Google

Google has opened its Google search+ Gmail result beta further this afternoon so more users can get Gmail results in their main Google Search. The feature was first introduced in a limited beta in August. For those who do not know about the feature, relevant Gmail conversations will appear in Google Search (as you can see in the image above). Just search “Paris” and emails that you have sent talking about “Paris” will then appear. If you think about it, expanded search makes a lot of sense.

Furthermore, the folks at Google announced this afternoon that Google Drive, Google Calendar and more will now appear when searching in Gmail:

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Google released an over-the-air update for the international version of the Galaxy Nexus late this afternoon, bringing the latest Android version 4.2.1 to users. We first got word of Android 4.1.2 when it was released to the Nexus 7 on the Android Open Source Project last week. The update is pretty minor, as it only offers the ability to open notifications with one finger and bug fixes. Additionally, the update was released for the Nexus S and Xoom Wi-Fi this afternoon.

For those who purchased the Galaxy Nexus on Google Play, do not worry. The folks in Mountain View are probably close to pushing out the update in the next few days. At any rate, if you are feeling adventurous, you can hop in this XDA Developers thread to install the update manually. [Phandroid]

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Henrique De Castro

A new report from tech website AllThingsD suggested Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is currently ramping up efforts to poach a key Google advertising executive, Henrique De Castro, for either a COO or lead ad role.

AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher, who cited “sources close to the situation” and “numerous sources,” noted De Castro’s silence to his staff on the matter is an indication that her reporting is spot-on:

In fact, after reports surfaced several months ago here and elsewhere that Mayer was interested in him, De Castro told his staff at Google that he was not leaving.

That does appear to be the case now, according to numerous sources.

This past week, De Castro canceled a major off-site for his employees and several attendees who know him well said he was not present at the company’s first night of its annual Zeitgeist event for advertising and publishing clients. The suave De Castro is usually a more noticeable fixture at such gatherings.

When reached last night, De Castro said he would be attending Zeitgeist, but declined to comment further.

While Mayer has not been very successful at luring executives from various tech companies, the report further mentioned Yahoo’s current revenue guru and former Googler, Michael Barret, is reportedly not planning to stay with his search company for the long term. De Castro and Barrett also allegedly do not have the best coworker relationship…

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http://vimeo.com/51181384

Or just go incognito mode.

Google released a preview for all developers, as promised at Google I/O, showing off the update to the Google Play Developer Console—the website that allows developers of Android apps to manage them. A select amount of developers was able to preview it over the summer; and now, Google said in a blog post today every developer is able to try it out. The website has been updated with an overall speed increase and features an updated UI that is much easier to manage. “It’s bright and appealing to look at, easy to find your way around using navigation and search, and it loads quickly even if you have a lot of apps,” said Google.

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Jared Polis, U.S. Representative for Colorado’s 2nd congressional district

U.S. Federal Trade Commission officials supposedly want to bring an antitrust case against Google due to complaints about it suppressing competition in the market, but Colorado Rep. Jared Polis cautioned the regulatory body in a letter last week that such a lawsuit would be a “woefully misguided step.”

Many Internet businesses, such as Yelp and Nextag, have criticized Google at open hearings in Congress, asserting Google unjustly applies its search dominance to give web sites lower-quality rankings in search results. The effect would essentially push Internet users toward Google products that provide similar services.

Google has continually rebuffed any wrongdoing, and the Vice President of Engineering Amit Singhal even came to his employer’s defense on the Google Public Policy Blog earlier this summer —in an aggressive tactic not usually taken by the Mountain View, Calif.-based company—to spearhead the rumor-mill accusations in a “claim vs. fact” format.

Democrat Polis specifically wrote in his letter that an anti-trust lawsuit by the FTC would “threaten the very integrity of our anti-trust system, and could ultimately lead to Congressional action resulting in a reduction in the ability of the FTC to enforce critical anti-trust protections in industries where markets are being distorted by monopolies or oligopolies.”

Political newspaper The Hill, which first reported on the letter, further noted that Polis said the market for online search remains adequately competitive despite antitrust complaints:

He noted that customers search Amazon for shopping results, iTunes for music and movies, Facebook for social networking and Yelp for local businesses.

“To even discuss applying anti-trust in this kind of hyper-competitive environment defies all logic and the very underpinnings of anti-trust law itself,” Polis wrote.

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Google is sponsoring an upcoming hackathon by Hattery Labs that is awarding two grand prizes to innovators using Google Maps API.

The “Reroute/sf” hackathon runs from Oct. 19 to Oct. 21 at The Hattery, according to its Facebook page, and it aims to “improve transportation in San Francisco with technological innovation, and work with the City to make it real.” The three-day event essentially invites engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs to “make San Francisco a better place.”

