Comment (3)There's already a slew of mobile news out of Google this week.
Android Marshmallow First and foremost, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has revealed that Android 6.0 -- or "Marshmallow" to its friends -- will be coming to smartphones in the fall. Updates include a new battery-saving sleep mode and a security provision that lets the user set specific access levels to individual apps on the device.
The company introduced the 6.0 software development kit (SDK) via a blog. Developers can get busy updating and developing new apps before the software update hits the public sphere.
Project Ara Project Ara, the modular phone from Google's Advanced Technology & Projects (ATAP) group, will be delayed until at least 2016. The plan was to create a low-cost, modular design that would be affordable around the world. (See Moto Goes Modular.)
Google had said that it would start an Ara pilot in Puerto Rico. The ATP team, however, revealed via a series of tweets that development work is taking longer than initially expected.
Testing Atlas Talking of mobile, Google has also been showing off re-designed robots it first acquired through buying Boston Dynamics. These include a robot "horse" and a 6' 2", 330lb "humanoid" robot called "Atlas." This robot is now being tested outside as well as in the lab.
Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics, talks about the work below:
These are exactly the sort of projects that Google hopes to further facilitate by creating the "Alphabet" umbrella for the core business and its more whacky off-shoots. (See Google Sings 'Alphabet' Song.)
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
