Google is on a Mission to Control Your Home

First Google dominated the Web with search. Then it ruled mobile devices with Android. Now Google wants to control everything inside your home.
At its annual I/O developers conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, the company previewed Android@Home, a future platform that will allow you to interact with practically any electronic device you own using Google (GOOG, Fortune 500). Connected devices like home media equipment, dishwashers, cars, and lights could soon be able to be controlled using the new platform.
"We'd like to think of your entire home as an accessory, or better yet as a network of accessories, and think of Android as the operating system for your home," said Joe Britt, head of the Android@Home team.
Controlling connected devices with a smartphone, tablet, PC or another gizmo has been discussed for years. Recently, some early attempts have emerged, including pill bottles that link to your phone or cars that can be turned on with through a mobile app. But those are prototypes -- little has been done on a larger scale.
The chief obstacle to making that happen across all connected devices is finding a single, open standard to control everything you own. Right now, most manufacturers of connected devices write their own proprietary software for controlling appliances. Your iPhone can control your Apple TV, and Windows Phone can control your Windows PC, for instance.

Skype For Android Wants To Be Your Phone!

A strong updated Skype client for Google Android devices is available beginning Wednesday, with a couple of notable enhancements: a security patch and support for voice calls over 3G networks all over the world, including the U.S. The freeware, found in Google’s Android Market, includes mobile calls on the Skype network, instant message text chat, call forwarding, voicemail, and low-rate calls to mobile numbers and landlines. Wider adoption of 3G voice calls for Skype could hint at a future Skype phone. The newest client patches a security hole that was found last week and acknowledged by the Skype team.

Clearly, a third-party application could exploit the fact that both Skype profile information and instant messages were cached locally and unprotected on a handset. Using software, this exposed data could be captured and sent elsewhere, without the handset owner’s knowledge. With today’s update, the data is now protected and can’t be exploited by a third-party application. Ending the security gap is vital, but so too is support for calls over cellular high speed networks in the U.S.