Google

2017 is shaping up to be quite an interesting year in consumer electronics, and smartphones in particular may — finally — become very interesting once again. It’s the destiny of a largely saturated and commoditized market, where in order to thrive the competition needs to push the innovation pedal. Polarization is a phenomenon we observe in this market, as increasingly cheaper smartphones become good enough, and consumers become more reluctant to buy decidedly more expensive devices that don’t add much to the basic experience provided by solid, lower-end phones.

On the high end of the spectrum, a brand’s sole power and image become less and less of a reason to shell out the (significant and growing) extra amount of money, and new advancements — whether in design, software or some cool new tech — need to emerge to justify it. Companies can either settle (and risk becoming irrelevant) or innovate and skyrocket to the top (and the future). In this situation, staying in the middle could mean spreading too thin and not being able to stand out and keep up with the competition. This, in my opinion, is the case of OEMs like HTC, LG, Sony or Motorola; but, more interestingly, OnePlus…

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There has been quite a huge advertising campaign for the Google Pixel, both by carriers and the Mountain View giant itself. And, as it turns out, the massive spending seems to have worked: a report from Wave7 Research (via Fierce Wireless) focused on Verizon is in fact describing very good results…

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Google has promised a lot for the future of Google Assistant, but there’s still a lot of work to do until we get all the features seen in the original demonstrations. One thing we saw on stage back in October was Assistant interacting with various paid services, and in the latest update to the Google app, the company is taking the first step towards making those integrations official.

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With how much our lives reside on the internet either through a web browser or an application on our phones, it is important that everyone’s private data stays secure and of course, private. To do this, companies and developers are implementing encryption into their programs. The issue, according to Google, is that there is no easy to use, generic way to identify and authenticate a user’s public encryption keys…

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The Google Pixel has been plagued with issues ranging from early battery shutdowns, freezing issues, manufacturing defects, and much more. Lately, users have also been reporting an issue when transferring files from their Apple MacBooks using the stock Google Pixel USB-C to USB-A cable.

After looking into the issue extensively, it would appear that it likely stems from Google’s Android File Transfer program which hasn’t been updated since 2012…

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When using the word ‘google-y,’ there are more than a few things that usually come to mind. One of them is, indubitably, creativity. And creativity is at the core of Google’s new app “Toontastic 3D”, launching today on Android and iOS…

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Android notifications are great, and they are getting better. However, it happens from time to time that, as Google enriches and improves them, OEMs don’t necessarily follow. And fortunately, that is about to change…

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Following the launch of Google’s umpteenth messaging apps — Allo and Duo — many questioned if Google would keep its Hangouts platform alive. The company was quick to answer that Hangouts would indeed stick around, but would shift its focus to the enterprise user instead of the consumer. Today, we’re seeing the first big change from that new focus, the death of the Hangouts app API…

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Google today has been hit with a lawsuit by the United States Department of Labor for withholding data in an ongoing audit centered on anti-discrimination efforts.

It’s important to note that the lawsuit doesn’t accuse Google of actually engaging in discrimination, but rather that it is not being as forward as the Department of Labor would like through the audit process.

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According to a report out of Music Business Worldwide, Google is the “current favorite” among potential acquirers of the struggling Berlin-based music streaming company, SoundCloud. This comes after Spotify considered picking up the service earlier this year, a deal that ultimately died last month.

SoundCloud still needs a buyer, though, as it struggles to compete with the mainstream music streaming players like Apple and Google itself…

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Google had a big year. Many people may consider the Pixel phone and the company’s many hardware launches among the most standout moves that the Mountain View company made in 2016, and they would be right, but 2016 was even bigger than that. It marked the first full year of Google operating under the umbrella of Alphabet, it marked a clear shift of focus for Google towards artificial intelligence, it brought the tenth anniversary of the Google I/O developers’ conference, and more.

But now that it’s 2017, let’s take a quick look into what really stood out as Google’s biggest wins of the year. From the flurry of official blog posts that come every week to the big press events at Google I/O 2016 to the fall Google event that saw the introduction of Google’s first solely self-branded smartphone, there’s a lot to talk about. In short: Google has long dabbled in hardware and AI, but in 2016 it became plainly obvious that these two areas will shape the company’s future…

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We are in the midst of the holiday season which means that many of you are getting brand new devices. If you happen to have received or picked up one of Google’s brand new Pixel phones, you might be considering a case to protect your new handset. If so, look no further than the five cases that we’ve handpicked below.

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There are nearly 1.5 million applications currently on Google Play and with so many to choose from, finding interesting new experiences can be a hassle. As we have the last several months now, today we’ll be showing you another 5 Android apps that you should definitely give a shot…

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Just over a year ago, Google announced plans to put free, high-speed, public Wi-Fi into over 400 railway stations across India. However, that is an ongoing process that is far from over. Google wanted to expand the coverage to 100 stations by the end of 2016, and now with just a few days left in the year, it has lived up to that promise.

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