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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
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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
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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:

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
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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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Microsoft’s ‘Mimicker Alarm’ Garage Project helps you start your day with mini games

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 21 2016 - 8:11 am PT
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Microsoft is back with another Garage Project (cute and novel apps made for iOS and Android phones), and this time it’s an alarm clock called Mimicker Alarm. At first glance, the style of this app looks eerily similar to that of the stock Android Clock app, but a deeper dive shows us that there’s a little more to it. Microsoft wants you to actually wake up when your alarm goes off, and to help you do that the company makes you play mini games powered by its Project Oxford machine learning APIs…


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Google blocked more than 17M fake ‘software system warning’ ads, 12.5M misleading medicinal ads in 2015

Avatar for Cam Bunton Jan 21 2016 - 6:51 am PT
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Google has published a blog post revealing just how many bad ads it removed from the web in 2015. Spoiler: they removed a lot.

There can be all kinds of bad ads, whether they’re ads which falsely claim to help weight loss, or phishing sites that trick unassuming web users to submit personal information. Thanks to a team of some 1,000 employees, and some clever computer algorithms, the company was able to remove a ton of ads and ban a huge number of misbehaving advertisers…


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Deal: USB-C cables w/ Prime shipping: 6.6-ft for $7, 9.9-ft for $8, wall chargers + more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 19 2016 - 1:33 pm PT
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Choetech via Amazon offers its 6.6-ft USB 2.0 Type A to Type C cable for $8.99, but when you use the code L3JGFC9V the price drops down to $6.99. Similarly, the company offers its 9.9-ft USB 2.0 Type A to Type C cable for $9.99, but when you use the code WTZ35GDZ the price drops down to $7.99. Both of these deals are $2 off the regular sale prices and the lowest we’ve seen them sold for at Amazon…


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Google’s doodle honors Martin Luther King Jr.

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 18 2016 - 1:24 pm PT
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Unsurprisingly, Google’s Doodle for today honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You can find the logo on the Google homepage, and clicking the logo does a quick search for “Martin Luther King Jr. Day”. The search page shows a smaller version of the logo in the top left corner, and you can find a full-resolution version over at Google’s blog post for today.

Said post reads:

Today’s doodle honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister, community activist, philosopher and humanitarian. His leadership of the American Civil Rights movement,Nobel Peace Prize for non-violent civil disobedience in the face of racial injustice, and eventual martyrdom for the cause, cements his place as a hero for peace and justice worldwide.

As per Google’s Doodles site, the reach of today’s logo is unsurprisingly restricted to the United States. Many of those residing in the US of A—especially grade school and college students, as well as government employees—are probably enjoying this federal holiday off, so you might actually have time to read about some of the logos Google has put up on its homepage on this day in the past.

Deal: 2nd gen. Moto X (unlocked) $243 shipped, 2nd gen. Moto G w/ free dock $100 shipped

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 18 2016 - 12:59 pm PT
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Best Buy offers the 2nd generation Moto X 16GB (unlocked) smartphone in black for $242.99 shipped, which is $57 below its retail price and the lowest price we could find for a brand new model. If you’re looking for its cheaper little brother, though, B&H offers the 2nd generation Moto G 8GB (unlocked) smartphone in black for $99.99 shipped w/ a free Belkin PowerHouse microUSB dock. That’s a savings of $95 compared to what these items would cost at retail…


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It takes four weeks to learn how not to drive one of Google’s self-driving cars

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 14 2016 - 7:50 am PT
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Medium’s tech hub editor-in-chief Steven Levy provides an interesting behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be a test-(non)driver of one of Google’s self-driving cars. Among the more surprising facts is that there’s a four-week full-time course to qualify to sit behind the wheel of one of the company’s testbed Lexus cars – with additional training needed for the cute prototype cars with only emergency controls.

There’s an abbreviated version for those who will only be sitting in the cars on the company’s private test facility. If you fancy the job, the most reliable way to apply, says Levy, is to be friends with an existing driver. If you can’t swing that, there’s always the option of applying to be a professional pedestrian …


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Google thinks we can end global poverty in 15 years, is inviting tech entrepreneurs to figure out how

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 14 2016 - 5:24 am PT
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Google has never been a company to shy away from the big challenges in life, whether it’s creating self-driving cars, beaming the Internet from balloons, making human skin or abolishing death. Its latest example is a summit at the company’s Campus London space to try to figure out how world poverty could be eradicated within 15 years.

