Google

Google experienced more copyright removal notices for URLs in the last month than it did for all of 2009.

The search engine processed more than 4.3 million URL removal requests in the last 30 days, and it plans to redirect this data as a signal for search rankings. The bevy of infringing Web content spurred Google to take into account valid copyright removal notices for websites to verify its search algorithms yield the highest quality results.

Google elaborated on its Inside Search blog: 

• Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results. This ranking change should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily—whether it’s a song previewed on NPR’s music website, a TV show on Hulu or new music streamed fromSpotify.

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Google is using witty animation to enlighten folks in Brazil about the conditions of online advertising and how its service helps streamline those operations.

The Internet giant recently hosted five animated videos on YouTube as part of a Brazil-based campaign for Google Ads products. According to TheNextWeb (via Brainstorm9), agencies Pepper Melon and Ño Empire co-created the farcical advertisements that focus on brand awareness, audience engagement, efficient technology use, target selection, and new product launches.

The commercials are in Brazilian Portuguese with English subtitles, check ’em out:

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There is a new sheriff in town for the mobile payments arena—or at least that’s what VentureBeat described in a report on the newly formed Mobile Payments Committee.

Electronic Transactions Association CEO Jason Oxman announced the group’s genesis in an interview this morning, where he explained the committee boasts representation from the four leading U.S. carriers.

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile have apparently united to grapple with mobile payments, and it appears Google, PayPal, ISIS, VeriFone, and Intuit are also members, while Verizon Executive Director of Federal Relations Jackie Moran serves as the group’s chair.

According to VentureBeat, the Mobile Payments Committee will:

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A few press images of the Sony Xperia manifested online before its expected IFA unveiling in September and just days after a slew of leaked slides on the tablet emerged via a German website.

Android Guys first spotted the latest high-res leaks on the XDA Developers Forum. The forum’s contributor noted the device offers a Tegra3 CPU, 1-megapixel front-facing camera, 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, 6000 mAh battery, and a magnesium-aluminum alloy body.

The 16GB Experia will apparently sell, according to the XDA thread, for $399.99, while the 32GB and 64GB models cost an additional $100 and $200 respectively, but previous reports for the tablet indicated a slightly higher price scheme.

More rumored specs include Android 4.0 or later, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, and a 8.8mm aluminum shell that is 42 percent thinner than the Tablet S. The slim design is certainly a draw, but that dramatic bezel pictured above is a completely different story.

The full gallery is below.

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Google updated its Google Translate Android app today to version 2.5, and it added a number of notable features including the ability to translate text from images. When snapping an image of a street sign or anything else containing text and highlighting the text within the image using your finger, Google Translate will instantly provide a translation for devices running Android 2.3 and above (as shown in the screenshot to the right).

Other features added in the update for all users include instant translation results while typing, the ability to select a dialect preference for speech input, and support for multiple characters at once for Japanese handwriting. Google also noted it added “access network state permission to check network availability when sending requests.”

As always, the updated Google Translate app is available on Google Play now.

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In a recent interview with Forbes regarding benefits for Google employees, Google Chief People Officer Laszlo Bock explained the company has recently announced death benefits for Googlers.

“This might sound ridiculous,” Bock told me recently in a conversation on the ever-evolving benefits at Google, “But we’ve announced death benefits at Google.”

According to Bock, spouses of Googlers whom pass away while employed at the company will continue to receive 50 percent of the employee’s annual salary for 10 years following. Children will also receive $1,000 monthly until they reach 19 (or 23 if they are a full-time student):

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Google announced on the Official Lat Long Blog today that it is expanding the Google Maps live traffic feature first launched in 2008 to cover 130 smaller U.S. cities and the capitals of Panama, Costa Rica, and Colombia. On top of travel time estimates and real-time traffic conditions for the new cities, Google also improved its traffic coverage in a list of other locations including parts of Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. A tutorial of the feature is presented in the demo video below, and Google has a full overview of supported cities here.

