ZDNet has posted a video of an internal Microsoft ad, reportedly shown at the Microsoft Exchange Conference, comparing Office 365 to Gmail. As you could imagine, Microsoft bashes Gmail pretty bad with the concept of Google reading people’s mail to serve up better ads.
Except Google Apps for Enterprise doesn’t do ads.
This video is obviously trying to sell Office 365 over Google Apps. Microsoft told ZDNet the video isn’t theirs, but we wonder who else can make such awesomely bad videos.
Google’s been steadily improving its mapping application for Android and the web. Over the past 30 days, Google updated Maps with ‘My Places’ tab and added offline maps and stop-by-stop public transit navigation to Google Maps for Android. Starting today, the search giant wrote in a blog post, public transport directions are available for the London Underground in both web and Android apps, including all Underground, bus, tram and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) lines:
Let’s say you’re at Trafalgar Square, and you want to visit Madame Tussauds. With a simple directions search, you’ll see all the possible public transport connections. In Maps, click “Get directions” in the left-hand panel, and then the train icon to see public transport directions. Enter your departure location next to A, and your destination next to B. These can be either street addresses or names of popular places, businesses or restaurants. When you’re done, click the “Get directions” button and suggestions for your trip will appear below.
Mobile Maps utilize your phone’s location in order to figure out an optimal rout to your destination, but you’ll also have be presented with multiple alternatives. On Android devices public transport directions are available with Transit Navigation (Beta) in Google Maps, meaning your phone can even alert you when it’s time to get off the tube at your destination.
Gmail is admittedly the world’s most popular web-based email service, but it’s still ranked third as both Microsoft Live Mail (formerly known as Hotmail) and Yahoo! Mail command larger user bases. As of November 2010, Gmail had 193.3 million monthly users, according to Wikipedia. So to help you initiate the uninitiated, Google has created a new mini-site called Email Intervention, accompanied by a nifty little video included above. A notice on the website says:
You’ve probably already improved the lives of your friends and family members by helping them switch to Gmail, but what about that one friend who still hasn’t made the switch? It’s time to take a stand and stage an intervention.
Email Intervention is basically a simple web site where you select people from your address book and have them receive a nicely formatted email message (see below) asking them to jump on the Gmail bandwagon. The message includes Google’s intervention video featuring Dr. Richarc Muscat, Intervention Specialist, but you can replace it with your own footage. Of course, only Gmail users can send glorified invitations to Gmail using the website tools. The Gmail blog is even more straightforward in attempts to convince folks to make a switch:
On the Gmail team, we affectionately refer to them as “email interventions.” We hear about them all the time: the cousin who finally switched from an embarassing address like hottie6elliot1977 to a more professional elliot.d.smith@gmail.com, a co-worker who helped his dentist switch after he heard her grumble about having to pay for IMAP access, etc.
It is no secret that Google TV failed to hit the ground running as the notion of having to buy another box for their TVs fell on deaf ear with the general public. It is no surprise then to find out that Google TV boxes are not selling very well, just like the Apple TV (picture below). What we didn’t know is how bad the situation is for the search giant’s pet project. TIMNpoints at a prepared statement from Logitech, the maker of Google TV-powered Revue box, in which the company acknowledged “very modest sales” of the product in the June quarter:
Sales of Logitech Revue were slightly negative during the quarter, as returns of the product were higher than the very modest sales. We believe the significantly lower everyday price for Logitech Revue, reduced from $249 to $99, will generate improved sales.
Google on its part will update the Google TV project with Honeycomb code later this summer, adding the ability to download and run apps on your television. But despite the aggressive price cut which will cost Logitech $34 million in one-time charges and the fact that the Revue now price-matches the $99 Apple TV, ordinary consumers will still be avoiding set-top boxes in droves, regardless of a brand.
Apple on its part could tackle the market with a rumored full-blown television set with the Apple TV functionality built-in. Apple’s op-chief Tim Cook recently in a conference call with Wall Street analysts re-iterrated Apple’s stance that the Apple TV box remains “a hobby” for the company. The comment jibes with Steve Jobs’s argument from the Wall Street Journal’s D8 conference last year when he said set-top box makers like Apple and Google faced a go-to market problem, calling the television market “balkanized” (full quote and video below the fold).
Research firm Nielsen chimed in today with a survey that puts Apple as the leading handset maker in the United States whilst Android is portrayed as the top mobile operating system in the country. Those findings follow a recent analysis which had Apple overtaking Nokia to become the world’s leading smartphone vendor in July, also corroborated by IDC figures. According to Nielsen’s June data, Google’s Android remains the nation’s top phone platform with a 39 percent of the country’s consumer smartphone market. Apple’s iOS follows with 28 percent and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion continues to bleed share, down to 20 percent in the second quarter of 2011. Windows Mobile and Windows Phone combined grabbed nine percent, webOS and Palm OS were barely a blip with two percent, as was Nokia’s dying Symbian OS.
