Chance Miller

Google, as it does at the beginning of every month, has updated the Android distribution data this time reflecting data collected during the last week of November. KitKat continues its slow climb up this month, rising to 33.9 percent from 30.2 percent last month. Every other Android version, as a result, fell in usage.

Expand
Expanding
Close

After revealing pricing last week, Google has today opened signups for Fiber in Austin, Texas. Google is starting its Austin rollout by opening signups in the southern and southeastern sections of the city. The company will expand the rollout to other portions of Austin “on an ongoing basis.” Both residents and small businesses in the pre-determined Fiberhoods can signup for the service today.

Expand
Expanding
Close

According to the latest data from IDC, Google, for the first time ever, has overtaken Apple in United States schools. The research firm claims that Google shipped 715,000 Chromebooks to schools in the third quarter, while Apple shipped 702,000 iPads to schools. Chromebooks as a whole now account for a quarter of the educational market (via FT).

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google today has finally revealed its pricing plans for Fiber in Austin, Texas. The company plans to open up sign-ups for the internet service next month in the city, and while it was previously believed that Fiber in Austin would cost the same as it does in Kansas City and Provo, the company announced today that there are some slight variations (via Multichannel).

Expand
Expanding
Close

Motorola announced earlier this month that it would soon begin to offer interchangeable leather and metal bands for the Moto 360, and today, those accessories have gone up for sale. A standalone leather band for the Moto 360 runs $29.99 and is available in either cognac (brown), stone, or black.  Metal bands cost $79.99 and are available in light and dark finishes.

Expand
Expanding
Close

After going up for pre-order on Amazon in October, the Nexus 9 Keyboard Folio case is now available on the Play Store. The case costs a whopping $129, which for those doing the math, is only $71 less than what HTC was selling the tablet itself for a couple of weeks back.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google has started rolling out an update to the stable channel of Chrome OS with a handful of notable enhancements.  The biggest feature for Chrome OS users is the addition of Chromecast support for media files stored in Google Drive. This means that when viewing a media file in Google Drive, a Chromecast icon will appear, allowing users to easily and quickly beam that content to their TV.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google, according to a report out of Reuters, has agreed to settle all of its patent litigation with the Rockstar consortium, which consists of a variety of tech companies including Apple, Sony, BlackBerry and Microsoft. The Rockstar consortium paid $4.5 billion for Nortel Network Corporation’s huge patent portfolio in 2011, outbidding Google at the time. The Rockstar consortium originally sued Google and a handful of Android manufacturers in October of 2013, claiming that the companies infringed on seven Nortel patents.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google, in its continued effort to support developers and users from all across the world, announced today that developers in China are now be able to list both free and paid apps on the Play Store. The company made the announcement via a post on the official Android Developer Blog, saying that the addition of China means that developers can now sign up to be merchants in more than 60 countries. Users in more than 130 countries can purchase apps those apps, as well.

As part of that continued effort, we’re excited to announce merchant support in China, enabling local developers to export and sell their apps to Google Play users in more than 130 countries. Chinese developers can now offer both free and paid applications through various monetization models, including in-app purchasing and subscriptions. For revenue generated on Google Play, developers will receive payment to their Chinese bank accounts via USD wire transfers.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m0!4v1416448266011!6m8!1m7!1s9WgYUb5quXDjqqFd3DWI6A!2m2!1d46.41438376976309!2d10.01394735785013!3f210!4f10!5f0.7820865974627469&w=704&h=400]

Google, in a post on the Geo Developers Blog, today announced the ability for website owners to embed Street View panoramas and Photospheres within their site using an HTML snippet. Google launched this feature for Maps last year, but only today did it add support for Street View and public Photospheres.

Today, we added the ability to easily embed the Street View and Photo Sphere images you find in Google Maps and we’re also enabling the same capabilities programmatically in the Google Maps Embed API. These embeds use the new imagery viewer technology that powers Street View in the new Google Maps.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google News founder Krishna Bharat announced in a post on Google+ that the company is rolling out a new “Suggested for you” feature to News search results. Bharat says the goal of the section is to show news specific to you and topics that interest you, as well as local stories (via Search Engine Land).

Expand
Expanding
Close

Mozilla and Yahoo today announced a joint five-year “strategic” partnership that will see the Firefox browser’s default search engine change to Yahoo. Since 2004, Google has been the default search engine for Firefox, but when the agreement came to an end this year, Mozilla said that it decided to make a change.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google has today announced a new competition for developers interested in the Google Fit health-tracking platform. In an effort to broaden the selection of apps available with Google Fit support and interest more developers, the company is holding the Fit Developer Challenge from now until February 17, 2015.

Expand
Expanding
Close

An update to Google Keep has started rolling out this evening with a handful of notable enhancements. Announced in a post on the official Android blog, today’s update adds the ability to collaborate on notes such as grocery lists and watch items get checked off in real-time. So when someone adds something to a list, you’ll instantly see it on your device, as well.

Next time you create a list, share it on Keep and watch as items get checked off in real-time! No need for text messages back and forth—get things done together, quicker.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Snapchat today announced a new service, in partnership with mobile-payment service Square, dubbed Snapcash. The new feature allows Snapchat users to quickly and easily send payments to one another. Users can do so by simply swiping right to chat on the main screen in Snapchat and then entering a dollar amount. The money will go directly from one user’s bank account to another.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Earlier this month, Google started accepting Android TV app submissions to the Play Store, but today, another detail about the app submission process was revealed. According to the Android developer documentation page, Google will pre-screen and approve all submitted Android TV apps. After the approval process, the apps will then be distributed for download on the Play Store (via Android Police).

Before distributing apps to the Play Store on Android TV devices, our team reviews apps for usability with a DPAD (apps) and Gamepad (games only) and other quality guidelines.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Since its initial unveiling more than two years ago, one of the biggest questions surrounding Google Glass has been its commercial viability. Reuters today has published a report, yet again questioning the long-term success opportunities of Glass. Sergey Brin, the head of Google’s X Lab which is responsible for Glass, was seen this weekend in public not wearing a pair. The Google executive remarked that he had left his pair in the car when asked by a reporter.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google has announced today that it is ending its support of Google Wallet for digital purchases, including games, goods, and services. The company announced that it will sunset Wallet for digital purchases in a support document, saying that the industry has “matured” a lot since the service was initially launched back in 2012.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Just a short while after announcing the Android 5.0 Lollipop over-the-air update for Nexus devices, Google has now posted the factory images for the Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2012 and 2013 WiFi-only models), and Nexus 10.

Expand
Expanding
Close