back to article Google puts Android on a diet, names it after the first thing it sees under the sink ... yes, Brillo

Google is going after the Internet of Things with Android-based software aimed at powering a broad range of connected gizmos. We've heard rumors that the Chocolate Factory was planning a move into the IoT market, but Google platforms senior veep Sundar Pichai formally announced the effort at the Google I/O conference in San …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wont get burnt again

    App builder for android... Dropped like a hot potato and shuffled of to MIT for the educashun crowd. Not absolutely sure what Google Microsoft and other johnny-come-latelys will bring to the internet of devices table, i hope it's more than just buzzword puffery.

    1. Richard Plinston

      Re: Wont get burnt again

      > App builder for android... Dropped like a hot potato and shuffled of to MIT for the educashun crowd.

      You probably mean App Inventor. But you are being disingenuous, Hal Abelson, the leader of the team that created App Inventor, is (and was) a professor at MIT. The development was funded by Google but was always an MIT project.

  2. JP19

    Nest, Android, and Chrome teams

    Developers from our premier privacy invading products put together to come up with ways to invade our privacy with these newfangled things.

  3. Chris G

    Pots and pans

    Brillo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brillo_Pad Brillo Pad is a trade name for a scouring pad, used for cleaning dishes, and made from steel wool impregnated with soap.

    That should get the kitchen well connected while cleaning the pots and pans and Weave should be able to let the cooker and the fridge know that now the pots are clean there will be some cooking to do. Very useful!

    1. Eddy Ito

      Re: Pots and pans

      So Weave is Google's version of the Twitter of Things?

      Dishwasher: @fridge @range Pots and pans are #clean!

      Fridge: Cool @dishwasher! @range Roast is thawed ready 4 #dinner

      Range: @dishwasher - lol, so what? @fridge Dude, chill #dinner !4 six hours #wtf?

      Fridge: @dishwasher, sounds like @range is feeling the heat. #slacker

    2. mazik

      Re: Pots and pans

      Since you are using the Latin alphabet ...and the Latin American version of it ..... to look up this word in the English Wikipedia " brillo" ..... results in an incorrect definition of the word " brillo " ....

      BRILLO means SHINE in Latin American Spanish ...... thus the meaning .....both the article and the comments are wrong .... go back to the drawing board ....

      The English dialect does not have its own Alphabet ...... it uses the Latin Alphabet....sort of...

  4. frank ly

    This could be confusing

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.weave&hl=en_GB

    "Weave is LinkedIn meets Tinder – simply swipe left or right to meet local professionals and grow your professional network."

    Does this have anything to do with the spread of STDs, as was recently covered by an El Reg article?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Childcatcher

    Let Google do an IOT OS ! I'd rather let the chap in the icon look after my kids.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    Cool

    Seriously, the concept of Brillo and Weave, together with phones for the UI, and how it all fits together seems really neat.

    But yet, I really can't see me caring one bit about whether or not it comes off. It seems a high level of sophistication to solve problems that, for most people, just aren't there.

    1. mazik

      Re: Cool

      BRILLO = SHINE

      BRILLO + WEAVE = DAZZLE

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Brillo with Weave

    Can we have an Andrew Neil icon please? I think Private Eye may have one showing how some older hardware can still work with newer models?

    Although the hat he is wearing in that picture covers up his weave.

    http://www.private-eye.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/andrew-neil.jpg

  8. BongoJoe

    Buzzword ahoy

    What on earth is "end to end functioning"?

    Is that like a digestive tract when produces shit that no-one in their right minds would wish to handle?

  9. asdf

    can't resist

    Always nice to the see use cases where the Linux kernel is used without the init system pretending to be an OS that shall not be named. Even if it exists pretty much for them to data mine you in yet another domain.

  10. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Single point of disaster

    I see "cloud" in there and stop reading. There are so many reasons to never connect a home and personal devices to one big corporate owned "cloud."

    One good hacker and one good bug can cause widespread physical damage - fires, floods, appliance damage, burglary assistance, stalking, etc.

    It's a single point of failure when the corporation has a problem.

