Google

Google released an update for the “Google Voice” Android app today that allows Android 4.0 visual voicemail integration.

Software Engineer Yong-Hoon Choi explained on the official Google Voice blog that the app supported visual voicemail since 2009, but jumping between the call log and Google Voice app proved cumbersome.

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With Microsoft and numerous regulatory bodies nipping at Google’s heels and decrying the Internet giant of shady advertising practices and loose privacy standards, one would think the Mountain View, Calif.-based Company might lie low for a while.

Well, that is not the case: The Next Web reported on a Google patent today that introduced technology for analyzing the environmental conditions (or background sound) of phone calls. The action would essentially allow Google to exhibit advertisements based on the clamor its science heard.

The patent, called “Advertising based on environmental conditions,” described how the method recognizes signal outputs from environmental conditions using a sensor coupled with the remote device (such as a smartphone). Google would then serve personalized ads based on the data gathered. In other words, if Google noticed a NASCAR race in the background of a phone call, it would then promptly offer ads for motor sports…

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[youtube=http://youtu.be/2b5uKF-7qDM]

Editing videos with YouTube just got much easier.

The video-sharing website launched YouTube Video Editor last year, but now its latest editing tool allows YouTube to automatically detect any stabilization and lighting issues…

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Google Docs can now spell check threw through the Web.

Software Engineer Yew Jin Lim took to the official Google Docs blog this afternoon to explain how the Internet is helping Google Docs get smarter. The ambiguous and ever-adapting Googlebot is able to crawl cyberspace and adapt to words. The resulting action enables Google to improve suggestions during misspelled queries in Google Search. Well now, the same process is applied to Google Docs…

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Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will host a Google+ Hangout today as the first in a series of GOP presidential candidate Hangouts.

“In American politics, there’s nothing quite so frantic or fast-paced as a presidential campaign,” announced Google+’s Head of Community Partnerships Steve Grove on the Google Politics & Elections page. “Google+ Hangouts have made that a little bit easier, providing new ways for politicians, political organizations, advocates and campaigners to connect directly over video to share information online.”

More information is available below.

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

This is what desperation looks like. Also this:

[tweet https://twitter.com/jr_raphael/status/181907358618882049]
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Engadget shows us something it pulled from Chinese language forums:

What you see on the right is called the Droid RAZR “Fighter,” and it has a 4.6-inch 720P display much like HTC’s 4.7-inch One and the 4.65-inch Galaxy Nexus.

You will note that it does not have physical capacitive buttons, instead opting for the ICS-y soft buttons. That allows Motorola to push the screen further toward the edges, which is something we complained about in our review.

The smaller bezel and lack of physical buttons allows Motorola to break out a much bigger screen without increasing the footprint…much.

Other probabilities: LTE on board, lots more graphics power, and Ice Cream Sandwich.

Hopefully the Google buyout of Motorola cuts through the blur, but as with all Verizon phones, you will expect that Verizon will have its way with ICS.

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A story from Wired today interviewed Chris Sharp, the GM of content and cloud at data center Equinix where Google happens to lease space alongside some of its biggest competitors. Sharp told an interesting story about Google removing all the light bulbs above its server cages a couple years back. The company then required those working on the servers to wear helmets with lights:

About two years ago, Chris Sharp says, Google unscrewed all the light bulbs inside the hardware cages it occupied at that Equinix data center. “They had us turn off all overhead lights too, and their guys put on those helmets with lights you see miners wear,” he tells Wired. “Presumably, they were bringing up custom-built gear they didn’t want anyone else to see.”

The reason Google did this, according to Sharp, is “there’s a lot of valuable intellectual property.” He added that many companies try to conceal equipment, but he was “always amazed by Google and the helmets.” As Wired pointed out, Google builds its own servers and associated gear and most likely does not want competitors leasing space at Equinix to get a look.

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Hot off the wire from AllThingsD:

Rose’s mobile app incubator Milk yesterday announced it was shutting down its only product, Oink.

Google is not outright buying or “acqhiring” Milk, the sources explicitly said, but Rose and some others from the company have been hired. It’s not clear what will happen to Milk after Rose joins Google.

His social and more recent local background would seem to make him a natural at Google+. Rose is also an Angel investor having thrown in with Fab, Zynga, ngmoco, Foursquare, and Twitter.

Interestingly, Google was very close to acquiring Rose’s Digg four years ago, but the deal never went through.

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Earlier today, we told you Google Docs is now integrated into Google+ for all users, and now the social network is getting another update from the Google+ Photos team. A new album organizer is rolling out today that allows you to sort, reorder, move, copy, and batch-delete photos from within your Google+ account. You can access the new features by clicking “Organize album” from the Options menu of an album.

