Chance Miller

Earlier this year, a report emerged claiming that Google was looking to further expand the capabilities of its “Ok, Google” functionality. Android Police has now published yet another report on this topic, detailing more features that Google will soon incorporate into Google Now. The earlier report claimed that Google was looking to add the ability to say “Ok, Google” anywhere within Android, no matter what app you were in at the time. Now, Android Police, is reporting that soon, you will be able to say “Ok, Google” and activate Google Now even when the device is turned off, with some caveats.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Back in April, word got out that HP was planning to announce a touchscreen laptop running Android, and today, the company finally made the device official. In a press release, HP officially announced its 14-inch touchscreen SlateBook running Android. The laptop is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 4 processor and 2GB of RAM. It will come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB storage variants, which is relatively small for a laptop, and have a microSD card.

Expand
Expanding
Close

With Apple having just acquired Beats Electronics, Amazon is apparently preparing to launch its own streaming music service. According to a new report out of BuzzFeed, Amazon has just signed deals with two of the three major labels. Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group have both signed on, while Universal Music is still pondering the deal.

Expand
Expanding
Close

In a post on its official company blog, Google, for the first time ever, broke down the diversity of its workforce. The company said that it was originally reluctant to share this type of information, but now realizes it was wrong and has decided to be more candid about the issue. Google says that it is not where it wants to be in terms of the diversity of its workforce.

Expand
Expanding
Close

T-Mobile has just sent out invites to its latest Uncarrier event. The fifth iteration of John Legere and company to shake-up the mobile industry will be held on June 18th in Los Angeles. The invite doesn’t offer any direct details as to what we can expect at the event, but does tease that T-Mobile doesn’t “play it safe and sound.” One possibility this time around, is that T-Mobile is partnering with some sort of music streaming service, hence the “sound” tease. AT&T is currently partnered with Beats Music, while Sprint is with Spotify. That would leave Rdio and Pandora as possibilities for T-Mobile.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google has just released an update to its Camera app on Android, as part of its “Update Wednesday” regiment. The update bumps the app to version 2.2 and adds several new features. One of the biggest new features is the ability to shoot photos in either 4:3 or 16:9 cropped resolutions. Although, it’s important to note that the cropping affects the total resolution of the image. So if you were to shoot in 16:9 on a Nexus 5, the resolution maxes out a 6MP. This changes depending on the phone you’re using, of course.

Google has also added the timer feature back to its Camera app with this update. The company removed it earlier this year, for some odd reason. The picture timer allows you to choose either 3 and 10 second timings for taking an image.

The update also adds new modes for shooting panoramas, including a fisheye setting. There’s also now a small settings icon on the first launch.

Google’s Camera update is available on the Play Store now.

Expand
Expanding
Close

While on stage at the Code Conference, Google co-founder Sergey Brin talked Google Glass with Re/Code editors Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. When asked about the commercial availability of the product, Brin said that he hopes it will be available to all consumers by the end of the year. He remarked that “Google Glass will be a commercial product this year…plus or minus.” The timeline for Glass has been a bit cloudy since its announcement, but hopefully Google finally follows through this time around.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google this afternoon released a small update to its Text-To-Speech app on Android. The update bumps the app to version 3.1, and while it may not be the biggest update, it certainly packs some useful changes for a handful of users. The update adds support for selecting and speaking text in Polish, Dutch, and Russian. It also improves its already existing support for some English dialects spoken in India.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Earlier this year Google acquired smart-thermostat company Nest, and according to a new report out of The Information, the company is not planning on stopping its quest to enter the home automation and security market. The report claims that Google has “considered” acquiring Dropcam, the makers of a system that streams live footage directly to phones and computers.

The report goes on to say that the status of talks and negotiations between the two companies is unclear at this point and that spokespeople for both companies did not reply to requests for comment.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Samsung unveiled a handful of new wearable devices earlier this year, but according to some recently discovered patent filings, the company still has some more ideas in the pipeline. First discovered by SammyToday, Samsung has recently filed for a plethora of patents relating to a new wearable device that strongly resembles the Moto 360 and its circular design. The patents detail a plethora of features about the device, as well as some basic mockups of its design.

Expand
Expanding
Close

We’ve been hearing rumors of a YouTube streaming music service for what feels like forever, but according to a report out of the New York Times, the service has hit yet another snag. A report last month claimed that the service was delayed because YouTube and Google were approaching it with a “get it right” attitude and wanted to make the first version of the product as good as its competitors like Spotify and Rdio. This report, however, claims that YouTube has run into licensing troubles with independent music labels.

Expand
Expanding
Close

At the beginning of this year, Google and Nvidia teamed up with car manufacturers to form the Open Automotive Alliance. The two companies partnered with GM, Honda, Audi, and Hyundai and agreed to work together to form an interface in-car entertainment systems. Ever since that announcement in January, we have heard absolutely nothing about the progression of the alliance, aside from a couple of vague rumors.

