Google is getting closer to releasing Google Glass into the market. And we learned this week that Google’s Android team is working on a smartwatch. 

Both these products are examples of Android-based wearable computing devices.

A fresh new religious war has broken out on the social networks about whether the watch is better than the glasses, or whether smartphones are better than both the glasses and the watch. “Why would I wear an Android smartwatch when I have an Android phone in my pocket that’s much better?”

These arguments demonstrate that most people don’t get this technology at all.

Google reassigned former Android chief Andy Rubin and put the head of the Chrome group, Sundar Pichai, in charge of Android.

A lot of people think this means Android and the Chrome OS will be merged into a single operating system.

I think that’s crazy talk.

We simply couldn’t get a Turkish SIM card to work on my Nexus. While trying to make it across Istanbul during a storm, we had to ask our taxi driver to use his phone to get directions. It would have been nice to just use Google Maps on my own Android phone.

An unpleasant phone call with AT&T yesterday highlighted for me what I consider to be the biggest unsolved problem in mobility: using a smartphone in a foreign country.

Phone calls are expensive. Mobile broadband is either expensive, hard to find or both. And even WiFi can suck.

According to the UN’s World Health Organization, the human race takes more than 900 million trips to countries other than their own each year. It’s a huge problem affecting a very large number of people.

I’m a digital nomad and I live abroad. In the past nine months, I’ve lived in Greece, Turkey, Kenya and Spain. Believe me: Getting connected abroad is harder, more expensive and less satisfying than it should be. 

Apple has demonstrated muted contempt for podcasting, with its passive-aggressive stewardship of the content and its apathy about the low quality of its own Podcasts app. 

I believe podcasting is the future of all audio and video media — the future of radio and television — and I’ll tell you why below.

So if Apple doesn’t want to own the future of TV and radio, maybe Google should take over the leadership role from Apple?

Who’s ready for Droidcasting?

The next big frontier in mainstream consumer technology is home automation. 

While home automation enthusiasts have been enjoying home automation for years, the vast majority of people don’t have it because it has always been far too expensive and complicated.

But, as we know, Moore’s Law cures all. Suddenly, it’s clear that major Silicon Valley companies are now interested in getting into the home automation space.

It’s all the more interesting because this home automation will be developed as part of the so-called “living room” experience, where every home will have a server that controls not only the all-important DVR recording of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, but also controls the automated sprinkler system, the heating and cooling systems, the home security system and all the lights.

Although there are literally dozens of specialist companies most of us haven’t heard of doing home automation, it’s more likely that the big companies we’re all familiar with will battle for the future of home computing: Microsoft, Apple and Google are the leading contenders.

Among these companies, Google is currently in last place. Here’s why I want them to win.