Google

If you have ever wondered how many Bitcoins you can afford with your American dollars, you can now turn to Google. Following in the footsteps of Bing and Yandex, Google has partnered with CoinBase to add a Bitcoin currency conversion tool to its search results.
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Google Play Store now lets you flag content as inappropriate from the Web

Zac Hall Jul 16 2014 - 6:32 am PT

The ability to flag content on the Google Play Store as inappropriate, a feature long available on Android, has recently hit the Web version as well. The link to do just that can now be found on the web interface under Report within the Additional information section of the content’s description. While the feature is likely targeted toward apps that may violate some policy or have a lower-than-appropriate content rating, it does extend to other media like books, music and TV shows, and music distributed on the Google Play Store as well.

Google continues enterprise push for Google apps with delegated contacts search

Ben Lovejoy Jul 16 2014 - 6:26 am PT

Google has announced a new feature for enterprise users of Google Apps: the ability for assistants and other team members to search for particular people in their boss’s contacts list.

Contacts delegation allows enterprise users to delegate full access to the contacts in their “My Contacts” group without granting access to their mail or anything else in their accounts. […]

To save users time when locating specific delegated contacts, we’ve now added search functionality. Delegates can search delegator contacts by selecting the delegator contact group in the navigation pane, and then searching.

It’s not the most exciting of new features, but is one of those small things that can make a worthwhile difference to a PA who might have to contact a dozen or more people a day – and every improvement like that helps Google build its case for broader enterprise adoption of Google Apps.

Google partners with Adobe to release unified Noto Sans CJK font family for Chinese, Japanese and Korean

9to5 Staff Jul 15 2014 - 5:33 pm PT

Google has joined forces with Adobe to release a unified Noto Sans CJK font family for Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean, four languages that represent nearly one-quarter of readers worldwide. Noto Sans CJK is a high-quality Pan-CJK font family that aims to provide a richer reading experience to the East Asian community across operating systems and apps.

Google explained the technical details of the font family in a recent blog post:

Noto Sans CJK is a sans serif typeface designed as an intermediate style between the modern and traditional. It is intended to be a multi-purpose digital font for user interface designs, digital content, reading on laptops, mobile devices, and electronic books. Noto Sans CJK is provided in seven weights: Thin, Light, DemiLight, Regular, Medium, Bold, and Black.

Fully supporting CJK requires tens of thousands of characters—these languages share the majority of ideographic characters, but there are also characters that are unique to only one language or to a subset of the languages. One of the primary design goals of Noto Sans CJK is that each script should retain its own distinctive look, which follows regional conventions, while remaining harmonious with the others.

Adobe has released the same font family under the name Source Han Sans.

Google+ finally removes naming restrictions, no longer requires you to use your real name

9to5 Staff Jul 15 2014 - 2:21 pm PT

Google on Tuesday announced one of the most highly requested changes to Google+ since the social network debuted over three years ago: no more naming restrictions. Google+ users are now free to use whichever name they desire, whether it is a real name, online pseudonym or combination of the both.
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Former Ford President Alan Mulally joins Google’s Board of Directors, may help jumpstart autonomous driving initiatives

9to5 Staff Jul 15 2014 - 1:08 pm PT

Google announced on Tuesday that it has appointed Alan Mulally to its Board of Directors. Mulally served as Ford President and CEO between September 2006 and June 2014, retiring from his post on July 1st. Mulally, who was appointed on July 9th, is serving on Google’s Audit Committee. His knowledge and connections in the automotive industry could be valuable towards the company’s self-driving car initiatives.
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Google’s new ‘Android Fundamentals’ course teaches you how to develop Android apps

9to5 Staff Jul 15 2014 - 12:52 pm PT

Google has announced a new online training course called Developing Android Apps: Android Fundamentals, featuring Google Developer Advocates Reto Meier, Dan Galpin, and Katherine Kuan. The course delivers step-by-step training on how to develop Android apps, including some of the best practices for Android development and mobile development as a whole. All of the course materials are available for free through the educational website Udacity.
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Google Chrome for iOS update adds Cast support to web pages, gets a tweaked icon

Stephen Hall Jul 15 2014 - 11:21 am PT

Google has released an updated version of the Google Chrome application for iOS today, bringing at least one interesting new feature to the app: mobile websites that have Cast support will now work with all of your Cast-capable devices. It’s unclear how the feature works at the moment, but according to the release notes, developers are going to need to add support to their webpages before they can take advantage of the feature.

