Fitbit Public Preview adds food & water logging, more as app redesign comes to free users
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Google Home Max is now available in Canada for $499 CAD
Google has today announced that the biggest and baddest of the Google Home family, the Home Max, is now available in Canada. You’ll be able to purchase the device in both “chalk” and “charcoal” at both the online Google Store and at Best Buy for $499 CAD.
As expected, Google Home now available in Canada w/ support for Canadian French
Google announced it at the beginning of this month, and now it’s happening. More than 6 months after its United States launch, Google Home is available from Canadian retailers as of today, June 26th. Google announced that the device would be coming to six new countries over the course of the summer, and Canada is the first…
Android Pay likely headed to Canada soon as references and assets for Interac added in latest app update
As you may well know, Android Pay, Google’s mobile payments service, hasn’t launched in Canada quite yet. But that might be changing soon, Canadians will be glad to hear, as we’ve found that the latest version of Android Pay, which started rolling out today, includes early references and assets for Canada’s largest debit card network, Interac…
YouTube Red is now available in Australia and New Zealand
Many of the products and services that Google releases are usually geographically limited to the United States. After an initial rollout in the US last October, YouTube Red is now available in Australia and New Zealand.
Canada ends investigation into anti-competitive search and ad practices by Google
With imminent troubles looming in Europe, Canada just closed its three year investigation into anti-competitive practices involving Google’s search and advertising business (via The Verge). The country’s Competition Bureau ultimately “did not find sufficient evidence” that Google’s practices harmed local rivals.
YouTube Gaming expands to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, many more ‘coming soon’
YouTube Gaming, the platform the company first unveiled back in June to bring live gameplay broadcasting to YouTube, is today expanding to new territory including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland.
Google searches for ‘How to move to Canada’ spike in response to Super Tuesday results
It goes without saying that the American people aren’t exactly ecstatic about the prospective options for the US presidency, but just how unexcited are they? In response to the Super Tuesday results, which showed both Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton both winning 7 of 11 states, it looks like many Americans are looking for a way to jump ship. And by jump ship, I mean head north to Canada…
EC says Google’s $185M tax deal with UK government may be illegal, likely to be investigated
The European Commission says that the £130M ($185M) tax deal struck between Google and the UK government may amount to “illegal state aid” by offering the company better terms than those available to smaller businesses.
Google first came under fire for its tax arrangements in the UK in early 2013, when it was accused of funneling profits from UK Adword sales through Ireland, resulting in the company paying just £6M ($8.5M) tax on a turnover of £395M ($565M). In the new deal, it agreed to change its accounting practices to pay more tax in the UK, and to pay a lump sum in back tax …
YouTube purchases 553,000-square-foot office park for $215 million in San Bruno
Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that YouTube has acquired a massive new office park near its current San Bruno headquarters. The Bayhill Office Center comes in at 553,328-square-feet and consists of five buildings. YouTube paid $215 million for it, which comes out to around $388 per square foot. Youtube acquired the space from Hudson Pacific Properties, which purchased it from Blackstone Equity Office just last year.
Google expands its Nexus Protect warranty program to Canada
Google’s AppleCare-like warranty protection program Nexus Protect is now available in Canada. The company announced the expansion in a post on Google+ more than a month after the program launched in the United States alongside the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X.
Nexus Protect, for those unfamiliar, offers an additional year of coverage for mechanical breakdowns within your Nexus phone, as well as two years of protection from accidental damage like water damage and shattered displays. Google touts that, after you file a claim and it is approved, you’ll receive your replacement device as soon as the next business day, with shipping both ways covered. Nexus Protect coverage is attached to the phone itself, so if you switch carriers or give the phone to someone else, the coverage stays with it.
Nexus Protect runs $69 for the Nexus 5X and $89 for the Nexus 6P. It’s also important to note that claims are subject to a $79 deductible and that Nexus Protect only covers 2 incidents of accidental damage every two-years.
If you reside in Canada, you can find out more about Nexus Protect on Google’s webpage for the program here.
Take a virtual walk in Hobbit country with Google’s spectacular New Zealand Street View trek
The backpack-based Google Trekker tours have taken us to some pretty spectacular places in the past, and the latest addition won’t disappoint. The Street View imagery covers seven of New Zealand’s world-famous ‘Great Walks,’ including some of the settings for the Hobbit movie trilogy …
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Google Photos brings face grouping features to more countries in 1.8 update
Google has updated the Google Photos app this week, and it’s a fairly substantive update — at least in comparison to the almost-weekly bug fixer updates that Google pushes to many of its apps. The new version brings the face grouping features of the well-reviewed cloud storage service to more countries…
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Google ‘exploring’ bringing Fiber to San Diego, Irvine, and Louisville
Google today has announced that it will begin “exploring” the expansion of Google Fiber to three new cities. The company announced in a blog post that it will begin working with city officials in Louisville, KY, Irvine, CA, and San Diego, CA to plan the launch of Fiber. The announcement of Fiber coming to San Diego makes it the largest city for the service to date. Previously, San Antonio was the largest city with plans for Fiber.
AT&T enhances GoPhone plans to support 4GB data in Canada & Mexico
National carriers across the US have been adding features that make it easier to use their service in Mexico and Canada as a growing trend, and today AT&T has announced enhancements to its pre-paid GoPhone plans to include 4GB of high speed data use in Canada and Mexico as well as the United States. The new AT&T GoPhone feature goes into effect on August 21st and is supported on the carrier’s $60 pre-paid plan without making any changes.
