Google

Google announced today on its Google Maps blog that it’s finally tapping into the talent and technology it picked up with its acquisition of Waze back in June to integrate real time incident reports from Waze into Google Maps. The new integration means that when Waze users report incidents for everything from accidents to road closures, Google Maps users on both iOS and Android will now be able to benefit:

Users of Google Maps for Mobile will now benefit from real time incident reports from Waze users. This means when Wazers report accidents, construction, road closures and more on Waze, the updates will also appear on the Google Maps app for Android and iOS.

The features will initially be limited to users in certain locations, including: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, UK and the US. In addition, as Google first hinted back in June, the company will also be integrating Google Search into the Waze apps on iOS and Android, while the Waze Map Editor now has access to Google Street View imagery:
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BrowserFame spotted a feature in the Canary (development) version of Chrome that would allow parents and schools to created ‘supervised user’ accounts whose access to the web can be controlled by a master account.

The approach is an extension of the standard accounts available in Chrome, allowing different users to have different settings and to be automatically signed-in to Google services … 
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One of the cornerstones of Google’s reputation for innovation – its 20% Time scheme – is now effectively gone, according to a report by Quartz, citing anonymous Google employees.

Google’s 20% Time allowed engineers to spend the equivalent of one day a week working on a personal project without having to justify it to anyone. Gmail, Google maps, Adsense, Google Talk and many other products were born from this scheme. Adsense alone is responsible for around 25 percent of Google’s annual revenue.

Now, says the report, it is all but dead … 
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Google announced on its blog today that it is soon rolling out the ability to view information from Gmail, Calendar, and Google+ directly in search results, providing users with a more personalized experience and an easier way to quickly look up important data across services. Some of the features have previously been available to Google Now on Android devices, but starting over the next few days English users in the US will begin seeing results for flights, reservations, and much more in Google search results on the web and mobile devices:

Ever had trouble checking your flight’s status on the go because it meant digging through your email for the flight number? Or wanted to just quickly see whether your package would arrive on time, without having to look up the tracking info first? You’ve told us it would be much easier if you could skip the fuss and just ask Google. Soon you’ll be able to find this info instantly in Google Search if it’s in your Gmail, Google Calendar or Google+. For example, just ask or type, “What’s my flight status?” or “When will my package arrive?”

The new results are triggered by queries such as “Is my flight on time?” or “my reservations” and will also work with Google’s recently introduced voice search features.

Google highlighted a few of the new results that you’ll begin seeing including flights, reservations, purchases, events, and photos from across all three services mentioned above:
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A new update for the Google+ Android app rolling out in the coming days will make it easier for users to switch between multiple accounts, improve location sharing controls, and finally get rid of the in-app Messenger to make way for Google’s new Hangouts app.

Google employee Virgil Dobjanschi shared details on the new version of the app, noting that switching accounts will now be as easy as it is with Gmail:

Just like Gmail for Android, you can now switch between multiple Google+ accounts with a couple of taps (vs. signing out and signing in again). And the Google+ pages you manage are likewise in the app menu at all times.

The updated app also brings the ability to view and share photos and videos that are stored in Google Drive, and improved location sharing controls:
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Photo: phandroid.com

Chinese site MyDrivers (comical Google Translate warning) is citing Korean sources suggesting that the Nexus 5, next year’s replacement for the Nexus 4, will be made by LG and based on the G2. An earlier rumor suggested that the handset would be made by Motorola.

It has already been rumored that LG would be making next year’s Nexus 7 … 
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Google announced today that its recently launched Nexus 7 is now available to purchase in Canada through Google Play. The availability comes as the device launches in Staples, Best Buy, Future Shop and other retailers today in both the US and Canada, while the device has already been available to customers in the US through Google Play.

