Anonymous sources speaking to Geek say that HTC is now working on a version of the HTC One that will ship with stock Android 4.2.2 instead of its HTC Sense software. If true, it could potentially be a major win for HTC as it’s aiming to capture more of the market that’s been cornered by Samsung in recent years.

Of course, there is one question we must ask – why bother with a Nexus edition of the HTC One when people can already buy the HTC One developer edition and flash their own custom ROMs on the device? Well, some people adore the vanilla Google experience, but don’t know how to install custom ROMs. Letting HTC and Google do all the work for them could boost sales of HTC’s flagship while getting the definitive Google experience, ads and all, into the hands of more users.

So, when can you expect to see the fabled Nexus edition of the HTC One arriving in stores? It’s said that we’ll get an announcement within the next two weeks with a release following later in the summer.

It should be noted that this is merely a rumor for now, but Geek broke the news that Google would be releasing a Nexus edition of the Galaxy S4 before its announcement at Google I/O. I wouldn’t be surprised to see HTC follow suit.

Users will now see search queries in the omnibox, as opposed to the long search URL. This makes it easier to refine the query and to view more results.

“To make browsing the mobile web even easier, web pages also display in fullscreen on phones,” says Google in a blog post. “As you scroll, the top toolbar disappears so you can immerse yourself in the web page content. When you scroll up, the toolbar returns so you can get on to the next thing.”

An update for Chrome for iPhone and iPad is on the way, which will include the ability to speak searches into the omnibox. This should hit the App Store in the coming days.

“This update also enables faster reloading of web pages by using the cache more efficiently when the network is slow, which is especially useful when you’re on the go. Finally, other iOS apps can now give you the option to open links in Chrome and then return to the app with just one tap,” says Google.

Google has a rundown of other features for the Android app here.

For one, files are now displayed in a new card-style, and you can swipe between them to see large previews. You can also now download copies to your Android device from within the actions menu in settings.

“The updated Drive for Android app also gives you to a way to keep track of important paper documents like receipts, letters, and billing statements,” says Google software engineer Denis Teplyashin. “Simply click ‘Scan’ from the Add New menu, snap a photo of your document, and Drive will turn the document into a PDF that’s stored for safekeeping.”

“And because Drive can recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, a simple search will retrieve the scanned document later,” adds Teplyashin. “No more frantic scrambling through drawers looking for a receipt or digging through your pockets to find that business card — just scan, upload and search in Drive.”

The Google Sheets editor now lets you adjust font types and sizes for spreadsheets, and change the cell text colors and cell alignment from the app.

The app also comes with Cloud Print support.

One of those things is the rise of mobile apps and app stores like Google Play. If you have a mobile app, you are presented with the challenge of getting it in front of people, and ideally doing so while they’re using their mobile device. Little is known about the Google Play search engine, however. In fact, this is the first time the company has even discussed the Google Play search or discovery engines publicly.

On day three of the event, Google Play’s Ankit Jain opened up about this stuff in a session called “Getting Discovered on Google Play”.

One of the first questions asked of the audience at the beginning of the session is, “How many of you would like to make even more money on Google Play? If your answer to this question is yes, you should probably watch this.

“As an Android application developer, your goal is to get your app discovered,” Google says in the video description. “Google Play’s goal is to surface the most relevant content for Android users. In this session, we discuss best practices for app creators in view of both goals. We will demonstrate, through concrete examples, best practices to help your application rise above others in the Google Play Store. We will discuss the signals that go into creating the top and trending lists, personalized recommendations, and Google Play Search. Come hear the inside story from the person who leads search & discovery on Google Play.”

Android has seen 900 million activations.

SamMobile got its hands on the Android 4.2.2 update for the Galaxy S III and found that it contains many of the software features introduced with the Galaxy S 4. Unfortunately, that means many of the new features of the S4 that are dependent on hardware won’t be making it over. Despite that, there’s still some good stuff in store for those who are deciding to hold onto their Galaxy S III.

Here’s the list of new additions courtesy of SamMobile:

If you’re more of a visual kind of person, SamMobile has also released a video walkthrough of the new Galaxy S III firmware:

On a final note, you can grab the firmware here if you can’t wait for Samsung to release it. The leaked 4.2.2 update is still an early build, however, so amateurs may want to wait for Samsung to release the official update later this year.

Over the last three years since Google TV came out, its ecoystem has grown to 10 device manufacturers, 5 chipset makers and 5 TV operators across 10 countries. It uses thousands of apps through Google Play and Chrome.

