Google

Google Ventures, the Google-backed group that “provides seed, venture, and growth-stage funding to the best companies” just released their 2013 year-end report. The group, which has previously backed major names like RetailMeNot, Uber and Nest reports more than 75 new investments this year totaling more than 225 companies in total.

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Google, which was fined $22.5M by the FTC for illegal use of tracking cookies on iPhones even when the user had set Safari to reject them, is asking the UK’s High Court to reject a claim for compensation from a group of British iPhone owners, reports The Guardian.

Google is arguing that any case should be held in the U.S., and that UK courts have no jurisdiction in the matter. It also observes that a similar claim in the USA was dismissed two months ago.

Google has been called “arrogant and immoral” for arguing that a privacy claim brought by internet users in the UK should not be heard by the British legal system […]

In the first group claim brought against Google in the UK, the internet firm has insisted that the lawsuit must be brought in California, where it is based, instead of a British courtroom … 
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Hot on the heels of the HTC One GPE receiving its own Android 4.4.2 update comes news that the Galaxy S 4 variant is now seeing the update arrive. Owners of the GT-i950G should start seeing the OTA update rolling out in the form of a 57.8MB update.

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HTC One Google Play edition owners should look lively as they appear to be next in line for a software update to Android 4.4.2. According to an Android Police report, limited reports are beginning to arrive as HTC One GPE owners are starting to see the update arrive.

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Oh Canada as the country’s Competition Bureau is targeting Google with a formal inquiry. Our neighbors to the north are eyeballing el Goog over concern the company is abusing its position as the worlds most dominant search engine.

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFrjrgBV8K0]

The New York Times reports that Google has just acquired Boston Dynamics, the robotics firm that created machines such as Petman (seen in the video above) and other mechanical terrors wonders that look as close to something out of the Terminator movies as we’ve seen yet.

https://twitter.com/arubin/status/411737161642168320

The buyout comes on the heels of the revelation that the company is planning a move into the robotics industry with Android co-creator Andy Rubin at the helm. Boston Dynamics’ resources and engineers will make an invaluable addition to Google’s growing collection of robotics experts.

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Motorola had a pretty exciting 2013. The company released the highly-anticipated, highly-customizbale, American-made Moto X back in August. The company then released the budget Moto G, which received high reviews from many people. In a recent interview with AP, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside sat down to discuss the company’s past year and give a peak into the future and how the company has changed since its acquisition by Google.

When asked what he thought consumers were most interested in seeing in their future smartphones, Woodside commented that a big area was durability. 
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When I wrote for Fortune in 2010 that inexpensive hardware would allow Android to ‘take over the world’, the concept of smartphones that were priced only slightly above feature phones was just starting to take hold.  Fast forward three years and Android has by some accounts cleared 80% of the world smartphone market. The low end of that Android spectrum, with the exception of a few mediocre handsets (LG’s Optimus line comes to mind), has been, frankly, a mess.

Today there is a truly great, inexpensive Android phone that costs less than $200 unsubsidized, and it is made by Google’s Motorola division.  I’ve tested the Moto G for the past week and a half and I love it. It could easily replace any high end handset on a day to day basis in terms of speed and functionality. The one caveat being the camera is mediocre, but still functional.

I’ll rundown the specs, but the important thing to consider is the price and positioning of Google (and believe me, this is a Google phone, not an old Motorola one).

The $179/$199 8GB/16GB Motorola G comes with a 4.5-inch 720P display, which isn’t the best by any means, but it also isn’t far from the best out there. I’ve argued for awhile that you can’t hardly make out the difference between 720P and 1080P on a display without some very close inspection. Even those with sub 20/20 vision don’t notice much day to day.

The G  has a quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor which falls along the same lines: Not the best, but not far from it. It is a little heavier than what I’d now expect from a 4.5-inch display phone, but that heft is largely because of the all day 2,070 mAh battery.

This thing looks and behaves like a flagship Nexus phone…from last year – all the way down to the hardly-touched Android 4.3 interface. Motorola has promised some form of 4.4 Kitkat by the end of next month. With the veracity that they’ve been updating their Moto X handsets, I have little doubt that it will get done.

But what does this all mean? Why this phone at this price? Why now? 
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Google’s recently added privacy feature allowing users to install apps while preventing the app from collecting sensitive data is now gone. According to the EFF which questioned Google, they were told the feature had been released by accident and was experimental.

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According to some a XDA-Developers forum thread, improved hardware for the Nexus 5 is now rolling out. The original batch of Nexus 5 devices is said to have suffered some minor hardware difficulties such as a protruding SIM tray, loose/noisy buttons and speaker-related issues.

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If you have a Chromecast stick and have purchased movies or music from Google Play, you no longer need to cast them to your TV from your smartphone or tablet – you can now do it directly from the Chrome browser on your PC.

Make sure you have the Google Cast extension installed on your Chrome web browser (http://goo.gl/nzbB6t), and then look for the Cast icon in the Google Play web player. Click it and your movie or song will instantly start playing on your TV through Chromecast … 
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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWRa6Cz6m_M]

Google’s Vic Gundotra just announced a bunch of updates for Google+ for Android, including shaking your Android device to add some snow to your photos. Similar to last weeks addition of the snowy autoawesome feature, all you have to do is open your photo, shake your device and snow will start falling. It’s a gimmicky but nifty feature and one we’ve come to expect from Google in years past.

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Perhaps one of the most annoying though security-laden features inside of Gmail is the ever-familiar “dis play images below” link. Gmail has always provided this message in order to protect its users against compromising the security of the device or computer. Well, no more as Google has announced some changes across the board for its Gmail app. 

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Google has announced the winners of the 2013 Players’ Choice awards for top Google Play apps and games. The awards are given based on user popularity, unlike the apps featured last week in the Play Store for a similar award,  which were chosen by Google themselves. There were six categories spanning apps and games. The winners of each respective category are listed below, as chosen by the Android community.

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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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