Google

[tweet https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/266973350025367553]

Many reports are coming in that Chinese users are having trouble accessing a number of Google’s web products. There is no word on the exact cause of the service disruptions, but The Wall Street Journal noted Google’s Transpareny Report website shows “a precipitous drop in traffic in China starting more than eight hours ago,” although the site doesn’t list the services as completely inaccessible in the country. Google provided a statement to WSJ confirming the interruptions do not appear to be on its end:

“We’ve checked and there’s nothing wrong on our end,” a Google spokeswoman said in a prepared statement.

The Washington Post reported “Users with special VPN (virtual private network) services,” which many Chinese users take advantage of to access banned sites like Facebook, are still able to access Google’s services. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Google announced on its Enterprise Blog today that it would officially make its Google Apps Vault service available to Google Apps for Government customers. Google head of eDiscovery Jack Halprin made the announcement, noting federal, state and local agencies in the United States can “now purchase Vault to help meet their compliance needs.”

Google Apps Vault helps protect organizations of all sizes from legal and compliance risks through advanced message archiving, retention and eDiscovery capabilities. It provides the ability to quickly search, identify, preserve and export information in response to litigation, investigation, compliance audits, or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Apps for Government users interested in finding out more can go here. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Google officially started rolling out its new gigabit fiber Internet and TV service in Kansas City in July. Google asked households in the various “Fiberhoods”, which are made up of 800 or so residents each, to sign-up, but the service has not yet rolled out to businesses. Now, as reported by GigaOm, businesses are going as far as purchasing residential homes in the city to take advantage of the $70 per month Internet plans:

the startup community wasn’t willing to settle — and since most of them worked from their homes, coffee shops or communal space anyhow, it wasn’t a big leap to decide to find a house in an area slated for fiber and move in.

Tyler Vanwinkle of Leap2, a mobile search company, said his company was already based near a neighborhood slated to get fiber and a friend of his owned a house there. So he talked to his friend about renting space for the company in the house, now dubbed the Hacker House. “Google fiber the speed is phenomenal but it’s only residential,” he said. “Since we were interested in renting the house as office space and so were some of our friends, this has evolved into this common bond of entrepreneurship.”

GigaOm also noted many other startups and businesses in the city are considering making the switch to residential to gain access to Google’s new Internet service. The company originally said it would provide more information on offering the service to businesses at a later date, but has yet to do so.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUbgy8YEnpg&feature=player_embedded]

The Berlin Wall fell 23 years ago today, and Google’s Cultural Institute is celebrating the anniversary by releasing an online collection of related exhibitions.

The collection, appropriately titled “The Fall of the Iron Curtain”, features 13 exhibitions comprised of documents, video, and photos from many partners, including: the DDR Museum in Berlin, Polish History Museum, Romanian broadcaster TVR, and Getty Images. 

According to the official Google blog, notable contributions include a video commentary by Harvard professor Niall Ferguson, insights by Cold War history specialist and professor Patrick Major, a personal account of East Berlin life by independent curator Peter Millar, and more.

Check it out: 

• The Fall of the Iron Curtain

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wIZp_E2CxQ&feature=player_embedded]

YouTube is all about live streaming lately, and now the video-sharing platform has announced COD (ahem—slang for “Call of Duty”) players can soon stream their gameplay when Activation launches the latest title for its popular franchise next week.

“Call of Duty Elite takes the live streaming experience even further, letting viewers on Elite see the player card of the user that is streaming,” announced Activision in a press release. “With just a couple clicks, viewers can dig deeper to see such information as class loadouts, recent match data, as well as career stats across supported Call of Duty games on Elite.”

The partnership essentially allows gamers to watch exploits in real-time multiplayer Call of Duty: Black Ops II matches for free. The deal is coushiony for Google and Activision, too. The Internet Giant gets engaging content to bulk its website, while Activation lands premium promotion.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II launches worldwide on Nov. 13, presumably at the $60-something price mark, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC. The title will also release in North America on Nov. 18 for the new Wii U.

Pre-orders are available at Amazon: 

• Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Amazon Instant Video Credit) | $59
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II [Hardened Edition] (Amazon Instant Video Credit) | $179+
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II Digital Deluxe Edition (Amazon Instant Video Credit) | $59
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II Care Package | $338+

Get the press release below for more details.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lyB6G4Cz9fI&list=PLTR8zrKWyBqj5q-EbL8h_NDJWgd08wAHP]

A few notable apps either launched or announced headlining news today, so 9to5Google gathered the most noteworthy ones in a roundup below. Our sister website, 9to5Mac, publishes app roundups on a daily basis, and now we attempt to do the same here for the most important changes happening in the Google Play store. We will also continually update this list throughout the day, so keep checking back for more details.

1. Angry Birds Star Wars
The highly-anticipated (and much-teased) Angry Birds Star Wars is now available in Google Play (video atop). Developer Rovio has long been working with the recently Disney-acquired LucasArts to bulk its popular app lineup with a Star Wars-themed iteration of Angry Birds that brings new creative and play experiences to the franchise.

