Articles about Google
Google gearing up for 4K video frenzy at CES
Google is gearing up to push its 4K VP9 video codec into the mainstream through YouTube and hardware partners.
The company has confirmed reports that at next week's CES conference in Las Vegas it will showcase the streaming video platform with multiple hardware vendors as part of an effort to bring the high-definition format to …
Google's SECRET contracts: Android lock-in REVEALED!
Details of secret contracts that Google signs with phone manufacturers have become public for the first time, revealing the extent of the restrictions Google puts on Android smartphones.
In an email in 2011, a Google Android program manager injudiciously described the OS as a "club" to make phone makers "do what we want". But …
Now we're cookin' on gas: Google crafts sugar-alert contact lens for diabetics
Google's skunkworks "X" lab is building a contact lens that can monitor glucose levels in the tears of diabetics, and warn them when it drops too low.
The wireless-communicating device was unveiled by Google in a blogpost on Thursday, and may also one day contain tiny LEDs that'll light up if the wearer becomes hypoglycemic.
" …
Google's Page drops the A-bomb: Google Glass runs Android
Google chief exec Larry Page has confirmed his company's techno-spectacles Google Glass will run some form of Android.
During an earnings call yesterday for Google's first-quarter 2013 financial numbers, Page revealed the choice of operating system when asked about the new product and how it would fit in the existing Google …
Pesky protesters FORCE GOOGLE STAFF INTO THE SEA
Just weeks after Google Buses carrying staff to work were held up and embroiled in anti-gentrification protests by furious Californians, Google has announced a solution.
A shiny new boat service to ferry its employees across the Bay from San Francisco to Redwood City.
There's tone deaf, and then there's corporate tone deaf. …
Google to deliver MOOC for Australian teachers
Google has revealed just what it plans to to do help drive uptake of Australia's imminent digital technologies curriculum: an online course for teachers.
Announced in the inevitable blog post the course will “provide resources and example learning activities for the Digital Technologies section of the new national curriculum, …
Break out the scatter cushions: Google rents out NASA blimp hangar
Google is set to rent out NASA's historic Hangar One as well as two runways at an airfield near its Mountain View headquarters.
The space agency announced a deal that would see Planetary Ventures LLC, a Google subsidiary, "rehabilitate" the historic hangar and manage Moffett Federal Airfield. We hope that doesn't mean too many …
Not just for Glasswipes: Google to drop SDK for all Android wearables
Google is preparing to release a new SDK for makers of wearable devices in the hope of running Android into a myriad of accessories.
Top exec Sundar Pichai told the South by Southwest conference yesterday that the company is prepping the software development kit for release in the next two weeks, the Wall Street Journal and …
FTC chilled about Google's buyout of map app Waze - report
The US Federal Trade Commission has reportedly given the go-ahead for Google's purchase of mapping app Waze, deciding that the acquisition won't hurt competition.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Google "won’t be challenged" by the commission over the deal, which will give Google yet more tech to use in …
Google makes Gmail EVEN NOISIER, or should that be nosier?
Google has added more intrusive buttons to its email service as it continues to try to spread its ad goo across its vast online estate.
Mountain View débuted its so-called quick action buttons in May this year to allow Gmail users to respond to certain types of messages without having to open them first.
It meant that Gmailers …
Google helps out utterly underexposed Lego brand with Chrome toy
Obscure Danish toymaker Lego and advertising kingpin Google have together created a block-building distraction for Chrome browser users.
The Build With Chrome plugin lets fans to construct and share their creations online, and uses WebGL to render the board and a simulation of fully functional Lego bricks in hardware-accelerated …
Gmail falls offline, rest of Google struggles on: NO! Not error code 93!
Netizens complained today that Google's social network Plus was knackered and the webmail service Gmail fell completely offline.
In a painful twist of fate, the systems went down just as Google's crack site-reliability team was preparing for a live question'n'answer session on Reddit. And it came after strangers' email addresses …
Google and Apple in DRAG RACE: It's fanboi Mercs VS fandroid Audis
Apple and Google are preparing to compete on yet another front. They reportedly plan to race each other to design the world's most powerful smart car dashboard.
