TechCrunch reports that Google plans to release their own version of an Android phone early next month under the name “Nexus One”.   It would be an unlocked GSM phone (which means it could be used on the AT&T or T-Mobile networks in the United States).  Manufactured by HTC, it will include a speedy Snapdragon ARM-based processor, a high-resolution OLED screen, and camera with a large lens.  Unlike the Droid, the Nexus One will not have a physical keyboard and will be thinner than an iPhone.  There are two microphones, one on the front and another on the back that are used to reduce noise.

This Week in Google mentions that phone will be called the HTC Passion — another TechCrunch article says the Nexus One is almost identical to the Passion without the HTC branding.  I am looking forward to the release of what should be the definitive Android device.

Today Google held a preview event for their Chrome operating system.  They have open-sourced the project as Chromium OS and expect it to be released late 2010.  For a quick overview of the Chrome OS, watch this nice presentation by Epipheo Studios:

Last week, Cisco issued an advisory for a security vulnerability in TLS 3.0.  TLS (Transport Layer Security) is the protocol that defines the SSL connections used for encrypted Internet browser sessions — such as those used for shopping and banking transactions.  SSL is essential for secure and private communications on the web.

I heard about this man-in-the-middle vulnerability listening to Steve Gibson’s Security Now podcast.  Steve plans to go into the details in the upcoming episode.  I am not sure that it is time panic, but a fix for the problem is a high priority.  According to Computerworld, the attacker must be on your local area network.  That means anyone who wants to perform secure transactions should avoid open Wi-Fi hotspots or use a VPN to secure their traffic.  Keep your browser updated — fixes are sure to be coming soon.

I have been spending some time this weekend reading Gina Trapani’s on-line manual, The Complete Guide to Google Wave.  Google Wave is an intriguing new service that operates as an interactive, on-line collaboration tool.

Google has a long video demonstration of Wave, but if you don’t want to spend over an hour watching it, here’s a cute little summary that someone created to explain how Google Wave can be useful:

Last Tuesday, Google released version 2.0 of Android, their open source mobile operating system.  This new version of Android is about to appear on many new smart-phones about to be released (notably Motorola’s Droid).  I am anxious to see how these new phones compare to the iPhone.

What got my attention is that Android now supports native app development — the Native Development Kit was introduced in June.  Before this, applications had to be written in Java.  Java is fine, but applications that are compiled for the specific device run faster and aren’t as restricted in what they can do.  This should make the Android platform more attractive to many developers and eventually the end-users.

Early this month, Google added some useful options for refining a search. This is a handy feature everyone should know about. On a search page, just below the Google logo, is a “Show options…” link.  Click that and a wide variety of choices appear in the left margin. Now, if Google’s results are not quite to your liking, there’s an easy way to tweak the search. —

For example, I wanted to know more about using Chinese White in watercolor paintings (something frowned upon by most contemporary artists). In the past, a search for “chinese white watercolor” would return pages and pages of sites that only wanted to sell me tubes of paint.

Google already improved their standard search to return sites that actually talk about subject rather than just stores. Even better, the Google search options let “More shopping sites” or “Fewer shopping sites” be shown — depending on whether you’re trying to buy something or simply get more information.

Other handy options restrict searches to a period of time — you can choose to discard sites that too old for your needs.  In my case, I selected “Books” and discovered a Chinese White resist technique. Many of these features have been available from Google for a while, but the new options list now makes it easy explore the possibilities.

Nominations have just been closed for the People’s Choice Podcast Awards.  For those who do not know, podcasts are audio or video programs that can be downloaded from the Internet.  There are podcasts covering almost every subject.  They are almost always free and some are quite good.  They can be downloaded and played back on any computer — I subscribe to them via iTunes so my iPhone always contains the latest episodes.

