Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently sat down with the Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newsom for an hour-long interview. Brin, as he has done in the past, wore the company’s Project Glass prototype, and even allowed Newsom to test them out. During the interview it is revealed that the device features a touch-sensitive trackpad that allows users to scroll through content. “Don’t touch the pad on the side,” he warned. When asked about a potential release, Brin states that he has “some hopes to maybe get it out sometime next year,” although he did caution “that’s still a little bit of a hope.” After talking about Project Glass, Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, discussed gene mapping for preventative healthcare, and the co-founder’s role with Google X. The full interview will be available this Friday, June 1st, on Current TV. A video snippet follows below.

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Google’s Nexus tablet has seemingly been confirmed by Rightware’s Power Board benchmark test result site. The rumored device recently appeared in the results database and is confirmed to feature a 7-inch display with a resolution of 768 x 1,280 pixels and a quad-core Tegra 3 processor clocked at 1.3GHz. The benchmarks also confirm that ASUS is the manufacturer, and the device is running Android 4.1 with the build JRN51B, the “J” likely indicating Jelly Bean. The tablet is listed under the name “Google Asus Nexus 7″ and it bears the code name “Grouper,” which lines up with Google’s previous fish-based code names for its Nexus devices. Google’s Nexus tablet is expected to be unveiled at the company’s annual i/O Developer Conference that will take place in San Francisco from June 27th to June 29th — the device is rumored to retail for between $199 and $249. Additional details from the benchmark test results follows below.

“os”: {
“android”: {
“model”: “Nexus 7″,
“hardware”: “grouper”,
“manufacturer”: “asus”,
“device”: “grouper”,
“brand”: “google”,
“display”: “XXXXXX-userdebug 4.1 JRN51B 3XXXXX dev-keys”,
“version_sdk”: “4.1″,
“board”: “grouper”,
“version_code”: “1″
}
}

[Via AndroidPolice]

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Google and Samsung on Tuesday announced a new Chromebook and Chromebox computer. Both machines are powered by Google’s cloud-based Chrome OS and are built for speed. Samsung’s newest Chromebook, the Series 5 550, features a 12.1-inch display, an Intel Core processor, 4GB of RAM, an HD Camera, two USB 2.0 ports and six hours of continuous battery life. The Chromebox resembles Apple’s Mac mini, and adds four additional USB 2.0 ports. Both come equipped with built-in dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Gigbit ethernet, however the Chromebook also has a 3G connectivity option. The Chromebook Series 5 550 starts at $449 and the Chromebox can be purchased for $329 — the two devices are available now.

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HP’s open source webOS team, known as Enyo, will reportedly be leaving the company and joining Google, according to The Verge. The computer giant in December announced its failed webOS mobile operating system would move to an open-source model under the name Enyo, with version 1.0 slated for release in September 2012. The website’s sources claim the entire Enyo team will not be headed for Google, but Matt McNulty, the head of the project, will be among those departing. This wouldn’t be the first time the Internet giant has hired former webOS workers; Android’s current design chief Matias Duarte oversaw the creation of the user interface for the operating system while working at Palm. It is unclear if the Enyo team members will be joining the Android group or another Google project.

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In its latest Transparency Report, Google has included information about takedown requests related to copyright infringement for the first time ever. According to the data from this past year, nearly 8,000 copyright owners have contacted Google with requests to remove search results that lead to copyright infringing websites. Microsoft led the charge with more than 500,000 removal requests across 9,108 domains during this past month alone, and a total of 2,554,475 takedown request across 23,485 domains over the course of the past year. According to research done by TechDirt, the software giant was mainly targeting pirated Xbox content, which Google agreed to take down. Search results for the very same websites, ironically, often remain present on Microsoft’s Bing search engine.

[Via TechDirt]

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Google recently wrapped up its Google+ Photographer’s Conference in San Francisco. During the event, a number of Google employees, including co-founder Sergey Brin, wore the company’s Project Glass prototype, and even a shared a video and a photo album of point-of-view images taken with the device. The augmented reality head-mounted display prototypes are being tested outside the walls of Google’s Mountain View campus as the company continues to refine the devices. Details surround the glasses are few and far between, and it is still unclear if Project Glass will ever hit the consumer market in its current form. Point-of-view images and a video taken with Project Glass prototypes follow below.

