GOOGLE'S SCHMIDT SAYS ICE CREAM SANDWICH COMING IN OCTOBER OR NOVEMBER

Google's own Eric Schmidt revealed in an interview with Salesforce.com's Marc Benioff that Ice Cream Sandwich, the highly-anticipated update to Android that will merge elements of Honeycomb and Gingerbread into one universal OS, can be expected to arrive in October or November. This matches up with rumors saying the Nexus Prime will be released in the tenth month, but it's the first time we've heard anything official

GOOGLE CO-FOUNDER LARRY PAGE RETURNS AS CEO

As announced back in January, Google co-founder Larry Page re-assumed his role as CEO of the Internet search giant today. The company’s former CEO, Eric Schmidt, will move to the position of Executive Chairman. “We’ve been talking about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making for a long time,” said Schmidt during the company’s Q4 earnings call back in January. “By clarifying our individual roles we’ll create clearer responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. In my clear opinion, Larry is ready to lead and I’m excited about working with both him and Sergey for a long time to come.” Page briefly held the position of CEO in 2001 before turning the reins over to the more seasoned Schmidt.

GOOGLE UNVEILS MOVIE STUDIO VIDEO EDITOR FOR HONEYCOMB

Google today unveiled Movie Studio, a new application for the upcoming Honeycomb era of Android tablets that lets people edit videos.

The software, which Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt announced during a speech here at Mobile World Congress, is designed to expand on a phone's abilities to capture imagery.
With it, people can combine still images and videos to create broader video that can be shared online. People will be able to add musical soundtracks, fade to black at the end of the video, and add effects like the Ken Burns-style panning so common on Apple video software.
The software requires Android 3.0, the tablet-optimized version of Android set to debut soon with Motorola's Xoom tablet.

"When you play with Honeycomb, you'll get the sense of beauty and power we have with the new interface," Schmidt said. "I just really love it."

PAGE REPLACING SCHMIDT AS GOOGLE CEO

In a surprise move announced on the Q4 results call, co-founder Larry Page will be taking over the CEO roll from Eric Schmidt. Schmidt will stay with company as the Executive Chairman focusing externally on "deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership.”

“We’ve been talking about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making for a long time,” said Schmidt. “By clarifying our individual roles we’ll create clearer responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. In my clear opinion, Larry is ready to lead and I’m excited about working with both him and Sergey for a long time to come.”

Sergey Brin, also a Google co-founder, will focus on new, strategic projects for the company.

ERIC SCHMIDT TALKS ABOUT GOOGLE'S STRATEGIES

In an interview with Harvard Business Review, Google CEO Eric Schmidt briefly discusses Google's strategies and they focus on mobile. The three areas Google wants to focus on are "developing the under­lying fast networks," or what Schmidt notes is "generally called LTE," pushing the development of NFC-based "mobile money" and, last but not least, increasing the availability of inexpensive smartphones in the poorest parts of the world. On that latter point, Schmidt seems to be especially optimistic, saying that he envisions "literally a billion people getting inexpensive, browser-based touchscreen phones over the next few years."

300,000 PLUS ANDROID PHONES ACTIVATED EVERY DAY

Andy Rubin, creator of the Android OS, tweeted for only the second time yesterday. He wanted to let everyone know that over 300,000 Android phones are being activated daily. Back in August Eric Schmidt stated over 200,000 Android phones were being sold every day. [Gizmodo]