For a long time, the only major file syncing service with a decent cloud backup option was Dropbox, and its cross platform compatibility across all your devices made it a firm favourite. Google was always rumoured to be readying “GDrive”, but it just never appeared. But a few days ago Microsoft announced that they are finally bringing Skydrive syncing clients to other platforms than Windows, so it was only natural that now was the perfect time for Google to also jump into the file syncing pool.

Google Drive is free, and users will get 5GB of cloud based storage for free. Google of course has the advantage of having pretty decent editing tools available in the shape of Google Docs, and Google Drive will also have some pretty great collaboration services as well. For example – if you share and collaborate on a document, you can keep track of comments from other editors in the document, regardless of the type of file, be it video, photo, PDF etc.

Just like Dropbox, you sync your Google Drive across devices, and your stuff is also safely stored in the cloud, in case anything happens with it. But Google’s Search speciality makes the cloud storage even more powerful – using OCR (optical character recognition), Google can scan your documents for all their included text, and then you can just search for text. Very much like Evernote.

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Apple’s stock price jumped up quite a bit in the last few days (up to $493), which now makes it worth $456 billion, which is worth more than the two other computer superpowers, Microsoft and Google, combined.

Google’s shareprice is currently trading at 189.9 billion, after it took a 9 percent knock on recent missed expectations for earnings and revenue. Microsoft’s Windows division took a 6 percent revenue drop to $4.7 billion, but the rest of the company did very well. This is also thanks to the Xbox division which has finally turned profitable for Microsoft.

Now Apple’s market cap has grown tremendously, part in thanks to the iPhone business, which is alone worth $222 billion. Think about that for a second – the iPhone business revenue is now worth more than Microsoft. And this from a product that did not exist 5 years ago. This makes this interview with Steve Ballmer even funnier – watch his reaction after he gets asked what he thinks of the iPhone:

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US customers of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has had access to Google’s NFC based Google Wallet service, which enables instant contactless payments. Google Wallet works with a simple PIN code that is stored on the phone, in order to enable the NFC payment features on the phone, which is connected to bank accounts, loyalty schemes, etc. Even though the PIN code is encrypted, a security firm called Zvelo, figured out a way to get hold of that PIN code, provided the Android phone has been rooted.

Seeing as NFC is still in its infancy on mobile phones, it was only a matter of time before its security vulnerabilities would have been figured out. The problem with the current Android Google Wallet implementation is that the PIN code is not stored on the NFC chip itself, but rather on the phone, which is secured by the Android operating system. Many users of Android devices go through the effort to root their devices, which enables the users to become “superusers” who can then alter the root permissions on the devices. As soon as that phone is rooted, the thief can simply install the Google Wallet Cracker app, and the PIN code will be revealed.

Check out the video below to see how easy it is:

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Google was late to the social network game, but now they are going to try their hardest to make up for lost time. Everyone’s favourite search engine has already started including some results that highlighted if one your Google+ contacts has recommended something in your search results. But now they are taking it to the next level with “Your World” which will actually populate your search results with posts and recommendations from your friends (who are on Google+ of course). These posts will naturally carry some priority over standard search results. Users can still instantly switch between “Your World” results and standard search results. Your World will focus in three key features (as stated by Google’s Blog):

1. Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page; 
2. Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and, 
3. People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community. 

Today Google announced its new Flipboard competitor, called Currents. The concept is simple – it functions as a magazine type interface for your favourite sites, and it is also a great way to discover new content. Currents is a new social publishing platform, which was only know as Propeller before it was official launched, but today Google is rolling it out to Android, iPhone and iPad. Publishers can choose how they want their site to display, using HTML5 tools. You can go download Google Currents right now from the relevant Appstores / Markets, or just click here. There is some great content on already, and you simply choose the categories you are interested in. All the big online news sources are there.

Publishers have significant freedom with layouts and design, and great monitoring tools with plug ins into Google Analytics, and the end result can include AdSense content as well. The design can also be defined based on class of device – for example, the content can be displayed differently on tablet than a phone. Rich features like video plays right there in the published pages.

We built a custom version of Bandwidth Blog for Currents – just click here. If you do not have Currents, the link will first let you install the app on your Android or iOS tablet or phone. Let us know what you think!

Google‘s own Chrome browser has had incredible growth in 3 short years. After being announced in December 2008, the lean and mean browser has taken the web by storm, and has now officially overtaken Mozilla’s open-source Firefox browser.

Chrome now has 25.55% of the web browser market compared to Firefox‘s 25.42%. That is hardly any growth, but what makes this significant is that Firefox has actually started declining in market share, where it once held 30% of the market. Internet Explorer is also continuing to lose market share, and this week it fell below 40% for the first time. This is probably due to users of old machines finally upgrading from Internet Explorer 6, but instead of upgrading to IE8 or 9, going directly to another browser like Chrome. And any self-respecting “tech-guru” will tell their luddite friends to switch to another browser, which updates itself and leads to less maintenance.

But it looks like South Africa is a little behind worldwide trends for browser usage – Internet Explorer has taken a very recent up-tick in usage, and Firefox has only steadily been declining over the last few months. Google Chrome is clearly growing the fastest, and it looks like it will overtake Firefox within the next 90 days: (click graph to enlarge)

The question is now how quickly Google Chrome will be neck in neck with Internet Explorer in worldwide traffic. At the current pace of growth, it looks like 2012 might be the year Google Chrome becomes the most popular browser on Earth.

The Android fans are gonna like this. Up until now, Android has been leading a double life – with one versi0n for phones, and another version for tablets. Compare this with iOS who have been recently giving concurrent software updates with iOS on iPhone and iPad. Well the good news is that Android’s tablet and phone lines are going to be joined in a upcoming release of Android nicknamed “Ice Cream Sandwich”, which will combine the best features of each, regardless of what class of device might be.

While there has been some small leaks with Ice Cream Sandwich, this is by far the most detailed one. But it is quite surprising how this video came out. Apparently a user bought a second hand Google Nexus S on eBay, and he was surprised to find Ice Cream Sandwich installed on the Google reference device. First thing you will notice is the influences of Honeycomb on the handset. While luckily not as “Tron-like” as the first Honeycomb release, the interface is definite shift away from Gingerbread. (more…)

“In the past few thousand years, the way we pay has changed just three times—from coins, to paper money, to plastic cards.

Now we’re on the brink of the next big shift”

This is the way Google envisions the its new service to switch your wallet to your phone. The idea is pretty simple – instead of carrying several cards like credit cards, loyalty cards etc, your phone will store virtual versions of these cards, and enable you to pay (and get relevant loyalty point) using your phone’s built in Near Field Communications Chip (NFC).

Simply tap your phone on the relevant contactless enabled PIN pad – and the payment goes through. Once the payment goes through the relevant loyalty points are added as well. As an added bonus Google will sync its current Google Offers to your phone. Imagine that – your “wallet” tells you where you can get a good deal right now.

As part of Google Wallet’s marketing campaign, Google used a brilliant scene of Seinfeld to show off the first obvious benefit of Google Wallet: A thinner wallet:

A revolutionary idea like this is obviously a massive undertaking. Right now it is only available on one specific model of the Nexus S in the US, but expect roll-out on other handsets as well. No word on worldwide roll-out right now, but with Mastercard’s backing expect it sooner than later. Update: VISA also announced that they are onboard with Google Wallet. The problem is that NFC is currently is still considered a bit of gold rush with everybody trying to partner with different payment gateways, and only time will tell which system might win at the end.

Right now Google and RIM have started showing off NFC features on its next generation handsets, but Apple (in its typical secret ways) is yet to show what they have been working on…