At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show next week, Google isexpected to announce a new tie-up with Audi, which will see Mountain View help to design an in car computer …
Google's mystery barge flounces out of San Fran, heads to Stockton
Google's mysterious barge has dropped anchor at Stockton after it was forced to set sail from its former home in San Francisco.
It is now moored 80 miles away from its original berth at Treasure Island in a rundown town known as a hotbed of gang violence.
Google was forced to set sail after the San Francisco Bay Conservation …
Google fined by Spanish data watchdog over audacious privacy tweak
Google has been fined a piddling €900,000 for three separate breaches of Spain's Data Protection Act.
The country's information watchdog (AEPD) said that Google had "impeded" the exercise of its citizens' rights, after the ad giant controversially revised its terms and conditions for netizens in March 2012 - despite a public …
Google waves its Chromecast dongle in front of developers
Google has released the final version of the Google Cast Software Development Kit (SDK), paving the way for broader support for its $35 Chromecast media-streaming dongle.
The first version of the SDK shipped when the device was unveiled last July, but the Chocolate Factory cautioned developers that it was only a preview and that …
Half-blind Glassholes rejoice! 'Prescription' Google goggles a-comin'
Google could soon be building customized Glass headsets for those with prescription eyewear.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the advertising giant is in talks with eyewear provider VSP Global on a deal to allow VSP to manufacture Google Glass headsets that can have corrective lenses fitted.
The companies have made no …
Feedly coughs to cockup, KILLS Google+ login as users FLEE
Did Feedly just witness thousands of users unplugging from its service in disgust over its abrupt decision to force everyone to login via a Google+ ID?
The answer to that question appears to be yes.
Feedly said it had listened to the feedback - which looks to have been universally negative - and decided to reverse the tweak …
Google requests hush-hush radar tests
Google has asked the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to conduct radio tests in the 76-77 GHz bands, probably as part of its ongoing autonomous vehicles research.
Mountain View's application to the FCC has been published here, and was turned up by sharp-eyed Google-watcher Steven Crowley. …
NO XMAS PRESENTS FOR Google Now and Siri: Chirpy scamps get a C+
A series of tests on the effectiveness of iOS and Android's voice-controlled search apps shows that Google Now is catching up on Apple's Siri software, but still has some way to go in beating its Cupertinian competitor.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster asked the two personal-assistant programs 800 questions apiece – half …
Speaking in Tech: Google bus BLOCKADE - is ANYONE home in Mountain View?
speaking_in_tech Greg Knieriemen podcast enterprise
Hosted by Greg Knieriemen, Ed Saipetch and Sarah Vela. This week the whole gang is together and laments the lighter side of tech. They chat about anti-gentrification activists in San Francisco who blocked a Google bus taking employees to work in its Mountain View HQ on …
Google Plus minus Meebo Bar equals Google minus $100m
Google will axe the website widget Meebo Bar just one year after buying the company that built it.
The advertising giant said it scrapped the tool to focus on its Google+ plugins.
Google bought Meebo on 4 June reportedly for $100m, before proceeding to strip away much of its functionality.
It started as an instant-messaging …
Google makes Compute Engine official
Google has cut the ribbon on its Compute Engine, bringing it into the world of virtual machines by the hour and into combat with the likes of Amazon Web Services, Rackspace and VMware.
Google's been talking up the Compute Engine for a while now, recently teasing on the topic of automatic failover for virtual machines. But …
Google sets $2.7m Pwnium prize for cunning cracks for Chrome OS
The fourth Pwnium hacking competition will be held in March, and this year Google is offering some major prizes for anyone who can subvert its Chrome OS.
And, for the first time, it's not as picky about its hardware.
"Past Pwnium competitions have focused on Intel-based Chrome OS devices, but this year researchers can choose …
Google Glass driver told she CAN wear techno-specs while on the road
It's safe to wear Google Glass behind the wheel after a California court struck down a woman's traffic citation – which was issued by a highway patrolman for wearing the head-mounted computer.
Cecilia Abadie wearing Google Glass Cecilia Abadie and her lawyer meet the media after beating the rap (Credit: San Diego Union Tribune …
Google is developing flight 'price comparison thing' with us, claims Ryanair boss O'Leary
Outspoken Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary has claimed that Google is working on a price comparison site for flights that will outshine rivals in the content-scraping biz.
