Google TV

The biggest single announcement at Google I/O was probably the launch of Google TV, which is an open platform built on Android and meant to run on the Google Chrome browser.

Google TV will enable users to access the shows they want to, when they want to, on their television screens. Google TV features integrated search to allow users to find relevant content across channel listings, DVR, and the Internet, as well as a picture-in-picture layout to access multiple windows simultaneously. With this service, Google undoubtedly has its eyes set on the $70 billion U.S. TV advertising market. Google TV enabled devices will go on sale in autumn 2010.

www.google.com/tv

Clicker TV

Google also introduced Clicker TV, which is basically a TV guide that allows users to find programmes by scrolling through the options with a remote control or arrow keys on a keyboard. The Clicker TV website can work on any browser and will be a free service in the U.S.

Android 2.2 (Froyo)

Android 2.2, which has been nicknamed Froyo (from Frozen Yoghurt), was also announced at the event. The new version of the platform will be much faster, will have new enterprise features such as Exchange calendar synchronisation and will include portable hotspot functionality, the ability for apps to participate in device messaging and data backup and will support Adobe Flash.

Google Wave

Google Wave has been brought out of beta and is now available to everyone. It is supposed to now be much faster and easier to use than before.

Chrome Web Store

The Chrome Web Store is scheduled for launch later this year and will be an open marketplace for Web apps. Google Chrome and the Chrome Web Store will support installable web apps. Applications from the Chrome Web Store will allow users to install their favorite web apps. An installed web app could be separated visually from other tabs, could integrate better with the operating system and could be granted increased permissions.

chrome.google.com/webstore

Storage for Developers

Google Storage for Developers, a new service also announced at the I/O event, is a RESTful cloud service built on Google’s storage and networking infrastructure. With the API, developers can connect their applications to reliable cloud-based storage that is replicated across several U.S. data centres. This service is being previewed with only a few developers initially.

Once this feature is available, users will be able to upload and store any type of file in Google Docs.

This feature is not entirely new, as others such as Box.net and Dropbox have offered similar facilities, which allow users to store their files in the cloud and then share them as and when required from any computer, for quite a long while now.

All users will get 1GB of storage space for free. Users can buy more storage space at $0.25 per gigabyte per year. However, enterprise customers will have to pay $17 per gigabyte per year.

This facility has one restriction, though. Each individual file will have to be less than 250 MB. It will not be possible to store larger files, such as full-length feature films.

Users will have the option to keep the files private or public or share them selectively. They will be able to use Google Viewer to view most types of files, but not for videos.

Three third-party apps were also made available with the launch of this service. They were:

• Memeo Connect – where users can sync files between desktop and Google Docs.
• Syncplicity – This offers automated backup and file management to businesses.
• Manymoon – This is an on online project management application and has been integrated with Google Docs.

Rumours about Google launching an online file storage system nicknamed the GDrive circulated on the blogosphere early last year. The file storage facility on Google Docs is what the GDrive was expected to be, except that this offering is tightly integrated with Google Docs, thereby prompting users to use Google Docs if they wish to use Google’s online data storage.

Rumors about the launch of GDrive have been appearing periodically since March 2006.

Blogger Brian Ussery found an official description of the GDrive within the code for Google Pack – the software utility download from the search engine. The description says:

GDrive Category = Online file backup and storage
GDrive provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents
GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, any time and from any device – be it from your desktop, web browser or mobile phone.

All user information could potentially be stored on Google’s server itself, rather than on a hard drive. This has led a lot of speculators to start talking about the demise of the PC, which seems highly unlikely, considering the fact that online storage solutions have existed long before the rumours of GDrive and none of them have caused any users to stop using a PC!

Google has already started promoting this product of theirs by telling people about the possible benefits of what they call “cloud computing”. They are doing so through their various services such as Google Mail, Google Apps and Picasa Web Albums. GDrive will also enable users to make use of all these services at the same time.

This free service is bound to attract a lot of companies as they are already on the look out for means of cutting operational costs due to the economic recession.

According to one technology news website, the GDrive could “cause a paradigm shift in how we use computers and bring Google one step closer to dethroning Windows on your desktop”. Luckily, though, Microsoft Live Office already allows users to process and store data online.

One major obstacle which Google will however have to deal with, is that of user privacy. The proponents of privacy are already saying that it is dangerous to store all personal data on the Web, rather than on a hard drive, as it can be easily accessed by service provider, especially in a situation where the government may ask for user details, and Google’s track record on privacy has not been very clean.

The co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin, has said that they make a lot of effort to protect user privacy. As of now Google has refused to comment on when they plan to release GDrive.