In addition to 4GB of data for use across North America, the GoPhone plans include unlimited talk and text in the US, Canada, and Mexico as well. AT&T’s $60 GoPhone plan is reduced to $55/month for customers using the carrier’s Auto Refill automatic payment feature. Important to note, though, is that AT&T’s GoPhone plans specifically mean data speeds up to 3G, not faster 4G LTE speeds, when mentioning high speed data.
For post-paid subscribers, AT&T supports international calling and texting to Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands on its 15GB and 20GB Mobile Share Value plans that it simplified over the weekend. More similarly, T-Mobile enhanced its own plans last month to support 4G LTE data use in addition to text and calls in Canada and Mexico without international roaming fees.
AT&T revamping data plans with fewer options at better rates starting tomorrow
Starting tomorrow, AT&T will be revamping its Mobile Share Value plans by adjusting data tiers and plan prices for new and current subscribers. At the low end, AT&T is consolidating a few data tiers into just two options with different price points. Meanwhile, AT&T’s double digit data tiers are also being reduced, and some subscribers can potentially end up with more data at no extra cost per month or get a better rate on even higher data tiers.
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Google Store now selling Nest Cam in the UK, Belgium, France, Ireland, & Netherlands
Google has expanded availability of its new Nest Cam product to more countries after officially unveiling the device last month. Starting today, customers in Belgium, France, Ireland, Netherlands, & United Kingdom will be able to pick up the device through the online Google Store. Google previously launched the device for customers in Canada and United States through its online store.
The product, alongside other new Nest products shown off in June, are the fruits of Google’s acquisitions of smart thermostat maker Nest and connected security camera company Dropcam last year. Nest Cam offers a lot of what made Dropcam cameras popular, offering 1080p HD video, 130-degree field of view, 8 infrared LEDs, night vision video support, companion mobile apps, and cloud recording and video history through a subscription service.
Nest Cam is available for $199 USD from the Google Store.
Facebook Messenger’s free video calling now available worldwide
After adding support for a new cross-platform video chat service through its Facebook Messenger mobile apps, Facebook has now announced that the feature is rolling out to all worldwide.
The feature first launched back in April for users on iOS and Android in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US and Uruguay. Today, Facebook said the feature is now rolled out globally “with the exception of a few countries” that it’s still working on:
Quick update on video calling in Messenger: we’re happy to share we’ve now rolled out the capability globally, with the exception of a few countries we’re still working on improving quality for.
You can check out the new Facebook Messenger video calling feature through the latest versions of the iOS and Android apps.
Sprint expands free international data roaming to more countries, now 22 total
Sprint today announced that it’s expanding its free data roaming offer to a number of new countries, bringing its new total up to 22 locations around the globe.
New countries added today include: Colombia, Denmark, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Paraguay and Sweden.
Those add to the full list of 22 supported countries where Sprint customers can take advantage of the International Value Roaming feature, which allows customers to use data for free when traveling to supported countries abroad.
The full list includes: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Russia, Sweden, South Korea, Spain and United Kingdom.
Gmail now supports Irish language Gaeilge
Google announced on Thursday that Gmail now supports the Irish language Gaeilge. The historic language is not spoken as the first language of many people in Ireland, but a larger number of people speak Gaeilge as a second language. Gaeilge is also the national and first language of the Republic of Ireland.
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Google Shopping Express becomes true Amazon Prime competitor w/ $95/year memberships, new cities & more merchants
Google announced today that its rebranding its Google Shopping Express service while expanding the same day delivery service to new markets and merchants. While announcing the new shorter “Google Express” name, Google announced that the service is now available in Chicago, Boston, and Washington D.C. After first rolling out the service a year ago, it’s now accessible to more than 7 million people.
Google also noted some of the big merchants it’s added support for in recent months, including alcohol delivery in the Bay Area, making for a total of 16 new shopping options through Express:
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Regulatory card hints at a possible Google Glass launch in Canada
Currently available in the US and UK, Google Glass could soon be on its way to Canada. A Glass explorer recently received a replacement unit and noticed that his wearable was accompanied by a new regulatory informational card for Canada. The bundled literature advised that Google’s wearable had been approved by Industry Canada for use within the country.
Google Voice for iOS updated w/ refreshed design and Hangouts integration
Google this evening rolled out an update to the Google Voice app on iOS, adding several new features and much-needed visual enhancements. Bumping the app to version 1.6, this evening’s update is the first the app has seen since September 2013, and the first major update since 2012.
‘Right to be forgotten’ farce continues as BBC posts links to 12 stories removed by Google
People who have asked Google to remove links to news stories under the controversial European ‘right to be forgotten‘ ruling are once again finding the move counter-productive. The BBC News site has posted links to stories removed from Google’s search, bringing back into the spotlight stories that are in some cases more than a decade old.
The BBC posted links to all 12 of the stories removed from Google’s search results. They range from the serious – three men accused of possessing bomb-making equipment in Ireland – to the ridiculous, a dispute over a lost dog …
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Google Play textbooks now available to purchase & rent in Canada
Google announced today that it’s launching the ability to purchase and rent textbooks in Canada through its Google Play Books service:
Starting now, students in Canada can rent or purchase digital textbooks from Google Play Books. With thousands of textbooks from top publishers, we have a comprehensive selection of higher education titles from science and mathematics to history and English, and everything in between… With the Google Play Books app, you have convenient tools at hand to make studying simpler and faster. You can instantly search within a textbook for a particular word or phrase, bookmark chapters and pages, highlight and annotate key passages and get quick access to dictionaries, translation tools, Wikipedia and Google search.
Google first started rolling out the feature to Google Play Books in the US last year.
The textbooks library is available through Google Play Books and accessible on Android, iOS devices, and through Google Play on the web. Canadians can head over to Google Play now to purchase or rent textbooks now.