Google’s hardware ambitions have expanded massively over the past couple of years, and along with that we’ve seen an increase in the company’s retail presence. Now, we’re hearing a report that points to Google opening a retail shop in Chicago.
Google, or rather Alphabet’s Fiber division, is investigating bringing their service to Los Angeles and Chicago. The two cities are significant in that they’d be the largest areas Fiber has worked with. This is hot off the news that AT&T will be expanding gigabit internet to 38 metropolitan areas by the end of next year.
Population-wise, Los Angeles and Chicago are the second and third largest cities in the US, with Google noting a combined population of over six million people. Google notes how Fiber could positively benefit the two cities’ startup scenes.
Currently, the process is still at an investigative state and there is no guarantee Google will bring Fiber to the two cities. The company is going through their checklist process and will be in discussion with city leaders. According to their checklist document, cities have six weeks to meet Fiber’s requirements. Afterwards, Google deliberates and reviews for an unspecified amount of time.
Including these two cities, there are 11 other cities being investigated for Google Fiber deployment. The service is currently up and running in three cities, with upcoming installs in another six. For comparison, AT&T’s gigabit internet service is already up and running in parts of Los Angeles and a total of 18 other areas.
Per an earlier report, Google Fiber is being spun off from Google as part of the Alphabet re-org. The Access and Energy division also includes the OnHub router, Project Link, Project Sunroof, and Project Titan.
Motorola is opening its very first physical retail store later this week. Moto Shop, as it’s called, is opening in downtown Chicago, the company’s hometown, on Saturday, November 7, in time for holiday shopping to begin. In its blog post, the company notes that because smartphones and wearables have made powerful technology more personal, you should be able to go and experience them fully, in real life. Moto wants to make the shopping experience as personal as it can…
Google announced today that its rebranding its Google Shopping Express service while expanding the same day delivery service to new markets and merchants. While announcing the new shorter “Google Express” name, Google announced that the service is now available in Chicago, Boston, and Washington D.C. After first rolling out the service a year ago, it’s now accessible to more than 7 million people.
Google also noted some of the big merchants it’s added support for in recent months, including alcohol delivery in the Bay Area, making for a total of 16 new shopping options through Express:
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwBJnzgTx10]
Google, Staples, and DonorsChoose.org teamed up to surprise teachers in Chicago by #flashfunding all of their projects. Mayor Emanuel gives the good news to Dawes Elementary School teachers and students.
Setting Google Now reminders by voice is all very well when you’re walking down the street, but you can feel just a little self-conscious doing it in an open-plan office or coffee-shop. Google now allows you to add reminders by typing them directly into the searchbar on your laptop, reveals the Google Blog.
You don’t have to use the mobile Google Search app to add reminders. Just search Google for add reminder or create reminder, enter a name, a date or a place. You can also enter specific queries like: add reminder to buy milk tomorrow or create reminder to buy sandwich when I am in Chicago. Just click “remind me on Google Now” …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJdpRJ873r8
It might not be as interesting as Google’s floating barge project that will see the company bring interactive technology showrooms to cities in the US, but Google has just opened a number of temporary retail locations leading into the holidays.
The pop-up locations are dubbed Google Winter Wonderlabs and Google’s new site describing the retail experience lists locations for New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey, and Sacramento.
Google is using the stores to let customers try out and purchase the Nexus 7, Chromebooks, and Chromecast (no mention of Google Glass), but it also has a “Snow globe” room that lets people create slo-mo videos with animated snow fall and “Play Zones” with various product demos set up.
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Reuters interviewed the U.S. judge today who dismissed Apple’s patent court case against Motorola, and the details behind the jurist’s reasoning for tossing the lawsuit are as interesting as they are controversial.
Richard Posner sits on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago and disputes whether software and related tech industries should even have patents for their products.
“It’s not clear that we really need patents in most industries,” said Posner, referring to the slew of features in smartphones that are legally protected. “You just have this proliferation of patents. It’s a problem.”
Posner, 73, argued the pharmaceutical industry better deserved protection for its intellectual property because of the, as Reuters coined it, “enormous investment it takes to create a successful drug.” He tossed Apple’s lawsuit against Google’s Motorola Mobility last month and denied an injunction against the sale of Motorola devices using Apple’s patented technology.
The judge attributed Apple’s scramble to attack competitors allegedly using its technology to a “constant struggle for survival.”
“As in any jungle, the animals will use all the means at their disposal, all their teeth and claws that are permitted by the ecosystem,” Posner contended.
According to a report from Chicago Business (via The Verge), Google is considering moving Motorola Mobility’s main offices to Chicago. The report claims sources have confirmed the company is looking for 500,000 square feet of office space in downtown Chicago that could house up to 3000 employees, more than enough room for Motorola’s new headquarters. The report said those 3,000 employees would likely be relocated from Motorola’s current Libertyville HQ, but not involve those from its River North location:
Among the handful of sites under consideration are upper floors of the landmark Merchandise Mart in River North and Fulton Market Cold Storage, a large warehouse that’s slated for redevelopment in the West Loop, according to a source familiar with the matter… Top real estate executives from Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters have toured several downtown sites over the past several month.
ChicagoBusiness said acquiring the property is still dependant on Google completely closing the acquisition with approvals from regulators in China. Apart from its main campus in Mountain View, Google is no stranger to downtown offices with about 3,000 employees currently calling downtown Manhattan home at the company’s second largest World offices.
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Thanks to Bay Area-based startup Cataloupe Systems, Google Wallet is once again expanding its reach, this time with NFC-enabled vending machines.
According to a report from All Things D, The startup has already installed Google Wallet-powered payment terminals in roughly 6,000 vending machines across Chicago, the mid-Atlantic region, and San Francisco. A good start, but a fraction of the approximately six million vending machines in the U.S., 80,000 of which Cantaloupe is responsible for.
While credit card payments among users tend to be much less for lower priced items due to transaction fees, the company plans to offset those concerns with coupons and rewards delivered to users through the app. Users will also be able to send real-time complaints and possibly even requests for particular products to be included next time the machine is restocked.
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