Google

As noted by AllThingsD, Google has just started sending out notifications to customers letting them know that they will soon be receiving refunds for unused Google Offers. Offers, which are available through a standalone mobile app as well as the Google Maps and Google Wallet apps, used to force users to purchase coupons ahead of time, much like a Groupon service. Going forward, however, the Offers will act more like traditional coupons with users refunded the full cost of unused deals.

You’ll also be able an additional $4 if you opt for a Google Play credit:

An email from Google to an AllThingsD colleague this week gave her two options: Receive a refund for the full amount of two unused offers, or receive a Google Play credit for that amount, which never expires, plus an additional $4, which will expire in two years.

“Users can now easily discover and save Google Offers in the Maps app, Search, Wallet, and on sites around the Web, without having to purchase them in advance, so we’re refunding previously purchased offers that we believe haven’t been used,” a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement to AllThingsD.

YouTube to transition to Google+ powered comments and discussions

Chance Miller Sep 24 2013 - 4:17 pm PT

As we are all well aware of, YouTube comments are often some of the oddest things on the web, but as announced in a blog post today, Google is finally looking to improve the quality and relevance of comments. On the Official YouTube Blog, the company has announced that starting this week, all comments on channels with the discussion tab will be transitioned to Google+ discussions. All videos on YouTube will receive Google+ comments later this year.

This means that you will now see comments and discussions that are most relevant to you at the top of the page. For example, comments from people you know, follow, or engage with on Google+ will be shown first. This also somewhat enforces a “real name” policy on YouTube.

This also means that you will be able to create a discussion in the comments section of a video, but only with a limited circle of friends from Google+. These discussions and comments will only be visible to who you choose to share them with, not the public.

Comments you care about move to the top: You’ll see posts at the top of the list from the video’s creator, popular personalities, engaged discussions about the video, and people in your Google+ Circles.
Join the conversation publicly or privately: You can choose to start a conversation so that it is seen by everyone on YouTube and Google+, only people in your Circles or just your bestie. Like Gmail, replies are threaded so you can easily follow conversations.
Better ways to moderate comments: You have new tools to review comments before they’re posted, block certain words or save time by auto-approving comments from certain fans. These can help you spend less time moderating, and more time sharing videos and connecting with your fans.

Google+ powered comments will rollout to channel discussion tabs this week and all videos later this year.

Google apologizes for Gmail delivery issues, explains what happened

Benjamin Mayo Sep 24 2013 - 7:34 am PT

1 Comment

Google has apologized for Gmail delivery delays experienced by some users yesterday. Google says that whilst most messages were not affected, 29% of messages were delayed by a couple of seconds, with only 1.5% of messages being critically delayed, by as much as two hours. The issue lasted for about 8 hours, starting at around 5:30 am PST.

Google launches new “Constitute” online tool for searching the world’s constitutions

Jordan Kahn Sep 23 2013 - 8:20 am PT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0BsJuN0OAs

Google today announced that its Ideas think tank is teaming up with the Comparative Constitutions Project to build a new online tool called “Constitute” that aims to digitize all the world’s constitutions and make them searchable to everyone online.

Constitute enables people to browse and search constitutions via curated and tagged topics, as well as by country and year. The Comparative Constitutions Project cataloged and tagged nearly 350 themes, so people can easily find and compare specific constitutional material. This ranges from the fairly general, such as “Citizenship” and “Foreign Policy,” to the very specific, such as “Suffrage and turnouts” and “Judicial Autonomy and Power.”

Google Ideas Product Manager Sara Sinclair Brody says the company hopes the new tool will help citizens learn more about their own constitutions, but also “arm drafters with a better tool for constitution design and writing.”
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New York regulators crack down on fake online reviews, is Google Play next?

Jordan Kahn Sep 23 2013 - 7:15 am PT

The New York Times reports that New York regulators will today announce a new initiative that aims to crackdown on fake reviews online. They’ve already reached settlement agreements with a number of companies and issued fines of around $350,000 to companies purchasing and providing fake reviews, many of which are submitted to services such as Google, Yahoo, and Yelp. Fake reviews have always been an issue for Google Play and just about every mobile app marketplace, so perhaps regulators will soon extend their investigation to mobile app stores as well.

“What we’ve found is even worse than old-fashioned false advertising,” said Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York attorney general. “When you look at a billboard, you can tell it’s a paid advertisement — but on Yelp or Citysearch, you assume you’re reading authentic consumer opinions, making this practice even more deceiving.”

