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Google’s Project Blackrock sought to bring autonomy to drones w/ computer vision [Video]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Dec 17 2015 - 9:05 am PT
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Many of Google’s internal projects go unannounced for a variety of reasons, but now we’ve uncovered one of them thanks to a year-old video hidden deep in the archive of a Silicon Valley filmmaker’s Vimeo account. Called Project Blackrock, this initiative from Google sought to make quadcopters autonomous with the help of a pair of cameras and a computer…


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Google’s latest awesome interactive Doodle celebrates Beethoven’s 245th year

Avatar for Cam Bunton Dec 17 2015 - 6:36 am PT
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Google’s Search Doodles can often be fun, especially when they’re interactive. Today’s is one of my own personal favorites. In remembrance of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s 245th year, the Google Doodle team created an interactive game in which you help Beethoven rescue sheet music so that he can make it to the concert venue. If you’re not into classical music, or don’t know how to read sheet music, this may not be your ‘cup of tea’.

There are four ‘levels’ in the game, each of which involves arranging sections of a famous piece of music in the correct order. Even if you’re not a Beethoven nut, you should recognize all four of them. The game takes apart the most well-known phrases from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Für Elise, Moonlight Sonata and Ode To Joy. Chances are, even if you didn’t know they were Beethoven’s music, you’ll have at least heard them before.

If you’ve never read sheet music, don’t worry, each section has a little sound icon which you can press to preview the phrase, before you decide where it needs to go.

To help poor old Beethoven retrieve and rescue his precious music, head on over to the Google homepage and enjoy (make sure you have your speakers turned up too).

California DMV wants to ban Google’s proposal for self-driving cars without manual driving controls

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Dec 17 2015 - 5:13 am PT
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Google’s vision of self-driving cars whose interiors have no driving controls could be thwarted in its home state of California. Automotive News reports that the California Department of Motor Vehicles wants to impose legislation that would require all autonomous vehicles to have both driving controls and a specially-licensed driver behind the wheel.

While Google’s primary test fleet of self-driving cars have manual controls, these are only intended for development purposes. The next-generation prototypes (shown above) have no controls …


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Report: Google’s self-driving car project intended as Uber competitor, Alphabet company

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Dec 16 2015 - 7:57 am PT
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While there have been long-running theories that Google plans to operate a fleet of self-driving cars as an Uber/Lyft competitor, rather than selling them directly to consumers, a Bloomberg piece sounds rather definite about it. The paper also says that the project will be spun off into its own Alphabet company.

Google Inc. plans to make its self-driving cars unit, which will offer rides for hire, a stand-alone business under the Alphabet Inc. corporate umbrella next year, a person briefed on the company’s strategy said […]

The fleets ­– which would include a range of large and small vehicles – could be deployed first in confined areas like college campuses, military bases or corporate office parks, the person said.

The idea of initial use in ‘confined areas’ (read: not public roads) could potentially accelerate the introduction of the service …


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Google bringing in-app translations to India as part of major plans for the country

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Dec 16 2015 - 5:18 am PT
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Google for India

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced that the company will be rolling out its recently-launched in-app Tap to Translate feature in India in the first quarter of 2016. The feature offers a simple way to translate text from within third-party apps like chat apps and Facebook.

Our most active users in India translate between Hindi and English multiple times a day, spending lots of time copying messages from friends or colleagues, translating them, writing responses, translating their responses, and then pasting them back into an app. With Tap to Translate you can copy text anywhere on your Android phone and instantly get the translation, right then and there — without ever leaving the app. No more copy/paste, no more app switching, just instant translations.

All devices that run Marshmallow will get access to the feature …


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Google is offering a free $20 Best Buy Gift Card when you use Android Pay

Avatar for Jared Weintraub Dec 15 2015 - 2:29 pm PT
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As a way of saying “thanks!”, Google is offering a $20 Best Buy eGift Card for free when you use Android Pay on an eligible Nexus device. The credit gets added automatically to your Android Pay app by January 31.

That’s the best offer we’ve seen involving Android Pay, even though Samsung offered a free $50 Best Buy gift card for using Samsung Pay two weeks ago. The offer ends December 31st. Terms and Conditions:


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Google Search results get Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa decorations in time for holidays

Avatar for Cam Bunton Dec 14 2015 - 7:33 am PT
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Google regularly celebrates holiday seasons by launching special little easter eggs, games and decorations across its services. This year, if it wasn’t for the Santa Tracker and Spin the Dreidel game, you’d think Google was under the impression it was Star Wars season. Turns out, that’s not the case.

