Skip to main content

Google

See All Stories

Stay up to date on news from Google headquarters. Be the first to learn about plans for Android, Google Plus, Google Apps, and more!

RIP: Nexus 9 dies a silent death as it disappears from the Google Store

There’s a reason that I suggested the iPad Air 2 as the “Android tablet” to buy last holiday season. The HTC-made Nexus 9, which was the successor to the much-more-successful Nexus 7 series, just wasn’t a great tablet. We thought it was probably the best way to get pure Android in tablet form when it launched, but consumers never loved it, I never loved it, and tablets as a whole have become less and less useful for the general population as smartphones have gotten bigger.

Now, the Nexus 9 has finally died a silent death in its disappearance from the Google Store…


Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Calendar

Google Calendar update lets you ‘find a time’ for a meeting with your coworkers

The Mountain View company has today launched a new feature for its Calendar app that lets you find the perfect meeting time that works for everyone. After adding the people who are attending the event, the new “Find a time” option analyzes schedules and suggests a time with no conflicts…


Expand
Expanding
Close

Getty Images blames Google for ‘promoting piracy’ with image search

Google seems to be under fire lately. Less than a week from the European Union’s charges against the Mountain View company regarding supposedly unfair practices towards its hardware partners, TIME is reporting that the famous stock photo agency Getty Images is now accusing the technology giant of “promoting piracy” with its Images search engine…


Expand
Expanding
Close

Android Marshmallow update for Motorola’s Droid Turbo 2 said to be ‘in full deployment’

Albeit having been released months ago, much like all of its predecessors, the latest Android version, Marshmallow, is still running only on a relatively small number of devices. Much of it can be attributed to carriers and third party manufacturers, which often take a lot of time to properly re-skin, release certifications, and eventually give the green light to updates.

Fortunately for Verizon customers, however, it looks like Google‘s latest software is beginning its rollout for the Droid Turbo 2. In a note released on Tuesday on Google Plus, Motorola‘s David Schuster confirmed that the upgrade is in “full deployment”…


Expand
Expanding
Close

New data shows Google has met with White House officials over 400 times since 2009

Site default logo image

Google has long held close ties with politicians in Washington, D.C., and according to new data, nothing has changed. Watchdog group Campaign for Accountability has recently released new data detailing visits to the White House by various companies in the tech sector and other industries. According to the data, Google’s head of public policy Johanna Shelton has met with White House officials 128 times since President Obama took office in January of 2009.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Hands-on with LeEco’s new Snapdragon 820-powered Le Max2 w/ 6GB of RAM [Video]

As we told you would be the case, LeEco held an event in China last week to announce a few new Android phones, a new all-electric vehicle concept, the next-generation of its SuperTV line, and a VR headset. While the Le 2 and the Le 2Pro are great handsets for the price, the phone that really caught my eye was the highest-end Le Max2. The Le Max2 is also a great phone for the price, but it brings specs and performance comparable to the latest-and-greatest Android flagships from Samsung, LG, and others.

Follow after the break for our hands-on video…


Expand
Expanding
Close

Glass isn’t dead: Augmedix secures $17M as CrowdOptic streams its 10,000th livestream

I’ve said it time and time again over the last couple of years, but maybe this will make you finally believe it. Glass isn’t dead, and as I told you across across several exclusive reports last year, there’s even new hardware being field tested right now.

To further prove this morning that Google’s troubled head-mounted display device isn’t done yet, Glass for Work startup Augmedix — which deploys wearable solutions for healthcare systems and hospitals — announced that it has raised $17 million in funding from five leading healthcare systems across the U.S. And CrowdOptic has announced that it has now surpassed 10,000 Glass livestreams…


Expand
Expanding
Close

Baidu opens self-driving car R&D center in Google’s backyard, hires Tesla Autopilot engineer

Baidu, China’s most popular search engine, like its US-based counterpart Google, is heavily investing in autonomous driving technologies and today it officially announced the launch of a self-driving car R&D center in Silicon Valley, right in Google’s backyard.

