content available from the search giant’s repository, it showed off Samsung Hub, an integrated storefront for digital content like music, videos, books, games, and more. The new S Translator is exactly what it sounds like, and can potentially replace Google Translate. Forget Google Now and spoken turn-by-turn directions in Google Maps, that’s what the new Galaxy S Voice Drive is for.

That’s not to say that Google’s services are gone, just that Samsung is clearly pushing its own instead. These are just some of many examples where Samsung is actively replicating Google offerings (sound familiar?), and are the first signs that Samsung isn’t exactly happy with the status …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Google Revs Up a Radical Innovation Engine

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By Anders Bylund, The Motley Fool

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Don’t you wish more companies would dream big? I don’t mean “big” as in, let’s make some more money next year, or adding a new feature to your flagship product. I’m talking BIG, like changing the world for the better. You know, the way Google dreams.

Big G just took steps to make sure that the crazy dreams keep coming. CEO Larry Page just reassigned two of his top dreamers to the division that’s supposed to think up bigger, crazier, and more disruptive ideas without worrying too much about the business side of it all.

I thought Rubin was basically fired?
At first glance, these moves might look like demotions. Andy Rubin was part of the Danger/Sidekick team that arguably invented the first proto-smartphone, and his Android platform is now the biggest mobile computing beast in the world. He’s been replaced by the more even-keeled Sundar Pichai, who already oversees the Google Chrome web browser, Chrome OS, and the Google Drive storage product.

This frees Rubin up to “start a new chapter at Google,” in Page’s words. And what might that new chapter look like? “Andy, more moonshots please!”

The original moonshot on July 16, 1969. Image source: NASA.

Google defines a moonshot this way: “Moonshots live in the gray area between audacious technology and pure science fiction. Instead of a mere 10% gain, a moonshot aims for a 10x improvement over what currently exists. The combination of a huge problem, a radical solution to that problem, and the breakthrough technology that just might make that solution possible, is the essence of a moonshot.”

Keep that far-reaching goal and the CEO‘s gleeful order in mind as you read on.

That’s the first big innovation booster Page launched this week. The second came when mapping and commerce services leader Jeff Huber was told to report for work at Google X Lab, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Huber was champing at the bit “to work in more of a start-up-like environment,” a Google spokeswoman confirmed to the Journal.

On the organizational level, these changes simplify Google from seven core product groups to five, which is a good idea in itself. Fewer divisions means more operational unity, and managers should be able to direct resources more efficiently in a simpler structure.

But that’s not really the goal here. Like I said, it’s all about driving more innovation and more insane moonshot projects.

What is this wacky lab all about?
Huber will definitely land at the X Lab and if the facility is a refrigerator, you can think of Rubin as a giant magnet. They just belong together.

When you hear about silly or outlandish Google projects, you can assume that it started at X Labs. The Google Glass augmented-reality specs that look set to launch at retail this year? An X Lab project.

The most talked-about X Lab project to date. Image source: …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Video Gaming

Google Executive Shakeups Amid 'Spring Cleaning'

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Apparently, Google’s recent batch of “spring cleaning” is affecting more than Google Reader. Over the past couple days, changes in the executive structure have moved a few big names around at the Mountain View HQ, with Google Maps now falling under the company’s search department.

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported Andy Rubin, the (now former) head of Android has stepped down to “start a new chapter” with the company. No indication of what that new chapter involves, exactly, but former Apps and Chrome leader Sundar Pichai will occupy the vacancy.

Continue reading…

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Google Android Chief Andy Rubin to Step Down

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Search giant Google has announced that its Android chief, Andy Rubin, is stepping down in order to “start a new chapter at Google.”

CEO Larry Page announced the change on Google’s official blog today. Google did not specify which department Rubin may be headed toward. Rubin co-founded the start-up Android before Google acquired it in 2005, and has led development ever since.

Taking Rubin‘s place will be Sundar Pichai, who has worked on Chrome and Google Apps. The Chrome browser has been another important success story for Google, and Page expressed confidence that Pichai is the right man for the job.

Page also noted that the company’s Nexus program continues to drive mobile innovation, and that Google now has global partnerships with more than 60 hardware manufacturers. There have been more than 750 million Android devices activated to date.

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The article Google Android Chief Andy Rubin to Step Down originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance