Fitbit Public Preview adds food & water logging, more as app redesign comes to free users
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Check who can see your Android phone’s location
In recent Android versions, safety and privacy have been forefront in the majority of changes made, though are still ways that others can see your Android device’s location without acting in a malicious way. This guide will bring you through several location-sharing features and how to configure or disable them entirely, letting you take control of who can see your Android phone’s location.
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Google Pay is now available in Germany
Google has officially announced that Google Pay is now available in Germany. There are currently 4 banks that support the service, although the list is certain to grow in the coming months: Wirecard, Comdirect, Commerzbank, and N26.
Android Pay is available in Belgium starting today
Google has today announced that its mobile payments service, Android Pay, is now available in Belgium. Belgium is the 10th country in the world to bring support for Android Pay, and Google says that you’ll be able to use it at most of your favorite retail locations…
Whether you’re doing your daily shopping or heading for a night out, your Android phone is all you need as you walk out the door – thanks to Android Pay. Starting today, Android Pay is available in Belgium, helping you pay simply and securely with your Android phone. It’s the 10th country in the world to benefit from Android Pay.
Report: Google will show off plans to tap Tango for interior 3D mapping & VR apps at I/O
Google is planning on tapping into its Project Tango technology to offer superior interior 3D mapping of buildings and a new revenue stream through virtual reality apps using the platform, Bloomberg reports.
Google’s Eddystone beacons updated to support private and secure interaction
Bluetooth beacons usually only broadcast public one-way signals. By allowing secure and private communication with users, the Eddystone-EID opens up a variety of new use cases for beacons. Along with the new secure open beacon format, Google is announcing a number of new hardware partners that will make compatible devices.
PSA: Google has made phone calls to Belgium and Turkey free on Hangouts
In light of today’s appalling events in Brussels, as well as recent violence in Turkey, Google is offering free calls using Hangouts and Google Voice to the two countries. The company has done the same after similar events in France and is rolling out additional emergency resources via Google Now and Search to those in Brussels.
Google and NetHope launch Project Reconnect, making 25,000 Chromebooks available to Syrian refugees in Germany
Google has announced a new philanthropic partnership with NetHope aiming to help Syrian refugees in Germany get reconnected by making 25,000 Chromebooks available to nonprofits. The goal — as described on the Project Reconnect home page — is “to help refugees as they strive to rebuild their lives, by facilitating access to education and information resources on the web.”
Google adds parts of Bolivia and Ecuador to Street View
Street View has been slowly getting more locations since it launched in 2007, and now the company has added many of parts of Bolivia and Ecuador to the list. These two South American countries are full of history and beautiful imagery, and now they can be explored from the comfort of your Chrome browser.
Google is even featuring some of the best imagery from Bolivia and Ecuador on its Street View site.
Just a couple of months ago, Google launched a standalone Street View app for Android and iPhone. Android users will find it on the Play Store, and iPhone users can download the standalone Street View app on the App Store. And if you’re interested in exploring Bolivia and Ecuador in VR, you might be interested in the fact that the Street View app recently added support for Google Cardboard.
Huawei Watch gets extended warranty, goes on sale in German Google Store
I already love the Huawei Watch (and so does Dom), and now I think I love it even more. Today, the Chinese OEM has announced that new buyers of company’s Android Wear smartwatch are getting an extended manufacturer’s warranty. Originally just 12 months, the Huawei Watch is now eligible for an additional 12 months of coverage if you buy direct from Huawei…
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Google Search has new context-based storm-preparedness recommendations
Google puts a lot of effort into making the world’s knowledge organized and accessible, and in particular it has a record through its Crisis Response project of making certain information more accessible during times of disaster. Today it released a blog post detailing how it’s doing more to help people be prepared.
Huawei invites for September 2nd event in Berlin hint at mystery ‘S’ model
Huawei has started sending out invitations to an event on September 2nd in Berlin, Germany. The invites fit in perfectly with previous speculation that the Chinese manufacturer would use IFA as its platform to launch a new smartphone. What’s interesting about these invites is that they seemingly hint at the name of the upcoming device.
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Google’s Eddystone beacon format and Nearby API will make communication between devices easier
Google has just announced a new beacon technology called Eddystone along with APIs that will together make it easier for devices in close proximity to communicate. Essentially, these technologies will make it as easy for devices to communicate as it is to turn to a person next to you and talk in the real world.
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.
Local advertisers can now display places ratings in their AdWords ads
In a world where we’re increasingly reliant on our phones to navigate the world, online reviews can make or break local businesses. Lawsuits regarding negative reviews show up in the news at least a couple times every year, and these review pages are increasingly becoming the battleground where individuals protest against businesses partaking in practices they disagree with. On the other hand, however, a good rating online can entrench and create a moat around a business for years to come. That’s why Google now allows advertisers to include their Google reviews in their AdWords ads.
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Google begins monthly updates for driverless car project, reporting accidents
Google has launched a new website that will offer monthly updates on its driverless car project including reporting accidents the vehicles have been involved in.
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Google Street View adds new imagery highlighting the best of Belgium
Google is constantly bringing new imagery to its Street View feature in Maps, and this week the search giant is highlighting new additions from around Belgium. In what it describes as “some of the best of Belgium”, the new Street View data shows off five different locations including the inside of a castle and a World War II memorial.
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Amazon pre-orders at €599 suggest flagship-level price for LG G Flex 2
LG announced several features of its new G Flex 2 smartphone at CES 2015 last week, including a full HD 5.5-inch dynamically curved P-OLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with Octa-Core 64-bit capable CPUs, 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with dual LED flash, 3,000 mAh battery and Android Lollipop. But one important piece of information that LG has withheld to this point is how much the G Flex 2 will cost…
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Google News withdrawal from Spain bites traffic to newspaper sites, traffic down 10-15%
Spanish newspaper websites have seen their web traffic drop by an average of 10-15% after a law they lobbied for drove Google News out of the country. The figures were shared with GigaOM by web analytics company Chartbeat, which tracks around 50 Spanish news sites.
The law required Google to pay a fee for every story excerpt it displayed in search results, leading to the company – which generates no income from the ad-free Google News service – to close the service in Spain. Publishers clearly realized the implications right away, making a forlorn plea for the Spanish government to somehow ‘force’ Google to re-open the service …
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Google Earth and Maps get new 3D imagery for San Francisco, New York City
Google has today updated the 3D imagery in both Google Earth and Google Maps, taking advantage of newer cameras to provide much better accuracy and a more realism in select United States cities. The newer imagery can be seen on the left in the image above, where it’s obvious that the San Francisco City Hall building’s contours and architecture now have much greater clarity.
Google says that the first two cities to get this treatment are the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, New York. But while these two cities are the first to see the update, they definitely won’t be the last. More cities will be getting the new imagery throughout 2015, according to Google.
To give you another look at the new imagery, here’s the new view of the Statue of Liberty (left is new, right is old):
As you can see below, there’s also new imagery that only recently became possible. The new 3D view includes the relatively new Six World Trade Center in New York, and there’s also new imagery of the Bay Bridge:
Android 5.1 purportedly leaked at annual Devoxx conference in Belgium
While the release of Android 5.0 Lollipop is only now beginning to roll out to Google’s own Nexus devices, it seems that Android 5.1 could already be in the works. Dutch site AndroidWorld has reported today that Google software engineers Romain Guy and Chet Haase were spotted using a Nexus 5 running Android Lollipop MR1 at the annual Devoxx conference in Belgium.
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German media powerhouse Axel Springer says uncle, allows Google to display news story snippets in search results
Google has been locked in a nasty battle with a group of German publishers for several years, with the troop complaining that the tech company’s web search results were making their online articles available to the public. But after two weeks of restricted access to Google News results, major news publisher Axel Springer has changed its mind.
Google’s Open Roberta project is teaching Germany’s youth how to program robots
Google recently launched a new program called “Open Roberta,” a cloud-based platform that helps teachers and students in Germany learn to program small robots. In terms of hardware, the search company’s new project uses LEGO MINDSTORMS kits that feature unique hardware and software to develop simple programmable robots.
German publishing syndicate now allowing Google to display news excerpts in search results (update)
As a result of an ongoing legal battle, Google recently changed the way it displays search results for news stories from select European publishers. A syndicate known as VG Media is claiming that Google’s search engine is letting people bypass their sites’ paywalls, and is demanding compensation for lost revenue. In an effort to smooth things over, Google removed text previews and thumbnail images from its search results for select publishers involved in this claim, but it appears that VG Media has had a change of heart.
Google no longer displaying news article excerpts in German search results
Photo: http://www.corporateofficeheadquarters.com
After receiving a lot of pressure from a group German publishers, Google is changing the way its search engine handles news articles. The company is now removing excerpts and image thumbnails from its web search results for sites like bild.de, bunte.de or hoerzu.de and replacing them with headlines and story links.