Go past the fold for the full breakdown from Google.

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According to a report from Bloomberg (via AllThingsD), the U.S. Federal Trade Commission subpoenaed Apple as part of its antitrust investigation of Google. There are not many details currently, but the report claimed the FTC is interested in Apple’s agreement with the company to use Google as its primary default search engine on iOS devices.

The agency’s request for documents includes the agreements that made Google the preferred search engine on Apple’s mobile devices, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly and declined to be identified. Google rivals such as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) have criticized these agreements as anticompetitive.

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O.K., really that headline is a bit misleading. We have no idea what the now-former DARPA head has been hired to do at Google, and the department would only tell us the scripted:

“Regina is a technical pioneer who brought the future of technology to the military during her time at DARPA. She will be a real asset to Google and we are thrilled she is joining the team.”

Besides pulling off designer jeans, Wired profiled her other qualifications:

Dugan’s emphasis on cybersecurity and next-generation manufacturing earned her strong support from the White House, winning her praise from the President and maintaining the agency’s budget even during a period of relative austerity at the Pentagon. Her push into crowdsourcing and outreach to the hacker community were eye-openers in the often-closed world of military R&D. Dugan also won over some military commanders by diverting some of her research cash from long-term, blue-sky projects to immediate battlefield concerns.

“There is a time and a place for daydreaming. But it is not at Darpa,” she told a congressional panel in March 2011 (.pdf). “Darpa is not the place of dreamlike musings or fantasies, not a place for self-indulging in wishes and hopes. Darpa is a place of doing.” For an agency that spent millions of dollars on shape-shifting robots, Mach 20 missiles, and mind-controlled limbs, it was something of a revolutionary statement.

You will recall that Google’s Driverless cars were born from the DARPA Grand Challenge, so perhaps we will see her join the ranks of Google’s X team. The videos below of Dugan talking feature her deep knowledge on the type of cyber-hacking that Google has accused China of in the past.

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Without any official confirmation, The New York Post reported today that Google is looking to sell Motorola Mobility’s set-top box division as the $12.5 billion acquisition of the company looms.

Google allegedly summoned Qatalyst Partners and Barclays Capital to help shop the asset around. However, the publication’s sources indicated Google is not likely to unload the division, because cable operators are “shunning” Motorola set-top boxes before the acquisition closes.

With that said, one source speculated a possible sale price between $2.5 billion to $4 billion.

More information is available below.

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The New York Times posted a back-and-forth piece today about Google+ having an image problem ironically within hours after the search engine announcing it rebranded Android Market to “Google Play.”

Reports circulated recently over ComScore’s latest findings that show users only spend three minutes a month on Google+. Meanwhile, the study revealed people spend close to 7 hours a month on Facebook.

Google itself combats public whispers over such studies with its own statistics. Google’s Vice President for Engineering Vic Gundotra told the NYT that Google+ has approximately 100 million accounts with over 50 million daily users.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based Company has a suite of integrated products, such as YouTube, Google.com, and Google Play, which contribute to Google+’s fan base. Gundotra’s statistics include the amount of people who regularly use such products.

In other words, Gundotra indicates that signing up for a Google+ account and regularly using any related product makes one an active daily user of the social network, but he also said his figures do not accurately depict what is happening at Google.

“This is just the next version of Google,” said Gundotra to the NYT, while comparing Google+ to a social blanket that covers the entire Google experience. “Everything is being upgraded. We already have users. We’re now upgrading them to what we consider Google 2.0.”

More information is available below.

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[youtube=http://youtu.be/19wK7ciBTdc]

Ubisoft unveiled the above teaser for the critically acclaimed “From Dust” videogame by Creative Designer Eric Chahi and announced it is coming to the Google Chrome browser next month.

“Chrome users will be able to play a High-End console game within their very own Google Chrome browser,” contended Ubisoft, the game’s developer.

More information is available below.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GdZxbmEHW7M]

Google announced it rebranded Android Market to “Google Play” today as a cloud-based digital entertainment destination.

“Starting today, Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore will become part of Google Play,” explained Director of Digital Content Jamie Rosenberg on the Official Google Blog.

Google Play lets users find, enjoy and share content, such as music, movies, books and apps, on the web and on an Android smartphone or tablet. Moreover, the cloud service stores all of the content online. Google Play allots free storage for up to 20,000 songs, and it has downloads for more than 450,000 Android apps, eBooks browsing, and rent options for thousands of movies, HD titles, and new releases.

The integrated destination replaces and extends Android Market as an attempt to create a stronger brand with enticing offerings and slicked purchasing for an all-around better experience that will “drive traffic and revenue for the entire ecosystem,” according to Kenneth Lui on the Android Developer’s Blog.

