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This week’s top stories: The best Android phones for July, Pokemon GO, Android One in Japan & more

In this week’s top stories: Our roundups of the best Android phones and best budget Android phones for July, Pokemon GO’s official release takes over the app charts, Android One launches in Japan, and much more. Head below for these and the rest of this week’s most shared stories.


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Alphabet’s ‘Other Bets’ adopting new performance-based stock compensation

The goal of last year’s Alphabet re-org was to effectively turn Google’s many research divisions into startups that make profitable products and services. To better incentivize executives and employees, a new report (via Bloomberg) says that Alphabet is implementing a new type of stock compensation whose value is tied to the performance of each company.


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Google shares new ‘Pride for Everyone’ video showcasing Pride parades from 25 countries

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In a post on the official Google blog this evening, Google has announced a new Pride for Everyone initiative to encourage everyone to “be who you are and love who you love.” As part of the initiative, Google has released a new 360 degree video that contains footage from Googlers in 25 countries marching in local Pride parades.


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Boston Dynamics shows off SpotMini robot with creepy giraffe-like neck [Video]

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Boston Dynamics is still owned by Google/Alphabet as of today (as far as we know), and that means that the company’s latest developments are still relevant here at 9to5Google. That’s probably going to change soon, but for now, the latest creepy and unnerving robots that the company shows off in its videos are still attributable to the Mountain View company. The latest is a miniature version of its Spot robot with the addition of a giraffe-like neck. Yep, it’s not getting any less creepy…


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Alphabet-owned Nest is partnering with SolarCity to keep your ‘Time of Use’ electric bill down

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Energy companies in California are set to move customers over to Time of Use plans over the next couple of years, and that’s going to mean that you — the California resident — will be paying for energy based on its exact price at any given moment. Some times of the day are cheaper than others. This is great for some, but it’s going to mean that many are going to have to more closely monitor their energy use if they want to stay in budget.

Nest today has announced that it is bringing a feature, called Time of Savings, to the Nest Thermostat to help you manage your Time of Use energy usage and keep your costs to a minimum…


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This week’s top stories: Android N Dev Preview 4, OnePlus 3 launch, Android apps on Chrome OS & more

OnePlus 3

In this week’s top stories: What’s new in the Android N Dev Preview 4, the official OnePlus 3 launch and first impressions, Android apps come to Chromebooks in Chrome OS Dev 53, and much more. Head below for the handy links to these and the rest of this week’s top shared stories.


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Larry Page apparently pitched Jack Dorsey on Google buying Twitter with a whisper

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The CEO of Google’s parent company, Larry Page, once invited Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey to Google’s campus to make him an offer for Twitter. That’s according to a Vanity Fair article, which says that Page “sat eerily close to Dorsey” and “whisper[ed] his acquisition pitch into his ear”…


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Nest’s 3rd generation thermostat gets some new views for its Farsight feature

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Nest today has added some new views to the Farsight feature of its flagship thermostat product. Rolling out to all thermostats soon, users will soon be able to show the current temperature and a new animated weather screen from across the room:

People love Farsight. But we heard from a lot of customers who wanted it to show the current temperature in big numbers you can see from across the room. So now, it can. And we’ve also added an animated weather screen. (You know, to satisfy meteorology fans.) Just go to Display Settings on your thermostat and choose your view.


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This week’s top stories: Best Android phones (June), hands-on w/ Android Wear 2.0, Tango, OnePlus 3, & more

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In this week’s top stories: We breakdown the best Android phones you can buy right now, get a closer look at upcoming Android devices including the OnePlus 3, Galaxy Note, and Project Tango devices, and give you the latest app news and updates alongside our picks for the best 5 Android apps you should download this month. 
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Larry Page is secretively behind two electric aircraft startups, financing them with over $100 million

Earlier this year, we wrote a profile on an interesting startup, Zee Aero, developing a battery-powered vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft near Google’s X lab. The company caught our attention when it started hiring talent from NASA, Tesla and Stanford.