Apple on the other hand is the top smartphone maker in the United States that controls 28 percent of the market (excluding iPods and iPads). That’s partly “because Apple is the only company manufacturing smartphones with the iOS operating system”, Nielsen argues. HTC shares second spot with Research In Motion with a fourteen percent share of Android devices and six percent of Windows Phones for a total of 20 percent share of the whole market, same as the BlackBerry maker. HTC is also the nation’s leading Android and Windows Phone vendor with 14 percent and six percent share, respectively. No wonder Apple is suing HTC and seeking to ban import of their phones into the US…
According to a report from Experian Hitwise, Google+ has seen a 3% decrease in traffic over the past week. But don’t let this worry you, as Google+ has seen a 9% traffic increase from Gmail. Maybe Google+’s hype has worn off, but it’s great to see Google+’s integration across their services is paying off. We obviously expect numbers to go back up again when the service goes public — whenever that may be.
Google has updated Google Maps for Android to version 5.8, which sheds focus on Places. Users can now upload pictures of Places and add new Places that aren’t yet listed. Most interestingly, Maps now gives you the ability to favorite places in the My Places tab. Go ahead and grab it in the Market now.
What’s in this version:
Personalize Place pages by uploading pictures from your visit
Manage your starred and recently visited Places in the ‘My Places’ tab
See descriptive terms for Places in search results and Places pages
Google has released an update to their Shopper app conveniently giving users information on daily deals, including Google Offers. The update adds a “Offers” and “My Offers” tab at the bottom, along with the Shop tab you know and love. The Offers tab displays deals in map view that are available in your city. The deals you find can be saved in the My Offers tab for later use. Businesses can publish deals through Google Places. If Google Offers is available in your city you can redeem your purchased offers in the My Offers tab. Check out the update in the App Store. Expand Expanding Close
Digital Inspirationreports Google is testing out a new search page design created specifically for tablets, but likely to make its way onto desktops as well. The new tablet-optimized search home page puts forth a cleaner layout with new visual features recently applied to Gmail, Calendar and their other properties. Old graphics is gone and replaced with a Google+-like appearance, along with the black Google navigation bar at the top that recently appeared on desktop.
A brand new thing: The top row of icons for filtering down search results by type (images, news, web, etc.) has been replaced with the traditional lefthand column with search tools, still present on desktop. Does this change signal the new design for search silos across desktop and mobile? If Google’s recent focus on consistency in design is an indication, than the answer should be a resounding ‘yes’. Google has not officially rolled out the new design, but we’re expecting them to make an announcement soon. Another screenshot right below the fold. Expand Expanding Close
While the iPad 2 display easily outperformed all of the previous Android Tablets, with the new Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung has delivered the first Android Tablet with an impressive, potentially outstanding display, but then ruined it by turning up the color level to obnoxious levels – apparently in an effort to overcompensate and blatantly standout from the other mobile LCD displays that have subdued color. But in the case of color, too little is a lot better than too much…
As a result the iPad 2 still delivers the best color picture quality and accuracy of all of the Tablets, even though its colors are somewhat subdued. As things stand, based on all of the display tests, the iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 are reasonably close in performance in most categories, so it’s almost a tie, but the Galaxy Tab is ahead more often than the iPad 2, so the Galaxy Tab is the Winner, by a nose…
Perhaps most interesting was that the Motorola Xoom, which is the official Google Honeycomb tablet, came in last behind Asus and Acer.
CBROnlinerelays a new Strategy Analytics report that spells another victory for Google as its mobile bazaar is projected to become bigger than Apple’s App Store in terms of items available before the end of the next year:
According to Strategy Analytics’ new application storefront forecast the Android Market is poised to overtake the Apple App Store in quarterly volume by the end of 2012.
This shouldn’t be a problem considering that Google’s Android Market is getting additional assistance from third-party app stores such as the Amazon Appstore for Android, GetJar, Nook and others. Apple as of July 7 reported 425,000 apps on the App Store that have been downloaded 15 billion times on 200 million iOS devices, generating $3.6 billion in revenues. A week later Google said Android Market saw six billion downloads across the 130 million Android devices sold to date and more than 500,000 device activations per each day.
Paid downloads on mobile app stores should drive nearly $2 billion per quarter by the end of next year, the research firm said. “Applications are a multi-billion dollar industry on their own and are playing an increasingly important role in the phone purchase process, and play a key role in augmenting platform stickiness, after the operating decision has been made”, says the report.