Barry Schwartz spotted that Google has indeed decorated its search results in time for the holidays. Simply head to Google.com and search for ‘Christmas’, ‘Chanukah’ or ‘Kwanzaa’ and you’ll see the following imagery along with the relevant search results. All three holidays are celebrated with traditional imagery like the Menorah, Christmas Tree and the aforementioned Dreidel. (As a side note: Searching for ‘Dreidel’ or ‘Menorah’ also brings up the Chanukah decorations in Search).

While the holidays get a brief hat-tip, Star Wars has undoubtedly been the biggest focus for Google’s design team this year. With its movie franchise tie-in, Google themed virtually all of its services and launched some Star Wars editions of the Cardboard VR sets, while Motorola and Verizon teamed up to launch Star Wars DROID Turbo 2 handsets.

With Google Play offers and holiday deals, new Chromecasts are practically free

Avatar for Jared Weintraub Dec 14 2015 - 6:45 am PT
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From now until January 2nd, if you buy a 2015 Chromecast you also get $20 to cast TV shows, movies and more on Google Play. Factoring in the credit, that’s the lowest offer we’ve seen for the new Chromecast. After you make your purchase you can get your $20 Google Play credit here.

You can also find a 2-pack Bundle with $12 Google Play Credit at Costco for $49 shipped. Or save $5 on one at Best Buy today as well.

Enjoy a world of entertainment with Google Chromecast (2015). Just connect to your HDTV’s HDMI interface and your home Wi-Fi network to get started. You can stream your favorite apps from your compatible phone, tablet or laptop, plus use your phone as a remote to search, play and pause content.

Note: You need to wait one week after you register for the Google Play credit to appear.

Full Terms & Conditions:

Must purchase a Chromecast device and complete initial set-up between Dec 13, 2015 and Jan 2, 2016 to qualify for the promotional credit. Not reloadable; no cash value.
Credit must be added to a Google Payments account by January 31, 2016 and used on Google Play by January 31, 2017. Certain devices (including Chromecast Audio) and subscriptions excluded. Offer good in US only. Must be 13+ years old, US resident, have Internet access, and have or activate a Google Payments account. Limit one per Google Payment account.
See Promotional Balance Terms for more information.
To redeem, go to chromecast.com/offers

 

Google to soon begin selling Nexus 6P via Best Buy, offer the gold variant in the United States

Avatar for Stephen Hall Dec 14 2015 - 3:32 am PT
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Before the Nexus 6P launched, it seemed — thanks to some early render leaks — that four different colors of the phone were going to be available for consumers. Come the Nexus event in September, only three colors (Aluminium, Graphite, or Frost) were available in most regions, with only Japan announced to be getting access to the last “Special Edition” gold variant. According to people familiar with the matter, the company is planning to soon begin selling the Nexus 6P via Best Buy, and finally launch the gold variant in the United States after only just recently making it available to Japanese customers through cellular carrier SoftBank…


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Huawei’s Honor brand to enter the US at CES 2016, likely with the Honor 5X

Avatar for Stephen Hall Dec 12 2015 - 8:04 pm PT
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We told you a few days ago that Honor, a brand of primarily low-end smartphones owned by Huawei, sent out invites for an event early next year at CES. The wording in that invite was very vague, mentioning only new “creative and smart technology,” but now we have more of an idea what the company has planned. As we previously speculated, it appears Honor is planning to officially enter the United States market…

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Honor’s 2nd anniversary festival is in full swing, and we’re in China to check it out [Gallery]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Dec 12 2015 - 3:22 pm PT
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Honor, Huawei’s sub-brand of lower-tier smartphones popular in developing countries, invited us out to Shenzhen, China to check out the company’s 2nd anniversary festival. It kicked off yesterday morning, filled with tons of carnival games and shows that encompass “bravery,” several sponsored booths from Honor‘s partners in China, huge stuffed Huawei mascots walking around, Chinese pop music from half a dozen artists, and more. It’s been fun to say the least…
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Google expands Project Sunroof, can now check for ideal solar panel locations in more metro areas in New York, California, Arizona, more

