Chance currently writes for both 9to5Google and 9to5Mac, in addition to 9to5Toys. He has previously written for several other online publications. He uses a Nexus 5, iPhone 5s, iPad Air, Hackintosh, and Macbook Air.
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.”
Google, over the past year, has gradually been ramping up the features of which its Knowledge Graph is capable . For those unfamiliar, the Knowledge Graph is the box that appears in search results, either at the top or on the right, with information about your search query. Over the past few days, Google has gradually started integrating step-by-step directions into the Knowledge.
To try this feature out, simply type in a “how-to” search into Google and the steps will appear at the top of the search results page. As you can see in the images above, Google will sometime present you with the materials need to perform your task, while in other instances it will give you step-by-step directions. For shorter tasks, all of the steps will be listed in the Knowledge Graph, while tasks with longer processes require you to click through to the publisher’s website.
Google pulls in the steps from a variety sources. Publishers would obviously prefer that readers have to click through to see all of the steps, but Google doesn’t seem to care. Try it out for yourself now.
Ahead of Google I/O officially kicking off tomorrow, Google’s head of Android Sundar Pichai recently sat down with Bloomberg Businessweek for an extensive, in-depth interview. The talk covered a variety of things, including Pichai’s history growing up in India and moving to the United States. It also talked in detail about the general relationship between Pichai, former head of Android Andy Rubin, and other departments of Google. Most importantly, however, Picahi discussed what we will see the company unveil at I/O this week.
New Google employee John Nack took to Google+ this morning to announce a handful of new features coming to the photos area of Google’s social network. Nack was a former Adobe team member, Photoshop evangelist, and blogger prior to joining Google back in February. In his post, Nack announced that Google+ on the web now supports the ability to edit your previous edits and has received some new Auto-Awesome features.
Google this morning announced that its $35 streaming stick now supports four new services. Starting today, you can now cast content from PBS Kids, DailyBurn, Stevie, and Deezer to the Chromecast. DailyBurn users will now have access to all of the service’s HD workout videos to stream to the Chromecast. DailyBurn offers virtual workout classes raining from 15 minutes to over an hour-long with a variety of activities, such as cardio, yoga, and dancing.
Reddit user Doopl has come across two screenshots of what appears to be the “L” release of Android. The screenshots come via the Chromium Issue Tracker, which has been the source of leaks many times in the past. The images show a Google login dialog box that looks entirely different than what you’ll currently see on an Android 4.4 device.
Photo: Associated Press
Google this afternoon announced that it is launching a new Google Domains service. In an effort to continue its reach to small businesses, the company has announced that it is, for the first time, offering a domain registration service. Google says that its small business-focused division decided to create Google Domains because, according to its research, 55 percent of small businesses still do not have a website.
Google Domains is still in an early, invite only beta, but the company says that it hopes to launch to all consumers soon. Currently, website creation tools Wix, Weebly, Shopify, and Squarespace have all signed up as partners. In addition to being able to register a new web address with Google Domains, you’ll also have the ability to transfer for names from other services into Google’s offering.
One big advantage to Google Domains is that it won’t charge extra for setting an address private. Google will offer 100 email addresses on the domain for free, in addition as many as 100 sub-domains. Google Domains will also use the company’s own DNS servers, which should make for fast response times.
You can request an invite code for the beta now. Read Google’s full announcement below:
Google’s latest doodle focuses on the event that has sports fans everywhere on the edge of their seat on a daily basis. The doodle depicts a group of employes sitting around a TV watching the ongoing World Cup. The employes spell out ‘Google’ in the classic colors. When the boss walks by, the employes quickly switch back to a business presentation.
If you click on the doodle, you’ll be redirected to a Google search for the Chile vs Netherlands match that took place today. (Spoiler: It didn’t end in a tie).
You can check out the doodle for yourself on Google’s website. According to NBC News, the World Cup in 2010 cost the U.S. economy $121.7 million due to people watching the matches during work. So let’s face it, you’re probably doing exactly what the doodle suggests.
Sprint and Samsung have just announced the Galaxy S5 Sport. Similar to the Galaxy S5 Active, available on AT&T, the Galaxy S5 Sport is IP67 water and dust resistance and has a textured casing to give it a more rugged and sturdy feel. Samsung notes, however, that the Galaxy S5 is not shockproof and is only rated for water submersion of up to 1 meter for 30 minutes.