Samsung officially announced the availability of the LTE Galaxy Tab 10.1 for July 28th at Verizon. Itdoesn’t appear that the LTE radios have added any depth or weight to the Tab.
Pricing and data plans (which include a $25 Media Hub):
Verizon Wireless will offer two 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 models both priced with two year customer agreements: $529.99 or the 16GB model and $629.99 for the 32GB model.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 customers will have the option to choose one of the following Mobile Broadband plans:
$30 monthly access for 2GB monthly allowance
$50 monthly access for 5GB monthly allowance
$80 monthly access for 10GB monthly allowance
A 16GB Wi-Fi-only Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will also be available online at www.verisonwireless.com on July 28 for $499.99. The WiFi-only model will be available in Metallic Grey.
GSA shares Google’s love for electric cars so they helped launch Electric Vehicle Pilot Program in May. Pictured above: GSA’s administrator Martha N. Johnson behind the wheel of a patriotically painted electric car.
Another day, another big enterprise, education institution or government agency goes Google. Today, it’s the US General Services Administration’s (GSA) turn. The search company has made public on the Google Enterprise blog that in just six months GSA has managed to migrate over 17,000 employees and contractors to Google Apps for Government.
“By moving to the cloud, GSA hopes to serve as a model for other federal agencies”, Google writes. Just the move to Gmail-hosted email will save them $15 million over five years. The switch was gradual as hundreds of early adopters at GSA later provided assistance to their colleagues in making the switch. This is in start contract to the traditional approach involving a large IT department, outside consultancy firms and expensive support and training staff.
GSA teams are now enjoying the Google Chrome for Business browser to run web apps such as Google Docs, Gmail, Calendar, Sites, Google-hosted videos and other custom-built applications running off the Google Apps infrastructure. Last month, the state of Wyoming transitioned all 10,000 state employees onto Google Apps for Government.
Robert Scoble has posted some highlights of his talk with Google VP +Vic Gundotra regarding the Google+ name fiaso. Gundotra told Scoble Google deleted Google+ accounts that spell their names in “weird ways like using upside-down characters, or who are using obviously fake names, like “god” or worse.”
There have been reports that Google has had a couple missteps in their deleting process. Gundotra says Google is working on making this a smoother process:
He says they have made some mistakes while doing the first pass at this and they are learning. He also says the team will change how they communicate with people. IE, let them know what they are doing wrong, etc.
In an industry-first, AT&T issued a statement pledging to update all post-paid Android smartphones released in 2011 to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Motorola Atrix 4G owners will get a Gingerbgread update beginning today and HTC Inspire 4G users will get it “in the coming weeks”, AT&T confirms. As for the Atrix, Gingerbread will enable the ability to download applications from third-party stores. Other smartphones in AT&T’s lineup pinned for Gingerbread include LG’s Phoenix, Pantech’s Crossover and Samsung’s Captivate 4G and Infuse 4G.
Delivery method will vary by device, the carrier said. That AT&T is taking updating Android phones seriously is a welcome sign for consumers and the Android ecosystem at large, often criticized for platform fragmentation. Google said at their annual developer conference in May that they will be tackling fragmentation woes by imposing strict requirements on their carrier and handset partners. Upgrade details are right below the fold. Expand Expanding Close
While we’ve already reported Google will release business profiles for Google+, VentureBeat is reporting these business profiles will be getting some pretty cool features.. besides a company page. The new features include analytics and more sharing features, while consumer accounts will be left without. Business profiles are due out in the coming months in an open beta, while VentureBeat says analytics and sharing features will be due out around Q3 2011. Expand Expanding Close
Here’s a new idea for Google+ — musician Daria Musk is hosting a concert over a Google+ Hangout. Currently, Hangouts are limited to ten users so Daria is streaming the event on the website HangoutParty. Go ahead and enjoy some good music!
Google has acquired PittPatt, a company focused on facial recognition in photos, reportsWall Street Journal. While the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, Google will be receiving PittPatt’s brainy employees. PittPatt was founded by three “image analysis” and “pattern recognition” specialists whom have PhD’s from Carnegie Mellon University. PitPatt’s technology could go into a number of products — like Google Goggles or Google+.
Something worth noting is what Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt had to say at AllThingsD’s D9 conference in May regarding the matter of facial recognition:
Schmidt says he does have some concerns about the limits of technology, including combining face recognition with other technologies. Google, with Goggles, had moved pretty far down that path, but has stopped because of the implications.
“We built that technology and we withheld it,” Schmidt says.
People could use the stuff in a bad way in addition to a very good way.
We’ve said that we won’t add face recognition to our apps or product features unless we have strong privacy protections in place, and that’s still the case
It seems like each day doesn’t pass without Google redesigning one of their products to match the Google+ look. While Google redesigned News yesterday, Place Pages have now been added to the list. The redesign matches the overall Google+ look so there’s not much explaining there, but the way Google now handles reviews is worth noting.
