Nexus Tablet coming around Google I/O 2012

Eric Schmidt let it slip that they are working on their own Nexus-ish tablet that will be in production around 6 months from now.  That timing is very interesting, as it's just before Google I/O 2012.

What could that mean?  This year's event may end up being tablet-heavy -- trying really hard to get developers on board with Tablet development.  Google needs developers to build apps for Android tablets if they expect to compete with Apple's iPad.

If this is all true, it wouldn't be hard to imagine that Google will be giving all 5000ish developers attending the conference a "Nexus tablet".  Thankfully,  registration this year will include a sort of "CAPTCHA" that is designed to weed out scalpers and non-developers who register just for free gear.

Apple's secret product offering on October 4th

[This article is speculation only... but would like feedback on plausibility]

There has been lots of speculation around what will be launched on October 4th. It's almost certain that it will be iPhone 5 -- but that's not everything. People were speculating that they will be releasing multiple phones -- that's crazy talk.  That said, we're in for a classic "one more thing" at this event and here's what we will see:

The iPod Nano has been going through some big changes recently -- you might find it interesting that the current generation iPod Nano looks quite similar to the image announcing the event.

And do you remember the new killer feature on iPhone 5 that was leaked? "Assistant" they are calling it? Yep, it will be accessible through your nano -- which is also.... a watch!  Dick Tracy really isn't looking all that crazy anymore.

Of course, it will be Bluetooth enabled, and can communicate with your phone -- You can make phone calls from your wrist, read your text messages, check out your calendar, update your to-do list.  All of this without taking your phone out.  All your stuff is stored in the cloud -- so even if you don't have your phone with you, you're covered.  iCloud will take care of you.

"Send text to Johnny saying I will be late for lunch, so order without me"

** BLING ** New Text Message

beep beep boop -- you are reading or listening to your text message from your wrist or over your headphones that are connected to the phone in your pocket.

"Phone Johnny"

beep beep boop, you are now talking to Johnny over your headphones that are plugged into the phone in your pocket.

Best of all -- for apple -- people who bought their iPhone 4 won't be too upset when they realize they don't have to upgrade their phone so soon.  That's right -- both iPhone 4 users, and the people who are ready for iPhone 5 will be equally happy about this new product... and will definitely shell out $149 for it.

Google Music found in Marketplace Code

Google is preparing for the launch of Google Music -- not that that's breaking news. What hasn't been talked about yet is the references to it in the marketplace code. There is also references to "OCEAN_BOOKS" (probably just books) and "YOUTUBE_VIDEO" (movie/tv rentals?).

I also noticed the URL of the marketplace redirects to http://market.android.com/apps/ when you go to the main page -- and going to http://market.android.com/music/ or /books/ doesn't give you an error like /charliesheen/ does.

Stay tuned!

What if Google Music worked on iPhone?

I just realized today that it would be completely possible for the coming Google Music service to run on iPhone. This hypothetical app would hook up to your media locker in the cloud, allowing you to download or stream music you are storing there. Now the only question is whether or not Apple would allow it.

If by some miracle Apple let Google Music into their App Store, it could get very interesting indeed.

Groupon, are you mad?

When someone offers you $5.something billion for a fad, take it. That's all I have to say about that.

Gingerbread so far.

Is anybody else kinda wondering what the big deal is with Gingerbread? Everything that has leaked so far is very underwhelming -- I'm hoping what we're seeing isn't indicative of the final release.

I'm usually an optimistic guy, and had really high hopes for Gingerbread, but as we get closer to the launch date, I'm definitely preparing to be underwhelmed!

GoogleAddiction is CLOSED

I have some bad news and some good news for my fellow addicts. Thank you to everybody who has supported me over the past couple months, your comments and contributions were very welcome and I had lots of fun with it.

The bad news first:
GoogleAddiction.blogspot.com is closing it's doors. I would have kept posting here for many years to come, but I have to pull the plug. It was a slice, and I'm really going to miss that great logo ;)

The good news:
ZDNet has hired me to blog about Google for them! Not only is this a huge step for me personally, it will also be better for the readers. With more exposure we will get more comments, feedback and tips which always keep the content interesting.

With any luck there will be even more google addicts running around in the near future. I'm really looking forward to this opportunity and I will see you all there! Update your bookmarks, and get ready for more of what you have come to love at googleaddiction.

The new address is http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google

Recent Google Video Buzz

Over the last day, readers have been starting to "buzz" about Google Video. Some people have wrote to tell me they have noticed there is a new "Google Video Blog" link at the bottom of pages when a search is performed (see below). Others have been mentioning that you can now resize video, though I think that feature has been there for a couple of weeks.

Maybe Google is gearing up to integrate Google Video with Google Base? Only time will tell, but it definitely looks like they are putting more resources into this service.

Google has also mentioned you can "charge" people to download videos. As of right now, Google does not display videos that require payment. No doubt this feature will require some sort of payment processing power (ie. Google Purchases). With these three things: purchases.google.com, base.google.com, video.google.com... we can start to visualize the future of this service.

Imagine visiting video.google.com in hopes to find last week's airing of a special broadcast you saw on your favourite TV network. When the network uploads their video (possibly to Google Base in the future), they specify that the broadcast will cost $25 dollars to download.

As the customer, you will be able to watch a small portion of the broadcast to know what you are getting for your money, similar to how Google Print works. Once you have decided that this is in fact what you were looking for, you can now use Google Purchases to make payment.

This type of system does not only apply for videos on Google Video, it could have uses in many other present or future Google services. For example, When you upload any type of information to the Google Base you may be able to specify a price for it (all payable through Google Purchases of course).

Google has been scrutinized in the past about how their services don't seem to integrate with each other. This might be the beginning of a new "Integrated Google Experience".