Making some new Android version names

Cute graphic of android version evolution
From Cupcake to Jelly Bean, Android’s gotten cuter every version.

Android, the open source operating system for phones/tablets, has become really well known for their incredibly cute version nicknames – each version is named after a dessert, and they go alphabetically. So far they’ve had Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, and KitKat (the latest one.)

Google must employ a team of geniuses to make these version names. So I’m going to try my hand at making some potential names. Here are a few I’ve thought of, in order:

  • Lemon Drop
  • Milkshake/Muffin

BREAKING: Tech giants unveil smart toaster

A smart toaster: the iToaster, Windows Toaster 8, and Google Toast image picture toast
Apple, Microsoft, and Google are unveiling plans for smart toasters. Get ready – this is huge.

SOMEWHERE IN CALIFORNIA — In a stunning series of revelations that turned the tech world on its head, a trio of tech giants announced plans for a smart toaster. Apple, Microsoft, and Google held launch parties this weekend for a series of new devices. This brave reporter attended all three.

Let’s take a look.

The future of smartphones

Google Android and Apple iOS fighting
Move over, Android and iOS. You have company.

Right now, if you want to buy a smartphone you have two main options: iPhone and Android. If you’re feeling brave, there’s Windows Phone. Not much variety.

All that is about to change.

This coming year is going to see the release of new, free smartphone operating systems that seem poised to change the world of smartphones – for the better. Let’s take a look.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu, the wildly-popular open-source operating system for computers has been spreading rumors that they’re going to release a version of the operating system for smartphones. The phones aren’t out yet but folks around the internet say they’re definitely in the works.

So much for IPOs

As you probably remember, the professional networking (no other way to describe it) site LinkedIn went public in May under the symbol LNKD. Its IPO (initial public offering, or first release of shares in the stock market) was valued $45 per share. Later that day, LinkedIn shares were trading at $122.

LinkedIn's logo
LinkedIn's IPO was hyped, but did it work?

LinkedIn closed at $94 per share, with a volume of 30 million shares. Not bad for a day’s work. (News article.)

 

Chrome OS: all web, all the time

As you might have noticed, the guys at Google have released (well, not released, they’ve just publicly shown it for the first time; Chromebooks are coming out on June 15) Chromebooks, which are netbooks that run the Chrome OS.

Chrome OS (official site)

More about the actual computers later; the interesting part about the computer is its operating system. Chrome OS is a completely web-based operating system; it’s nothing but Chrome, Google’s web browser. That’s right, the only application on the computer is Chrome.

Can’t get enough Angry Birds? Play it online

Playing Angry Birds 1-1
A red bird crashing into a structure, killing a pig in the process

If your phone’s battery keeps dying on you because you spend all your time playing the wildly popular mobile game Angry Birds (or if you’re too cheap to buy Angry Birds), you should be pretty excited about this latest development.

You can now play Angry Birds online here. Here’s what you need:

  1. A decent browser (more on that later)
  2. Adobe Flash (sorry, iDevice users)

As the URL (chrome.angrybirds.com) might hint, Angry Birds works best in Chrome. I’ve tried it on several browsers and here’s what I’ve found:

Microsoft buys Skype

Skype logoMicrosoft has bought the popular IM/voice chat application Skype (well, not just the product, the whole company) for $8.5 billion, making it Microsoft’s largest purchase ever. I find that a little funny since Skype actually made a loss of $7 million last year.

But, when you think about it, it makes some sense. Skype has 663 million user accounts (of course, not all of them are active) and about 8 million paying users – obviously not very many, but it’s still some.