Google

While Google has yet to release a dedicated app for both Android and iOS for its news platform, the company just announced a revamped mobile experience. This news comes on the heels of Google revealing the end of its alternative news application, Currents which is being rolled in with Newsstand.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wAgB5J1gSQ&w=600&h=420]

Imagine my shock and surprise as yet another anti-Chromebook advertisement hits the YouTubes courtesy of Microsoft. The latest in the company’s anti-everything-Google campaign attacks the notion that a Chromebook has “everything you need” as a laptop.

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Much like it has in recent years by offering employees their choice from a selection of devices as a Christmas/holiday gift, we’ve learned from several sources that this year Google will continue the tradition. Rather than the choice of Chromebook, a Motorola phone or the Nexus 7 tablet like it offered last year, this year the company will offer an option between the Nexus 5 and new Nexus 7.

Backing up our info is the screenshot below showing a family member of a Google employee mentioning the gift:
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Following a year of mixed messaging and confusion regarding government access to personal data and how companies are handling the issue, Google is putting it’s support behind a petition demanding the United States government require a warrant before accessing email of private citizens.

[tweet https://twitter.com/ericschmidt/status/408987436945907712]

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt tweeted a link to the company’s post on Google+:

Doesn’t the stuff you keep online deserve the same protection as the stuff you keep offline? Under a law called ECPA, government agencies in the U.S. can see what you’ve written and stored online without a warrant. Sign this petition to the White House and tell the government to get a warrant!

The petition originated on November 12, 2013, and requires just over 42,000 signatures by December 12, 2013, to mean the threshold for a response from the White House. At the time of this writing, just over 57,000 signatures have been collected on the online petition.

The full petition reads as follows:
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On the heels of our editorial yesterday asking what is your favorite app of 2013, Google is adding their own selection of the “Best Apps of 2013.” The selection itself is filled with some usual suspects like Wunderlist, theScore or Photo Editor by Aviary. Thankfully, the best apps list also includes my own favorites with Circa and Duolingo.

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A couple of days after Google started inviting Glass Explorers to upgrade to the second generation model, Google employee Brian Matiash posted photos showing Glass mounted on a pair of prescription glasses – then later removed them. You’d have thought Google of all companies would know you can’t erase things from the Internet …

It appears that the modified Glass unit has a slot in the top into which the glasses are fitted. It looks from the photos like quite a few designs of prescription glasses and sunglasses would be compatible with the unit.

Roll-out of Glass Explorer program is very gradually expanding, with existing Explorers recently invited to buy Glass for a friend after previously being given three invitations to pass on back in September.

Second photo of the prescription glass model below … 
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Google this afternoon announced an update to its Search apps on both Android and iOS that includes voice search support for three addition languages. In a blog post, the company announced that the app can now understand French, German, and Japanese. In addition to being able understand the new languages and give text results, the Search app can also now give spoken answers back in those languages.

To try it out, simply tap the microphone in the search box and ask for anything you’re looking for. If you need some coffee in Munich, just say “Wo bekomme ich Kaffee in München?” to get a list of local options. Wondering what the height of the Eiffel tower is? Get a quick answer by asking, “Quelle est la hauteur de la Tour Eiffel?”. Maybe you need to know who invented the transistor ? Try asking in Japanese for “トランジスタを発明したのはだれ？”

Google says it will continue to work on adding even more languages to its Search app and that this is just the beginning of its efforts.

The Google Search app update is available for free in both the iOS App Store and on Google Play. 
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Autoawesome fans take note as Google staff software engineer Erik Murphy-Chutorian just dropped word on Google+ that two new features are rolling out for the holidays.

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Google is rolling out support to its take out service for exporting email and appointment data from its Gmail and Google Calendar services, the company announced today.

While Google often supports data exporting when sunsetting a service, the company says in this instance it’s simply allowing users the ability to better archive personal data and switch to other services with less friction.
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Update: Whoa, that was fast as a Google+ post courtesy of the Nexus team just announced Android 4.4.1 is rolling out right now to Nexus 5 devices.

