Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Android Overload: Google exec says there should be more carrier UI’s, T-Mobile 2-day sale for select Samsung phones, and more
ASUS, Google offer monetary compensation for Nexus 7 tablets bought before price drop
Features 8.8 Display 8.9 Battery life 8.7 Ease of use 8.9 Storage capacity 7.3 Design and form factor 9.4 Portability (size / weight) 9.8 Durability 8.7
Get better reviews from people who actually have this product!
write a reviewsee all reviews ?Google services grind to a halt in China, political transition suspected as the culprit
By Jon Fingas 
posted Nov 10th 2012 12:14AM 
posted Nov 10th 2012 12:14AM As eagerly as Google has gone through routing acrobatics to minimize the Chinese government's ability to censor and spy on its its services, it's still at the mercy of the Great Firewall. The company might have just run head-first into the bricks as of Friday. As confirmed by some of our own staff, all of Google's services stopped working in China for at least the better part of a day despite the search firm verifying that everything was in good working order. Officials haven't confirmed that anything was afoot, but it's easy to raise the specter of possible censorship given local political maneuvering. The once-a-decade Communist Party Congress began on Thursday, and the establishment may have wanted to cut off a relatively unfiltered line of communication for dissidents during a transition of power. We're hearing that access may have ameliorated in at least parts of the country, which would be a pleasant surprise -- not that a sudden improvement in service will cheer up those who know they still face a backlog.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Google House View: funny concept hits home for the privacy-concerned [VIDEO]
NSFW: There is a bit of cursing and slightly explicit material in this post.
It seems Google is everywhere nowadays. The tech giant has dibs on all our information, owning some of the most popular services in the world – like Gmail, Android, Chrome/Chromium OS, Google TV, Google Maps, Google Search (of course) and soon they will even have self-driven Google cars taking you everywhere. All of this information is used to make your life easier and improve advertising, but just how far can Google go before raising some major privacy concerns?
This video from thekloons takes Google’s omnipresence to make a funny, but worrisome video of how far things could get if Google continues to grow at this rate. The video displays a theoretical feature called “House View,” which would allow anyone to see inside of houses with pictures taken by a little Google robot.
We may be giggling right now, but there might come a point when privacy does become a concern. One of the best features of Android 4.2 is Photo Sphere, bringing us the ability to take 360-degree pictures and uploading them to Google Maps. These immersive images would then be available for the world to see on Street View. Pretty Nifty, right? No doubt, it would be fun to share our experiences with friends and family in full detail. Hell, you can even put your room in Street View… or uncaring visitors could do it for you.
While some people may be indifferent about it, many of us would be very uncomfortable about having our private space readily available for anyone’s viewing pleasure. Especially if you have kids to worry about, or criminals in your neighborhood. Google should definitely have an option to remove Photo Spheres from Google Maps if these happen to invade people’s privacy. There are still some concerns, though, as some naughty images have definitely slipped through Google’s hands in the past.
On the other hand, this can be a great feature we don’t want to let go of. You can share your hiking adventures better, or check out museums and historic landmarks more interactively. Users can take advantage of Photo Sphere to expand a business, by letting others see the premises. How about making your house available in Google Maps Street View if you have it for sale? The possibilities are endless, but there definitely needs to be some privacy control.
With all of this in mind – how do you guys feel about the new Photo Sphere features in Android 4.2? Would you mind having 360-degree images of your house online? Would it be too hard for Google to monitor and curate appropriate Photo Spheres? You can go ahead and participate in our poll or sound off in the comments with your own opinions!
Google Play Movies, Music reach Australia, Canada and parts of Europe on November 13th (update: Google scales it back)
Google's long-awaited offering of Google Play Movies and Music on Google TV may have answered a longstanding demand for streaming access from some viewers, but it still left many of those outside of the US turning to alternatives. The company is closing that open loop with plans to take the media strategy global. Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK will all get similar streaming video options on their Google TV hubs as of November 13th; while content will undoubtedly vary, the gesture once more puts the international stores on roughly the same level as their American counterpart. The only debate left likely centers on what movie to rent for celebrating the occasion.