The latest Rovio title ditches the traditional exploding/flinging Angry Birds for a slew of new bird characters each wielding a unique weapon. The Han Solo bird, for instance, halts enemies with a three-shot space gun. The game also features iconic Star Wars locations, 80 immersive levels, “hours and hours” of gameplay, fresh mechanics, and new level-up capabilities for birds.

Check it out:

• Angry Birds Star Wars | Free
• Angry Birds Star Wars HD | $2.99

Angry Birds Star Wars also landed on the Mac, iOS, Amazon Kindle Fire, and Windows 8 platforms today.

More apps below.

Expand
Expanding
Close

9to5Google previously detailed a leaked version of Google Wallet that plans to soon introduce a physical Google Wallet card, but a new leak today adds another layer of credibility to the piling speculation.

As noted by TechCrunch, Google let the cat out of the bag again today on its “Eligible Devices” page under the Help section of the Google Wallet website. The page listed all of the Android devices “eligible to download the Google Wallet app for use with the Google Wallet card.”

Last week’s leaked screenshots of the Google Wallet app also called the physical cards “Google Wallet card.” With that said, Google’s Eligible Device page no longer mentions them. It seems Google has promptly corrected its mistake. Hmm.

Check out the updated webpage below. 

Expand
Expanding
Close

Googler Ami Fischman, a self-dubbed “Watt Wrangler”, just announced a new battery-saving Chrome Stable release.

“We recently enabled GPU-accelerated video decoding for Chrome on Windows,” wrote Fischman on the official Google Chrome blog. “Dedicated graphics chips draw far less power than a computer’s CPU, so using GPU-accelerated video decoding while watching videos can increase battery life significantly.”

Fischman noted test results show batteries last 25 percent longer with GPU-accelerated video decoding switched on. So now, Chrome users on Windows can watch more YouTube videos, as Fischman noted, without worrying about dwindling battery life.

Chrome users can even access website permissions, such as geolocation, much more easily with the new release:

This saves you from having to dig through settings pages to find these permissions. Now, simply click on the page/lock icon next to a website’s address in the omnibox to see a list of permissions and tweak them as you wish.

This latest release also includes an option to send a “do not track” request to websites and web services. The effectiveness of such requests is dependent on how websites and services respond, so Google is working with others on a common way to respond to these requests in the future.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Late last night, Google’s Sergey Brin took to his Google+ account to post his thoughts on the eve of the U.S. elections and offer a plea to the winner. Brin explained he is “dreading today’s elections,” while describing government as “a giant bonfire of partisanship”:

I must confess, I am dreading today’s elections…Not because of who might win or lose…Not because as a Californian, my vote for President will count 1/3 as much as an Alaskan (actually it won’t matter at all — I’m not in a swing state)…Not because my vote for Senate will count 1/50 as much as an Alaskan…But because no matter what the outcome, our government will still be a giant bonfire of partisanship

His request for the winner? Withdraw from any political party and govern independently: 
Expand
Expanding
Close

According to a report from Reuters, Google issued a statement that a Wisconsin federal court has decided to dismiss Apple’s “patent lawsuit with prejudice.” The report explained this particular case was brought on by Apple in part to determine what the courts considered fair and reasonable licensing terms for the patent portfolio Google acquired when purchasing Motorola.

Google said in a statement that it is still interested in making a deal with Apple “at a reasonable and non-discriminatory rate in line with industry standards”:

“We’re pleased that the court has dismissed Apple’s lawsuit with prejudice,” a Google spokeswoman said in an emailed statement on Monday…”Motorola has long offered licensing to our extensive patent portfolio at a reasonable and non-discriminatory rate in line with industry standards,” Google said in its statement. “We remain interested in reaching an agreement with Apple.”

Reuters explained the case being dismissed with prejudice means it is officially over at the trial court level. However, Apple can still appeal:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Honestly, when I heard the Nexus 4, the long-rumored LG entrant into the Google-phone legacy, was going to come sans LTE, I almost threw in the towel. After all, the last version, the Galaxy Nexus, is equipped with LTE in its Verizon and Sprint incarnations. Is this a step back?

In my experience, not at all. This is the best Android phone ever made. And, for many purposes, it is the best phone I’ve ever used. It is almost a no-brainer to hit the buy button once you add that it only costs $299 for 8GB or $349 for 16GB.

But, before you do, let’s talk hardware:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google updated its Platform Versions website last night to reveal Android 4.x is now on 28.5-percent of devices.

Ice Cream Sandwich officially released to the masses over a year ago, but it is only powering 25.8-percent of Android smartphones and tablets. Jelly Bean, the following Android OS that launched in June 2012, has a meager 2.7-percent of the pie. Meanwhile, in third place, the two-year-old Gingerbread sits comfortably with a 54.2-percent share.

Fragmentation is clearly still an issue with Android, but it seems the slow adoption of the latest OS is just as alarming. A new iteration of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2, will launch in roughly two weeks, but the first version has hardly made a dent. Of course, Google’s new lineup of Nexus products may give Jelly Bean’s share a boost. We will just have to wait and see, though.