For those in Canada, the next generation @Nexus 7 can now be yours: http://t.co/JBfO2nnVoF

— Google Play (@GooglePlay) August 13, 2013

The refreshed Nexus 7 is available for $229 for the 16GB WiFi model and $269 for the 32GB model with both models listed as shipping in 1-2 business days. An LTE version of the new Nexus 7 is expected in the weeks to come but Google hasn’t provided an official launch date.

Google also started selling a new Nexus 7 sleeve on the Google Play today for $29.99 in both the US and Canada.

Photo: chromespot.com

When Google announced (and later began rolling out) conversational search back in May, the company saw that as only the start. The company’s plans for the feature take us all the way into the realms of a true virtual personal assistant.

If you haven’t yet tried conversational search in Chrome, the feature as it stands is useful but basic. Speak a search like “How old is Barack Obama?” and Chrome will speak the answer. With a person, you could then ask a series of follow-up questions like “How tall is he?”, “Who is his wife?” and “How old is she?” and they would know who you were referring to in each question. That’s the functionality Google is rolling out, remembering who or what you just asked about and interpreting pronouns appropriately.

But Google’s long-term plans are far more ambitious. In an interview with TechFlash, Google Research Fellow Jeff Dean talked to Jon Xavier about his team’s work on machine learning and neural nets to expand Google’s abilities in conversational search … 
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Photo: dailymail.co.uk

Larry Ellison is apparently still smarting from the court battle he lost back in May of last year when he accused Google of copyright infringement over its use of Java in Android, lost and ended up paying Google’s $4M court costs.

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Oracle bought Java from Sun Microsystems, and claimed ownership of some of the code used by Google. Google argued that the small amount of replicated code was ‘fair use’ and that the rest of it was coded from scratch simply using similar approaches to Java. Oracle lost.

In an interview with CBS’s Charlie Rose, transcribed in Business Insider, Ellison accuses Page of violating Google’s company slogan, Don’t be evil. Transcript below the fold … 
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According to a new report from Geek.com, Google will be dropping Samsung and picking ASUS to manufacture the next-gen Nexus 10. The site has correctly reported on a few product releases in the past, but today’s report goes against what we heard earlier straight from Google’s own Sundar Pichai. 
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Google announced today on the official search blog that it is rolling out a new feature in search results that will help users to easier find in-depth articles on a varying number of topics. While Google has been working over the last year to include more quick answers and information directly in search results, it estimates that around 10% of its users are instead looking for in-depth information for queries. Starting over the next few days, users will now see a selection of in-depth articles in a new section for certain search topics (as pictured above):

If you care about censorship, you’ll find a thought-provoking article by Salman Rushdie in The New Yorker, a piece by our very own Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen in the Guardian, and another greatarticle about Iran. If you’re in the mood for something lighter, search for [lego], you’ll find great in-depth articles about many different facets of the topic from gender to engineering to art. For some more examples, check out new search results for population growth, capital punishment and e-waste.

Google says that the new section will include articles from well-known publishers, lesser-known publications and blogs.

The company has a help page here for publications interested in optimizing their site for the new feature, and also outlines restricted content including some subscription-based access websites that don’t offer “first click free” access to new readers.

Before Google I/O 2012, Android tablets hadn’t been all that successful, due in large part to their high price and lack of serious support from Google. Then, however, Google introduced the $199 Nexus 7 tablet and started a battle of who could make the best, most affordable tablet. More than a year later, it’s quite clear that Google was the winner of that battle. Other manufacturers could not release an affordable tablet that was worth buying– and its biggest 7-inch competitor, the iPad mini, remains a full $100 above the Nexus 7’s asking price.

When the first rumors hit claiming that the device would cost $229, $30 more than the original model, I was a tad worried, but once Google officially announced the specifications, all that worry went away. The new Nexus 7 improves on its predecessor in just about every way imaginable. It has a faster processor, higher resolution screen, a new rear camera, the latest version of Android, and more. All that doesn’t necessarily mean the device is better, however. Is the Nexus 7 still king of the Android tablet market? Can it compete with the iPad mini?

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