Update: Google has made a new post suggesting that its earlier outline was a mistake: Australia and Canada aren't part of the November 13th mix.
Google kicks Xperia S Android Open Source Project out of its nest, Sony takes it under its wing (video)
Reception and call quality 9.7 Display 9.8 Battery life 7.4 Camera 9.4 Ease of use 8.8 Design and form factor 9.5 Portability (size / weight) 9.4 Media support 9.4 Durability 8.8 Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.) 8.9
Get better reviews from people who actually have this product!
write a reviewsee all reviews ?Thursday, November 8, 2012
Jam with Chrome: Google reinvents browser-based band practice (video)
Wish you could spend your downtime practicing your guitar licks with your friends, but lack a garage and / or sympathetic neighbors? Google's just made both problems moot with its browser-based music service, Jam with Chrome. Unsurprisingly, Chrome users can invite up to three friends to join in a practice session, controlling synthesized instruments straight from the browser. We've been trying it for the last few minutes and it's still a little fussy when it comes to actually, you know, inviting your friends in, but when that minor issue is resolved, we've got big hopes that The Engadgets will knock that Bieber fellow off the top of the charts.
Google Shopper adds push notifications, new UI and more with 3.0 update
By Alexis Santos posted Nov 8th 2012 6:08AM 
posted Nov 8th 2012 6:08AM Google Shopper has just gotten the bump to version 3.0 with an update that brings a roster of fresh features, including a new UI with speedier navigation and larger images. In addition to the fresh coat of paint, the app sports a brand-new sales screen, image-focused search results and product ratings provided by GoodGuide. Page and Co. have also thrown in push notifications to keep users abreast of new features and content, and an area to showcase retail promotions. Itching to start penny pinching? Hit the source link below for the download.
Google Maps For iOS 6 Is In The Works, Apple May Not Approve It In App Store
The powder keg called Apple Maps makes the headlines once more, this time because Google is working hard to develop Google Maps for iOS 6. But what does it has to do with iOS 6 Maps? Rumor has it that Apple would not approve the Google Maps in App Store, in an attempt to raise the popularity of its own mapping solution.
The Guardian writes, quoting sources close to Google, that the Google Maps application for iOS 6 is in the works. The same publication claims that the Mountain View based would finish the work at Google Maps by the end of the year, and, to be honest, it will be a pity for all the hard work to be in vain.
Some of the optimistic iOS 6 users are saying that now with Scott Forstall being fired by Apple, the next major iOS update will also pack a decent Apple Maps solution. Or maybe the one that will replace Forstall will be more open to the mapping solution proposed by Google, even though this would be considered as a defeat for Apple.
If Google Maps will indeed see the light of day and Apple will not approve it in App Store, then expect some rioting customers on forums and tech blogs. We’ll probably see a lot of petitions and maybe Cydia will integrate the Google Maps solution. Meanwhile you can use the web browser version Google Maps in iOS 6, but, unfortunately, its performance is no way near the one of the app.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
France, Google Search for Common Ground on Link Fee
In a meeting with Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, French President Francois Hollande urged the search giant to reach an advertising-revenue agreement with French news publishers before 2013.
If no agreement is reached, then France could adopt a law that would charge search engines like Google for displaying links to French news articles.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Hollande's declaration that France will plow ahead with the legislation marks an escalation in the "long-running dispute" between Google and the nation's news publishers.
In a letter to French legislators earlier this month, Google threatened to exclude French news results from its searches should the country start levying fees for listing links to news articles.
Germany is considering a similar proposal.
Hampered by a slowing Chinese economy and forced to fend off new competition, Baidu Inc., which operates China's top search engine, is anticipating its slowest quarterly sales growth in three years, according to Bloomberg.
The company announced that its fourth-quarter revenue will range from 6.16 billion yuan (roughly US$990 million) to 6.35 billion yuan. An average compiled by Bloomberg had pinned expected revenue at 6.41 billion yuan.