Also, as will likely be praised by iOS users everywhere, the version 36.0.1985.49 update goes the way of Google Hangouts and finally gets rid of the infamous “lip” located at the bottom of the app icon:

Sprint HTC One (M8) receiving Android 4.4.3 update with WiFi calling support, more

Chance Miller Jul 15 2014 - 8:58 am PT

Sprint this morning announced that it has started rolling out an update to Android 4.4.3 for its HTC One (M8) variant. The update today carries the build number 2.16.651 and packs a variety of enhancements and changes. The biggest change, however, is the addition of WiFi calling for customers. Sprint has been gradually rolling this feature out to new devices since the beginning of this year, so it’s certainly nice to see it finally hit the One (M8).

Google announces ‘Project Zero,’ wants to put an end to online targeted attacks

Stephen Hall Jul 15 2014 - 7:14 am PT

Google today announced a new initiative it is calling “Project Zero,” a broad attempt at reducing the number of internet users that are harmed every day by a variety of different types of targeted attacks. Google believes that everyone should be able to use the internet without constant worry that attackers might use software vulnerabilities nefariously, and due to that, the Mountain View corporation has assembled a team of experienced security researchers to help improve security across the internet.

Talking Schmidt: Disgusted and Embarrassed by leaks

9to5 Staff Jul 15 2014 - 5:44 am PT

The massive employee wage-fixing antitrust lawsuit between several Silicon Valley companies is only getting more interesting. An email exchange involving former Google CEO Eric Schmidt surfaced last week, shining light on Mountain View’s attempt to prevent Facebook from poaching its employees.
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Google’s smart contact lens one step closer to reality as licensing deal signed

Ben Lovejoy Jul 15 2014 - 5:32 am PT

Google’s vision (sorry) of smart contact lenses that monitor glucose levels in diabetics are one step closer to reality as it signed a commercial licensing deal with Alcon, the eyecare division of the pharmaceutical giant Novartis.

The lens uses sensors to measure the glucose content of tears and transmit that data to a smartphone app that automatically alerts users if their levels are too high or too low. Google reported back in January that it has completed several clinical trials, and that it would be partnering with other companies to manufacture the devices …
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Google now flags Flash content in search results on Android/iOS devices, saving clicks

Ben Lovejoy Jul 15 2014 - 5:03 am PT

If you’ve ever been frustrated by visiting a website on your smartphone or tablet and finding it won’t work because it uses Flash, you’ll welcome the latest Google initiative: it is now flagging Flash content in its search results, warning that the site may not work on your device.

Starting today, we will indicate to searchers when our algorithms detect pages that may not work on their devices. For example, Adobe Flash is not supported on iOS devices or on Android versions 4.1 and higher, and a page whose contents are mostly Flash may be noted

As Google notes, Android abandoned Flash support as of Jelly Bean due to reliability, security and performance concerns. Adobe has been forced to issue a succession of security updates to Flash, the most recent being two emergency updates earlier this year. Google says it hopes the move, coupled to Web Fundamentals and Web Starter Kit initiatives for developers will encourage the use of HTML5 in place of Flash.

Leaked screenshots show off revamped Play Store designs – bigger, bolder, clearer

Ben Lovejoy Jul 14 2014 - 4:26 am PT

Here’s what the Google Play Store is likely to look like when it gets its ‘Material Design’ revamp based on the new look and feel of Android L. Google has already started rolling out the new design language on the web in the form of new pages for Docs, Sheets and Slides.

The screenshots were obtained by Android Police, which says that the redesign of the Play Store is “well underway” …
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Google launches augmented reality game Ingress on iOS

Chance Miller Jul 13 2014 - 8:33 pm PT

After becoming available to all Android users back in December, Google this evening finally launched its popular Ingress game on iOS. The game originally launched in a closed beta all the way back in 2012, but has slowly been expanding to gradually larger audiences ever since.