Regulators found that US Coachways, one of the companies included in the investigation, had hired freelance writers to write fake reviews on Yelp and other services:
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Microsoft is David battling Google’s Goliath Monopoly, says outgoing CEO Ballmer

Ben Lovejoy Sep 20 2013 - 5:11 am PT

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Photo: gamechup.com

In what must surely win some kind of award for irony, Steve ‘dead man walking’ Ballmer repeated his call for Google to face greater scrutiny from competition authorities, describing the search giant as a “monopoly.”

Speaking at an analysts briefing yesterday (via The Verge), the outgoing Microsoft CEO responded to questions about Google’s plans to generate money from online services saying:

Google does it. They have this incredible, amazing, dare I say monopoly that we are the only person left on the planet trying to compete with. We’re the only guys in the world trying.”

Microsoft of course faced numerous anti-trust suits back in the heady days of its dominance of the PC industry, and always dismissed them with the view that consumers make their own choices.

Microsoft’s search service Bing has 17.9 percent of the US search market, a distant second to Google at 67 percent. The disparity is often greater internationally though Google does have competition from Yandex in Russia and Baidu in China.

AdSense Android app updated w/ resizable widget, translations, improved timezone settings, more

Jordan Kahn Sep 18 2013 - 1:21 pm PT

Google has updated its AdSense app for Android with one of the most requested features: a resizable widget that allows you to quickly view your estimate earnings overview from the home screen of your device.

The updated AdSense app also adds a few other new features including improvements for timezone settings, and translations to 24 languages.

A full list of what’s new in version 1.2 is below:

What’s New

v1.2

– Resizable widget showing the estimated earnings overview – our most requested feature!

– AdSense reporting timezone – the figures in the app will now respect your timezone setting, and match the Home tab on the AdSense website

– Lifetime earnings support in all the reports

– Translations to 24 languages

– The notifications counter fix

YouTube offline viewing coming soon – but no details revealed

Ben Lovejoy Sep 18 2013 - 5:29 am PT

The YouTube Creator blog reveals that offline video viewing will be launched in November, but doesn’t reveal any details.

We’re always exploring ways to bring more viewers to your content. As part of this effort, later this year we’ll launch a new feature on YouTube’s mobile apps that will help you reach fans — even when they’re not connected to the Internet. This upcoming feature will allow people to add videos to their device to watch for a short period when an Internet connection is unavailable. So your fans’ ability to enjoy your videos no longer has to be interrupted by something as commonplace as a morning commute …
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Sony’s TV stick offers full Google TV functionality, but only with this year’s Sony TVs

Ben Lovejoy Sep 16 2013 - 4:32 am PT

The Sony TV device spotted in an FCC filing last month was briefly unveiled by Sony in a blog post that has since been deleted. Engadget spotted the post for the Sony Bravia Smart Stick before it was pulled.

It’s an MHL dongle that runs both Google TV and Sony’s own BRAVIA apps. The features are just like Google TV boxes Sony has released before, with a remote (that the FCC filings showed is at least similar to the previous ones) that has QWERTY and voice search support. Additionally, its “picture-and-picture” feature lets users see a browser in one window and TV in another …
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Google testing new homepage design, shows off flatter logo, removes black bar

Benjamin Mayo Sep 13 2013 - 6:06 am PT

10 Comments

Google is currently split-testing a new Google homepage layout. The redesign is not drastically different to tradition, but Google seems to be testing a different look for its persistent top-bar. As shown, the black strip as well as most of the shortcuts to other Google properties have been removed. In this version, the only shortcuts in the top navigation are links to Google+, Gmail and Google Images.

Notably, this design uses the flatter logo previously seen in the new Chrome for Android beta. At the time, The Verge said a source refuted claims that this is a new logo, saying that the flatter look was only meant for places where the traditional logo would not display well, such as when printed onto banners. However, this homepage redesign shows that Google is at least considering to use this new logo as their main branding in the future.

Twitter for Android beta updated to version 5.0 with all-new design

Jordan Kahn Sep 12 2013 - 2:13 pm PT

Twitter has just pushed out version 5.0 of its Android app to those that are part of its Android beta program. With the new release comes a brand new design that introduces a new slide-out menu on the left hand side, while still keeping the familiar tabs along the top of app and adding a few new ones for Trending, Activity, Find people. You’ll notice other areas of the app have been streamlined as well, but there’s not yet an iPad optimized version of the beta. There’s also a few features missing from the previous versions– like the ability to mark all tweets as read– but we’d imagine they will return before the redesigned app comes out of beta.

If you’re interested in joining up for the Twitter beta tester program, you can learn how to do so here.

