When we spoke to AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega a few months ago, he said AT&T was open to the possibility of Google’s Android phones being on their network. Today, at CTIA, he followed up on this and said that he’s already met with Google executives and is “encouraged by the idea that an Android phone could host AT&T branded apps.” A possibility was to take an Android phone and shove AT&T’s own money-generating apps onto it, such as MediaFLO mobile TV. “One of the things we were looking for was that it was truly open and that you could put other features and applications on it,” which means the fact that AT&T can completely customize up an Android device means it’s that much more likely you’ll be able to use one on AT&T. Or, you could always just get one of the dozens of other GSM Android phones due out in the next few years, unlock it, and take it onto AT&T yourself.

[via Gizmodo]

Google is going offline? You know this was going to happen sooner or later. Google is taking a reversed approach to your online office needs than Microsoft. Instead of going online with a well established offline software, Google is going to go offline with an established online solution. Should Microsoft be worried? Not in the next few years, but for the long haul I say yes.

Posted by: Philip Tucker, Software Engineer, Google Docs

We know that many of you have been waiting for offline access to Google Docs, and I’m happy to tell you we’ll be rolling it out over the next few weeks, starting today with a small percentage of users.

Here’s why I’m excited about this development. My migration from the desktop to ‘the cloud’ started with my Gmail account. I could access my mail from anywhere, search it all in one place, and never need to migrate to a new account. It was great. Then I started using Google Calendar to organize my schedule all in one place.

So now I find myself with this drive to make my desktop as sparse as possible, both in data and software. I want to move it all into the cloud. There are still times I use my desktop word processor, but I want to minimize context switching between apps. Cloud computing is great, but you need the cloud to make it work. On an airplane, on the shuttle commuting to work, or at home when my cable modem goes down, I want to work on my documents. And, until now, that usually meant saving a copy and editing on the desktop.

Now there’s a better solution. With Google Docs offline (powered by Google Gears), I can take my little piece of the cloud with me wherever I go. Once enabled, I have a local version of my document list and editors, along with my documents.

As long as I have an Internet connection, every change I make is saved to the cloud. When I lose my connection, I sacrifice some features, but I can still access my documents (for this initial release, you can view and edit word processing documents; right now we don’t support offline access to presentations or spreadsheets - see our help center for details). Everything I need is saved locally. And I do everything through my web browser, even when I’m offline (the goodness that Google Gears provides). When my connection comes back, my documents sync up again with the server.

It’s all pretty seamless: I don’t have to remember to save my documents locally before packing my laptop for a trip. I don’t have to remember to save my changes as soon as I get back online. And I don’t have to switch applications based on network connectivity. With the extra peace of mind, I can more fully rely on this tool for my important documents.

[via Official Google Docs Blog]