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Android Pay is available in Belgium starting today

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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.


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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.


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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.

Google Street View adds new imagery highlighting the best of Belgium

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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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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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Chromecast now available in Australia, Belgium, Portugal and Switzerland

Yesterday, Google revealed plans to bring its Chromecast media streaming dongle to the Land of the Rising Sun, but the search giant isn’t stopping there. Today, Mountain View announced that its Chrome OS-powered entertainment stick is now available in Australia, Belgium, Portugal and Switzerland. As with other territories, Chromecast will offer support for local content particular to its market. Google asked some its international team members what they plan on casting and they offered up a few suggestions.


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Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 hit Google Play Store in eight European markets

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We already mentioned that Google’s Chromecast is landing in 11 new countries across North America and Europe, and Google’s transcontinental roll out doesn’t stop there.

As noted by Android Police, both Google’sNexus 5 and Nexus 7 phone and tablet can now be bought on the Google Play Store in several European markets: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden.
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Just in time for the holidays: Google Shopping Paid Listing Ads in 8 more countries

Google just announced that it’s rolling out Google Shopping– a.k.a paid product listing ads that appear in search results– in eight new countries. Starting today, Google users in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Turkey will be begin seeing what Google says are highly relevant ads that also include “rich product information” like images and pricing.

The Product Listing Ads appear in Google Search results as ‘Sponsored’ listings for queries that include “commercial intent.” But Google notes that it will also show product listings when it has “enough relevant products to match that user’s query.”

Users in the countries mentioned above should begin seeing the ads above text ads on the right side of search results starting today.

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Google expanding 360-degree Google Maps Business Photos program to 7 new countries

Google for a while now has been allowing businesses in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, France, Ireland, and New Zealand hire photographers through its Business Photos program in order to capture 360-degree Street View-like imagery for the inside of retail stores and other businesses. The feature allows users to get a 360-degree, interactive tour of a business without ever leaving Google Maps. Today, Google announced it is expanding the program to seven new countries for both photographers and businesses:

Today we’re announcing the expansion of the Google Maps Business Photos program to seven new countries including: Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Russia, Singapore and Switzerland.

Google investing $390 million to expand European data center in Belgium

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Google isn’t slowing down investing in new data center operations around the world. Back in January we heard that it is expanding its Berkley County data center in South Carolina with an additional $600 million investment bringing the project up to $1.2 billion total. Today, Associated Press reports that Google is set to invest $390 million in a new expansion of its European data center in Belgium.

Internet search giant Google says it is investing 300 million euros ($390 million) to expand its continental European data center. Google Inc. said Wednesday it will upgrade the facility in Belgium to meet growing demand for its online services

Back in October of last year Google opened its data center doors to all with a new project dubbed “Where the internet lives” that gives anyone a unique behind the scenes look at its facilities responsible for handling 20 billion web pages indexed per day, 3 billion daily searches, and free mail to 425 million Gmail users.

New Google data centers to bring 30 percent speed increase to areas worldwide

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According to a report from the Economic Times, new data centers in Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong are set to bring more speed to Google’s services for many areas. Construction on these data center sites began in 2011 at the sum of $300 million, and, according to today’s report, they are pegged to bring a 30 percent speed increase to Google services for neighboring regions. The Singapore facility is expected to go up in the next few months, while the Taiwan is pegged for the second half. No timetable has been given on the Hong Kong facility.

As an Internet-relying company, one big focus area for Google is speed. The new data centers are going to hopefully bring more speed to areas that normally aren’t as fast. Lalitesh Katragadda, head of product at Google India, explained: “Internet connectivity speed in India is not very high. These data centres will be crucial to this market due to its proximity.” Outside of Asia, Google has seven other data centers across the world. Several are in the U.S., with one each in Finland, Belgium, and Ireland as well. [Economic Times via TNW]


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Google adds 330K miles of biking navigation to Google Maps for Android in 10 countries

Google just launched biking navigation and directions for the Android version of Google Maps in 10 countries.

The countries —Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom— also got desktop biking directions last month. Today’s rollout specifically includes voice-guided Google Maps Navigation (beta) for turn-by-turn directions across a half-gigameter of biking lanes.

Google Maps Software Engineer Larry Powelson elaborated:

Today, there are more than 330,000 miles (equal to more than 530,000 kilometers, or half a gigameter) of green biking lines in Google Maps. Dark green lines on the map show dedicated bike trails and paths with no motor vehicles, light green lines show streets with bike lanes and dashed green lines show other streets recommended for cycling. Biking navigation even helps you avoid steep hills.

Check out the official Google Lat Long Blog for more information.



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