While it may sound a huge challenge, much progress has already been made. In 1990, the United Nations set a goal of halving global poverty levels by 2015, and the goal was actually reached five years early in 2010. Google now wants to complete the job – starting with an afternoon’s worth of ideas from tech entrepreneurs.

Google for Entrepreneurs is co-hosting a Tech Against Poverty summit on January 22 from 1pm to 6pm at Campus London, a Google shared office space specifically created for start-ups. Its partner in the event is Dreamstake, a support and investor platform for start-ups.

Google and Dreamstake want to test the hypothesis that the start-up culture will have a major positive impact on the poorest communities in the world. The event is open to Scientists, inventors, engineers, artists, thinkers and doers, and hopes to create some effective new thoughts in this space, with Google for Entrepreneurs actioning any ideas they see as innovating and taking a step closer to solving the problem.

The event is free, and you can register to participate at Dreamstake’s Solve for X website.

Future versions of Chrome will have Chromecast support built-in

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 13 2016 - 2:57 pm PT
2 Comments

As of today, the ability to cast content to your Chromecast from the desktop comes in the form of a Chrome extension called Google Cast. As of the latest beta build of Chrome, though, you can now cast content from the web without said extension installed. All you have to do is right-click the content and use the “Cast…” menu…


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Report: Google’s ‘X’ lab renewing focus with project evaluation team & a buttery smooth logo

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jan 13 2016 - 9:32 am PT
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Google’s secretive Google X division is getting a new focus at the company that includes rebranding and a new logo, Recode reports.

Among the changes for Google X, according to the report, is a rebranding to simply “X” and the new butter-like yellow logo pictured above. But perhaps more importantly, behind the scenes there will also be a renewed focus including a team put in place specifically to “steer moonshots through the life-or-death throes.”
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Here’s a first look at the logo for Google’s forthcoming Project Aura

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jan 13 2016 - 9:06 am PT
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Update: The first business card for a Project Aura team member has popped up on Instagram.

We know that Project Aura is the successor to Glass — or at least a project that’s being built by some of the same people that built Glass — but now we have our first look at the logo that Google designed for this new venture. A person familiar with the project tells us that the logo is meant to resemble a new wearable device that wraps around the head…


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Opinion: 8 reasons Chromebooks are beating iPads in education, and what Apple could do about it

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 13 2016 - 6:59 am PT
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Apple for a time led the tech market in education, even making education-specific Mac models. More recently, the company made a big push on iPads, signing a $30M deal (that would eventually have been worth a quarter of a billion dollars) in 2013 to equip every student in the LA Unified School District with an iPad.

If that program had succeeded, it would have created a template for rolling out similar ones across the whole of the USA. Instead, it failed catastrophically, and it now appears that Chromebooks are winning where iPads have failed.

CNBC reported last month that Chromebooks now make up more than half of all devices in U.S. classrooms, while Apple’s share of classroom purchases more than halved between 2012 and 2015. Why is that, and what – if anything – can Apple do to reverse the trend … ?


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YouTube launches new tailored home pages in Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Avatar for Cam Bunton Jan 13 2016 - 3:59 am PT
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Google has announced that YouTube watchers in Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will start seeing a new homepage from this week. While YouTube has been available in Nepali, Sinhalese and Urdu for a while, the new pages have tailored content specific to those three countries. They also have country-specific domains.

Most-watched videos like Nai Nabhannu La 3 in Nepal, the Coke Studio channel in Pakistan and the Amazing Sri Lankan Spiderman will now show up in the top content for their respective countries, making them even easier to find.

With more local content finding their way to their viewers’ home-pages, YouTube hopes it will help inspire more local creators to get involved, and help them get discovered more easily.

While Google is keen to advertise its ‘tailored’ new home pages, there is a more interesting sub-plot here. YouTube has been banned in Pakistan since 2012, a ban which was re-inforced last February when the government said it would remain banned indefinitely. At the time, a Pakistan official said that “no tool or solution has been found which can totally block offensive content, that is why YouTube remains blocked and it will remain so indefinitely.”

With a dedicated Pakistan home page, perhaps Google is hoping it can persuade the government to lift the ban.