Now the streets of Bogotá, San José, and Panama City and the arterial roads in Kalamazoo (Michigan), Portland (Maine), Tuscaloosa (Alabama) and many more cities will include real-time current traffic conditions as well as estimated travel times. Whether you’re online on your home computer ensuring no unexpected snarls await your drive to the airport or you’ve been stuck behind a line of cars for a few minutes and can ask your friend in the passenger seat to check whether it’ll clear up just around the bend, we hope these updates save you time and stress when getting to your destination.
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Disclosure: I was in the pay of Google throughout the Oracle litigation.But <sob> I couldn’t say anything.

— Tim Bray (@timbray) August 7, 2012

A judge ruled today that Google and Oracle must disclose any payments made to Internet authors, journalists, or bloggers for published commentary related to the Google vs. Oracle lawsuit involving Android software.

The trial is just now ending, but Judge William Alsup issued a court order (PDF) today that calls for both companies to divulge which Internet-based journalists were compensated. The judge is apparently concerned that evidence in the case includes analysis from influenced bloggers.

FOSS Patents‘ Florian Mueller revealed in April that Oracle and Microsoft pay for posts on his blog, where he regularly discusses the Google vs. Oracle case.

The full court order is below: 

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You may have already noticed, but Google’s latest Olympic-related doodle on the homepage is an interactive HTML5 game that celebrates hurdle races. Users can notably pair a USB-powered gamepad, keyboard, or mouse to control the game’s runner and to help him conquer the track’s hurdles.

Google revealed in a Google+ post today (screenshot below) that the doodle “makes use of the brand-new Gamepad API, which uses JavaScript to read the state of any gamepad controller attached to your computer, and which was just added to Chrome last week.”

Check it out: Google.com

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[slideshow]

Sometimes it is fun to take a break from reviewing the newest high-end Android phones out there to see what the other end of the spectrum has to offer. Virgin announced its new low-end phone, the PCD Chaser, which is just $79.99 without signing up for a plan.

Virgin offers unlimited data 3G plans starting at $35 a month. So, you are looking at just under $500 for a year of this phone with unlimited data. That is an incredible deal for an Android 2.3 device that does not totally suck. The Chaser comes with many of the same specs as the previous Virgin-base model, the Optimus V, including a 3-megapixel camera, 800MHz processor, 3.2-inch display, and hardware buttons. The Chaser adds the new, lower $80 price tag and Android 2.3, which the low-cost folks will welcome. However, those who want to see Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean on their devices will lament (Virgin never updated the Optimus V, so do not expect this one to get an upgrade either).

It is still a remarkable little device that once retailed for $149 (but lately it is often on-sale for much less). The Optimus included a 2GB Micro-USB card, but the Chaser does not, which frankly is pretty petty. Although the phone has a low-end camera, you cannot take videos or still images until you buy a Micro-SD card. Lame. I was able to take some borderline decent pictures and movies once I popped in an SD Card. Therefore, this might actually be a step down from the Optimus V.

Otherwise, this fine Android device will be a good step up for feature phone users. Some notes:

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Verizon Wireless muddied the water earlier this year when it announced that it would not allow Galaxy Nexus users to access Google Wallet. Many began to theorize that Big Red’s move was a defense for its own ISIS mobile payment solution brewing, but a few crafty folks figured out a way to bypass Verizon’s restrictions.

Now, merely a day after the Federal Communications Commission slapped Verizon with a $1.25 million charge for not keeping the “open network” pledge it made when it bought a block of 700MHz spectrum, things have changed. As JR Rafael noted, why does the open network standard not apply to Google Wallet too?

Engadget reported this evening that Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners can now access Google Wallet without any workarounds. The news also comes just after Google Wallet was updated with remote wipe, a web app, and support for all major credit cards yesterday afternoon. Right now, Verizon Galaxy Nexus users do not appear to be able to search for Google Wallet on the Play store and download it; however, they can download Google Wallet with a direct link. Folks, give it a try. [Google Play via Engadget] 
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Google introduced a new feature last year for Google Apps for Business admins that allows them to manage a large set of mobile devices across all platforms. Admins can make settings, like allowing or blocking the phone’s camera, which then requires employees to set passwords on their devices, and making a way for administrators to set data encryption policies for users’ devices. It is an easy way to manage a ton of devices.

