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5,659 'Google' stories January 2009 - February 2016
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Samsung reportedly has a 360° video rig called the Gear 360 coming at MWC

Avatar for Stephen Hall Feb 1 2016 - 9:28 am PT
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Update: SamMobile has uncovered some source code on Samsung’s event page which seems to hint at the presence of 360-degree video, although in reality, that could mean anything. It’s definitely vague, but worth noting nonetheless.

Google unveiled its Jump camera rig for 360 degree video at Google I/O 2015, and now it appears Samsung has something related up its sleeve for Mobile World Congress later this month. According to a report this morning from SamMobile, the previously-rumored Gear 360 camera rig is real, and it’s coming at Mobile World Congress alongside the new lineup of Galaxy phones…
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9to5Toys Lunch Break: LG G4 w/ leather $340, ZeroLemon 10,000mAh solar charger $18, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 29 2016 - 12:00 pm PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

LG G4 32GB GSM 4G LTE w/ leather (unlocked): $340 shipped (Reg. $600) | eBay

ZeroLemon solar-powered SolarJuice 10,000mAh charger: $17.99 Prime shipped w/ code 43876GNC (Reg. $37) | Amazon (must choose ZeroLemon Direct)

Daily Deals: LG 55-inch 120Hz 1080p Smart HDTV $490, Car FM Transmitter w/ Bluetooth $11, more

1080p 60Hz LED HDTVs — LG 49-inch: $300 (Reg. $400), RCA 46-inch: $250 (Reg. $300)

Amazon’s best-selling iPhone Virtual Reality kit $20 Prime shipped (Reg. $40)

Samsung 850 EVO 2.5-inch Internal Solid-State Drives: 1TB $289 (Reg. $325+), 2TB $586 (Reg. $618+)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Mohu over-the-air HDTV antennas (open-box): Leaf 50 Ultimate $30 shipped (Reg. $40), more

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

USB Power: Anker Astro E5 16,000mAh Dual-Port $25 (Reg. $40), more

Nexus Deals: 6P from $450 (Reg. $500), 5X w/ $20 Gift Card $300 (Reg. $350)

Game pre-orders for Amazon Prime members –Zelda, Far Cry Primal, FFXV: $48 ea (Reg. $60)

Pay What You Want: The 2016 Mac Bundle ~12

Work Faster & Smarter on Your Mac with 12 Apps to Clear Your Hard Drive, Enhance Audio, Track Device Activity & More

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

Fluance mixes mid-century design with Bluetooth technology in its new Hi-Fi system

Aereo’s founder is returning with a new ISP that beams gigabit speeds into your home

‘Project Watch’ & ‘Gcam’ projects detailed on new Alphabet X site, Project Aura now official

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 29 2016 - 8:40 am PT
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We told you a couple of weeks ago about how Google[x] recently got a new coat of paint (now under the Alphabet umbrella and simply known as “X”), and now that coat of paint has hit the web. The site has a brand new design, a new logo, and within you’ll find a rundown the group’s newly refocused mission. Additionally, the new Graduated Projects page seems to mention some projects we’re familiar with and some that we haven’t heard of previously…
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Google responds to Project Loon objections, tells FCC balloons are safe & legal

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 29 2016 - 4:27 am PT
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It’s two-and-a-half years since Google first shared details of Project Loon, a series of high-altitude balloons designed to provide wireless Internet access to developing countries where infrastructure is scarce. As testing expands, and we’ve learned more about the project’s progress, the FCC has started to receive objections from those concerned that the long-range microwave transmissions might pose health risks or interfere with other wireless operations.