China's economy has hit the brakes (at least compared to recent years), which according to Bloomberg has hurt online advertising revenue. China's online advertising market is expected to expand at 39 percent this year, down from 46 percent last year.
In addition, Baidu has had to deal with fierce (and sometimes catty) competition from Qihoo 360. Qihoo makes China's top Web browser and in August launched a search engine to compete with Baidu.
New market entrants (read Qihoo) did not, and will not, affect the company's bottom line, Baidu's finance chief said.
However, investors may be jittery with more players in the search engine field, an analyst quoted by Bloomberg said.
In the third quarter, Baidu accounted for nearly 80 percent of the Chinese search market by revenue, while Google snatched 15.4 percent.
Finland-based Nokia announced that its new Lumia smartphones will be available in some European markets this week, according to Reuters.
The Lumia is a key component to Nokia's ongoing battle to stay relevant in the smartphone market. The high-end Lumia 820 and 920 models -- running on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 software -- will reportedly reach retail outlets in France and Britain this week, with Russia, Germany and other select markets to soon follow.
The devices will be available stateside through AT&T in early November.
The France-based website for the Euromillions lottery was hacked, the homepage replaced by a Koran passage that condemned gambling.
According to the BBC, the hackers called themselves "Moroccanghosts" and posted the Koran verses -- which dubbed games of chance "works of the devil" -- in French and Arabic.
The site was unavailable for several hours, even after the message had been removed.
A company called Francaise des Jeux, which runs Euromillions in France, said that neither its games nor data had been compromised.
The Euromillions lottery is played in nine countries in Europe. 
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Google, Microsoft earnings illustrate mobile struggle #thecircuit
Google, Microsoft navigate mobile: Google’s bad earnings in an early release may have been the news of the day Thursday but, The Washington Post reported, the real story in the technology industry is that everyone is struggling with the shift to mobile.
Read full article >>
Google earnings go up early, stock plummets #thecircuit
Google falls after accidental earnings release: Google, which was set to report its third-quarter earnings after market trading Thursday, accidentally released its third-quarter earnings early, reporting a surprising 20 percent drop in profit.
Read full article >>
Google Plants Voice Assistant Flag on Siri's Turf
Google revamped its search application for iOS this week, adding an enhanced version of voice search technology that could compete with Apple's voice assistant Siri.
Voice Search is an extension of Google's core search engine that now provides contextual, intuitive, spoken results for voice queries and Web searches on Apple's mobile OS. The updated Voice Search uses what Google calls its "Knowledge Graph" to make broad searches more relevant.
The updated version is well-equipped to handle broad searches such as "What does Yankee Stadium look like?" Additionally, it can handle personal assistant duties such as updating an appointment or reading a text, Google said.
The improved search is available as part of an update to Google's search application for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Google did not respond to our request for comment.
Google's decision to bring its revamped voice technology into Apple's ecosystem shows that while the two companies once partnered in some areas, the smartphone battle has turned them into serious rivals, said Dan Miller, senior analyst at Opus Research.
"It is an in-your-face action by Google to bring its own voice search into iOS," he told MacNewsWorld.
The two companies have been at the forefront of smartphone innovation, so it makes sense that they would compete for leadership in one of the newest areas of mobile computing, said Neil Mawston, executive director of the global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics.
"Google Voice Search has been competing with Apple Siri for several years," Mawston told MacNewsWorld. "Google and Apple know that perceptual computing, with features like speech-driven search, is the next major battleground for smartphones, and Google Voice Search and Siri are the first early steps in those battles."
In that battle, Siri has a tough competitor with the enhanced Google Voice Search, Mawston observed.
"The latest update of Google Voice Search for iOS enhances the product and takes the competition between Google and Apple to another level," said Mawston.
One programmer and tech blogger, Dan Nguyen, tested Google's newly launched Voice Search against Siri to find out information about the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. He reported that Google's Voice Search showed him the latest news about the storm, including emergency information, while Siri pointed him in the direction of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team.
He also said Google's Voice Search gave much quicker responses.