Android Police, however, has now obtained quite a bit of information about the system, including tentative interface designs and functionality. The report claims that Android in the Car’s basic interface will center around four “distinct spaces.” Those spaces are navigation, music, telephony, and search.

Expand
Expanding
Close

You may have not noticed that it didn’t exist, but Google has just now launched a new fully functional mobile web version of the Play Store. Previously, navigating the Play Store website on a mobile device was a pretty big pain as you were forced to use the desktop version of the site.

The mobile version of the Play Store is fully functional and works just as you’d expect it to. Navigation is relatively smooth thanks to a slideout navigation panel. Everything you can do with the Play Store app and desktop Play Store, you can do with the mobile version. One notable advantage, however, is that you can purchase devices with the mobile web version, something that the Play Store app still lacks for some odd reason. You could also install apps to your device with it if for some reason you don’t want to use the app interface.

The mobile web Play Store is live now. You can view it by simply going to play.google.com on any mobile device.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Over the past couple of months, rumors of major changes to Gmail on Android have been circulating. Geek.com leaked screenshots of a redesigned interface that was very colorful compared to the current app. We reported on some new features coming to the app, as well, including a snooze functionality. Now, Google+ user Yoel Kaseb has posted some images of what he claims is a redesigned Gmail app for Android. Kaseb also leaked images of a Google+ update that ended up being almost entirely true.

Expand
Expanding
Close

According to a new report out of the Wall Street Journal, Google is currently developing a new tablet that features “advanced vision capabilities.” The report claims that the company plans to produce 4,000 prototypes of the device as early as next month and release it shortly thereafter, before Google I/O at the end of June. Although, we’ll most likely hear a lot about it at I/O, with it perhaps even being the free giveaway to developers.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Just a short while after releasing an update to Chrome OS, Google is now pushing out an update to the Chrome browser on Android. Although minor, the update does include a few improvements. The update bumps the app to version 35.0.1916.122, as well.

With this update, the app now has an undo tab close button, which allows you to undo closing a tab, should you have done it by accident. The app also now supports fullscreen video with subtitles and HTML5-based controls. Google also notes that Chrome now has support for some multi-window devices, as well as support for casting “some” videos with Chromecast. It’s unclear, however, what devices and videos this update adds support for. Nevertheless, casting videos with Chromecast is a great addition. Most of these features have been in beta for about a month now.

• Undo Tab Close
• Fullscreen video with Subtitles and HTML5 controls
• Support for some multi-window devices
• Support for casting some videos with Chromecast
• Other bug fixes

The update to Chrome for Android is available on the Play Store now, although it appears to be a staged rollout and may take a little while to hit your device. 

Expand
Expanding
Close

Ahead of its tradition “update Wednesday” regiment, Google has pushed out a minor update to the Gmail app on Android today. The update bumps the app to version 4.8 and includes some various interface tweaks, most notably in the slide-out navigation menu (via +Gmail)

One of the changes includes profile images next to individual profiles on the slide-out navigation menu, and should you have more than one account, there’s also now a checkmark to better indicate which account you’re currently using. The Settings and “Send Feedback” options have also been crammed into the slide-out panel, whereas they previously were located in the action overflow button in the upper right corner.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Klout, the service that puts a numerical value on the your social network presence, finally released an Android app today after entirely too long of a wait. Klout gives users the ability so share content that relates to them and their audience. Then, you can track your success by viewing your Klout Score. Klout analyzes your social history and offers suggestions as to what it thinks you should be posting about in order to raise your Klout Score.

Expand
Expanding
Close

We first heard about Google’s new “Android Silver” program back in April. The service will reportedly be centered around the idea of providing support to customers after they purchase their Android device, including things like 24/7 live support and a new “Never Lost” feature, reminiscent of the iOS Find my iPhone feature. A later report also detailed that Google would partner with Android device manufacturers for the service, perhaps as early as early 2015.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Photo: USA Today

According to a court filing discovered by Reuters, Apple and Google’s Motorola Mobility unit have agreed to settle their ongoing smartphone patent litigation battle against each other. In a statement, the two companies said that this agreement does not include the ability cross license each other’s patents, but rather the promise to “work together in some areas of patent reform.”

The two tech giants have been battling it out over various patents for several years now, both directly and indirectly. It’s important to note, however, that this agreement is solely between Apple, Google, and its Motorola Mobility unit. This does not apply to any lawsuits between Android device manufacturers, such as Samsung and HTC, and Apple. Although theoretically, it would apply to patents owned by Google that device manufacturers are licensing.

A verdict was reached in the latest Apple v Samsung battle just a few weeks ago, with Apple being ruled as the victor, albeit small. The court ruled that Samsung owed Apple $119 million, which is far less than the $2 billion it was seeking.

Expand
Expanding
Close