To hopefully make things a bit easier, Google unveiled a new feature for administrators today that gives users (employees) the ability to remotely wipe data off their phone from the moment it is lost or stolen. The feature is very similar to Apple’s Find My iPhone, which just today allowed New York Times reporter David Pogue to locate his iPhone. Users will be able to view their device from the “My Devices” page, where the PIN on the phone can be reset and the device can be locked, rung, or wiped. Non-work Android device users have had a similar feature for quite sometime. We all know it is a scary situation when a personal artifact is lost, so having the ability to somehow find it is always welcomed.

[Enterprise Blog]

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Oh, Web drama.

Third-party developers often cry about the lack of an open write API from Google+. The absence notably means no tools, products, or services can add data to Google’s social network. Well, a few companies, such as Hootsuite, currently have permission to publish, but many more can only read.

With that said, entrepreneur Dalton Caldwell wants to launch ad-less social platform App.net to replace all the bogged-down, ad-supported social networks of the Internet. He even posted an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg yesterday about Facebook’s “bad-faith negotiations” with App.net and “the very real risk of 3rd party development on an ad-supported platform.”

Google Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra noticed Caldwell’s contentious blog post late last night, so he promptly explained in a status update why a public, read-and-write Google+ API is missing in action. His answer is simple: “I’m not interested in screwing over developers.”

Yeah…and this is his full status update:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BnUoTyATLo&feature=player_embedded]
As a special celebration for the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Google announced today that it added a new collection of Street View imagery that allows users to explore the area through 6,000 panoramic views of the complex. To accomplish the task, Google teamed with NASA to capture the special set of imagery. It will allow you to explore outside the facility and areas like the “top of the enormous launch pad.” Some of the locations you can now explore in Street View include the space shuttle launch pad, Launch Firing Room #4, Vehicle Assembly Building (taller than the Statue of Liberty), and the space shuttle’s main engines.

For fifty years, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has been the launch point for a generation of space technology and exploration. Countless enthusiasts (including this one) grew up longing to see a space shuttle up close and walk in the paths of astronauts. Today, a collaboration between NASA and Street View is enabling people around the world to take a trip to the doorway to outer space, and see Kennedy as it transitions into a multipurpose launch complex for the next 50 years of space innovation… We’d like to thank NASA for making this project possible and giving all of us the chance to digitally walk in the shoes of all of the pioneering astronauts, scientists, engineers and technicians that made our space dreams possible.

If you want to see Google’s largest special collection of Street View imagery for the NASA Kennedy Space Center, go to maps.google.com/nasa now.

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

Google Wallet is now cloud-based, supports any type of credit or debit card, and it is safer than ever before thanks to secure storage and remote disabling.

U.S. carriers are extremely stingy about letting Google put the Wallet app on its own operating system. While Sprint and its Virgin subsidiary have Google Wallet enabled on most of their new Android phones, Verizon has outright banned it—even on the Galaxy Nexus. AT&T and T-Mobile, which, with Verizon, are part of the competing ISIS Wallet standard. Both refuse to carry phones that use Google Wallet, but you can buy an unsubsidized GSM Galaxy Nexus that works on both networks just fine.

Google seems to have found another way around the ban, according to the the official Google Commerce blog:

“Today we’re releasing a new, cloud-based version of the Google Wallet app that supports all credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Now, you can use any card when you shop in-store or online with Google Wallet. With the new version, you can also remotely disable your mobile wallet app from your Google Wallet account on the web.”

Google Wallet is simple: Card information is entered on the app, or on its new online wallet and Google Play, and manageable transaction records for in-store and online purchases appear on the phone (and now the Web!) immediately after payment use.

Google also instantly charges the selected credit or debit card. Well, when a user pays, the virtual card is transmitted to the merchant, but then the back-end charges the selected card. Note: It does not directly charge the card, because it is a proxy card.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgJ7yck1qwY&feature=player_embedded]

We already knew Google supported the Raspberry Pi’s goal of bringing inexpensive and programmable hardware to everyone when Eric Schmidt announced some education investments would go toward purchasing the hardware and providing them to educators as teaching aids. However, we get word from the Raspberry Pi foundation today that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has now been ported to the $25 ARM GNU/Linux box. The announcement confirmed “hardware-accelerated graphics and video have been up and running smoothly,” but audio is still missing thanks to AudioFlinger support issues. The blog post continued:

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