With a brief look at our analytics earlier this week, we discovered the existence of Android 4.4.1 in the wild. As it turns out, Android 4.4.1 is closer than we think as a new Verge report shows how Google is using this software update to attack the Nexus 5 camera’s shortcomings. According to Dave Burke, Google’s Director of Engineering for Android, 4.4.1 will begin rolling out over the next few days in the hopes of fixing the “buggy and inconsistent” camera that is the Nexus 5.

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Back in October, Google announced the first hardware revision of its Glass product and that it would be available to current Explorers this year. Tonight, our own Seth Weintraub received his invitation to reserve the new revision of Glass for himself. Users who receive the invitation have until February 5th to make their decision on whether to upgrade or not. Should you choose to upgrade, you must fill out the form from Google and choose what color you would like the unit to be. The process is on a first-come, first-serve basis, so don’t wait too long to make your decision.

Once the updated unit is available, Google will send you a return box and return label for your original pair of Glass. After you send it back, your new and improved unit should arrive within a 3-5 days. It’s unclear when exactly Google will begin sending out the return boxes to Explorers.

As far as what’s new with this hardware revision of Glass, Google says that these units are made to support upcoming prescription lenses, and also include a new mono earbud.

Glass users who purchased Glass before October 28, 2013 are eligible to upgrade their units, so be on the lookout for an email to hit your inbox soon. Read the full invitation after the break..
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Google announced today that it has added yet another new category to its ever-expanding Knowledge Graph service. Starting today, users can search the make, model, and year of a car to find out a variety of information, directly from the Google search page.

For instance, if you search “Tesla Model S”, the Knowledge Graph will now show up and present you with the MSRP, horsepower, miles-per-gallon, make, and available trims. Different cars show a different set information, as well. Should you search “Ford Focus”, you will be presented with the MSRP, MPG, and horsepower, as well as the engine size, body styles, and other years. Google doesn’t appear to have a whole lot of information in its database at this point. For example, it only has data for the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Ford Focus models.

To try it out for yourself, simply use voice search and say the make and model of a car, or type it into a Google search, just like you would any other search.

Google just announced a major update to Google Search for Android that is going to make finding information a whole lot easier. In simple terms, Google had added app listings to search results which allows your apps to show up in search results, as well as results from Google Play.

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Google has updated its Google Wallet application for the iPhone with a few notable enhancements. First, like it has added to its other apps on iOS as of late, Google now allows single sign-on for Wallet. This means that if you are signed in via Google to YouTube, Gmail, Adsense, or other compatible Google apps, you can be automatically logged in to the Wallet app. More interestingly, you can now use your iPhone’s camera to capture the data from your debit card or credit card to connect it to the app. Google added that feature to the Android app last month. Google Wallet recently launched a physical card program for Wallet. The update is free in the App Store.

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Ho ho ho boys and girls, Santa needs your help and Google is coming to the rescue. Santa has spent the last 11 months soaking up some rays in the tropics but now he’s back at the North Pole with his team of elves making some toys.

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Chrome OS users take note, a brand new camera app is on its way offering a host of new features. The announcement came via Google’s “Happiness Evangelist” Francois Beaufort who suggested that while the current Chrome OS camera is good, the team can do better.

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We’ve been hearing rumors of a subscription music service from YouTube for awhile now, but according to a new report from AllThingsD, we are still a little ways off from seeing it launch. The blog reports, citing “people familiar with the company’s plans”, that the music service will not launch this year, but rather sometime in Q1 2014. Reportedly, YouTube has already secured the licenses with music labels, which is not an easy task nowadays, but is not satisfied with the actual service. Reports of the subscription service began appearing back in October, with the project supposedly nearing its final stages then.

There are still a lot of questions surrounding the service, as well. Such as, how it will differentiate itself from Google’s All Access service and how it handle user content, like lip syncs and mashups. Last week, an update to the YouTube for Android app revealed code that hinted at a “Music Pass” service that supported offline playback and was entirely ad free for “millions of songs”.

Since there’s no pinpoint launch date within Q1, it could be that we see the service launch relatively early in the quarter, which would mean we are not too far away from seeing it.

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