[Via Engadget]

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Millennial Media on Thursday released a new report outlining estimates first-quarter market share across mobile devices and operating systems. The mobile advertising company found that tablets — the top being Apple’s iPad, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and Amazon’s Kindle Fire — accounted for 20% of all ad impressions during the first quarter of 2012, an increase from 15% in the first quarter of 2011. “Tablets and other non-phone connected devices have established a clear role in the growing mobile ecosystem,” said Jamie Fellows, SVP, Product, Millennial Media. “The substantial quarterly growth of impressions in this category is tied to both increased usage and adoption, and we expect this trend to continue in the foreseeable future.” The report also found that 14 of the top 20 mobile phones ran Google’s Android operating system, which was installed on 49% of all devices. Apple’s iPhone was the top handset, helping the Cupertino-based company to edge out Samsung, which had four of the top 20 mobile phones, as the top manufacturer. Millennial Media’s press release and two additional tables follow below.

Millennial Media Releases Q1 Mobile Mix Report

Report Shows Significant Growth in Ad Impressions Among Tablets and Non-Phone Connected Devices

BALTIMORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Millennial Media, Inc. (NYSE: MM), the independent leader in mobile advertising, today released its Q1 Mobile Mix report, the latest edition of its reliable and widely-sourced report on trends in impressions for mobile devices and mobile operating systems.

The Q1 Mobile Mix report takes an in-depth look at the mobile device advertising landscape, including the top 20 mobile phones, top 10 mobile device manufacturers, leading mobile device operating systems and top mobile app categories ranked by impressions.

The report found that non-phone mobile devices, such as tablets, accounted for 20 percent of all impressions on the Millennial Media platform during the first quarter of 2012, compared to 15 percent in Q1 of 2011.

The report also found that Android remained the top overall operating system on the Millennial Media platform in Q1 2012, with a 49 percent share of impressions, and Apple remained the leading individual mobile device manufacturer.

Other highlights from the Q1 Mobile Mix report include (ranked by impressions on the Millennial Media platform during the quarter):

• The Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Amazon Kindle Fire were the top tablets in Q1, and all three were among the top 20 mobile devices.
• The Apple iPhone remained the leading individual mobile phone.
• Android made up 14 of the top 20 mobile phones.
• Samsung was the second leading manufacturer and had 4 of the top 20 mobile phones.
• Gaming was the top mobile app category and grew 10 percent compared to Q4 2011.
• Mobile video views increased 958 percent from Q2 2011 to Q1 2012.

“Tablets and other non-phone connected devices have established a clear role in the growing mobile ecosystem,” said Jamie Fellows, SVP, Product, Millennial Media. “The substantial quarterly growth of impressions in this category is tied to both increased usage and adoption, and we expect this trend to continue in the foreseeable future.”

A German regional court on Thursday issued an injunction against newly-acquired Motorola Mobility for infringing one of Microsoft’s patents, according to FOSS Patents. The manufacturer is banned from selling its Android-powered devices that infringe Microsoft’s EP1304891 patent, which covers “communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardized interface.” The sales ban, for the time being, is subject to additional confirmation. If confirmed however, it is enforceable with a bond of $31.4 million. Patent expert Florian Mueller notes that since the patent covers “operating system-level functionality, the modifications ‘Googlorola’ would have to make to Android to work around this ruling would lead to significant complications.” Furthermore, apps that make use of Android’s messaging layer will apparently have to be completely rewritten.

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Google on Thursday announced an update to its Google Play Store that allows Android users to make in-app subscriptions. The update comes more than year after the Mountain View-based company introduced in-app billing in what was then called the Android Market. “Since the launch, In-app Billing has been extremely successful in helping developers monetize their apps through try-and-buy, virtual goods, upgrades, and other popular business models,” Google said on its developer blog. “Today, 23 of the 24 top-grossing apps in Google Play use In-app Billing, and the total revenue generated from in-app purchases exceeds revenue from traditional app purchases.” In-app subscriptions will allow developers to sell monthly or annual subscriptions from within their apps. “Developers just set the price and billing interval and Google Play manages the purchase transactions for them, just as it does for other in-app products and app purchases,” the company said.

