There was a time when summer was slow. News would lull. Folks would go on vacation.
Not this year.
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So, here’s what happened at Google I/O this week in San Francisco:
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- Google launched Jelly Bean, its latest Android OS — and ya know what? It’s pretty damn spiffy.
- The company also launched a home media streaming thingie called the Nexus Q — and ya know what? It almost made us cry, and not in the good way.
- Google+ got a new feature for organizing events and a new API for pulling in your history from around the web.
- Want all the power of Google’s mighty racks of servers for your big, bad computational problems? Google launched Compute Engine just for you.
- Chromebooks are going to be sold at Best Buy. So, you know, if you really hate operating systems, this is your time to shine.*
- Put on your party hats, Office Spacers, because Google Docs are going offline!
- Google co-founder Sergey Brin put his latest product in the hands of blimp-jumpers, leading to a small existential freakout about the purpose of technology and social media in particular.
May your weekend be free of anything related to Google.
*The author maintains her cranky assertion that “Chrome OS is a lie,” since Chromebooks are actually Linux-running laptops with the Chrome browser as the only user-accessible application. “You want an OS? I’ll give you an OS. It’s called Ubuntu, and it’s not at freaking Best Buy,” the aging tech reporter screeched when reached for comment.
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