(via AndroidPolice)

FCC gives us a closer look at LG’s upcoming Nexus 5 with larger camera lens

Jordan Kahn Sep 12 2013 - 9:37 am PT

3 Comments

After accidentally leaking the device in its video for the upcoming Android 4.4 KitKat software release, today we get a better look at the upcoming Nexus 5 thanks to FCC documents (via Phonescoop).

It’s clear the device in these FCC images is the same as the one we spotted in the promotional video earlier this month, and we also get a clearer look at the much larger camera lens on the back of the device. It’s also more solid proof that the device will indeed be manufactured by LG– and likely based of its new LG G2– after rumors that Google’s Motorola could potentially produce the Nexus 5 started circling last month.

Last week FCC documents surfaced online that also pointed to an LG-made device, as well as a Snapdragon 800 processor, a 5-inch display, and LTE support for AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. As with past Nexus launches, it will also be running the latest version of Android, which by the time the device launches will be Android 4.4. Kitkat.

Leaving Google for Xiaomi nothing personal but “a dream job,” says Hugo Barra

Ben Lovejoy Sep 12 2013 - 7:32 am PT

1 Comment

Hugo Barra, Google’s former VP of Android product development, says his move to Xiaomi was planned long before it emerged that Sergey Brin was romantically involved with his former girlfriend.

In an interview with AllThingsD, Barra said that the opportunity to play a key role in the global expansion of the company dubbed ‘the Apple of China’ was one he could not resist.

“To me, right away, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, truly a dream job, this idea of building a global company which could be as significant as Google from the ground up,” said Barra. “It was just something that I will never come across, with a team whom I know, with a company that has DNA similar to my own and, on top of that, to live in Asia for at least some period of time” …
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Blue, the new must-have Glass app for live baseball fans

Ben Lovejoy Sep 12 2013 - 6:54 am PT

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Choosing between the atmosphere of attending a live game and the information and commentary you get from viewing on TV could soon be a thing of the past thanks to Blue, a Glass app that feeds you real-time info while you’re watching the game.

Blue uses geolocation to figure out which ballpark you’re sitting in. It knows who’s playing and automatically starts presenting data to you as the game unfolds — stats for every player and pitch, even play-by-play descriptions. Watch a pitch fly by, then Blue will tell you its speed and type. Wondering what call the umpire just made or why that runner got sent back to first base? Blue will let you know …
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Quiet U-turn by Google as RSS feed returns to Google Alerts

Ben Lovejoy Sep 12 2013 - 5:33 am PT

When Google killed its RSS app Google Reader, it appeared to have taken a dislike to the whole concept of RSS feeds, removing them from its Google Alerts service – saved searches whose results are automatically sent to you. With the RSS option gone, the only option remaining was to have alerts emailed instead. Now, with no announcement, the RSS feed option has returned.

Google’s explanation at the time didn’t make much sense to me. It seemed to effectively be arguing that RSS was an out-dated delivery system, but its replacement was … email? No matter, it’s back now. Simply sign into Google Alerts and select Feed from the delivery pull-down.

Via TNW

Google introduces new Snapseed-based photo editing tools on Google+

Chance Miller Sep 11 2013 - 5:04 pm PT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm4aKZ0NpFM

Since its original launch, Google+ has become one of the most powerful photo sharing platforms on the web, and tonight Google has announced even more photo editing tools for the social network.

First off, you can now manually adjust the changes that the Auto Enhance functionality makes to your photos, so if you don’t like a certain change, you can reverse it. You can also now adjust individual portions of an image. For example, if you have an image of the beach, you can brighten the sky, while not affecting the beach and sand in the foreground.

Finally, Google+ also now includes Instagram-like filters, such as Vintage, Drama, Retrolux or Black and White.

Auto Enhance already makes the photos you add to Google+ look great. Now you can customize and fine tune these adjustments if you have a different look in mind.

Selective adjust lets you make edits to specific parts of your image, so you can make that summer sky look even more blue without affecting the beach in the foreground.

Filters like Vintage, Drama, Retrolux or Black and White give your photos a new look. Add the finishing touch with a frame.

Roku for Android app allows streaming of video to set-top box – from some devices

Ben Lovejoy Sep 10 2013 - 5:46 am PT

The latest Roku for Android app allows video as well as audio and photos to be streamed to a Roku set-top box – but only for a limited number of devices.

