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The Kickstarter-funded, Android-based Ouya debuted last year to some so-so reviews, but gaming console isn’t giving up just yet. Ouya, which retails for $99 for an 8GB unit, is making the limited edition, white 16GB unit now a permanent addition to the lineup and making it black according to TechCrunch.

Ouya will maintain the $129 price tag for the storage-increased model, but both versions will see some iteration to the hardware…

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Google CEO Larry Page (centre) with Nest co-founders Matt Rogers amd Tony Fadell (photo: technologyreview.com)

Tony Fadell and the rest of the Nest team will become Google’s “core hardware group,” working on a variety of hardware projects and given access to “as many resources as it needs,” according to an unnamed source cited by TechCrunch.

The new division will still work on hardware devices, but not necessarily thermostats or smoke detectors. In fact, Google would like Fadell to work on gadgets that make more sense for the company. Will it be a phone or a tablet? It’s unclear for now […]

When it comes to budget, Google is willing to let the Nest team use as many resources as it needs. In other words, the company is getting serious about consumer hardware, and Motorola was just a false start … 
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Even after Google announced that it was selling Motorola to Lenovo, there were still many questions surrounding the deal and what exactly Lenovo would be getting for the low price of $2.91 billion. We now know that, not included in the deal, is the Advanced Technology and Projects group led by former DARPA director Regina Dugan. This was revealed during a conference call with Lenovo. The Verge reports that the group will be integrated into Google’s Android team. Dugan will report to Sundar Pichai, but will still run things relatively independently.

This team consists of around 100 people, who will all make the move to Google’s Mountain View office now. The group is most well known for the Project Ara modular phone. This technology allowed for different phone configurations to be constructed from various parts. Google plans to scale the project and use its plethora of resources to speed up the process. Google will also work to accelerate other projects led by Dugan, such as ones pertaining to security tattoos and biotech sensors.

Google will hold onto all of the patents obtained by the Advanced Technology and Projects group, although Lenovo will have a license to them.

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Google CEO Larry Page and Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing

Update: Motorola and Google have both confirmed the acquisition of Motorola by Lenovo for $2.91 billion. Google will, however, retain the “vast majority” of Motorola’s patents. Google CEO Larry Page says that Motorola will be better unitized and more beneficial to Lenovo. This will also give Google more time to drive “innovation across the Android ecosystem.” The deal still has to pass regulatory approval in China and the U.S., and until then, Google says it is business as usual for the two companies.

According a tweet from Reuters reporter Gerry Shih, Lenovo is nearing completion on a deal to purchase Motorola from Google for around $3 billion. A report from China Daily news corroborates Reuters, but claims the deal is closer to the $2 billion mark. China Daily claims that the deal will be announced to the public Thursday morning in Beijing, which is just a few hours from now. Google is also holding an earnings call tomorrow, so it’s very possible that the information will officially drop during the call.

TechCrunch has “confirmed reports” of the acquisition, saying the terms of the deal have not yet been revealed, but that it was around $3 billion. It’s also important to note that the deal includes Motorola Mobility, which Google paid $12.5 billion for, not the entire Motorola company.

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Samsung announced in a press release today that the South Korean company has signed an agreement with Google to mutually license one another’s existing patents as well as all patents filed over the next decade.

The agreement follows countless patent lawsuits between Samsung and Apple regarding hardware implementations of various cellular technologies as well as mobile software design and features.

“This agreement with Google is highly significant for the technology industry,” said Dr. Seungho Ahn, the Head of Samsung’s Intellectual Property Center. “Samsung and Google are showing the rest of the industry that there is more to gain from cooperating than engaging in unnecessary patent disputes.”

Since Google and Samsung don’t typically engage in patent battles with each other, the contract doesn’t seem poised to actually prevent many lawsuits. The move will likely prove to be more symbolic of the companies’ commitment to collaboration than an attempt to quell disputes.

HP Chromebook 11

Since its release, Google has touted that Chrome OS is incredibly secure and can be used for any type of use case. In a blog post on the Chromium Blog, the company announced today that it is offering a total of $2.71 million USD to anyone that exploit Chrome OS. In order to compete for a portion of that pot, developers have travel to the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, which takes place in March.

The criteria for this Pwnium contest, which Google has been holding for years, is pretty specific. Developers and hackers won’t get money for exploiting any portion of the operating system. Instead, Google has guidelines for how much they will be paid, depending on how deep the exploit is.