The company expects its team will grow to over 100 researchers and engineers by the end of the year. The company already moved several of its staff from its newly-created Autonomous Driving Unit (ADU) to Sunnyvale and recently hired a Tesla Autopilot software engineer.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Microsoft adds image and inline translation to its Translator and Hub Keyboard apps

While English is without a doubt the most common and prominent language in the world, it goes without saying that it’s not the only one, and that people often travel and want to understand what the words around them mean.

Multilingual dictionaries and translation apps come in handy, of course, but much like Google last year, Microsoft is taking a step ahead with its Translator app, giving it a few new features that will allow it to scan and translate on the fly…


Expand
Expanding
Close

EU officially accuses Android of breaking antitrust rules, Google responds

As previously rumored, in a press release published today, the EU has filed yet another antitrust movement against Google. This time it centers on Android, the company’s wildly successful mobile operating system, which the EU thinks is in breach of the continent’s antitrust rules. In short, the European Commission thinks Google is using Android to deliberately restrict other mobile operating systems, browsers and search engines.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Canada ends investigation into anti-competitive search and ad practices by Google

With imminent troubles looming in Europe, Canada just closed its three year investigation into anti-competitive practices involving Google’s search and advertising business (via The Verge). The country’s Competition Bureau ultimately “did not find sufficient evidence” that Google’s practices harmed local rivals.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Play Store continues to lag behind iOS App Store in revenue despite advantage in downloads

For both Google and Apple, the operations on their virtual stores are hugely important, as they account for millions of dollars. However, there has historically been a disparity between the number of downloaded applications and the actual money generated by them, a trend that seems to have peaked in the first quarter of this year.

According to App Annie‘s Index Market for Q1 of 2016, in fact, Google’s Play Store saw a number of downloads that roughly doubles that of the iOS App Store, which in turns represents the platform with the highest profitability, with over 90% more revenue generated over its counterpart…


Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Chromebook Pixel Touchscreen 1.8GHz/4GB/32GB: $400 shipped (Reg. 650+)

 

Expansys offers the Google Chromebook Pixel (i5-3427U) 1.8GHz/4GB/32GB for $399.99 shipped. That’s about $600 less than the Google Store currently charges and the lowest we can find for one. It has a 3rd Gen Intel Core i5-3427U processor with dual-core and a 1.8GHz processor speed. It also has 4GB DDR3 memory and offers a 32GB solid state drive with fast read/write times. You also get 1TB of Google Drive cloud storage for 1 year (that’s a $120 value!) Rated 4.2/5 stars from 31 Amazon shoppers.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Former Google advisor Bill ‘The Coach’ Campbell passes away

Site default logo image

Re/code today reports that Silicon Valley icon and longtime Google advisor Bill “The Coach” Campbell has passed away at age 75 after a long battle with cancer. The unfortunate news comes from “many prominent tech players,” following earlier unconfirmed reports. Campbell was a mentor to many tech leaders, including Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, and Jeff Bezos.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Android N and VR hints – Is affordable virtual reality the future of Android?

Android N is on its way, and as each new Developer Preview is released, we get a clearer picture of what Google has in mind for its next (and future) versions of Android. One major, albeit fairly inconspicuous drive is one towards a mobile-based VR platform, but one that everyone can access. Within Android N, we finally see some actual evidence that — at its inner most core — going forward the smartphone platform is going to be built for Virtual Reality.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Huawei introduces a VR headset that looks a lot like Samsung’s Gear VR

Site default logo image

Huawei has today introduced a VR headset for its flagship smartphones (via Weibo). And, as you can tell, it looks a lot like Samsung’s Gear VR headset. This comes hot on the heels of the Chinese company’s introduction of its latest P9 and P9 Plus smartphones, and you might guess, this headset is fully compatible with them. It also works with Huawei’s previously-launched Mate 8…


Expand
Expanding
Close