The hackathon will host three challenges, i.e., “Collect the right data,” “Plan a trip anywhere – on-time,” “See what’s broken and watch it get fixed,” while senior representatives from the City of San Francisco and the technology community will determine who wins the following four prizes:

• Best Innovation using Google Maps API | $7,500 Grant
• Runner-up Innovation using Google Maps API | $2,500 Grant
• Best Public Transit Innovation | $500 Clipper Card credit
• Best Collaboration | 3 free General Assembly classes per team member

Aside from Google, the Hattery, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Waze, Google Maps, and the General Assembly sponsor the hackathon. The Hattery is a collection of experts ranging from designers and engineers to investors and brand marketers, and some of their most notable collaborative work under Hattery Labs includes giving people clean water and helping Haitians rebuild schools through WellDone and Haiti School Project, respectively.

Registration details below.

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Little Nemo first appeared in the New York Herald on Oct. 15, 1905 as the protagonist kid of the “Little Nemo in Slumberland” comic strip, and Google is commemorating the tale’s 107th birthday today with an interactive doodle on the homepage.

Windsor McCay’s early 20th-century newspaper cartoon lasted nine years, while Little Nemo later inspired a slew of spin-offs such as the 1989 animated film “Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland” (YouTube video below).

Google’s visually breathtaking doodle transports Web surfers to the fanciful world of Slumberland. Folks can follow Nemo as he falls from his bed into a starlit-realm of dreams and continues tumbling for seven more panes until he ends up back in bed—tussled and amazed. It is certainly one of the search giant’s most stunning doodles ever.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGAt0GQ703U]

Google’s full artwork for the doodle is below, while “Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland” is above.

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LG might not be the only manufacturer to release a device sporting the pure Google experience and Nexus branding. Today, we get shots of a yet-to-be-announced Sony smartphone, posted by XperiaBlog (via The Verge), that looks to carry-on the design aesthetic of the company’s Xperia Ion hardware. Unfortunately, there are not any details to go along with the photos. However, we can see “Google” and Sony branding on the back of the device. According to XperiaBlog, the device in the image is called the “Sony Nexus X”. Oddly, there is no visible Xperia branding.

They could very well be fakes; but with LG, this would only make two of the five OEMs that The Wall Street Journal said would release Nexus devices with Jelly Bean. Others likely to join the Nexus device launch party include past Nexus makers Samsung and HTC. Unfortunately, there is a good chance the images above could just be a new Sony/Xperia device with a more stock Android experience. We will wait for a little bit more information before filing this as confirmation of a Nexus phone from Sony.

We have heard a lot about the much-rumored LG Nexus. From surfaced images and retail inventory listings, we expect the device to bear “LG Nexus 4” branding and launch sometime in the coming weeks. We also heard much about the device’s specs and design that—for the most part—seem to mirror the LG Optimus G. In case you just cannot wait for official details from Google and LG, Russian blog Onliner.by has a full, lengthy review of what it claimed is a “prototype LG Nexus 4”.

As for the specs published by Onliner, the device seems to confirm rumors that the LG Nexus 4 is largely based off the Optimus G. Inside the prototype unit, at least, is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 4.7-inch 1,280-by-720 IPS display. The device also measured in 1.5mm shorter than the Galaxy Nexus, but it is 1.3mm wider at 134 × 69,2 × 9,2 mm with a weight of 139 g.

The prototype unit reviewed was almost too buggy to review the software (Android 4.1.2), but we do get an excellent look at the physical design of the Nexus 4. A few things we noticed include a new micro SIM card tray, a green LED light on the lower bezel, chrome buttons, and headphone jack position at the top. The website also described the device’s textured back, saying it is “completely smooth” to the touch but extremely scratch proof. It stood up to a scratch test using a key.

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A Reuters report (via CNBC) from this afternoon claimed top U.S. Federal Trade Commission officials want to bring an antitrust case against Google over numerous complaints about it abusing search dominance to suppress competition in the market.

The FTC announced earlier this year that Washington lawyer Beth Wilkinson is leading its investigation, while FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said last month they would reach a decision by 2013. If found guilty, the FTC and Google could enter settlement talks to resolve the matter or duke it out in court.

Reuters cited “three people familiar with the matter,” and it indicated Google could soon face the gristly negotiation process:

Four of the FTC commissioners have become convinced after more than a year of investigation that Google illegally used its dominance of the search market to hurt its rivals, while one commissioner is skeptical, the sources said. All three declined to be named to protect working relationships. Two of the sources said a decision on how to proceed could come in late November or early December. A long list of companies has been complaining to the FTC, arguing that the agency should crack down on Google.

Yelp  and Nextag have both criticized Google at open hearings in Congress, according to Reuters, asserting Google unjustly gives “their web sites low quality rankings in search results to steer Internet users away from their websites and toward Google products that provide similar services.”