Google has this week written to the FCC to argue that the balloons are both safe and legal …


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: ASUS ZenWatch $100, Droid Turbo 2 BOGO 1/2 off, QuickCharge 2.0 deals, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 28 2016 - 11:09 am PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

Asus ZenWatch Android Wear smartwatch: $100 shipped (Reg. $200) | Amazon (ships in 2-4 weeks)

Buy a Droid Turbo 2 and get a second Turbo 2 or Maxx 2 50% off at Verizon.com

Moto X Pure Edition designed by Jonathan Adler is now $399 (Reg $474) | Motorola

Buy a Moto G (16GB) and get two free shells | Motorola

Order Moto 360 (2nd gen) with a metal band and get a leather band free | Motorola

Quick Charge 2.0 power bank 15600mAh: $21.99 Prime shipped w/ code Z9646RFC (Reg. $32) | Amazon

Quick Charge 2.0 Car Charger-CHOE Car Charger: $5.99 Prime shipped w/ code 725N2G9D (Reg. $14) | Amazon

Grab Amazon’s best-selling iPhone and Android Virtual Reality kit for $20 Prime shipped (Reg. $40)

Acer 15.6″ Chromebook w/ 4GB RAM, and 16GB SSD (Refurb): $175 (Orig. $280)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

 

Daily Deals: Samsung 40-inch 4K 120MR Smart LED UHDTV $450, GoPro HERO4 Silver Edition Camera $300, more

[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5toys/status/692745367566356480 align=’center’]

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Nexus Deals: 6P from $450 (Reg. $500), 5X w/ $20 Gift Card $300 (Reg. $350)

Samsung D3 Station 4TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive $100 shipped (Reg. $130+)

Game pre-orders for Amazon Prime members –Zelda, Far Cry Primal, FFXV: $48 ea (Reg. $60)

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

Aereo’s founder is returning with a new ISP that beams gigabit speeds into your home

This German eBike blends a minimalist design with serious battery power

You have to see NERF’s new Crossbow and Zombie Brainsaw that are coming out this fall

Upcoming 2016 LEGO sets focus on Marvel, Star Wars and City collections

Razor introduces two new electric-powered products at Toy Fair 2016

Four mysterious cities getting Google’s self-driving cars, Ann Arbor a likely candidate

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 28 2016 - 9:50 am PT
1 Comment

Google’s self-driving car project first came to Austin, Texas in July of last year, marking its first expansion outside of Google’s hometown of Mountain View, California. It was a logical next step, considering Austin’s forward-thinking political culture and unique environmental challenges (“pedicabs, pickup trucks, and everything in between,” Google said). Now, it appears—thanks to some recently-published FCC documents (via Mark Harris)—that Google has plans to bring the self-driving car program to four more mysterious cities…


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EC says Google’s $185M tax deal with UK government may be illegal, likely to be investigated

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 28 2016 - 5:19 am PT
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The European Commission says that the £130M ($185M) tax deal struck between Google and the UK government may amount to “illegal state aid” by offering the company better terms than those available to smaller businesses.

Google first came under fire for its tax arrangements in the UK in early 2013, when it was accused of funneling profits from UK Adword sales through Ireland, resulting in the company paying just £6M ($8.5M) tax on a turnover of £395M ($565M). In the new deal, it agreed to change its accounting practices to pay more tax in the UK, and to pay a lump sum in back tax …


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: USB Power Banks from $9, HTC products up to 30% off, Nexus 6P from $450, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 26 2016 - 9:58 am PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

USB Power: Anker Astro E5 16,000mAh Dual-Port $25 (Reg. $40), KMASHI 10,000mAh $9, more

HTC offering 15% off on purchases over $150, 20% off $500, and 30% off $650

Nexus Deals: 6P from $450 (Reg. $500), 5X w/ $20 Gift Card $300 (Reg. $350)

VIZIO Refurb 120Hz Smart HDTVs: 48-inch $300 (Orig. $500), 50-inch $330 (Orig. $500), more

Networking: Motorola SB6183 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem + NETGEAR Router: $100 ($160 value), more

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Ooma Telo VoIP Home Phone System (Refurb.) $60 shipped (Orig. $130)

Add some comfort to your workspace w/ today’s 3M sale at Amazon: dual monitor mount $184, much more

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Media: new Blu-rays $10 – Jurassic World, Minions, more + BOGO offer

Game pre-orders for Amazon Prime members –Zelda, Far Cry Primal, FFXV: $48 ea (Reg. $60)

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

It took a year of planning and 18,000 pieces to create this custom LEGO Arkham Asylum build

Fender brings its big name into the world of headphones with new Pro In-ear Monitors

Waze unveils new Transport SDK, partnering with popular apps like Lyft to offer smart integration

Avatar for Thor Schroeder Jan 26 2016 - 9:37 am PT
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Waze is already the go-to app for real-time traffic updates, and today they’ve upped their game. Waze has officially announced its Transport SDK, which will give partners the ability to implement some of Waze’s features into their own applications. There will be no need to switch out of an app just to see a road block two miles ahead in the not-so-distant future.