• $110,000 USD: browser or system-level compromise in guest mode or as a logged-in user, delivered via a web page.
• $150,000 USD: compromise with device persistence: guest to guest with interim reboot, delivered via a web page.

Google will also consider cash bonuses for demonstrating a particularly impressive or surprising exploit. Hackers will be able to choose between the Haswell-based Acer C720 and the ARM-based HP Chromebook 11.

If this sounds like something you want to try, Google requires that interested parties register ahead of the even by emailing security@chromium.org. Registration will close at 5:00 P.M PST on March 10th.

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Next Friday, January 31st, President Obama will embark on a Presidential Hangout Road Trip promoting his State of the Union address to Congress and responding to questions submitted via Google+ and YouTube.

The Presidential Hangout Road Trip is actually a Google+ Hangouts session allowing the President to respond online to user submitted questions and topics he addressed in Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech.

YouTube will be live streaming both the SOTU address and the Republican response starting at 9pm EST next Tuesday. Check below for how to submit a question to the President during the Hangout Road Trip:
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi-ljpuEGnA]

The latest area to be added to Google Street View is the test track from the original British version of Top Gear, with the imagery featuring The Stig challenging the Google car to a race in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG … 
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Early last year, Google announced its intentions to make Provo, Utah its third Fiber city. In October, the company opened up sign-ups for a few customers along the local Veracity Networks provider, but told everyone else they would have to wait. Today, Google has announced that customers that live along the former iProvo can start signing up for Google Fiber.

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It’s no secret that 2013 was the best year that Motorola has had for quite a while, even contending for the crown of the best OEM of the year. Much of the company’s success is thanks to its CEO, Dennis Woodside. Woodside has made headlines for his comments before, and just recently, he conducted an interview with Trusted Reviews, during which he made some very interesting comments regarding the pricing of phones, as well as customization. Motorola has revolutionized both of these categories already, with Moto Maker and the Moto X and the $179 Moto G (via Droid Life).

First, Woodside commented on how even the $179 price tag for the Moto G is considered a lot of money in many parts of the world. He adds that the company is looking for ways to further trim down the prices of devices.

“In much of the world $179 is a lot of money so there’s a big market at a price point of less than $179. We’re going to look at that and just delivering on that value promise is super important. I mean why can’t these devices be $50? There’s no reason that can’t happen so we’re going to push that.”

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While there have been cases of Google Glass wearers being told they must remove them to enter anywhere from bars to workplaces, and even one ticketed by police for wearing them while driving, you wouldn’t generally expect wearing them on a night out to lead to being questioned by the Department of Homeland Security. But that’s exactly what happened to one man, who wore a pair of prescription Glass to a movie theatre, in an email to The Gadgeteer.

About an hour into the movie, a guy comes near my seat, shoves a badge that had some sort of a shield on it, yanks the Google Glass off my face and says “follow me outside immediately”. It was quite embarrassing and outside of the theater there were about 5-10 cops and mall cops … 
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Google today announced a new project designed to test the quality and connection speeds of internet service providers. The service, known as Google’s Video Quality Report, will be available in Canada  first, though it should expand to more countries as time progresses.

To perform the test, Google uses data related to how well the ISP can handle playing back a high definition YouTube video. The ISPs are graded based on the performance of other providers in a given area. If the ISP is able to load 90% of 720p YouTube videos, then it will be branded as “YouTube HD Verified” for the area and be at the top of the verification scale.

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From 9to5toys.com

For a limited time only, Google is offering 25% off of select Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 accessories on the Play Store. Unfortunately not every accessory qualifies for the deal, but many of the most popular ones do. The Nexus 7 sleeve, case, and folio are all available for 25% percent off, while the Nexus 5 bumper and QuickCover qualify for the offer.

• Nexus 7 Sleeve – $22.49
• Nexus 7 Case – $37.49
• Nexus 7 Folio – $37.49
• LG QuickCover for Nexus 5 – $37.49
• Nexus 5 Bumper Case – $26.24

Of course, even with the 25% discount, all of these accessories are still considerably more expensive than they should be. You can find much better cases and folios, for both the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7, a lot cheaper on Amazon. If you want official, Google/LG made products, however, than this deal is certainly nothing to complain about.

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