Play your video from select Android devices to your Roku player. Supported models include: Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy S4, Nexus 4, HTC One, and Nexus 7 (2012 model). Video playback requires Android 4.0 or later …
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Google+ introduces WordPress and TypePad author integration, embeddable posts

Chance Miller Sep 9 2013 - 1:02 pm PT

Google has just announced a pair of new features for its Google+ social network, both of which are centered around sharing and creating more content. First off, Google+ now offers the ability to embed public posts from the service into any webpage. The embedded posts are fully functional and allow readers to +1 and comment on the post, as well as follow the original source. To embed a post, find a public Google+ post and click the drop-down arrow and find the ‘Embed Post’ option. From there, copy the given code onto your webpage and the post will appear.

With embedded posts, site owners can now add your public Google+ posts to their web pages — as a primary source, for example, or to highlight your point of view. Text, photo and media posts are all supported, and the embeds are fully interactive, so visitors can +1, comment and follow you inline.

Also new is integration between Google+ Sign-In and Google’s Authorship program. Now, if you are signed into either a Typepad or WordPress blog with your Google account, any articles you publish will automatically be associated with your Google+ profile. For instance, when your blog posts appear in Google Search or News, your name, profile image, and profile link will all be associated with the post. Currently this functionality is available only to WordPress and Typepad users, though Google is also working with About.com, WikiHow, and Examiner to expand the feature.
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Moto X ‘Lazy Phone’ ads highlight ‘no touch’ interface, quick look camera

Seth Weintraub Sep 9 2013 - 10:28 am PT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_JQxm53114

Motorola just released a trio of humorous ads touting features of its Moto X phone that don’t come in other phones. Above, highlights the abilities of the Moto X to respond to voice commands without touching the device. Two more goodies below show the shake to camera and quick look features. Both are great.
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Chrome for Android beta apparently shows new, flatter Google logo on the way

Ben Lovejoy Sep 9 2013 - 7:53 am PT

While Yahoo may have bucked the trend for flatter design language with its recent train-wreck of a logo change, Google appears to be staying firmly in the fashionable camp with an apparent new logo spotted in a Chrome for Android beta by arstechnica.

Gone is the old 3D bevelled look with shadow effects, and in is a far simpler 2D image with slightly more pastel-like colors.

The new logo also appears in an images folder on Google’s servers. Ironically, it’s the first logo change since Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer departed Google.

Compare with the current logo, below:

Update: A person familiar with Google’s branding tells The Verge that this is not a replacement for the company’s traditional logo. Instead, the flatter design is used in instances where the beveled logo may not display well — such as on printed banners or other corporate use cases. The logo in question has been already pulled from where it first appeared in the latest Chrome for Android beta, signaling that the company quickly realized its mistake. Suffice it to say, the Google logo you know and love isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Slimmer bezels mean Nexus 5 will have larger screen but smaller size than Nexus 4

Ben Lovejoy Sep 9 2013 - 7:25 am PT

7 Comments

Developer Jack Underwood took the dimensions from the recent FCC approval of the LG D820 that has been pretty much confirmed as the Nexus 5 and compared them to the Nexus 4. The result? Despite a larger screen size with higher resolution, the Nexus 5 is actually smaller in every dimension.

If there were any lingering doubt about the match between the casings shown and the device slipped into the KitKat video, the animated GIF below seems to provide conclusive proof …
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Google offering new concessions in EU antitrust case – but neither side saying what they are

Ben Lovejoy Sep 9 2013 - 4:12 am PT

Photo: dexigner.com

The on-going saga of the EU’s anti-trust case against Google, accusing it of using its dominant position in search to block competition, continues with Google making fresh proposals to the Competition Commission.

Google’s initial response was to offer to:

clearly separate sponsored links from organic search results, and to link to rival search services
allow publishers to choose what content is included in Google’s various search results
allow website owners to sell advertising from competitor companies alongside Google ads
allow advertisers to manage search advertising campaigns across competing platforms …

After seeking feedback on the proposals from other interested parties (read: Microsoft and others who feel they are unfairly treated), the EU rejected them as not going far enough.

Reuters reports that Google has now offered further concessions, but neither Google nor the EU has yet revealed what these are.

MyGlass Android companion app now acts as remote control for Google Glass

Ben Lovejoy Sep 6 2013 - 4:58 am PT

MyGlass, the companion app Google created to allow you to screencast your Glass view to anyone with an Android phone, has now been updated to allow it to control Glass, reports Engadget.

The move was in response to feedback from Glass Explorers that “controlling its UI via swipes, nods and voice commands can sometimes be… awkward” …
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FCC approval appears to confirm Nexus 5 is made by LG – with impressive specs

Ben Lovejoy Sep 6 2013 - 4:07 am PT