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Play Games announces automatic sign-in, no longer requires a Google+ account

Avatar for Abner Li Jan 25 2016 - 8:43 am PT
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Over the weekend, Google announced changes to Play Games permissions that are mostly meant for developers, but regular users who game on Android will also see a benefit. Players no longer need their Google accounts upgraded to Google+ to use Play Games and can now automatically be signed-in with a standard Google account.


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Daimler CEO was surprised by Google’s car effort and progress after a visit to Silicon Valley

Avatar for Fred Lambert Jan 25 2016 - 6:40 am PT
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Daimler CEO and chairman of the board Dieter Zetsche is returning home from a trip to Silicon Valley where he met directly with several companies, but without naming them specifically. Though he didn’t disclose the companies he met with, Zetsche commented on the car industry effort of some Silicon Valley-based tech firms, namely Apple and Google.

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Job listings seemingly confirm Google is working on its own VR hardware

Avatar for Cam Bunton Jan 25 2016 - 5:38 am PT
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Two weeks ago, a report claimed that Google is forming its own VR division, with Clay Bavor (former VP of Gmail and Drive) in charge of the new focus on virtual reality. Now, two job listings have shown up indicating Google isn’t just really interested in VR as a concept, it wants to build its own hardware too.

Google has posted VR job listings for a Hardware Engineering Technical Lead Manager as well as a PCB Layout Engineer. Both of these job listings specifically mention Virtual Reality in the main job roles, and also mention consumer devices, suggesting Google wants to launch its own VR hardware for the general consumer.
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Google gains more VR personnel as Vine head Jason Toff leaves Twitter

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 24 2016 - 10:02 pm PT
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Just a couple of days ago we told you that Scott Broock from Joust joined Google as YouTube’s “VR Evangelist,” and now it appears the Mountain View company has nabbed even more personnel to help push its virtual reality efforts forward. Jason Toff, general manager of Vine and director of product at Twitter, announced that he has joined Google to “work on VR.” It’s not yet clear exactly what his role will be, though…

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Google Glass social media finally goes dead as Enterprise Edition rollout widens

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 24 2016 - 8:02 pm PT
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The Google Glass social media accounts—including Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and others—have finally been shut down after many months of continued #throughGlass postings and “Happy [insert holiday]!” images. This doesn’t come as much surprise as plans to bring Glass to the consumer market (at least by that name) have long been abandoned, but multiple people familiar with the matter say that Glass: Enterprise Edition is only just now starting to see wider adoption…


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Google brings in Scott Broock from Jaunt to be YouTube’s Global VR Evangelist

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 22 2016 - 12:14 pm PT
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Google has even more planned for virtual reality than just giving Cardboard it its own leadership and division. Scott Broock, coming over from virtual reality startup Jaunt, has joined the YouTube team as the company’s Global VR Evangelist (via Re/code). It’s not exactly clear what that means yet (we’ve reached out to Google for comment; no response yet), but he’s probably in charge of getting people to make VR content for the video service…


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Nexus Player $50, free Kelly Clarkson album, 1TB SSD $290, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 22 2016 - 10:04 am PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

Google Nexus Player media player black: $50 shipped (Reg. $100) | Best Buy

Google Play offers downloads of Kelly Clarkson’s Piece by Piece album for free

Samsung 850 EVO 1TB 2.5-inch Internal Solid-State Drive: $290 shipped (Reg. $329+)

Several refurbished 12-inch MacBook w/ Retina display models are now available from Apple