Podcasts are a great way to pick up new information while commuting, cleaning the house or walking the dog.  It is my main means for keeping up with what is going on in the tech world.  So in the spirt of the podcast awards, I thought I would share the list of the technology-related podcasts I subscribe to:

Astronomy Cast is the only science podcast I listen to regularly. Hosts are Fraser Cain of Universe Today and astronomy professor Dr. Pamela L. Gay. The episodes take you on “a fact based journey through the cosmos”. Fun and informative for people that want to learn more about astronomy and space exploration.

FLOSS Weekly is one of my favorite podcasts. Each week it interviews people behind an open-source project.  It’s amazing how much high-quality, free software is out there — and the people that bring these projects to the world are always intriguing.

gdgt weekly covers the gadget news of the week. Hosts Ryan Block and Peter Rojas are also the creators of the gdgt website, where people can find reviews and post their own opinions on the gadgets in their lives.

GeekBrief TV consists of short, daily video podcasts of the latest gadget and tech news.  It features Cali Lewis, who is fun to watch (it’s a little silly, but I enjoy the outtakes that usually appear at the end of an episode).

MacBreak Weekly is a panel discussion of the latest Apple Mac, iPod and iPhone news. The main hosts are Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko and Leo Laporte. At the end of the show the panel members give a software pick of the week. MacBreak Weekly is part of the TWiT Network, which includes several podcasts on this list of favorites.

net@night is a weekly podcast about interesting sites on the Internet. Hosts are Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte (and often Sarah Lane calls in).

Robots, the podcast for news and views on robots. A new episode comes out every two weeks and usually features a news report and interviews with two experts in robotics.

Security Now is probably the most technical podcast on this list and covers anything and everything that deals with computer security. It is hosted by Leo Laporte along with Steve Gibson of Gibson Research, the creator of the SpinRite disk utility. Part of my job has been to write programs that protect our company’s software and I always enjoy listening to Steve’s explanations.

This Week in Google covers news on Google and the current happenings in the world of cloud computing. Regular hosts include Leo Laporte, Gina Trapani and Jeff Jarvis.

This Week in Tech is the flagship podcast of the TWiT network.  Each week Leo Laporte gathers a panel of experts to discuss the latest news in tech industry.

Windows Weekly covers the latest news surrounding Microsoft Windows. The hosts are Paul Thurrott of the SuperSite for Windows and Leo Laporte.

The latest episode of Net@Night interviews Nick Halstead of TweetMeme.  TweetMeme is a service that examines all Twitter posts and categorizes them. It crawls through links and determines which articles are getting the most mentions. This helps find the stories getting the most attention at any given time.  This is a little different than Twitter’s trending topics, because TweetMeme does not just look at the content of the tweets, but also at the content of the links inside the tweet. Go to TweetMeme and try it.

Web pages can include a TweetMeme button that shows a popularity count and makes it simple for readers to Twitter about the site.  Currently the button cannot be used WordPress.com blogs, but TweetMeme is trying to garner support.

TweetMeme also offers a paid Twitter Analytics service that gives website owners detailed reports on how their content spreads through Twitter. In this video, Nick Halstead demos its features:

The most recent episode of the Drupal Voices podcast interviews Acquia marketing director Bryan House. He discusses Acquia’s upcoming web service Drupal Gardens.  The idea is to make it easy to get a web site started using Drupal, just as WordPress.com lets you get started using WordPress.

Drupal Gardens makes it possible to design a Drupal 7 site right within the browser and allows customization with the built-in theme builder.  Once a site is developed it can be exported to allow transfer to another web host (or the web hosting service available through Acquia).

Drupal Gardens is currently in pre-alpha.  Acquia expects to make it available as a beta service by January and will be finalized when Drupal 7 is released early next year.

For more information, see Dries Buytaert’s blog and watch the 11 minute preview.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a special educational promotion of Windows 7 for just $29.99 USD from now until the end of the year.  You must be a currently enrolled student to qualify — see Microsoft’s terms and conditions.

Update»

People have reported some difficulties installing the student version of Windows 7, which is packaged differently than the retail Windows 7 upgrade.  See Paul Thurrott’s article for details.