Google

Google has been killing of Google Play Edition devices left and right over the past year and today, the final one has been given the axe. As noticeable on the homepage of the Play Store, the Google Play Edition HTC One M8 is no longer available for purchase. The device was listed at $699 and released last year.

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A new report from The Information claims that Google is preparing to sell cellular plans directly to customers. The report, citing “three people with knowledge of the plans,” says that Google will sell customers the service and manage their calls and data, much like other U.S. carriers:
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Google has changed its mind and signed the student privacy pledge endorsed by President Obama last week, reports the WSJ. The pledge commits companies not to sell student data or use targeted ads on education products.

A total of 75 companies signed the pledge last week, including other tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, but Google declined, saying that it already had these commitments in place. Google’s change of heart may have been influenced by Obama’s statement that he would ensure parents were aware of companies that had not signed-up … 
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After reports this week that Google was close to making an investment in SpaceX, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s privately funded company working to make advancements in space travel, the companies today have made an official announcement.

Google is leading a billion dollar financing round with Fidelity giving the two companies collectively almost 10% of SpaceX:
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According to a new report from The Information, Google is currently considering investing in SpaceX, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s privately funded company working to make advancements in space travel. Rather than SpaceX projects looking to enable low-cost space travel, Google’s potential investment, according to the report, would be to help “support the development of SpaceX satellites that could beam low-cost Internet around the globe to billions who don’t have it.”

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Performer search left, venue search right

If you search for a band or live venue, there’s a high chance it’s because you want to buy tickets for an upcoming show. Google is now making that easier by displaying upcoming events in the search results, with a direct link to purchase tickets.

It may take a few days to start seeing these results, as Google has just explained to webmasters for bands and venues the steps they need to take to ensure the information shows up in searches. They can either add a little HTML to their webpages, or install a widget that does it for them … 
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Google has today relaunched its review program previously called City Experts as Local Guides, and hopes to engage the community and get more people involved through what looks to be some much more friendly branding and fun new features. While Google previously touted the “exclusive benefits” you could receive through the program and required “50 high-quality reviews” for entry, the new program instead suggests that you “help others and support businesses” and encourages you to “be yourself.”

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PwC—short for PricewaterhouseCoopers—is a large multinational professional services network, and the company announced in October of last year that it would begin working with Google to bring “a variety of new and innovative technologies to companies around the world.” Reading that sounds unspecific and, frankly, because Google is always working on new technology, these kinds of announcements don’t really catch the eye of the public.

Today, though, PwC has announced a specific venture that Google is joining, and this one intends to reimagine the military health system in the United States…

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Google is getting serious about its self-driving car initiative.

Reuters reports on Wednesday that Google has entered discussions with several top automative manufacturers about self-driving cars, including General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen and Daimler, the German company behind Mercedes-Benz. The company has also partnered with a number of auto suppliers to develop and refine self-driving systems and components, such as Continental AG, Robert Bosch, LG Electronics and Nvidia.
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The second developer conference for Google’s Project Ara is happening today, and the ATAP team took some time this morning to show the world the second iteration of the modular smartphone—dubbed Spiral 2. While the hardware for the updated prototype is said to be complete at this point, the firmware still needs a bit work, as mentioned on stage by ATAP’s Paul Eremenko. But that aside, this new version continues to usher in the Project Ara mentality that consumers should be free to use hardware (much like we use software) to build a phone based on their needs—not the needs a company has determined they likely have.

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fC7yrj984]

Google announced today that it’s releasing mobile apps for its Google Classroom service for both Android and iOS devices. The company officially launched Classroom to its Apps for Education customers in the US during the summer offering them a web-based platform for planning lessons, handing out assignments, and working alongside students. Teachers and students will now be able to access those features from mobile devices through the new apps and Google is also adding a could of new features to the platform.

In addition to a new teacher assignments page and archiving functions for Classroom, Google notes that the mobile apps will let users snap a photo to share or attach to assignments, share content from other apps, and access content cached for offline viewing.
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The latest numbers from app metrics tracking firm AppFigures reveal that Google’s Play Store topped Apple’s App Store based on total number of apps and developers for the first time in 2014. Google moved ahead of Apple with 1.43 million Android apps in the Play Store, compared to 1.21 million on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
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Microsoft’s sleazy and highly publicized Scroogled ad campaign has been its primary marketing effort against Google for two years now, but it appears that the program is finally dead. Speculation began to arise last year that Microsoft was slowly killing the controversial ad campaign after corporate restructuring.

Today, Winbeta noticed that the Scroogled website is no longer live, and instead redirects to a new “Why Microsoft” page. The Scroogled page had been live up until very recently, but without much publicity from Microsoft. The death of the Scroogled webpage also comes with no comment from Microsoft, who appears to want to act like it never happened in the first place.

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First announced in July of 2014, Google has this week launched—in partnership with Motiv and the city of Mountain View—a free shuttle service to help residents of the Santa Clara city get around town. Besides being completely free to the public, the service touts the fact that its first four shuttles are completely electric, can seat up to 16 passengers, have free WiFi for all riders, and have bike racks as well as wheelchair access.

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While the American auto market has been dominated by the Big Three in Ford, General Motors and Chrysler for several decades, the landscape is beginning to change as technology-based competitors like Tesla and Google enter the scene. To keep up with the breakthrough pace of innovation, it may be necessary for the trio of auto makers to partner up with their new rivals in the coming years.

Right on queue with that idea, Time reports on Tuesday that General Motors is open to working with Google on developing self-driving car technologies. “I’m not in charge of deciding what we will and won’t do, but I’d say we’d certainly be open to having a discussion with them,” Jon Lauckner, Chief Technology Officer at General Motors, said in an interview at the Detroit Auto Show this week.
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According to a report this morning from Reuters, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun sat down with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to talk about a potential investment in October, but nothing came of the talks. Facebook being banned in China—the home and birthplace of Xiaomi—was one of the main discussion points, with both CEOs considering what the implications would be of the international investment. While Xiaomi was definitely worried of the “political fallout” that could come of the deal, China’s largest smartphone maker also considered its important relationship with Google–as the company’s phones all run Android—as a reason to distance itself from Facebook.

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