9to5Google

Google TV launched in 2020 with the goal of replacing the Android TV experience entirely within a couple of years. As the clock ticks away, more brands are getting on board with the Google TV experience, including long-time partner Philips.

It’s the first official day of CES 2020, and the product announcements are flowing like water. Today, Philips is rolling out a few new series of Android TVs, including one model that’s optimized for gaming, including Google Stadia.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Philips is now selling a 24-inch TV that’s running on Android TV, designed especially for the kitchen, and has a built-in Google Assistant speaker, too. Here’s what you need to know.

Expand
Expanding
Close

As Android TV continues to grow, we’re seeing it pre-installed on more and more 4K TVs. Ahead of CES 2019, a new lineup of Philips TVs have been announced with Android TV on board with some affordable price tags too.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Back in March, Chromecast was renamed to Google Cast and Vizio announced the first Cast-enabled televisions. Philips just announced four new sets as part of the 6000 series Google Cast Ultra HDTV. Like recent affordable Android TV showings from RCA, these models start at $649.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Ahead of IFA in Berlin this September—the event where Samsung, Sony, and just about every other Android device maker unveils their latest products each year—a select group of companies have been giving a taste of what’s to come for the last 5 days at IFA’s Global Press Conference.

So what can you expect? Android-powered TV sets, app connected appliances, and drones are just a few product categories you can expect to see grow at this year’s show.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Glass has been on the downtrend as of late, but there are still many groups who believe in the product enough to keep developing for it. One of those groups is UK grocer and general retailer Tesco, which has today released its Google Glass shopping app—six months after the company first released a video demoing what the app would be like. While the company has had a prototype working for a while now, Tesco now says that its shopping app is ready for prime time.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Healthcare seems to be one area in which Google Glass is just irresistibly great. Doctors, after all, aren’t unfamiliar with wearable tech to help them with their job; they already wear stethoscopes on a daily basis. Adding Glass to the mix brings new possibilities for more efficient patient care as well as a better work day for doctors, and Augmedix—one of the first Glass at Work partners—knows more about using Glass in medicine than any other company. Today, Augmedix announced that they’ve scored another $16 million in Series A funding.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Glass may seem to be fading into obscurity, but—especially with recent rumors that it may soon be getting a reboot—I don’t think we should discredit the platform and assume it has been a failed experiment just yet. In fact, Google seems to be focusing on the workplace use cases of the device, as do many of its developers, and today we’ve learned that the people behind one of the most popular pieces of Glassware—LynxFit—are joining one of the “Glass at Work” certified partners: APX Labs.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Pandora Internet Radio is the latest service to bring its product over to the Google Glass world. The music streaming service’s Glassware app came out of their Hack-a-thon from earlier in the spring, Pandora says, and was good enough to share with Google and ship.

The Pandora Radio app for Google Glass gives users access to stations with the ability to control them with voice commands or the touchpad. Pandora says the voice commands allow you to select existing stations or even create new stations. Actions including music controls like play and pause require using the touchpad; favoriting and dismissing a track also requires using the touchpad for now.

Users can find the Pandora Internet Radio app on the Google’s Glassware section, and Pandora has more instructions below:
Expand
Expanding
Close

A new app has appeared in the official Glassware directory today, bringing you the ability to easily view the latest radar information on Google Glass. Whether you’re commuting to work or out for a bike ride, this app available to you in an instant gives you a quick glance at stormy weather in your vicinity.

Expand
Expanding
Close

A Turkish bank by the name of “Garanti” has managed to get its Glass app — not-so-appropriately called “iGaranti” — approved on the official Glassware directory. Interestingly, it managed to do this with Google Glass not even yet being available in the country, and also before any American bank even had an app officially approved. But regardless, it seems to actually be a quite useful app.