Expand
Expanding
Close

AndroidPolice just posted screenshots of a leaked version of Google Wallet, but the most notable tidbit does not concern the app at all: Google plans to launch a Google Wallet card.

The card acts and looks like a typical credit card, but it stores many credit cards into one, shiny piece of plastic. It also works practically everywhere. According to the screenshots, users order the Google Wallet card from their Google Wallet app for front-door delivery.

AndroidPolice noted the significance of a physical Google Wallet card:

The other important implication? The physical Wallet card could make carrier approval for Wallet a thing of the past unless you want to use tap payments. Google could publish a version of the Wallet app without NFC permissions that just allows you to switch between your cards, that could be installed on any phone (even iOS or Windows Phone, theoretically), and you just use the Wallet card for payments. That’s pretty cool. And could seriously reduce the chance of rival mobile payment systems of catching on. Google really does seem to have thrown a wrench in the works of the likes of ISIS and other competing systems.

As for the Google Wallet app, it will soon feature a “Wallet Balance” option for depositing or withdrawing money. Users will also have the ability to transfer money from person to person. Availability for these latest Google Wallet features only seem to hint at the Unites States, for now, but stay tuned for more.

A screenshot gallery is below.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Wallet now stores payment information, like debit card numbers and billing addresses, for retailers’ mobile websites.

Shoppers normally need to enter “17-20 fields of information” on mobile websites, according to the Google Mobile Commerce team, while having to “click and scroll through multiple pages to provide shipping and billing information.” Apparently, roughly 97 percent of mobile shoppers run from the check-out process and abandon their shopping carts.

The Google Mobile Commerce team just explained, however, that Wallet users can now check out more safely and quickly in just three simple steps: click the Buy with Google Wallet button, log into Google Wallet, and then click to complete the order.

Google Wallet is currently integrated with Finish Line, MovieTickets.com, Seamless, SwimOutlet.com, etc., to enable three-step purchasing on their mobile websites. For a limited time, Google Wallet users can also get $10 off at 1-800-Flowers.com and $20 off at Rockport.com (some restrictions apply).

Additional Google Wallet features (via the Google Commerce blog), include:

Expand
Expanding
Close

On the Lat-Long Blog today, Google announced it is making new features available in the latest version of Google Earth including the tour guide and 3D imagery it rolled out to the mobile apps in July. Google Earth 7 for the desktop now includes “comprehensive and accurate tours of more than 11,000 popular sites around the world, including our growing list of cities where new 3D imagery is available.” Google is also rolling out more accurate 3D imagery for new areas:

In addition, Google Earth 7 now includes the comprehensive, accurate 3D imagery we’ve already made available on Android and iOS for Boulder, Boston, Charlotte, Denver, Lawrence, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Portland, San Antonio, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Tampa, Tucson, Rome and the San Francisco Bay Area (including the Peninsula and East Bay). And today, we’re adding more 3D imagery for a handful of metropolitan regions including Avignon, France; Austin, Texas; Munich, Germany; Phoenix, Arizona; and Mannheim, Germany.

You can download Google Earth 7 here.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Google is updating its Google Translate service with a few new features today. Among the new features is grouped clusters of synonyms for easier viewing, and frequency indicators that mark translations as “common, uncommon, or rare”. Google also explained a new “reverse translations” feature:

Our users often tell us that they check our translations by translating them back into their original language. Reverse translations can distinguish translations of different meanings and reveal subtle differences among similar words. Each translation is now annotated with its most frequent reverse translations.

The new grouped synonyms will initially only be available when translating into English, but Google said more languages will be added soon. Google also described how the frequency indicators will work:
Expand
Expanding
Close

We knew that Google Play carrier billing would be available “in the coming weeks” for Verizon customers when Google confirmed on Twitter earlier this month. Today direct billing is officially rolling out to Verizon users with the new payment option now available form the Google Play store billing page pictured above (via AndroidPolice). Direct carrier billing is already available to most other Android users in the U.S. on AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. No word yet on whether or not Verizon will employ the rumored $25 limit for direct billing.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Google announced today on the Official Google Blog that it will now include public AMBER Alerts through Google Search results and Maps in coordination with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Google Public Alerts platform:

If you’re using Google Search or Maps on desktop and mobile you’ll see an AMBER Alert if you search for related information in a particular location where a child has recently been abducted and an alert was issued. You’ll also see an alert if you conduct a targeted search for the situation. By increasing the availability of these alerts through our services, we hope that more people will assist in the search for children featured in AMBER Alerts and that the rates of safe recovery will rise.

Google explained the alert could include information about an abducted child or additional details including “make and model of the vehicle he/she was abducted in or information about the alleged abductor.” It also said it is working with other organizations, such as Missing Children Europe and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, to roll out alerts to other countries as well. Google has partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in order to display the AMBER alert data:
Expand
Expanding
Close