    It's a single point of obsolescence when the corporation decides that you're not worth bug fixes anymore.

    Finally, it's really about collecting personal information and using it to manipulate how you spend money.

  11. Tim99 Silver badge
    Trollface

    Brillo and Chromium plate

    Presumably the hipsters who came up with the name Brillo are too young to know that it used to be used by dodgy second-hand car dealers to bring up a nice shine on tatty rusty Chrome...

    1. emmanuel goldstein

      Re: Brillo and Chromium plate

      coca-cola also cleans chrome an absolute treat.

      1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

        Re: Brillo and Chromium plate

        "coca-cola also cleans chrome an absolute treat."

        Diet or regular? Inquiring minds want to know.

  12. iLuddite

    There are no privacy issues here.

    The information generated by our appliances belongs to us.

    Your privacy whining is without merit.

    Read the EULA.

    Now, we've got this house thing covered for you.

    Go sit in the pub.

    Next week:

    Getting Your Pub Connected For You.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Brill(o) = Enemy of the State

    Brill is the nickname of character played by Gene Hackman in the movie about privacy, surveillance, etc. Just a coincidence, I am fairly certain. It's an "old" movie afterall (1998) and the hipsters who came up with the name Brillo were probably still wearing diapers back then :-)

    AC for obvious reasons...

    1. Alan_Peery

      Re: Brill(o) = Enemy of the State

      Brillo is also the mascot for a rebellion in a fictional series by Eric Flint called the Ring of Fire. Set in 1632, it's a light tale of dropping a 20th century town into the middle of 1632 Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1632_series

      Probably the best part of the series is the "Grantville Gazette", which features fiction and strong non-fictional extrapolation along the lines of "If you already know how about the Bessemer process and where the best iron deposit in Europe are, what does that mean for your war strategy?"

    2. mazik

      Re: Brill(o) = Enemy of the State

      BRILLO = SHINE

      American English is a lot more developed than "old English"in Britain ....We have expanded it with more than 500.000 words from all the native American dialects .... mainly Mexican dialects!

  14. crediblywitless

    The next version, the platform for everything in your home, will be the total 'domestic operating system'. Gentlemen, I give you... DomestOS.

  15. james 68

    Obsolescence

    This to me means only one thing - ALL your connected devices will only be supported for 6 months then you'll need to buy the newest version to keep receiving support for the next 6 months or connect to any newer devices even though they run the same standards for communication.

    Makers will swear on their grannies graves that the "old" product is incapable of supporting the latest update whilst clever sods at XDA will not only prove that to be bollocks but that the device actually works better/faster with the upgrade and all the while the manufacturers will be raking in stupid profits not only by charging a premium but because people will be stupid enough to buy new devices every 6 months where a dumb device would have worked for many years.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's like their trying to mr muscle into the IoT.

  17. xj650t
    Facepalm

    I'm sure all the hackers

    Will be looking forward to all this SHIT (Security Holes In Things)tm

    1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Re: I'm sure all the hackers

      You've recruited me to help make Security Holes In Things a meme.

  18. Fink-Nottle

    Zappa

    I'd like to think that it's named after the Frank Zappa's "Camarillo Brillo".

    1. mazik

      Re: Zappa

      No! its just the Spanish word for " shine".....! ....So the meaning is weave and shine! sinonim form "dazzle"....if you must know!..........

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Zappa

        Yes, we get Brillo=Shine, that's why the steel wool pad you Shine your pots with is called Brillo. However, it's more fun thinking up other, more obscure reasons than just accepting that one.

        I don't get Weave+Shine = Dazzle? Is that Spanish too?

  19. AlanLevy

    The usual marketing nonsense

    If it really is a "low-footprint" OS with minimal system requirements" so that it can be used to power "very lightweight kit" then it should be possible to run it on something genuinely small and lightweight such as a PIC or an 8051 or (slightly more seriously) a low end ARM-M with RAM and Flash measured in tens or hundreds of kilobytes or perhaps even as much as a Megabyte or two.

    Am I holding my breath?

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