In an interview with Irish newspaper the Sunday Independent O'Leary said that Google would not ask for cash from the famously thrifty Ryanair boss.
"Because …
VMware, Google, team up to target corporate Chrome OS adopters
VMware and Google have announced an “expanded relationship” targeting organisations using or considering Chrome OS.
The deal boils down to the fact that VMware offers an HTML5 client, dubbed Blast, for its Horizon View desktop virtualisation (VDI) product. Horizon View can deliver virtualised apps and whole desktops to devices …
Google grabs slice of interwebs for EVERYONE (who speaks Japanese)
Google has announced its first successful move into new gTLDs with the launch of .みんな for the Japanese market.
The registration is the world’s first open top-level domain in hiragana, one of the three scripts used to read and write Japanese, according to the web giant.
Written in the Roman alphabet as “minna”, the word …
EC officials voice doubts about Almunia's planned Google settlement deal
Brussels' competition chief is facing a challenge from some of his colleagues in the European Commission who may yet derail his efforts to strike a settlement deal with Google over its alleged abuse of dominance in the search market.
Bloomberg reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter, that the EU's justice boss …
Microsoft-backed lobby group demands market test of Google's proposed 'search fix'
A Microsoft-backed lobby group is urging Brussels' competition chief Joaquin Almunia to open up Google's latest revised offer of a conciliatory package of tweaks to its search biz to the ad giant's rivals.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the European Commission was closing in on a settlement deal with Google that would …
Wireless pay-by-bonk? Yawn... Google Wallet now lets you pay by CARD
Americans with Google Wallet accounts will soon be able to use the mobile payment service in a lot more places, thanks to the new Google Wallet Card.
"The Google Wallet Card is a debit card that lets you quickly access your Wallet Balance, whether you've received it from a friend or added it directly from a linked bank account …
Google in PRODUCT RECALL for its Glass spy-goggles
Google is gently recalling the first iteration of its Glass product by offering to swap out the snooping head-mounted camera with a new version of the hardware.
The ad giant appears keen to have the original version of Glass returned to Mountain View, and - as an incentive to customers - Google is offering to swap it out for an …
Google bigs up iOS Gmail app, leaves room for fat fingers of iPad-fondlers
Google has updated its rinky-dink Gmail app to make it easier to navigate on Apple's fondleslabs.
The ad giant has finally squirted the iOS version with a full screen, portrait view of a user's stream of emails.
Those who prefer to scroll through their messages while holding their iPad in the landscape position, meanwhile, will …
HP Chromebook 11 quietly slips back on Google Play shelves... but where's the FIRE?
HP and Google have returned their long-absent Chromebook 11 to the Play Store. The £229 cloud-centric notebook is in stock and ready to be “dispatched from warehouse in 1 - 2 business days”, the site says.
HP Chromebook 11 is back
HP launched the Chromebook 11 back in October 2013, in particular pitching the laptop’s ability …
Cloud vid wrangler Zencoder STRADDLES Amazon and Google
Cloud video encoder Zencoder has taken a deep breath and gingerly straddled two cloud providers in an attempt to offer customers greater infrastructure choice.
The Brightcove-owned firm announced support for Google's just-released Google Compute Engine on Monday, giving Chocolate Factory aficionados access to a new …
High Court derails Google defence in Safari browser stalker cookie brouhaha
The High Court in London, England, today rejected Google's claim that the company is not subject to UK data protection laws.
The advertising giant – sued by Brits who allege the company invaded their privacy – tried to argue that Blighty's courts have "no jurisdiction" over it. But the High Court disagreed, and now Google will …
Google closes briefcase on Italian job: Execs 'not liable' for privacy breach
Two senior Google staff members and another former executive at the company cannot be held liable for a breach of privacy caused when a video was uploaded to its Google Video platform in Italy, the Italian Supreme Court has ruled.
Italian lawyer Marco Consonni of Orsingher Ortu, who read the judgment, told Out-Law.com that the …
Google will dodge EU MONSTER FINES by 'promoting' rival search services
Complainants in the lengthy EU Google case might characterise the Brussels' antitrust chief's decision to reach a settlement deal with the ad giant as caving in to a company whose dominance in search, they claim, stifles competition in the 28-member state bloc.