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Google’s Nexus tablet will reportedly ship in June with an initial volume of 600,000 units per month, according to Digitimes. The slate, which is being co-developed by ASUS, is set to be released in July according to the report. The publications claims that Google originally planned to release its 7-inch tablet in May, however the design of the device did not meet its expectations and the cost was too high. As a result, the product was delayed until July for some minor adjustments. The Internet giant has high hopes for its own-brand tablet, shipments of which are expected to reach between 2 million and 2.5 million units in 2012. Previous rumors claim the Wi-Fi-only tablet will be equipped with a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and could cost as little as $199. The slate may be unveiled at Google’s annual I/O conference, which begins on June 27th.

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In the widely publicized patent infringement case between Google and Oracle, a San Francisco jury on Wednesday found that Google’s Android operating system does not infringe Oracle’s patents. Jurors have been dismissed and Judge William Aslup of the U.S. District court of Northern California exonerated the Internet giant of any wrong doing. The verdict marks the end of the trial’s second phase, which focused on patent infringement claims. Google earlier this month was found to have infringed Oracle’s copyrights, however, and the proceedings are set to resume on Tuesday morning.

[Via The Verge]

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Backers of the whistle-blowing organisation WikiLeaks recently launched Friends of WikiLeaks (FoWL), an encrypted social network for like-minded individuals. “Friends of WikiLeaks is a network of people from across the globe who defend WikiLeaks, its people, its alleged sources and its mission,” the website’s homepage says. “We publicly and privately promote WikiLeaks and individuals and organisations aligned with the mission of WikiLeaks. This site will help you to join with people like you in your area and across the world. You will make new friends and new allies, care for treasured values and fight in common cause.” Instead of having users find people to friend, as is the case with Facebook and Google+, Friends of WikiLeaks will assign users 12 friends each, six of which will be from a similar geographic location, and six others from other parts of the world who speak the same language. If a group is assigned an inactive user, the group can boot the user and the service will automatically assign a new “friend” to the group.

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In line with earlier reports, Google on Tuesday finalized its acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The $12.5 billion merger was approved by regulators in China on Monday after having been given the green light by the United States Department of Justice this past February. Chinese regulators did stipulate terms for its approval, however, namely that Google must continue to make Android open-source and freely available. Former Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha has stepped down and Google’s Dennis Woodside will replace him as chief executive. “I’m excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed,” Google CEO Larry Page wrote in a letter published on Google’s blog. “Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone. We all remember Motorola’s StarTAC, which at the time seemed tiny and showed the real potential of these devices. And as a company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to Google.” An unconfirmed report on Monday claimed that the merger will result in layoffs at Motorola.

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Motorola recently updated its Android release timeline and revealed that certain devices will remain on Android 2.3 rather than receiving an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The handsets in question are both modern and more than capable of running the latest Android operating system, however the vendor claims the latest software won’t “improve” the devices, and that’s why updates will not be released. Both the DROID 3 and DROID X2 will remain on Android 2.3, despite the fact that both handsets run dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processors and were released not even a year ago.

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Google’s Chrome Web browser has continued to gain market share since its introduction in 2008. Despite surpassing Internet Explorer in select regions and on weekends, Google’s browser has never been able to dethrone Microsoft in global usage share. According to new numbers from StatCounter, however, Google’s browser has finally averaged higher traffic than Internet Explorer for the first time over a full seven-day stretch. From May 14th through May 20th, the Internet giant’s Web browser garnered a 32.76% share, ahead of Microsoft’s 31.94% and Mozilla Firefox’s 25.47% share. At the start of this week, however, Chrome’s share began to slide, falling to 31.88%, just ahead of Internet Explorer’s 31.47% share.

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