Google

As Hangouts on Air grows in popularity, Google is working to standardize it as a professional tool. With that in mind, the company is introducing “Control Room,” providing Hangout users the opportunity to “adjust the audio and video levels of your participants so viewers can simply enjoy the show.”

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If these words resonate with you: the Amiga 500 computer can live again in your Chrome browser then this story courtesy of CNET is for you. Google developer Christian Stefansen is introducing a whole new world to the Amiga 500 thanks to Portable Native Client software and Google Chrome.

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Google’s former head of patents Michelle Lee has been named as the interim head of the USPTO, starting work there on 13th January, reports Yahoo! Finance.

Although technically Lee is deputy director, the agency hasn’t had a director since David Kappos left back in February, meaning that Lee will be running the show for the immediate future at least.

The appointment is an interesting choice given Google’s vocal criticism of patent trolls … 
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Google this afternoon announced a major update to its Google Keep service on the web, just in time for the holiday season. The service has been updated with a totally new design, based heavily on the Keep Android app. There are now full color notes, a custom font, and text that scales to fit the size of the note. Also new is the ability to rearrange items in a list. The search functionality has also been improved, and a navigation drawer has also been added to make it easier to switch between notes.

• Sleek new design: many of your favorite things from the Android app are now on the web – full color notes, text that scales to fit the note, and a custom font just for Keep
• Rearrange items in lists: keep everything in order, all the time
• Improved search: finding the note you’re looking for is easier than ever
• Navigation drawer: quickly switch between your active and archived notes, or get a custom view of all of your notes with reminders

Try out all the features for yourself at keep.google.com.
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Just in time for the holidays and peak travel season, Google is adding some awesome features to Gmail on Android. Just announced via Google+, Gmail on Android now includes a vacation responder, attachment support for any file type and print capability for hard copies of emails for users on Android 4.4 KitKat.

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Looking back at late September, Google released Chrome Apps which should not be confused with Chrome OS or Chrome’s browser apps. These ‘Chrome Apps’ are full-fledged applications complete with offline support and include apps like Any.do, Pocket, and many more available in the “For your desktop” collection in the Chrome Web Store.

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Google’s Android Device Manager first came our attention in August as a web-only tool to help locate your lost Android device. Now, with the release of the Device Manager app into the Play Store all Android users cane have a dedicated app to help you:

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A quick but notable update to Google’s Play Books app as it includes some performance enhancements and a new option to upload files. The newest update, available now via the Play Store includes the ability to “upload EPUB or PDF files to your library from your phone or tablet. From email or Downloads, touch the file to open it and choose Upload to Play Books.”

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Chalk up another Google Drive update for iOS as Google just announced a new sorting feature for files. Google’s iOS version of Google Drive has received quite a few updates in recent months to bring it in line with its Android counterpart. The new sorting feature should prove useful to just about every Google Drive user as it’s a much-needed and important feature.

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The world called for another aspect of our Google lives to be invaded by Google+ and voila…Google+ inside Google Play. Google just announced via…where else…Google+ that a new version of the Play Store is rolling out to “make it easier for you to find and share recommendations with your friends and family.”

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In a flood of device announcements this afternoon, Google has just released a white Nexus 7 to go along with the black model this holiday season. Unfortunately, the white color option is only available in the 32GB storage option and with only WiFi connectivity. This means that those looking for LTE are forced to choose the black model.

The white Nexus 7 will run you $269.99, but thanks to a promotion Google is currently running, you will also get a $35 Google Play credit, which is essentially a free Chromecast. Other than the color, the white variant is identical to the Nexus 7 that we’ve come to know and love.

The white Nexus 7 is available on Google Play now, and is listed as shipping within 1-2 business days.

Earlier this week, evleaks reported that a mysterious LG V510 tablet was indeed the next Nexus tablet. At the time, this seemed rather believable, as the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 had already been refreshed for the year, leaving the Nexus 10 as the odd-man out. According to some source code shared by LG, however, the V510 is not in fact a Nexus tablet, but rather a Google Play Edition of its 8.3-inch G Pad (via Droid Life).

To see for yourself, simply download the source code file from LG’s website and unzip it. Within the .zip will be three files, two of which mention the V510 as an LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition.

LG-V510(G-Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition)_Android_KK_V510_10d.Android.tar.gz
LG-V510(G-Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition)_Android_KK_V510_10d_Kernel.tar.gz
V510_README.txt

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(via <a href="http://www.flickr.com/apollo_zac" target="_blank">Flickr</a>)

Google announced today a major round of app additions for its media streaming Chromecast HDMI stick including Plex, Vevo, Songza, and more.

Chromecast, which retails for $35 (currently $32.88 on Amazon Prime), can now play local files synced with your Plex media library from iOS, Android, or Chrome. Plex support is highly requested and offers a major advantage for content consumers looking to play content from a device to an HDTV.

Today’s update also brings support for the music video streaming service Vevo as well as the music discovery radio Songza.
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Google’s Barge projects have apparently been put on hold according a new CNET report this morning. The report indicates that Google is definitely planning on completing the project, but at this point it looks to be well into 2014 before it sees the light of day.

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Play Store gamers take note as Google plans to introduce a whole slew of new game categories to the Play Store in February of next year. The new categories began appearing for developers yesterday, however changes will not take place until the new categories go live for the public next year.

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Google Street View has taken us to some pretty funky places, including the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Eiffel Tower, a Bond villain’s lair, a trek up to the top of Mount Fuji , animal park tours, a Venice Gondola ride and visits inside Dr Who’s TARDIS, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider and a submarine.

But there are still some places Street View doesn’t yet reach, so if you have a favourite hike, cycle ride or rock climb you want to share with others, you can now create your own Street View style tours through Google’s Views community.

Have you ever tried to convey the feeling of walking through your favorite park? Or have you wanted to create a virtual tour of your business to attract customers? Well, starting today, it’s now possible for you to build your own Street View experiences to do just that. Using a new feature in our Views community, you can easily connect your photo spheres to create 360º virtual tours of the places you love, then share them with the world on Google Maps …

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Google’s proposed data center (red icon) location in the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate in Kowloon, next to a golf course.

News that Google was building new data centers in Hong Kong have circulated since the beginning of the year. Google has, however, now decided to cancel the project in Hong Kong. The company blames real estate acquisition issues as the reason for the decision. It isn’t immediately apparent if Google’s contentious relationship with the Chinese Government is to blame or if Honk Kong’s operation costs were at issue. It was reported in September 2011 that Google had already acquired  2.7 hectares of land n the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate in Kowloon which was expected to employ 25 full-time Googlers by this year…

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Hold the phone! As Android 4.4.1 approaches a week in age, Google has already started a rollout of Android 4.4.2 for Nexus devices. As of now, the update is already confirmed to be appearing on Nexus 5, Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 devices. According to a change-log provided by Sprint of all places, the update includes fixes for:

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Google Product manager Eran Arkin just made a quiet but perhaps major announcement in how Google+ will handle brands and social ads moving forward. Google will begin testing a new type of monetization for Google+ called +Post ads. In simple terms, Google will let brands turn their Google+ content into display ads across the web.

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