Avatar for Cam Bunton Dec 11 2015 - 4:10 am PT
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Just as the Climate-focussed COP21 conference in Paris is drawing to a close, Google has expanded its Project Sunroof tool to cover more metro areas across the US. If you’re thinking of installing solar panels on your home roof, you can now check Project Sunroof in a number of metro areas in California, Massachusetts, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Connecticut, Colorado and North Carolina. Although no specific cities have been mentioned in the announcement, it’s safe to assume that any major cities in those states should now be covered…


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Chinese search giant Baidu’s self-driving car successfully hits the road

Avatar for Chance Miller Dec 9 2015 - 8:36 pm PT
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Google has said that its goal is to reach widespread distribution of its self-driving car by 2020, but Chinese search giant Baidu might beat the Mountain View company. Today, Baidu, often referred to as the “Chinese Google” announced that its self-driving car successfully completed its first route through Beijing.


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PSA: The Google Store is now selling Bose headphones

Avatar for Abner Li Dec 8 2015 - 4:40 pm PT
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Google’s US and Canadian online retail store is now selling several models of Bose headphones. Items sold on the Google Store are usually more directly related accessories like cases, chargers, and cables, but this launch marks one of the more broad expansions of the store.

There are currently four sets of headphones on sale. The cheapest are the SoundSport In-Ear for $129.95. Followed by the SoundTrue Around-Ear Headphones II at $179.95. The more premium SoundLink Wireless Headphones II cost $279 and Bose’s top of the line QuietComfort 25 cost $299.

These prices are comparable to the prices you would find at other retailers, like Amazon and others. They come with free shipping and all products bought from the Google Store come with an extended return window for the holidays. All purchases made from November 27 to December 25 can be returned through January 22 of next year.


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Google says it has now proven that D-Wave’s quantum computer really works

Avatar for Fred Lambert Dec 8 2015 - 3:04 pm PT
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Last month we reported on Google planning a “watershed” quantum computing announcement, which the company and NASA delivered jointly today. Google’s Quantum AI team announced the results of its latest test in understanding the physics governing quantum annealers, which shows that quantum annealing can outperform simulated annealing by more than 108 times – yes that’s 100,000,000x faster.


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9to5Toys Last Call: Moto E for Straight Talk $20, Nova Launcher Prime $1, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Dec 7 2015 - 3:44 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:

Straight Talk Moto E XT830C Prepaid Smartphone: $20 shipped (Reg. $50) | Walmart

Nova Launcher Prime via the Play Store is on sale for the holidays: $1 (Reg. $5) | Play Store

Amazon launches New Kindle Fire HD 8 ‘Reader’s Edition’ w/ better night time reading, case bundle, Kindle Unlimited subscription

GoPro HERO bundles starting at $140, cases from $10, headgear from $7, more

Giveaway: SanDisk USB flash drives for iPhone, iPad, and Android mobile devices

9to5Google Gift Guides: Stephen, Abner, and Cam’s favorite Chrome and Android-powered products

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

This Leviton wall outlet has a pair of powerful USB ports, get it for $17 Prime shipped (Orig. $30)

The latest Omate smartwatch for iOS/Android launches on Indiegogo with instant success

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Bluetooth Headphones: Jabra MOVE On-ears $60 (Reg. $90), more

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

Razor details its new Hovertrax Smart Scooter ahead of release

Anova Culinary updates its sous vide Precision Cooker w/ Wi-Fi  for cooking away from home

Google, Microsoft & Comcast fight Verizon/Qualcomm’s LTE-U plans, saying WiFi will be disrupted

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Dec 7 2015 - 4:35 am PT
3 Comments

With ever more devices trying to squeeze growing volumes of mobile data through a limited number of LTE frequencies, Verizon is leading the push for use of unlicensed frequencies – known as LTE-Unlicensed, or LTE-U. As well as increasing capacity, LTE-U would potentially offer faster speeds.

The problem? These are the same frequencies used by WiFi, Bloomberg reporting that Google, Microsoft, Comcast and other oppose rapid adoption for this reason.

The three companies have been among a group lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to delay LTE-U’s adoption pending further tests [claiming that it] “would substantially degrade consumer Wi-Fi service across the country.”