But, for Joaquin Almunia, the battle is now drawing to a close after …
Google adds its Chrome extensions and apps to cash-for-cracks bounties
Google is so happy with its bug bounty program that it has increased the rewards given for flaw-finding and has added all of its home-grown apps and extensions for Chrome to the prize pot.
"We will broaden the scope of our vulnerability reward program to also include all Chrome apps and extensions developed and branded as 'by …
Google's tax returns are trop petite says Hollande
France has had enough of the tax shenanigans of American Internet giants, and President Francois Hollande is going to … talk to Barack Obama about the issue.
Well, it's a start of sorts: specifically, Hollande says he's going to ask the US to get moving on tax law harmonisation, to deal with the notorious practise of making sure …
Lyrics upstart Rap Genius blacklisted by Google for Justin Bieber SEO scam
Online lyrics site Rap Genius has been slapped down by Google after admitting trying to boost its search rankings by exchanging promotional tweets for hyperlinks from bloggers.
On December 23, the lyrics site posted on Facebook that it was beginning a "Rap Genius blog affiliate" program. Blogger John Marbach got in touch and was …
Google to CyanogenMod: YOU! GIT yore warranty-BUSTING ASS outa Play
Google has taken a dim view of the CyanogenMod Installer, an app that makes it easier to install alternative firmwares on Android phones, leading its developers to pull it from the Google Play Store.
The installer was the first major undertaking by Cyanogen Inc., the Seattle company recently formed to promote CyanogenMod, its …
Google coughs up $17m to end Safari STALKER COOKIE brouhaha
Google has settled its US legal woes over allowing third-party tracking of Safari users without their knowledge and consent for the relatively paltry amount of $17m, to be shared among 37 states and the District of Columbia – aka Washington DC.
The settlement [PDF] states that between June 1, 2011, and February 15, 2012 Google …
Google's BigQuery gets data slurping capability
Instead of having to upload stuff into the Google cloud and then feed it through to BigQuery, cloud wranglers can now stream data directly into the Chocolate Factory's analytics-as-a-service tech.
Google announced the "streaming data" update to BigQuery on Wednesday and it means admins can pour data into the service and start …
Google burns promise of 'no big banner ads'. Don't Be Evil next?
Google is toying with the idea of allowing big banner ads to run at the top of its search results pages - in a move that apparently breaks an eight-year-old promise.
The Mountain View web goliath is, we're told, "running a very limited, US-only test" of the billboards.
A Google spokesman confirmed to the AFP news agency today …
Looks like Google may ask you to PAY for YouTube music - report
Google appears to be readying YouTube for a music subscription service, after intriguing references were spotted in the app by the Android Police blog.
It posted a series of strings detailed in the 5.3 version of the YouTube app, which tantalisingly mentions a number of juicy terms, including "Music Pass", "Offline playback", " …
Google smacks Surface with free Quickoffice for Android, iOS
Google has reduced the price of its Quickoffice tool to nothing on Android and iOS, a move Microsoft won't appreciate.
Google scooped up Quickoffice about a year back and made it a part of Google Drive. Doing so meant Drive users could edit Microsoft Office documents.
The Chocolate Factory has now made Quickoffice available at …
What's MariaDB? Google stitches MySQL Wire Protocol into its cloud
Google has made it easier for developers to lash on-premises databases to its cloud by implementing the MySQL Wire Protocol in its Cloud SQL service.
By adding in wire protocol support for MySQL on Wednesday to Cloud SQL, the company has given programmers a multitude of options for how they manage, interface, shift data in and …
Google house Ancoris swallows Google house Appogee
Integrator Ancoris has hoovered up fellow Google specialist Appogee for an undisclosed sum to slurp its cloud app development skills.
Former Microsoft business partner Ancoris placed its chips behind the ads giant chocolate factory a couple of years back and was the first accredited Premier Enterprise Partner in the UK.
Google …
Google, Apple pop a cap in that Flappy Birds crapp app flapp
Apple and Google have apparently launched a campaign to shut down the fledgling Flappy Bird clone industry after banning copycat games from app stores.
A number of devs have claimed their Flappy apps have been rejected from both the Apple app store and Google Play.
After Dong Nguyen removed Flappy Birds from both app stores, a …
