Google

Although Google has been dropping some very heavy hints lately, we didn’t know exactly what sweet treat the next version of its Android operating system would be named after.

Well, if you were hoping to place a bet on "M&Ms" (or go for a truly outside flutter on "Maltodextrin"), you’re too late I’m afraid, and also lucky as you’d have lost your stake. M, Google says, is for Marshmallow.

Perhaps Google (Alphabet?) should have googled its new name before it decided to restructure the whole company.

The New York Times reports that Google's new parent company, Alphabet, has encountered an issue with german automaker BMW, which owns a fleet services company with the same name and the domain Alphabet.com.

A spokesperson for BMW told the Times the company isn't planning on selling its domain and that Alphabet was a large part of its business.

Sundar Pichai is the new CEO of Google as the company undergoes a huge restructuring. Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are moving to a new company called Alphabet -- which has a superb URL -- which will serve as an umbrella company for Google and its various projects.

Google itself is being, in Page's words, "slimmed down" and the change is quite an extraordinary one. Page quotes the original founders' letter that was written 11 years go. It states that "Google is not a conventional company", and today's announcement makes that perfectly clear. There's a lot to take in...

Google Inc and Samsung Electronics Co will release monthly security fixes for Android phones, a growing target for hackers, after the disclosure of a bug designed to attack the world's most popular mobile operating system.

The change came after security researcher Joshua Drake unveiled what he called Stagefright, hacking software that allows attackers to send a special multimedia message to an Android phone and access sensitive content even if the message is unopened.

We reported on a newly discovered Android security vulnerability yesterday, hackers can gain access by simply sending a MMS message to the target’s device and it doesn’t even matter if that message is opened or not, Android’s default media handling system would automatically process the message and activate the code. Naturally this has raised security concerns and Google has now come out with a statement on the matter, it promises a fix for this flaw by next week.

We reported on a newly discovered Android security vulnerability yesterday, hackers can gain access by simply sending a MMS message to the target’s device and it doesn’t even matter if that message is opened or not, Android’s default media handling system would automatically process the message and activate the code. Naturally this has raised security concerns and Google has now come out with a statement on the matter, it promises a fix for this flaw by next week.

Google is taking steps to make Android phones safer by including a verified boot system that checks for irregularities in the platform code. And device owners will know that their phone or tablet is safe based on startup messages from the system check.

Android Police spotted an updated Nexus support page showing the three possible boot verification messages.

If Android doesn't find any platform changes at bootup, the device will just start as it normally does. However, if there's a potential issue detected, one of three dialog messages will appear as a warning.

Adobe Flash, the veteran media player that has earned a name for itself due to its security vulnerabilities as much as its abilities, is back in the news - but this time, for a good reason. Adobe has revealed that it worked with Google's Project Zero to patch the vulnerabilities discovered in the aftermath of a security breach of the Hacking Team.

Ever seen something like this appear in your browser? The good news is that you're likely safer because of it.

Google said Thursday it will expand this feature, dubbed Safe Browsing, which aims to prevent installs of "unwanted software." The feature works by checking against a Google database of affected links and sites to determine if a page is safe.

The feature is baked into Chrome, but also works in other browsers across Windows, Mac, and Linux.

It's not long since we first learn about Android M at Google I/O and today Google launches Android M Developer Preview 2. As the name would suggest, this is a build aimed primarily at developers, giving them an opportunity to ensure their apps are ready to take full advantage of everything the latest version of the operating system has to offer.