While most of us find “menu”, “cookies” and “spam” to be familiar words to us after years and years of exposing ourselves to computers and the Internet, there will still be times when new tech references to food can stump us. Not that such is something to feel awkward about, it’s just that we always seem to find ourselves getting more curious than we really should whenever this happens. Maybe that is the point of it all: Tech companies come up with food references to whether our appetites for new gadgets even more than we should.
Maybe. But sometimes we miss the point entirely. Considering the tremendous amount of secrecy tech companies employ to keep new product development info under wraps against potential competitor espionage activities, we begin to understand the reason for codenames. This is where Android technologies take the cake.
Dessert is the keyword in all of Android-employed codenames for all the tech updates the company has made with its open source mobile operating system. Each new version starting from 2008 and up to the present have all come in alphabetical order. Along with every new dessert name comes new enhancements and features. Of course, we don’t have to be Rachel Ray bake fans nor avid Anthony Bourdain connoisseurs to be able to comprehend the menu. They all happen to be easy references to what many consider familiar “comfort food”. Anyway, take a look at the foodtechie menu and the goodies that came and continue to come with them below:
- Cupcake. Otherwise known as v1.5. Released in 2008 and came with speech recognition tools, a virtual keyboard, video upload support for YouTube and capable of live data feeds and live folders.
- Donut. This came out in 2009 and is also known as v1.6. New additions were support for CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) smartphones, bigger screen sizes and a text-to-speech engine.
- Eclair. This 2009 edition had more additions like support for multi-touch devices; a new browser interface, Microsoft Exchange support; a single interface for managing multiple online accounts, soft keys support; and an enhanced camera app that came complete with digital zoom and flash. This is v2.0.
- FroYo. The key additions in this v2.2 version released in 2010 are USB tethering support for turning a smartphone into a Wifi hotspot; speed improvements, Flash 10.1 support, voice dialing via Bluetooth, the ability to store apps on external memory cards; and an updated browser using Google Chrome’s v8 JavaScript.
- Gingerbread. Google Voice over Wifi; an enhanced gaming functionality, and improved Google Apps came with this 2011 update also known as v2.3.
- Honeycomb. This new version released in 2011 had key additions like a tablet-centric update that featured a new interface optimized for devices with bigger screen sizes; video chat support based on Google Talk protocols; a new System Bar for global status and notifications; an Action Bar for application control, tabbed web browsing, an optimized keyboard, and a new email interface. This is v3.0.
- Ice Cream Sandwich. Android added a smartphone-centric update based on the Linux kernel v3.0.1 that brings many of Honeycomb’s features to smartphones. Face Unlock, facial recognition software, tabbed web browsing capabilities, unified social networking contacts, 1080p video recording capabilities and video chat support based on Google Talk protocols came with this new version also known as v.4.0.
- Jellybean. This year’s expected new release. Most likely to come with such new additions as advanced natural language voice command capabilities similar to Apple’s Siri; an improved web browser (expected to be a mobile version of Google Chrome), and enhanced file management capabilities.
Now we know why food references work. But well, on the other side, I am wondering what will be the future of the computers, laptops, phone systems and other techie gadgets. Would it be just like this? They’re truly a lot easier to understand than geeky technical mumbo-jumbo. Yes, you can have your cake and eat it too!
