Google

Google Brain’s work with neural networks has led to a plethora of interesting projects. Over the past several months, the team has been working on using these neural networks to enhance images, and now, it has been able to bring the infamous “zoom and enhance” abilities from sci-fi to reality…

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It wasn’t that long ago that I thought the two smartwatches Google is set to introduce were actually going to be solely Google-branded, just like the Pixel phones. It would make sense with Google’s new hardware division — which is surely but slowly becoming a more serious business — that the Mountain View company would go all-in on smartwatches, offering a top-to-bottom lineup just like Apple.

It very well may have been the plan at one point for these to be “Nexus” watches, but today we learned exactly how they’re not going to be Nexus watches. We already knew that they would be LG-branded, but now we know where the Google comes in: a “Designed with our friends at Google” label. At the very least, this is interesting to consider in the broader realm of Google & OEM partnerships…

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Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages project, otherwise known as AMP, has made a huge difference for users of the mobile web by providing a streamlined, super quick browsing experience. However, it’s not perfect. One of the biggest flaws for many with AMP is that you have no way to share links to articles viewed in AMP to other services. Starting today, though, you can.

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New York Fashion Week starts this Thursday and to celebrate, Google has partnered with the digital fashion house, Ivyrevel, on a new project. “Coded Couture” uses Google’s Awareness API — which launched last summer — to monitor a user’s daily habits and activities. The Coded Couture application takes that awareness data and creates a custom Ivyrevel dresses made specifically for the wearer…

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Right from the start, Google had inventory issues and delayed Pixel orders because the company hadn’t expected the high demand for its smartphones. The delays have been so bad, in fact, that rumors started going around that Google had even stopped production. While this obviously isn’t true, Verizon has started to give away Daydream View headsets as an apology to customers who had their shipments delayed…

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We’re constantly on the search for the “perfect” smartphone, but it’s still impossible — and will likely remain as such — to even get close in that endeavor. Google’s Pixel smartphones came as close as any smartphone before, in my eyes at least, but they were still very flawed phones with tons of room for improvement.

What made the Pixel so great? As we detailed in our review, it really came done to the software and performance. Google created a phone that offered performance and reliability on Android like we had never seen before. Combine that with a clean Android interface, useful features like “Moves” and Google Assistant, and top it all off with one of the best cameras ever on a smartphone, and it becomes clear that you’ve got an amazing smartphone….

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Yesterday, several publications across the web reported that T-Mobile — which launched its own RCS platform in the form of “Advanced Messaging” all the way back in 2015 — has begun rolling out support for Google’s RCS offering in the Messenger app for Android devices. Sadly, it seems that this was just a wild and substanceless rumor that has no actual basis in reality…

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai has been very outspoken about President Donald Trump’s recent immigration executive order, having just a few days sent a memo to Google employees saying that “it’s painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues.” Now he has come out (via an interview with Walt Mossberg at The Verge) to speak more broadly — albeit briefly — about immigration in Silicon Valley…

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Millions of businesses pay for Google’s G Suite each month, and for good reason ─ Google’s collection of productivity apps are excellent. Today, the company is enhancing G Suite with G Suite Enterprise Edition and several new security and management features.

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Executive chairman of Google parent Alphabet Eric Schmidt last week told employees that the Trump administration will do ‘evil things,’ reports Buzzfeed.

Schmidt’s remarks were made during the company’s weekly meeting at its headquarters in Mountain View, California, on January 26 [when he said the Trump administration] is “going to do these evil things as they’ve done in the immigration area and perhaps some others” …

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On the same day that we learned of Google creating it’s largest ever crisis fund to deal with the ongoing impact of Friday’s immigration order, Bloomberg suggests that Trump’s next move could be to target foreign workers employed by Google and other tech companies.

His administration has drafted an executive order aimed at overhauling the work-visa programs technology companies depend on to hire tens of thousands of employees each year … 

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In a memo sent to employees Friday (first obtained by Bloomberg), Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai criticized President Donald Trump’s recent immigration order, which restricts citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Libya from entering the US. Pichai said that more than 100 Google staff are impacted by the order, and recommended they get back the US as soon as possible.

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When it comes to protecting your smartphone fully, LifeProof has long been one of your best options. By simply installing this case, you’re not only adding drop and screen protection, but also waterproofing it for up to two meters of water. At $90, this is definitely one of the most expensive, but maybe one of the best, premium cases you can get for complete Pixel protection…

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Daydream is Google’s newest VR platform that is a step up from Cardboard, but not as feature-rich as something like the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. This is because everything is run off of a mobile phone, however, Daydream can still provide an immersive experience. Starting today, Google is allowing all developers to create and publish Daydream VR apps to the Play Store…

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VR is growing fast, whether that’s on desktops and consoles, or on mobile devices. While there’s no doubt that most impressive options have come in the PC-powered section of the market, such as the HTC Vive, we’ve also seen some very capable mobile options, like Samsung’s Gear VR and Google’s Daydream View. Now, the man who led the design team on HTC’s Vive is heading to Google Daydream.

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In a world full of fake news, clickbait headlines, and online scammers, Google is working hard to only display legitimate and trustworthy advertisements on its massive ad network. To achieve this, Google removed over 1.7 billion “bad ads” in 2016 — more than double the number of ads taken down in 2015…

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Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is just weeks from going official, and we already know quite a bit about the device. Several leaks and rumors have pinpointed that the “Bixby” virtual assistant will debut on the S8, presumably as a rival to Google Assistant. Obviously, Google might not be thrilled about that development, but Samsung says that the competition could take AI “to the next level.”

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Google’s Daniel Raynaud today announced a new quick dashboard for Google+ Web that makes it easier to track your follows, post views, comments, +1s, and more. The feature, dubbed Insights, is available to everyone starting this evening.

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