Former Google [X] director and head of Glass Babak Parviz joins Amazon

Stephen Hall Jul 12 2014 - 7:22 pm PT

Google X director Babak Parviz founded and led both the Google Glass and contact lens projects at Google, but it appears he has now left the Mountain View corporation in favor of Amazon. This news comes shortly after just two months ago stepping aside to let former Old Navy and Gap marketing VP Ivy Ross take the Google Glass helm.

Nova Launcher updated with new design and animation options inspired by Android L

Chance Miller Jul 11 2014 - 2:03 pm PT

The talented TeslaCoil developers this afternoon updated their insanely popular Android app Nova Launcher with a variety of new features and enhancements. We just told you how to install Android “L” on your Nexus 5 or Nexus 7, but if you don’t have one of those devices or don’t want to put up with the bugs, today’s Nova Launcher update will certainly keep you satisfied.

Google starts incorporating ‘Material Design’ on Docs web pages

Stephen Hall Jul 11 2014 - 1:51 pm PT

Google showed off its new “Material” design language alongside Android “L” at Google I/O 2014. And while you can follow our guide to get a glimpse at Android L in its full glory on your Nexus device, you can also simply load up a few new web pages that Google has redesigned in Google Docs.

Google reveals ‘Right to be forgotten’ criteria and announces advisory panel

Ben Lovejoy Jul 11 2014 - 4:42 am PT

Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond has revealed in a Guardian comment piece some of the criteria the company is using to decide whether or not to act on ‘right to be forgotten‘ requests, and says that it is creating an independent advisory council to assist it in making these decisions.

[The criteria] include whether the information relates to a politician, celebrity or other public figure; if the material comes from a reputable news source, and how recent it is; whether it involves political speech; questions of professional conduct that might be relevant to consumers; the involvement of criminal convictions that are not yet “spent”; and if the information is being published by a government …

Google services again facing outages in China after brief restoration this morning

Chance Miller Jul 10 2014 - 8:53 pm PT

Earlier today, access to Google’s variety of web services was finally restored in China, after weeks of them being offline. This evening, however, Reuters reports that once again, the Mountain View company’s services are being disrupted in China. This includes tools such as Google Search, Maps, Gmail, advertising services, and more.

Google Keyboard update 3.1.19 moves location of Voice Input button

Chance Miller Jul 10 2014 - 10:42 am PT

Google this morning started rolling out a minor update to its Keyboard app on Android. The update bumps the app to version 3.1.19 and is pretty small. The only notable change is that the Voice Input button has been moved to the top row of the keyboard, on the right side of the auto-complete suggestions. Previously, the button was located next to the spacebar. This change is definitely useful, as many users would previously accidentally tap the voice button when aiming for the space bar.

The update is available on the Play Store now, although it is rolling out slowly.

FTC now alleging Amazon is also unlawfully billing parents for children’s in-app-purchases

Mark Gurman Jul 10 2014 - 9:53 am PT

Amazon is now a part of the Federal Trade Commission’s investigations into technology corporations with mobile application marketplaces unlawfully billing parents for in-app-purchases. Both Apple and Google have been tangled in the allegations with Apple settling earlier this year and Apple telling the FTC to investigate Google. The FTC today announced it is filing a complaint against Amazon, saying that children have been able to buy goods and extras within apps without the consent of parents. The full release from the FTC can be found below:

Google launches YouTube Creator Studio app for iOS

Dom Esposito Jul 10 2014 - 8:42 am PT

Following the release of YouTube Creator Studio for Android, Google has now made the app available for iOS devices. What’s the Creator Studio, you ask? Well, Google has finally created an all-in-one app hub for YouTube creators to access channel/video-specific information. Basically, it’s only helpful if you actually make (or plan to make) YouTube videos.

Google Play Games updated w/ level-up notifications, interface tweaks, more

Chance Miller Jul 10 2014 - 8:38 am PT

Google last night started rolling out an update to Google Play Games that bumped the app to version 2.0. The update includes several new features, some of which were confirmed in the recent Google Play Services 5.0 update, as well. The update today introduces Level-up notification controls, XP rankings, and a few UI tweaks.