More information is available below.

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Google must be napping to reenergize for its upcoming Motorola Mobility acquisition, because it has not completed a single buyout in 2012 despite purchasing 79 companies last year.

Google filed its 10-K with the SEC in January that revealed the Mountain View, Calif.-based search engine spent $1.9 billion (including stock and cash) on 79 acquisitions in 2011. The more notable purchases were ITA Software for $676 million, and Apture, Katango, and Clever Sense. That means the Internet giant bought six to seven companies a month in 2011. In contrast, it obtained four companies a month in 2010 for a total 48 acquisitions worth $1 billion.

With that said, Google has not picked up a single company since Dec. 13, 2011—roughly four months since its last investment. If judging Google’s spending habits over the last two years, the firm should have already completed 16 to 28 buyouts in 2012 to bulk its portfolio of interests. The company still has time to flash its money, though, as it grabbed roughly 25 of those 2011 acquisitions after the year’s third quarter.

More information is available below.

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Google rolled out a handy new feature yesterday to its mobile search page on Android and iPhone smartphones that provides access to the list of past places-related search queries. According to a post over at the official Google Mobile blog, the new Recent icon “shows information about places you have recently searched for on any of your devices.” You must be logged in to your Google Account when searching for places (such as the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco). Web History must also be enabled. Users can swipe to the right to see more icons for other categories of places.

Next time you are heading to a place you have recently searched for, no need to worry if you can’t remember the address or phone number. Just go to Google.com on your smartphone and tap on the “Recent” icon.

This improvement also allows you to research places of interest on your desktop and view them later while on the go— without having to bookmark or email places’ URLs to yourself. One thing to keep in mind: This information about your previously searched places will be available under the Recent icon for about a day, Google said. This handy new feature is the first in a series of enhancements aimed at unifying search experience across devices.

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Samsung today announced its latest addition to the Galaxy device lineup, the Galaxy Pocket smartphone seen on the right. As the name suggests, this Android 2.3 Gingerbread device easily fits into your pocket as it is just 12mm thin and weighs only 97 grams.

The diminutive phone packs a 2.8-inch QVGA 240-by-320 pixel resolution display, 832MHz processor, 3GB user memory (expandable to 32 gigs via MicroSD cards), built-in FM radio, and runs Samsung’s upgraded TouchWiz user interface. On the connectivity front, the Galaxy Pocket supports Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi wireless networks, and 3G HSDPA 3.6Mbps cellular networks.

The included social features cover Samsung’s Social Hub and the downloadable ChatON cross-platform communication service. The Galaxy Pocket will be available in Italy starting from March and will gradually roll out to Europe, CIS, Latin America, Southeast and Southwest Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and China. No price points, model numbers, or United States availability information were released at press time.

Spec sheet is above the fold.

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Apple’s latest cunning move in its Holy Crusade against Android involves getting a court order to force Google, the maker of Android software, to produce documents detailing the Android roadmap and its proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of handset maker Motorola Mobility. It was not immediately clear what data Apple was exactly seeking to uncover. This is notable, because Apple is actually going after Google with this request. It is the first direct in the ongoing legal war considering Apple fought Google by proxy in the past.

According to Bloomberg, U.S. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner ruled yesterday based on a patent lawsuit Apple filed in 2010 against Motorola that both Motorola and Google must spill relevant information to Apple, as “the Android/Motorola acquisition discovery is highly relevant to Apple’s claims and defenses.” Motorola, of course, opposed the request, offering the following argument.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCpDHZ6NNoY]

Google’s premier apps partner merged with Salesforce.com’s top partner to offer an international cloud service for businesses in the United States and Asia Pacific.

According to a press release, the combined company will also help businesses that use social enterprise Salesforce.com or Google to employ cloud computing.

“The demand for cloud services in Asia-Pacific continues to grow at breakneck speed,” explained GlobnalOne founder and Senior Vice President for Asia-Pacific at Cloud Sherpas John Orrock. “Our cloud consultants in Australia and New Zealand, combined with our newly acquired mobility practice and offshore development capabilities in the Philippines, sets the new Cloud Sherpas apart from other cloud service providers in the region.”

The original Cloud Sherpas, founded in 2008, won GoogleEnterprise’s Partner of the Year in 2011. It is a Premier Google Apps partner. GlobalOne, founded in 2007, is a leading firm that encourages cloud technology. It is a Salesforce.com partner.

“Bringing together a dominant Salesforce.com partner with a leading Google Enterprise partner enables us to provide customers around the globe with a more comprehensive range of enterprise cloud solutions,” contended Cloud Sherpas’ President Douglas Shepard.

More information is available below.

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