Android 4.3 released, new Nexus 7 announced

Google released Android 4.3, the next major version of its Android operating system and made a series of software and hardware announcements at a press event in San Francisco yesterday, according to MediaNama.com.

The two-inch device, dubbed Chromecast, is aimed at replacing set-top boxes and can be controlled by both Android and Apple smartphones or computers. Google said it will also stream music or even web pages from computers using the Google Chrome Web browser, reports Kingston Daily Freeman.

Google also announced a new Nexus 7 during the press event, touting the device as slimmer, faster and having the crispest display for a tablet of its size on the market. Google's head of Android and Chrome, Sundar Pinchai, was at the event and discussed how Google is doing in the tablet market overall, saying that the company has hit 70 million tablet activations, and has 1 million apps on its Google Play store. Pinchai said that the original Nexus 7 accounted for about 10 percent of all Android tablet sales, says Washington Post.