At the time, we couldn’t confirm where the money was coming from, but today we learn that Alphabet’s billionaire CEO Larry Page is secretively behind the electric aircraft startup, reportedly financing it with over $100 million, and even setting up a competing startup, Kitty Hawk, to test another model.

The group’s proximity with Google led a lot of people to believe it was financed by the tech giant, but in fact, Page is financing the initiative himself and not through Alphabet or Google Ventures. 
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Toyota reportedly nearing a deal to buy Google’s Boston Dynamics robotics division

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According to a report from Tech Insider today, Google is nearing a deal with Toyota to sell its Boston Dynamics robotics division to the car maker. This follows a report from two months ago suggesting that Alphabet was planning to sell the division known for its super-creepy animal-like and human-like robots due to lack of a ‘marketable product’ in the next few years


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This week’s top stories [Google I/O Edition]: Android N Preview 3, Daydream, Play Store on Chrome, Assistant, apps & more

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In this week’s top stories we round up all of our coverage from Google I/O, the company’s annual developer conference where it also took the wraps off a number of upcoming hardware and software products. Android N Developer Preview 3, the Play Store comes to Chrome, Google Assistant, the new Daydream VR platform and much, much more.
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Google I/O numbers: 25M Chromecasts, 200m Google Photos users, 600 Android phones, 65B Play installs & more

Google shared some updates on company stats today while kicking off its Google I/O developer conference including updates on Chromecast, active users, new Android phones, Google Play installs and more.

In addition to showing off its new chatbot-style Google Assistant, Amazon Echo-like Google Home device, new Allo and Duo messaging apps, and Daydream VR platform, the company also announced 25 million Chromecasts sold, 200 million Google Photos users, 600 new Android phones launched over the last year, and 65B Google Play installs.

Head below for the roundup of all the numbers Google announced during I/O today and check back for more as the event unfolds.


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As battle between Google and the EU continues, the search giant may face a record €3 billion fine


We had heard
that the EU was planning to levy a substantial fine on Google for its alleged favoring of its own services in search over those belonging to competitors last year already, and the Telegraph is reporting that the European Commission is now estimating a hefty €3 billion ($3.4b) tag…

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This week’s top stories: Android VR, OnePlus 3, Galaxy Note 6, new apps, & much more

In this week’s top stories: Google’s upcoming standalone Android VR headset, OnePlus 3 leaks, Galaxy Note 6 gets a release date, and we take a look at official accessories for the Galaxy S7 Edge, new apps, & much more. Head below for the usual roundup of links to all this week’s most shared stories and video.


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This week’s top stories: YouTube’s Material reDesign, new Android phones, CyanogenMod + Honor 5X, more

In this week’s top stories: The best Android phones you can buy (May 2016 edition), we go hands-on with CyanogenMod on the Honor 5X, the latest Android phone leaks, and we show you how to enable YouTube’s new Material reDesign on the web.

Head below for all of the handy links to this week’s most shared stories and videos.


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Eric Schmidt set to speak at first Startup Fest in Amsterdam on May 24th

Talking Schmidt fans have something to look forward to later this month: the Alphabet executive chairman and former Google CEO is set to speak at the first Startup Fest in Amsterdam on May 24th. Eric Schmidt is among several big name keynote speakers, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Uber founder Travis Kalanick, and Airbnb CTO Nathan Blecharczyk. Google is among the list of sponsors for the first Startup Fest as well.


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Eric Schmidt attended a ‘Burning Man for the 1%’ desert party with ‘unabashed luxury’

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Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt recently attended what many call “Burning Man for the 1%” with a handful of fellow tech and entrepreneur colleagues (via The Guardian). The festival is called Further Future and covers 49 acres of land right outside of Las Vegas. While Burning Man hides its lavishness, Further Future touts that it offers “unabashed luxury.”


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