As TechCrunchreports rather than stealing reviews from sources like TripAdvisor and CitySearch, Google now uses reviews form its users. The business above originally had 1,110 reviews but is now down to 171 reviews after the redesign. Google notes:
Based on careful thought about the future direction of Place pages, and feedback we’ve heard over the past few months, review snippets from other web sources have now been removed from Place pages. Rating and review counts reflect only those that’ve been written by fellow Google users, and as part of our continued commitment to helping you find what you want on the web, we’re continuing to provide links to other review sites so you can get a comprehensive view of locations across the globe.
We’ve also heard there was some legal input into this as Yelp and others were crying foul to the Justice Dept.
To cope with fragmentation of their Android OS, Google has revealed on the Android Developers Blog they are now allowing multiple APK support. Historically, Google only allowed one APK file that would in some cases work on only a number of phones.
With multiple APKs, Developers can now build their apps for different screen sizes, processors, and other hardware capabilities. When a user downloads an app from the Market, they will be automatically assigned the APK that best matches their phone. On the Market all of the versions of the app will be aggregated into one for ratings, reviews, and listing. Google notes what devs need to know:
To support this new capability, we’ve updated the Developer Console to include controls for uploading and managing APKs in a product listing — we encourage you to take a look. If you’d like to learn more about how multiple APK support works, please read the developer documentation. As always, please feel free to give us feedback on the feature through the Market Help Center. Expand Expanding Close
Google is celebrating the 113th birthday of sculptor Alexander Calder (Wikipedia article) with an interesting Google Doodle on the main search homepage. Conveniently, it is a digital take on one of Calder’s famous mobile sculptures and interactive, too: You can rotate it around in three dimensions by pointing your mouse at one of the edges until the pointer changes to the drag handle.
The digital sculpture reacts differently depending on which piece of it you “grab” to rotate the whole thing. Notice how it also casts a realistic shadow below the search box, in real-time. Calder is well-known for the Cirque Calder, a miniature sculpture of a working circus he created to fit inside a suitcase. He went later on to perfect the art of mobile sculpting using common materials such as wire, string, pull toys and more.
We have already seen snippets of code revealing Games is headed to Google+, but this morning it has been confirmed. SlashGearreports on the Google+ help page there is talk about a Games stream, where users can find updates from shared games. Google+ Games will have a sharing aspect, and the Games stream will sum up what your friends have shared from within those games.There is no word on when this will be available. Expand Expanding Close
British monthly Tomorrow’s Technology Today, better known as T3, which specializes in gadgets, gizmos and other technology, is out today with its shortlist of technology products, brands and personalities for 2011. T3 Gadget Awards, one of the biggest tech awards in the UK informally recognized as the “technology Oscars”, already has over 350,000 user votes.
A strong Apple showing is evident, with some interesting Apple vs. Google battles shaping up. The Cupertino, California-based consumer electronics powerhouse has fifteen nominations, only trumped by eighteen nods for Google and its Android operating system. Samsung comes in third with eight spots on the shortlist, while Sony picks up six.
Kieran Alger, editor of T3.com, comments for 9to5Google:
The rise of Google in the past twelve months continues to impress and has really benefited the tech industry with increased competition. In the smartphone market alone we’ve seen HTC and Samsung adopt the Android platform and team it with hardware that’s really challenging the dominance of Apple. We’re yet to see that cross properly into tablets but it’s surely only a matter or time. It’s great for the industry and we’re expecting the finals of the T3 Gadget Awards to be the hardest fought yet.
Apple’s iPad 2 and iPhone 4 face off Amazon’s Kindle and Samsung’s seven-inch Galaxy Tab for the Commuter Gadget of the Year award. With Android tablets taking up 30 percent of the tablet market in June, anything is possible in the Tablet of the Year category which includes Apple’s iPad, Motorola’s Xoom, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Asus’s Eee Pad Transformer and LG’s Optimus Pad.
Google’s Android Honeycomb operating system for tablets is also up for a vote in the Innovation of the Year category. There is plenty of time to vote up your favorites at the official website – the winners will be announced at the star-studded awards ceremony at Old Billingsgate, London on Monday, October 10. The full list of entrants and award categories is right past the break.
Google has released a redesign for Google News, an aggregated source of news content around the world. The redesign looks very similar to the Plus-esque design we’ve seen across all of Google’s properties — sporting the black bar at the top, more whitespace, new colors, and redesigned search box at the top. Specifically to News, in the left margin users can sort through top stories and categories, in the middle top stories are displayed, and to the right you’ll find recent stories.