Google may have figured out a way to give Voice Search an edge over Siri, Miller noted. For all those potential perks, though, no voice technology is perfect, at least not yet.
"Whether it's Siri, or Google Voice Search, or Dragon Go, or any number of mobile voice assistants, the speech recognition fails on the order of 10 percent of the time," he noted. "Google's new voice search may not be as sensitive to those failures if, indeed, the knowledge graph approach lets it limit the number of possible results and thereby increases the possibility that it will provide an accurate answer."
That means that even if Google's Voice Search can beat out Siri -- or other competitors -- in certain instances, it's still not stellar enough product to win over most consumers or drive major device sales, said Roger Kay, analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates.
"Voice is a hard problem to solve. Even Siri needs work. This is a horse race, and multiple players are vying for the pole position," he told MacNewsWorld.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Aussie Man, Wrongly Linked to Criminal, Wins Case vs. Google
A man in Melbourne, Australia, won a defamation case against Google over the search engine's image results.
According to The Age, the plaintiff, Michael Trkulja, contacted Google in 2009 requesting that the site remove images linking him to former meth kingpin Tony Mokbel.
Google used the innocent dissemination defense, arguing that it hadn't published the materials in question and was simply indexing information found elsewhere.
The court wouldn't have it, though, asserting that Google was still liable for the image results because it failed to take steps to remove the content, even after being specifically asked to do so.
Trkulja also charged that Google search results linked him to Melbourne Crime, a now-defunct site. However, according The Age, the jury absolved Google from the search results aspect of the case because Trkulja had incorrectly filled out a form about the content to which he objected.
Trkulja filed and won a similar case against Yahoo earlier this year, netting him about US$230,000 in damages.
A ruling on damages will be issues next week.
Kim Dotcom, the German-born founder of file-sharing site Megaupload who is now holed up in New Zealand and wanted on piracy, fraud and laundering charges in the U.S., announced Thursday that he is launching a new file-sharing platform.
According to Reuters, the new online storage service, called Mega, will be up and running in early 2013 -- just prior to Dotcom's extradition hearing, which will begin in March. The new cloud-based site will operate with non-U.S. hosting companies and non-U.S. domains so as to avoid being shuttered by authorities.
Megaupload, shut down last January, was one of the Web's eminent spots to find illegally uploaded movies and television programs. The U.S. government claims that Megaupload accumulated $175 million in revenue.
A statement on the Mega website told potential users that they are responsible for the content that gets uploaded. That said, people will indeed be able to upload music, films and TV shows (in addition to more benign items like photos and text files).
Like the new Mega site, notorious file-sharing site The Pirate Bay is now also cloud-based.
A law that authorities claim protects children -- and that human rights groups claim increases censorship -- has taken effect in Russia.
According to the BBC, the law allows the government to take offline websites deemed inappropriate, and to do so without a trial.
The law is designed to protect children from websites that feature sexual abuse, offer details about suicide, promote drug use and solicit pornography, the government says.
Should targeted websites be immune to a government shutdown, then Internet service providers and web-hosting companies will be forced to restrict access.
While children should of course be protected from dangerous and inappropriate materials, the government might target "democracy-oriented sites" as well, according to a human rights advocate in St. Petersburg quoted by the BBC.
Russia's top search engine, Yandex, has also protested the law, as have social media portal mail.ru and the Russian-language Wikiepedia, according to the BBC.
On Wednesday, Google, Facebook and Twitter took flak for -- well, a lot of stuff.
According to The Guardian, the companies were "putting a new and costly burden" on public resources, said Helen Googman, a member of parliament. They are forcing teachers, police and social workers to deal with online harassment, and the companies aren't paying enough taxes, she said.
While the harassment complaint was perhaps a novel one, the tax issue is ongoing. Indeed, other U.S. companies -- namely Amazon, eBay and Starbucks -- have also come under increased scrutiny for how they file taxes in the UK.
According to Goodman, Facebook's UK advertising sales were north of $275 million, yet the company paid less than $500,000 in taxes; Twitter reportedly paid $0.
