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UPDATED: AndroidCentral Meta Live-Blog: gPhone or iClone?

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008 a 10:54 am

A-Day just goes on and on. We're not obsessed, mind you, but for reasons outlined before, from Google's CEO being on the Apple board, to Google services being inextricably linked into the iPhone, to Location Based (Mobile) Services and the Cloud being the Next Big Thing, this launch matters to iPhone owners almost as much as Windows Mobile (whom they're gunning to replace) and Palm OS 2.0 (whom they may render obsolete before launch).

Curious to know more? We are! In fact, Dieter's Meta Live Blogging the even right now over at AndroidCentral.

UPDATED: Our take, post event:

Updated: 3D Buildings in Google Maps for iPhone 2.1?!

By Rene Ritchie, Sunday, Sep 14, 2008 a 6:47 pm

UPDATE: Our ace commenters point out this is something Google has been pushing for a while now, pre-2.1, although it may be slowly moving across the US and hasn't been getting tons of attention everywhere yet. As the effect is likely part of the image downloads, Google can probably push new images any time they like, and not have it bound to any specific point release, so that makes the kind of sense that does. Still, pretty awesome feature!

Original post:

Eagle-eyed reader Gregory just sent this in and as Neo would surely say -- WHOA!

This Week in Smartphone Schadenfreude, September 6th Edition

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Sep 6, 2008 a 1:55 pm

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

Google to Launch "Chrome" Open Source WebKit-based Browser

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Sep 2, 2008 a 7:55 am

The intertubes are positively being flooded with what has to be some of the biggest browser news since Apple debuted MobileSafari on the iPhone: Google is getting in the game.

Google Translate Won't "Leave Me Alone"?

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Aug 14, 2008 a 4:30 pm

So Dieter wrote up a review of Google Translate's shiny new, iPhone optimized WebApp, and it intrigued me enough to check it out. Since I live in Montreal, French was the first language I decided to try out. Since I'm damaged and have issues that would make Lucy jack her price up to 50 cents, the very first thing I tried to translate was: "leave me alone."

And what did Google Translate's WebApp say "leave me alone" was in French? "leave me alone". Oui-mais-wha?

Apple's Market Cap Exceeds Google's

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Aug 14, 2008 a 7:49 am

Digital Daily brings BOOM!ing word that Apple's market cap has just exceeded Google's, at $159.37 vs. $157.56.

Good on Steve Jobs and Apple. And kudos to Valleywag for saying, way back in 2007 that this would happen because "Apple knows how to design not just gadgets, but the businesses that go around them."

We here at TiPb have been marveling at Apple's unique 360 degree spherical integration for a while now as well.

Android Delayed, Still Not Competitive With iPhone

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008 a 12:58 pm

Quel surprise: Google's Android will be delayed. It looks like Google and their hefty consortium of partners are struggling a little with getting a new mobile OS deployed across a wide array of hardware connected to all sorts of different networks. Who coulda predicted it? (Yeah, okay, basic high school chaos theory, given complexity growth and propensity for system break down and all, but other than that...)

Originally slated for second half 2008, its now looking more like fourth quarter, if not 2009. Seems like the T-Mobile launch is so Google-tention intensive, it's pushing Sprint's launch further back. Also -- wait for it -- Sprint doesn't want to just deploy a clean Android build, they want to ~~wall it off~~ brand it up all personal like (couldn't see that one coming?). Meanwhile, mega-carrier China Mobile is "running into issues" pushing its launch back as well.

To top it off, Android is more challenging to develop for, which is also a startling revelation, given the alpha/beta status of the SDK. Hitting deadlines is one thing. Hitting them through an asteroid storm of OS changes is another entirely.

Not to beat a dead horse, but all these problems were wicked obvious going back to launch day. In fact, Fake Steve satire'd it up brilliantly from the get go, and Daring Fireball sums it up nicely now.

Keep reading after the break to find out how this effects the iPhone...

This Week in Smartphone Schadenfreude, May 31st Edition

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, May 31, 2008 a 3:55 pm

In this week's edition: Windows Se7en, Great Googley Android, India's circling the RIM, the Treo 800w guest commentary, and no other news on Safari for Samsung...

New Mac Update Lets iPhone Users Sync Contacts to Google

By Dieter Bohn, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 a 4:18 pm

Send in the iClones: HTC Dream / Google Android Edition

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 a 2:57 pm

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the first ever live demo of Google's new Android platform... and it's on the iPhone!

[Er... That's the HTC Dream.]

What? Sigh. Okay.

Maybe it's me. Maybe it's a proof of concept. Maybe it's because of the Diamond. Maybe it's just a hormone thing. But does all the innovation have to lead back to Cupertino these days? Does it?

So, another week, another iClone, and more specifically another HTC iClone. (At least they're giving RIM a run for their Bold, Thunder, Storm money for the official iClone volume title...)

Still, it's nice to see Android. As I mentioned in the Top 5 Things the iPhone Could Learn From the Competition, the cloud looks to be the future, and Google currently owns the cloud. Never mind their CEO is on Apple's board of directors (he reportedly recuses himself from iPhone discussions to avoid a conflict of interest), the industry needs the drive Google can provide, even if they wrap it up in a horribly derivative package for now.

Check out the video after after the break!