Apple 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro w/ Force Touch (newest) 2.7GHz/8GB/256GB $1,250 shipped (Reg. $1,499)

Apple 12″ Retina MacBook 1.2Ghz/8GB/512GB: $1,290 shipped (Reg. $1,599)

Pay What You Want: The 2016 Mac Bundle ~12

Anker USB Power: Aukey & Anker USB QuickCharge 2.0 chargers from $6 Prime shipped, more

Tronsmart QuickCharge 2.0 Wall Charger: $6 shipped w/ code HOMECHAR (Reg. $15) | Amazon

Spigen Hybrid/Wallet/Thin Fit Nexus 6 cases: $3.50 shipped (Reg. $6.49 and up)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Games/Apps: Mortal Kombat X from $25, Batman Arkham Knight from $15, iOS freebies, more

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Throw one hell of a Super Bowl party w/ this Samsung 60″ Smart 3D 4K UHDTV: $998 shipped (Orig. $1,800)

LG 60-inch Smart 2160p 4K UHDTV w/ webOS 2.0: $899 shipped (Reg, $1,200)

Game pre-orders for Amazon Prime members – Final Fantasy XV, more: $48 ea (Reg. $60)

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

Exploding Kittens: the “most-funded game in Kickstarter history” comes to iOS w/ special launch offer

Brinks has a new solar-powered deadbolt that is iOS-connected w/ HomeKit on the way

 

Google rolling out HTTPS cached website pages for HTTPS-enabled sites

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 22 2016 - 9:00 am PT
0 Comments

HTTPS has become the rule, rather than the exception to the rule, in recent years. And in an effort to usher in the encrypted and more-secure communication protocol, Google announced last month that it would begin prioritizing HTTPS sites over HTTP sites when indexing the web. Unsurprisingly, Google is also slowly-but-surely making sure all of its own web properties use HTTPS over standard HTTP. Google’s cached pages available on the search site are now part of the club…


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Samsung 60″ 4K UHDTV $998, QuickCharge 2.0 chargers from $6, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 21 2016 - 10:53 am PT
0 Comments

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

Last Call Updates:

Motorola Moto X Pure 4G 16GB w/ free $50 BB gift card: $400 shipped

Throw one hell of a Super Bowl party w/ this Samsung 60″ Smart 3D 4K UHDTV: $998 shipped (Orig. $1,800)

Anker USB Power: Aukey & Anker USB QuickCharge 2.0 chargers from $6 Prime shipped, more

Tronsmart QuickCharge 2.0 Wall Charger: $6 shipped w/ code HOMECHAR (Reg. $15) | Amazon

Apple 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro w/ Force Touch (newest) 2.7GHz/8GB/256GB $1,250 shipped (Reg. $1,499)

Apple 12″ Retina MacBook 1.2Ghz/8GB/512GB: $1,290 shipped (Reg. $1,599)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

GoPro HERO3 White bundle for $159 shipped (Orig. $300 value)

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Spigen Hybrid/Wallet/Thin Fit Nexus 6 cases: $3.50 shipped (Reg. $6.49 and up)

LG G4 w/ 32GB flash GSM 4G LTE (unlocked): $340 shipped (Reg. $600) | eBay

Game pre-orders for Amazon Prime members – Final Fantasy XV, more: $48 ea (Reg. $60)

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

Leica’s new X-U action camera makes your GoPro look like a child’s toy

The first Amazon Dash Replenishment devices are now available for order

Low-end ZenFone 3 possibly spotted on GFXBench, ZenFone Zoom now up for pre-order

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 21 2016 - 9:56 am PT
0 Comments

If you’re looking for the specs of the highest-end (and likely most popular) ASUS ZenFone 3, I don’t have anything for you. But a couple new benchmarks appeared on GFXBench recently, and they might be showcasing some specs for two of the upcoming phone’s lower-end variants. The model numbers are ASUS Z010DD and ASUS Z012D, and they seem to be closer to the budget realm rather than being this year’s refresh of the 4GB RAM beast that we saw last year with the ZenFone 2…


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