Google criticized by EU over privacy policy
European regulators on Tuesday criticized Google’s latest privacy policy, saying the search giant needs to provide clearer information about how it uses consumer data and give users more control over their personal information.
Read full article >>
Editorial: Amazon and Google are undermining mobile pricing, and that may hurt everyone (updated)
See the end of the editorial for an important update.
When Google unveiled the Nexus 4, Nexus 10 and a refreshed Nexus 7 in October, the moment was arguably the crescendo of a change in the Android ecosystem that had been building ever since Amazon's Kindle Fire first braved the marketplace in 2011. Along with a widely expanded Amazon lineup that includes multiple Kindle Fire HD models and a price-cut tweak to the original Fire, two of the largest players in the mobile world now have top-to-bottom device businesses built around selling at break-even prices and recouping their money through content. That might sound good on the surface, but it's a bad omen for competitors that genuinely can't respond in kind -- and it could erode some of the values of diversity and innovation that we're supposed to hold dear as technology fans.
Customers have no reason to complain on some levels. How do you beat a $199 Nexus 7 that has a healthy amount of storage, a high-resolution screen and a recent OS? A $299 unlocked Nexus 4 that costs just over half as much as anything comparable, or a $159 Kindle Fire? If price is a vital factor, you don't. Parents who want to give each of their kids a tablet, or smartphone newcomers to whom the Nexus 4's price means avoiding two-year-old hardware and software, may not have much choice. Amazon and Google may well be doing us a favor by democratizing mobile technology.
That bargain-basement pricing is setting some decidedly unrealistic expectations, however. We're now to the point where there is a vocal contingent of tablet buyers who think that any 7-inch WiFi tablet costing above $249 is "overpriced," even when few if any hardware-centric companies could match that price-to-performance ratio and expect to stay above water. Acer got flak over its $230 Iconia Tab A110 not matching Amazon or Google's features, despite it being virtually self-evident from the design that the producer couldn't go much lower without taking a loss. And the iPad mini is virtually a persona tabula non grata among that crowd -- regardless of possible differences in build quality, camera quality, screen size or the absence of ads. Even Apple's lowered profit margin on the $329 price is considered an unforgivable sin for this group, in part because there's a profit margin in the first place.
The strategy... trains a legion of customers to think that such a jump in value is completely normal and sustainable by most of the industry.
You can see what problems this might create in the long term. The strategy effectively skips a whole cycle of traditional price drops as manufacturing gets more efficient, but trains a legion of customers to think that such a jump in value is completely normal and sustainable by most of the industry. It's not, and you can see the arbitrariness through the pricing for devices that were launched just a few months ago. Imagine how Samsung feels when the Nexus 10 it makes is superior to the Galaxy Note 10.1 in some ways, but has to cost $100 less. If it weren't for the Nexus 10's currently non-existent retail presence, Samsung would have trouble justifying the Note 10.1's otherwise very competitive $499 price. Yes, ASUS is making a tidy income alongside its Google deal, but the fact that it's shipping a million Nexus 7 tablets a month leaves little doubt that higher-end (and higher-margin) tablets like the Transformer Pad Infinity are being overshadowed. Competition in mobile is difficult enough when most top-tier buyers automatically pick a Galaxy S III or iPad. It's tougher still when many of the remaining people demand that companies sell at prices they can't realistically offer.
A year of following this strategy of pursuing price above all else may well have had a withering effect on competition. At least until this summer, Amazon became the de facto leader of the Android tablet market while electronics heavyweights like Samsung couldn't break much ground. HTC and LG quit the category mostly due to their lackluster offerings, but it's hard to see the two of them finding a safe zone between the high-end and a cutthroat low-end. RIM barely had any time to discount the BlackBerry PlayBook to near-fire sale prices before the Kindle Fire arrived (originally made in the PlayBook's own factory) and demand stalled once again. Most of those who are left exist at the extremes, such as Barnes & Noble's Nook line in the budget realm or Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 at the top. In smartphones, the Nexus 4 is admittedly less likely to rock the boat when carriers like T-Mobile can dictate pricing and access. Still, we haven't seen sustained sales of a cutting-edge Nexus phone at a low-end price, and it may be harder to say that LTE and extra storage are worth more on an Optimus G or its immediate competition.