The companies argue that while both existing LTE frequencies and WiFi play nicely when it comes to competing demand for use of the same airwaves, LTE-U doesn’t … 
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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Dell Venue 8 $100, Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 $300, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Dec 4 2015 - 1:17 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:

Dell Venue 8 tablet 2GB RAM 32GB flash: $100 shipped (Reg. $200) | eBay

Samsung Galaxy Tab S (T800) 32GB 10.5” tablet: $300 shipped (Reg. $400+) | A4C

Amazon is giving away a year of unlimited cloud storage to anyone who downloads a free app4K Smart UHDTVs: Samsung 48-inch 60Hz $500 (Reg. $700+), LG 55-inch 120Hz $698 (Reg. $800+), more

Samsung Android Wear-powered Gear Live: $80 shipped (Reg. $150) | eBay

LG G Watch R Android Wear watch: $180 shipped (Reg. $290) | eBay

9to5Google Gift Guides: Stephen, Abner, and Cam’s favorite Chrome and Android-powered products

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Brother compact Laser printer: small enough to hide, ink lasts forever: $40 shipped

GoPro HERO4 Session Action Camera w/ free mount + 32GB microSD card: $200 shipped (~$325 value)

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Host a Christmas party that doesn’t suck with these rowdy adult board games

App Store Free App of the Week: Monument Valley goes free (Reg. $4)

TextExpander 5 for Mac, award-winning productivity app now $22 (Orig. $45)

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

Anova Culinary updates its sous vide Precision Cooker w/ Wi-Fi  for cooking away from home

Google soon pushing a fix for false 1 star App Store ratings in search results

Avatar for Stephen Hall Dec 4 2015 - 11:57 am PT
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According to a post today on the Google Search Help Forum, Google will soon push a fix for a long standing search bug that falsely shows iTunes App Store listings as having 1 star ratings (via MacRumors). The problem was first reported by several iOS app developers in late October, and it seems Google has finally acknowledged the issue…

Today, a Community Manager on the forum said that a fix is scheduled for the next release:

Hi everyone, thanks for your continued reports here. As Spencer mentioned, he’s been following up thoroughly with us regarding this and I’m happy to share that we’ve been working hard on providing a solution, and a new fix has been scheduled for the next release, which should be rolling out early next week. Appreciate your patience here.


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Google’s Cloud Vision API brings deeper understanding to apps, robots and drones

Avatar for Cam Bunton Dec 4 2015 - 5:05 am PT
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Google is at the forefront of machine learning, and has already brought some of its AI-powered technology to apps like Gmail and Search. It’s also keen to get its tools in to the hands of developers and recently made Tensorflow machine open source. As part of that focus on giving developers the resources, it’s also launched the Cloud Vision API, giving devs the ability to build apps (and robots) which recognize objects and facial expressions, then respond to them…


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Report(s): Samsung Galaxy Note 5 finally set to get European launch in January

Avatar for Cam Bunton Dec 4 2015 - 2:33 am PT
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Back when Samsung officially announced the Galaxy Note 5 and its dual-curved partner, the S6 Edge Plus, it disappointed a lot of hopeful customers by announcing the S-Pen-equipped phablet would not be released in Europe. At least, not immediately. According to two separate reports, Samsung has plans to finally bring the Note 5 to mainland Europe and the UK next month.


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Google launches Unity plugin to help developers make Chromecast-compatible games

Avatar for Stephen Hall Dec 3 2015 - 2:57 pm PT
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Google has today launched the Google Cast Remote Display plugin for Unity, in hopes that developers will now be able to more easily bring their mobile games to the TV. This is the same plugin that many games on the Play Store — including Monopoly Here & Now, Risk, and more — already use…

Today we launched the Google Cast Remote Display plugin for Unity to make it easy to take your Unity games to TVs. The Google Cast Remote Display APIs use the powerful GPUs, CPUs and sensors of your Android or iOS mobile device to render a local display on your mobile device and a remote display on your TV.

Google says that, as of today, developers can download the new Remote Display plugin for Unity from both GitHub and the Unity Asset Store.

Developers with preexisting Unity games simply need to import the Remote Display package to their project, add the CastRemoteDisplayManager prefab, and configure cameras for the local and remote displays. More detailed information can be found at Google’s Developers Blog.