Here’s what the Google TV team had to say about the news on Google+:

Google TV Developers46 minutes ago

Over the past few months Google TV has gathered momentum by launching powerful features for our users such as the highest quality voice search of any TV product and strong manufacturer adoption of the platform. At Google I/O, it’s time to talk about developers and enabling them to bring more great experiences to TV.

Today, Google TV is moving to the latest version of Android (Jelly Bean, 4.2.2), and we’ve refactored Google TV so that our TV OEM partners can update to future versions of Android in a matter of weeks rather than months. For developers, this means you can build TV experiences using the latest Android APIs, including the NDK. 

Today Google TV is also moving to the latest version of Chrome, and from now on Google TV benefits from Chrome updates on the same six week cycle that you’ve come to expect from Chrome. In Chrome on Google TV, we’ve added support for hardware-based content protection, enabling developers to provide premium TV content in HD within their web apps. 

Google TV-powered devices in market will start to receive updates in the coming months, and we expect to see new devices launched later this year.  If you are attending Google IO, please check out the “Android: As seen on TV!” session and stop by the Google TV Developer Sandbox area.
https://developers.google.com/tv/

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Google I/O 2013: Android: As seen on TV!
Google TV gives developers a consistent Android platform to create and deliver applications, games and high quality media on the largest screen in the house. In this session we’ll show you how to unlock the potential of the current Google TV devices and explain the new features of the next generation Google TV platform. 37    29 Powered by socialditto

Much like Apple’s Game Center or Xbox Live, Google Play game services adds a number of features to Android or iOS games that users expect, and developers have been wanting to implement. What’s unique about Google Play game services is that it’s not exclusive to Android, as it can be integrated into iOS games via a native SDK for iPhone and iPad.

So, what does Google Play game services offer to developers and users? Here’s the full list:

Google has also enlisted the help of developers to make sure that some of the most popular games on the Android platform are already using Google Play game services. Some of those games include World of Goo, Super Stickman Golf 2, Beach Buggy Blitz, Kingdom Rush, Eternity Warriors 2 and Osmos.

For more information on all things Google and gaming, check out Google’s game developer portal.

Sundar Pichai kicked off the Google I/O keynote talking about Google’s various platforms, and announced that Android is now up to 900 million activations in 2013.

He noted that there are seven billion people on the planet, and that Google thinks “the journey is just getting started.”

Most of the world has Android penetration of less than ten percent, but it’s growing very fast, according to Pichai. The focus is to get these people online.

Google has seen 48 billion app installs from Google Play, with 2.5 billion installs in the last month alone, and paid out more money to developers this year already than all of last year. Revenue per user is two and a half times what it was a year ago (globally), the company says.

At Google I/O 2012, Google introduced the world to Android 4.1, or Jelly Bean. It later updated Jelly Bean to version 4.2. Now at Google I/O 2013, it looks like Google will be updating Jelly Bean again to version 4.3.

The Verge reports that a page on Google’s Android developer Web site referenced Android 4.3 before being removed. It was still available via cache for a while with a listing for security enhancements in the newest version of Android, but nobody was actually able to catch what those security enhancements were.

Regardless, we still know next to nothing about Android 4.3. Knowing it exists is a start, but there’s not been much in the way of leaks in regards to new features. Some are suggesting that the latest update will just be a minimal update with support for Bluetooth Low Energy and better OpenGL for Embedded Systems 3.0. The latter jibes with other rumors suggesting that Google will announce some new gaming initiatives for Android at the conference.

It’s important to note that Android 4.3 will most likely still be called Jelly Bean. Android boss Pundar Sichai already said that Google wouldn’t be showing off a new version of Android so a small update to Jelly Bean is the only thing that makes sense. Those looking for Key Lime Pie (or Kandy Kane) will have to keep waiting.

The app was developed with ArcTouch on the AppGlu platform. ArcTouch is known for creating the official Star Trek PADD app for iOS.

“We are very excited to be a part of Google I/O, where Android app developers come together to learn about state-of-the-art app development,” said AppGlu CEO Adam Fingerman. “As we launch our new Android development resource center we’re giving Android app developers an exclusive invitation to try AppGlu for free, and also providing the full Trek Episode Guide source code as an exemplary app that’s built with AppGlu.”

You can get an invitation code here.

At AppGlu’s booth at Google I/O, attendees will be able to create a “new” episode featuring their own photo “Trek-ified” to look like an alien. This will be published instantly to the app. They can also enter a drawing to win one of 25 pairs of tickets for Star Trek Into Darkness.

The app is available in Google Play here.