Those exits and strategy shifts, in turn, impact innovation over the long run. It's not just the effects of fewer companies remaining involved; it's the amount of resources the survivors can pour back into future development. If profits thin out as the only real success comes from extra-cheap devices like the Nexus 7, there's fewer opportunities to gamble on technology research that might not pan out. Samsung safely developed a tablet with a 2,560 x 1,600 display and a cutting-edge processor under present conditions. Could it weather the risks as easily with lower profits? Not necessarily. To some extent, we've seen this effect in the traditional PC world, too. Before tablets and Ultrabooks took hold, many PC vendors were engaged in a race to the bottom where competition was only possible through ever cheaper parts, not breakthrough design. Prioritizing low prices above all else cost Acer both market share and money until it turned around and focused more on quality. We don't want Amazon, ASUS, LG or Samsung facing a similar dilemma in mobile.
Concepts like choice and quality, which we're supposed to love as gadget junkies, only survive if we let them.
Asking Amazon and Google to just stop making Kindle Fire and Nexus devices to "rescue" the industry would be more than a little naive, not to mention a disservice to those who really need the prices or software. But there's a sense that both the companies and we, as customers, need to back away from the edge. Tablet makers selling a complete range at that break-even level could ultimately whittle down the market to those who either produced a winning formula at the right time (Apple) or have deep enough content stores and bank accounts to willingly give up large parts of their potential hardware profit (Amazon and Google). The subsidized approach may even be volatile -- it's only successful as long as overall business is successful, which isn't very reassuring when Amazon has lately faced a few rough quarters. As for us shoppers? We need to have fewer knee-jerk reactions to certain price points. A $50 or even $100 premium isn't the end of the world if it's what any normal company would charge to stay in business, particularly when there are more features included at the same time.
That's not to excuse prices that are genuinely too high, and devices like the iPad mini might still fall into that camp. But when even budget-focused companies like Acer can't participate without being roasted by critics, it's time to reevaluate our priorities. Concepts like choice and quality, which we're supposed to love as gadget junkies, only survive if we let them. Rather than foster a culture that only allows for either the very cheap or very expensive, we ought to relax and buy what's genuinely good as long as we can afford it, even if it's not in the bargain bin. If phone and tablet makers can expect to compete on a truly level playing field, we're all better off.
Update: Clarifications and apologies are in order.
The intent of the editorial wasn't to excuse the iPad mini's pricing. As mentioned, the pricing could still be interpreted as too high; this author would personally have it lower. The article was focused on the broader mobile ecosystem and used the iPad mini to underscore how wound up we can get over price when comparing a device intentionally sold with little profit versus devices with wider margins. This author apologizes for giving the wrong impression and should have set a more neutral tone, made the mixed perspective clearer from the start, as well as used a wider set of examples in at least that circumstance.
Also, while this was touched on in the article, it should have been more explicit that there are entirely sincere reasons for choosing a Kindle Fire or one of the Nexus models. If it means the difference between having an internet-capable mobile device or not, or simply treating yourself to a tablet versus having to pass on the category altogether, it's vital. Like was mentioned, there's a tremendous democratizing effect from prices this low. It's also important to acknowledge that there are reasons many want a Nexus for reasons other than price or pure Android software -- the unlocked cellular access and bootloaders matter. That's why this author owns a Galaxy Nexus. The purpose was only to draw attention to our periodic obsession with price when it's not the main factor and to say that those of us who have the luxury of spending more (and it is a luxury, not a mandate) should be open-minded for the sake of encouraging competition. This doesn't tolerate mediocre products that are more expensive. This author apologizes for in any way being glib about the seriousness of price as a concern and for not fully exploring the other legitimate reasons for considering devices that are consciously priced with little profit or subsidized.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)