Early in December, astronomers confirmed the existence of the first known world beyond the Solar System that exists in a cozy, habitable zone around its sun-like star.

It’s too soon to say whether the planet, called Kepler-22b, has a rocky, watery or gassy surface. Nevertheless, NASA used some artistic license to render the planet (below), casting it in a green-blue with wispy white clouds.

Astrobiologist Abel Mendez of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, who is developing new software to render scientifically accurate images of exoplanets, said NASA’s illustration misses the mark.

“I ...

Even Samsung's tablets should eventually receive updates to Icre Cream Sandwich. Photo: Mike Isaac/Wired.com

Google’s Android team has no difficulty shipping software. In fact, consumers have received some 10 significant OS updates over the past three years, most recently Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, or ICS.

But there’s still a problem: With hundreds of different devices running Google’s mobile operating system — all with different hardware specs and additional software add-ons — it’s difficult to determine exactly when any given handset will receive an OS update (let alone an update to...