Update: Google Glass is now available on the Play Store in the UK for £1,000 and is available in black, red, white, charcoal and blue. Google says the device will ship from its warehouse in one or two business days. Glass still carries the Explorer tag and does not appear to be any different than the U.S. variant. You can view Glass on the Play Store here.
Original post: Ahead of Google I/O this week, Google Glass is now listed as being available in the United Kingdom on the Play Store support page. When the Nest Thermostat became available on Google Play, it too was prematurely posted on the Play Store support page for country availability. Should the support page be correct, the UK would be the first country besides the United States in which you can purchase Glass.
The fate of the Nexus line of devices has been up in the air for sometime now due to rumors of the Android Silver program and an LG executive saying that his company had no plans on manufacturing the next Nexus device. Android Police, however, has now published information regarding an upcoming Nexus tablet. According to the report, Google and HTC have teamed up to develop the next Nexus tablet, dubbed the Volantis. The device has an 8.9-inch screen and looks to potentially replace the Nexus 10.
Google, as noticed by GeekWire, has just acquired the networking start-up Alpental Technologies. The start-up is relatively unknown and never received too much press attention. Alpental was founded by former Clearwire executives, Pete Gelbman and Mike Hart. The former worked at Clearwire for seven years as a founding member of the company’s CTO group. He also oversaw the company’s systems engineering, intellectual property, and corporate research.
In what comes as somewhat of a surprising move, Google has just posted Android 4.4.4 factory image for several Nexus devices. The release comes not too long after 4.4.3 was rolled out. Android 4.4.3 was a highly antipciated release that we saw several leaks of, but 4.4.4 comes as a surprise.
After several months of speculation, Amazon has just unveiled its own smartphone on stage at an event in Seattle, Washington. As expected, the device features the much rumored a 3D display.
Rumors of Google working on an in-car entertainment system have been around for a while now, with alleged images of the interface leaking last month. Now, AutoNews is reporting that Google plans to unveil its in-car solution at I/O 2014 later this month. According to the report, Google has developed a service that “projects” data from an Android device onto a car’s dashboard display.
According to an interview done by LG’s director of communications Ken Hong with a Dutch news outlet (via Phone Arena), the company currently has no plans on making the next Nexus device. LG, of course, made both the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 devices, but Hong says that the company is not making the next Nexus device, “at least not yet.”
Sunrise, a popular Android calendar app/platform announced a major update today. This update, available on the Play Store now, adds third-party app integration to the app. With the update, Sunrise now connects Songkick, Evernote, Tripit, Github, and Asana directly into the app.
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As we reported last night, Facebook’s new Slingshot app is now available for iPhone. The app briefly appeared on the App Store last week but was quickly removed. Slingshot is Facebook’s attempt at competing with the popular Snapchat messaging service.
After being available on Amazon for a short while, the Moto G with LTE is now available on Motorola’s official website. The device will run you just $219 and comes in either white or black.
According to a new report out of the Wall Street Jounral, speech and dictation service Nuance Communications has held acquisition talks with Samsung and has been exploring the possibility of a sale. It is widely speculated that the Apple’s virtual assistant Siri is powered by Nuance in the back-end. Samsung started partnering with Nuance late in 2013 for the voice recognition functionalities on its Galaxy Gear smart watch and Galaxy Note 3 smartphone.
The streaming media app AllCast received a hefty update this morning with some much needed features. Koush, the developer and creator of the app, updated AllCast to version 1.1.1.6 on the Play Store. New with the update is a new tablet interface. The tablet design has a split view that allows you to browse your media selection on one side of the interface and control playback on the other side.
Just as we expected, Samsung has announced its new line of tablets. Dubbed the Samsung Galaxy Tab S, the line features two devices, one with an 8.4-inch display and another with a 10.5-inch screen. DJ Lee, head of sales and marketing for Samsung’s mobile business, announced the two devices on stage at the company’s “Tab Into Color” event just moments ago.
Beats this evening announced a hefty update to its streaming app on Android. The update bumps the app to version 1.1 and includes a variety of features and changes that users have been calling for since the initial release. For one, you can now use the app in landscape mode. The “Just For You” interface and recommendations have been made more “refined and fresh” with this update, as well.
Photo: Associated Press
According to a report out of Forbes, Google is planning on launching its own health platform at Google I/O later this month, similar to Apple’s new HealthKit service. The service will reportedly be called Google Fit and be capable of collecting and aggregating data from a variety of wearable devices and apps. Sound familiar? It should, because that’s exactly how Apple’s HealthKit service, announced last week, works.