Google has continually rebuffed any lawlessness or partial practices, and the search engine’s vice president of engineering, Amit Singhal, even stormed to the Google Public Policy Blog earlier this summer, in an aggressive tactic not usually taken by the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, to address the antitrust accusations in a “claim vs. fact” format.

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[protected-iframe id=”a7d9d4550bafce3b715a1528a299cfcd-22427743-2965723″ info=”http://live.wsj.com/public/page/embed-721B8DA9_40F6_48DC_8297_9F5E63DA15F6.html” width=”512″ height=”288″]

The Wall Street Journal just published a lengthy report detailing how Google convinced Nevada state assemblywoman Marilyn Dondero Loop, as well as other states’ transportation committees, to introduce legislation that would help legalize its driverless cars for streets.

“This will save taxpayers countless millions of dollars and revolutionize driving as we know it. No more being distracted, no more accidents, and not another DUI attorney again.”

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company persuaded lawmakers, according to The Wall Street Journal, with “demonstrations and rides in its exotic cars,” and it subsequently earned “legislative wins” in Nevada, California, and Florida. There are even bills pending before legislators in Hawaii, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and the District of Columbia:

In the process, the Mountain View, Calif., company is building its credentials as an astute political operator. Google has been “pretty savvy” at navigating state capitols, said Frank Douma, a transportation-policy author and associate director at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. With its self-driving cars, Google “knew what they were doing by moving forward in Nevada” before approaching bigger states, he said. “If you blow it in the first state, you’ve really got problems.”

Success at legalizing self-driving car technology has broader implications for Google. Skills learned from lobbying state lawmakers could aid other endeavors that will require local policy-making, including the potential expansion of its Google Fiber Internet and TV service into markets dominated by cable companies.

Google spent roughly $9 million during the first and second quarters of 2012 lobbying in Washington and coaxing lawmakers and U.S. Department of Transportation officials, but Google did not disclose how much went toward lobbying state officials.

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YouTube is tweaking the way it ranks videos as part of its recent trend to improve video discovery.

Google’s video-sharing platform made changes to Suggest Videos in March, and it refreshed YouTube Analytics just yesterday, and now it is attempting to applaud and boost popular videos with new optimizations to ranking.

YouTube elaborated on the official YouTube Creator blog:

The experimental results of this change have proven positive — less clicking, more watching. We expect the amount of time viewers spend watching videos from search and across the site to increase.  As with previous optimizations to our discovery features, this should benefit your channel if your videos drive more viewing time across YouTube.

YouTube does not detail the exact adjustments, but it clearly wants to feed engaging videos to users who do not have a specific search query in mind. The result, as YouTube suggested above, will not only supply users with trending video but will also pipe more views to successful publishers.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zAytOPnfkX8#!]

Rumor has it that LG’s Nexus device is on the way and based on the LG Optimus G that we recently got hands-on time with at a media event in New York City. We might not have official word from Google or LG, but recent retail inventory listings and leaked images indicate an unveiling will happen in the coming weeks. Several reports agree the LG Nexus will sport almost identical specs to the Optimus G, but today we get a look at what we can expect from the new device with a lengthy 4-minute product video posted to LG’s YouTube account.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=00xUH86sJV0]

Today, we are getting a look at what Android Police claimed is a new build of Gmail—one that “may or may not have come from an LG Nexus system dump.” Among the big new features for Gmail version 4.2, which the report noted also runs fine on Android 4.1, is pinch-to-zoom within your inbox. On top of that highly requested feature, the new Gmail will also get the ability to swipe to delete or archive.

The new app now provides a few options for swiping your conversation list, including: “Has no effect,” “Archive, delete,” or “Always delete.” The default option, “Archive or delete”, will archive conversations in your inbox, delete conversations when in All mail or sent, and it will remove the current label when viewing regular labels.

Also noted is the ability to report a message as phishing. It is unclear exactly when we might be able to get our hands on the new Gmail build, but we will keep you posted as always.

Today, Geek.com points us to proof that Google is preparing to open a call center for Nexus customers. Google is currently sourcing a third-party company to hire employees for the new call center, according to the report, with recruiters seeking “Android enthusiasts” to start in the next few weeks. The timeframe would of course line up nicely with all of the rumors of the LG Nexus and other OEMs preparing Nexus device launches, but Google is not publicly advertising the positions for now on its website.

Lack of support has been a big complaint among Nexus owners in the past. With the introduction of Nexus 7, and new devices on the horizon, we hope all this recruiting is really for a Nexus/Android-related call center. Google recently announced it would start phone support and email support for Apps customers.

Recruiters have been visiting Bay Area campuses looking for Android enthusiasts willing to come work for Google within the next few weeks. Applicants are not being told specifically what the position is for until after the applications are submitted, though the advertisement makes it fairly clear who they are applying to work for…We’re told that Google plans to have the call center fully staffed and trained by the end of the month.