It's Wednesday, May 11th.
I'm Jeff Bakalar and it's time to Get Loaded.
Google's I/O Conference started yesterday and the company unveiled a slew of announcements.
This morning, CNET is reporting that Google will in fact be selling Chrome-based laptops in a $20-per-month student package that seeks to combine hardware and online services.
Google is expected to announce more details today.
In more Google news, the company has revealed plans for a prediction API using Android automation algorithms, Google is working with car manufacturers like Ford to implement the technology into cars to learn better driving habits and ultimately improve gas mileage, vehicle reliability, and better GPS directions.
Yesterday, we mentioned Google's new cloud-based streaming music service.
It's now officially called Music Beta and we got some hands-on look at the service.
Overall, the product is smooth and it successfully lets you access up to 20,000 songs from any computer or Android device.
However, those looking to use Music Beta by Google to sync music between multiple computers are out of luck.
There's no downloading allowed.
Bummer.
For more, head on over to CNET.com.
Finally, Google unveiled the followup to its Gingerbread and Honeycomb Android operating systems.
It's codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich and it finally runs on both smartphones and tablets alike.
New features include facial tracking, a new movie rental service in the Android Market, access to Google Music, and hardware compatibility with keyboards and game controllers.
Developers will also get a new API that will allow programs to run seamlessly on devices of any size and any shape.
Security company Symantec has found that 100,000 Facebook apps have had access to your personal information for some time now.
Well, what's the good news?
These third party apps had no idea the information was being leaked out so they were never able to use it.
Facebook has since taken care of the accidental glitch and, for now, all is well.
Finally, representatives from Google and Apple testified in front of a US Senate committee yesterday concerning recent privacy issues.
Senators slammed Apple's location tracking bug, Google's collection of private Wi-Fi data, and apps that let users avoid drunk driving road check-ins.
Apple, for its part,
claims the issue is moot now with the 4.3.3 software update, and Google touted the benefits of location tracking.
Well, those are your headlines for today.
I'm Jeff Bakalar for CNET.com and you've just been Loaded.