Expand
Expanding
Close

As the most populous city in the United States, New York City has a big transportation challenge on its hands. The arrival of the bike sharing system Citi Bike aims to solve that problem, but New Yorkers still need to be able to track down these bikes for the program to be useful. Enter City Ride for Glass, an upcoming app that aims to be a simple and effective way of finding Citi Bikes using Google Glass.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google today announced a newer, revised version of its Glass headset. According to a post on Google+, the biggest change in hardware comes with what’s under the hood. With this revised version, Google will double the amount of RAM found in Glass to have 2GB on board. This extra RAM “will allow for more Glassware to run in parallel and for each Glassware to start more quickly,” Glass product manager Steve Lee said. “You’ll notice the device generally feels a bit faster and more reliable.”

Expand
Expanding
Close

Getting your Google Glass app into Google’s official app directory is not an easy task, but Google recently introduced six new applications — and this time, there are some bigger names thrown in the mix. Those added recently include Shazam, Goal.com, musiXmatch, Star Chart, The Guardian, and Zombies, Run! and you can get them now on your Glass device.

Expand
Expanding
Close

A new app for Google Glass has been released today, which essentially hopes to turn the head-mounted computer into a Karaoke machine. The real value that this app has — especially considering that Glass is still beta, and $1,5000 — can’t really be quantified at the moment, but there’s no doubt that the idea is intriguing.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Yesterday Google opened the Glass beta to the general public once again, offering the chance for anyone to buy the wearable device for $1,500. Today the company has unveiled three new travel-oriented glassware apps.

The first of these apps is Foursquare, the popular check-in app that allows users to locate and review restaurants, shopping centers, or any other point of interest. Google also debuted TripIt integration, allowing users easily plan their travel itineraries through Glass. The third glassware app revealed today is OpenTable. Using this software, users can now book restaurant reservations right from Glass.

Expand
Expanding
Close

An iMessage sent to Glass

Google announced today that it’s about to bring SMS for iPhone and a new Calendar Glassware to Google Glass users following an update to KitKat and the introduction of new features earlier this month. First up, iPhone users will now be able to receive text messages on Glass but, as Google points out, they “won’t be able to reply from Glass due to some limitations with iOS.” The support for SMS is a feature that Glass users have long had access to when paired to an Android device.

SMS for iPhone – iOS fans, by popular demand you can now get texts from your friends on Glass. Get started by going to your iPhone’s Bluetooth settings and turning on “Show Notifications” for your paired Glass. When you receive a new text message, it will appear as a notification on Glass. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to reply from Glass due to some limitations with iOS. (Android fans, don’t feel left out – you’ve got SMS on Glass already.

You’ll begin receiving notifications as long as the “Show Notifications” option for your paired Glass is selected from Bluetooth settings. Google also announced today that it will release Calendar Glassware available in the MyGlass tab:
Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWasJhXZGlo]

Philips has just revealed some details of an upcoming 8000 series lineup of TVs for 2014, which will likely be the first lineup of Ultra HD TVs that hit the market running Android. Philips has three models running Android- Full-HD 8100 and 8200 Philips TVs and the Ultra HD 4K 8800 series— all of which come packed with Google Play store access and Google services like Chrome, YouTube, Google Play music and movies, and search.
Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9naxeHGIaRY]

Google has released five new mini-games for Glass in the hopes that developers will be inspired to create games for the system. The games include Tennis, Balance, Clay Shooter, Matcher, and Shape Slicer. The games use the built-in sensors, camera, and microphone in Glass to control simple sets of colored shapes.

Balance uses the motion sensors to manipulate a stack of blocks that move with the player’s head. The object is to keep the blocks balanced by keeping your head as steady as possible. Clay Shooter uses voice controls and the various motion sensors to allow players to shoot down simulated clay discs without the need for a trap range. Shape Splitter resembles the popular Half Brick Studios game Fruit Ninja. In the Glassware version, players slice colored shapes by waving their hands in front of the Glass camera.

Developers can download the games from the Glass Mini Games page.