In the darker corners of science fiction, man-made androids often bite the human hand that programs them.
Usually the story includes something going terribly wrong during the android development process. Errors introduced by accident or choice trigger devastating consequences that make for great movies pitting man versus automaton.
Harrison Ford, for example, plays a government hit man in the futuristic sci-fi movie "Blade Runner," where he must eliminate slave androids that have developed minds of their own.
In the real world, today's androids come from Mountain View-based Google and do not look anything like us. Rather, they come in the form of software and can be held in our hands without fear of bite.
Google's Android operating system may not mean much to you now, but in the future it could mean cheaper cost and more services to the 5 billion people on Earth who have cell phones, smartphones, computer tablets or any other handheld device.
Unlike Apple, which keeps its iPhone and iPad software source code under lock and key, guarded by a bridge troll that collects a toll every time it is opened, Google's Android operating system is freely available to any company.
The open-source nature
benefits consumers in the long run, since there are no costs to be
passed on at the retail level. Applications for the operating system
also do not require the innovation-stifling approval of a grand poo-bah like Steve Jobs. There are 70,000 apps available right now for Android. Now there's evidence that Android is making serious inroads at conquering the digital world as its availability widens. New
figures announced last week show that the share of phones in the U.S.
running Android increased to 17 percent from 12 percent in the period
through April, research company ComScore said. BlackBerry maker Research
in Motion fell to 39.3 percent from 41.1 percent while Apple's iPhone
software ran on 23.8 percent of smartphones, down from 25.1 percent.
Microsoft's share fell to 11.8 percent from 14 percent. Palm, the
smart-phone vendor bought by Hewlett-Packard Co. this year, was
unchanged at 4.9 percent. So while others lose market share or
hang on to what they have, Android saw a 42 percent jump in its adoption
rate. But don't expect the brain trust at Google to be content with
smartphones alone. That's just one piece of the digital pie. CONTINUE READING..
