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Latest Sling TV update lets you sling your favorite shows to your Chromecast

Avatar for Stephen Hall Nov 3 2015 - 9:25 am PT
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Dish Network’s Sling TV has been around for a while, but one feature that was long been missing from its Android and iPhone apps was Chromecast support. Now, following Google’s announcement last month that the feature was on the way, watchers of live on-demand TV programming via Sling TV can finally sling that content onto their big screen…
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Inbox app will use AI-powered Smart Reply feature to respond to Gmail messages for you

Avatar for Cam Bunton Nov 3 2015 - 7:24 am PT
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Update: It looks like the Smart Reply feature is rolling out starting tomorrow.

Google’s Inbox app for Gmail is one of the best things to happen to personal email management since email was invented. Using Google Now’s power, it can automatically create calendar events, sort out your junk and priority emails and suggest reminders. Now it’s about to get a whole lot smarter…


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Tired of those full page ‘Install this App’ Mobile web blocks? Google is doing something about it

Avatar for Cam Bunton Nov 3 2015 - 6:30 am PT
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There’s nothing worse when browsing the web — or hitting a search result — and coming across a page completely obscured by a huge pop-up window asking you to install the site’s (or someone else’s) app. In fact, full-page interstitial ads in general are incredibly frustrating, when all you want to do is read the article. Thankfully, Google is doing something about it…


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Larry Page gives first major interview since formation of Alphabet, talks worries, privacy, Project Loon, Steve Jobs [Video]

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Nov 3 2015 - 4:56 am PT
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Google co-founder and now Alphabet CEO Larry Page has given his first major interview since the formation of Alphabet, addressing a wide range of topics which include his concerns about heading into uncharted territory with the company, privacy, Project Loon and Steve Jobs … 
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Report: Google abandons its retail plans as it looks to sublease SoHo building it renovated

Avatar for Chance Miller Nov 2 2015 - 7:09 pm PT
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Google has long been rumored to be planning to open a New York City retail space, but now it looks as if that plan has died off. According to a report from Crain’s New York Business, Google has abandoned its plans to open a retail store in New York City. The company is looking to sublease a 5,442-square-foot space it leased in SoHo last year.


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Google: Chrome OS not folding into Android, Material redesign + 2016 Chromebooks coming

Avatar for Zac Hall Nov 2 2015 - 10:58 am PT
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Officially offering a denial to a report last week claiming Chrome OS would merge into Android by 2017, Google has taken to its Chrome blog to say Chrome OS is here to stay. Chromebooks that run the Chrome operating system has taken off especially well in the classroom, giving Google added incentive to ensure Chrome OS users that the platform isn’t facing any dramatic changes in the near future. Hoping to convince users that recent reports of the future of Chrome OS are wrong, Google has shared some usage numbers and even offered a peek into the future of Chrome OS…
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Google takes advantage of Halloween to boost skills of self-driving cars at recognizing children

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Nov 2 2015 - 4:38 am PT
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Google’s self-driving cars are aware that children can be less predictable than adults, being programmed to act more cautiously around them. But to do that, they first need to be able to identify them as children – something which can be more challenging when they’re wearing costumes – so Google took advantage of Halloween to give the cars some additional learning.

This week, lots of little ghouls, superheroes and even robots were running around Google with their families, so we asked them to hang out around our parked cars. This gives our sensors and software extra practice at recognizing children in all their unique shapes and sizes, even when they’re in odd costumes … 


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: LG G4 Stylus (unlocked) $235, ZTE Axon Pro (unlocked) $320, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 30 2015 - 12:59 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 Stylus brand new 8GB (unlocked): $235 shipped (Reg. $800) | eBay

ZTE Axon Pro factory unlocked in Phthalo Blue: $320 shipped (Reg. $400) | Amazon

New LG/Google Nexus 5 (unlocked): $175 shipped (Reg. $400) | eBay

LG G Watch Android Wear refurb: $60 shipped (Reg. $200) | BuyDig

Dell Venue 8 7000 Series 8.4″ Intel Atom 16GB Black: $280 shipped (Reg. $400) | eBay

Giveaway: Polk Audio’s Omni Whole Home Music System – Soundbar w/ subwoofer and S2 Speaker ($880 value)

More new gear from today:

Headphones: Audio-Technica Over-Ears $100 (Orig. $250), URGE Basics Bluetooth Earbuds $9 (Reg. $19), more

More deals still alive:

Logitech K480 Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard (refurb) $20 shipped (Orig. $50)

New products & more:

GE’s new smart LED lightbulbs tell your brain when it’s time for bed

This life-size R2-D2 refrigerator carries your beer to you…for a price

Google’s new ‘Who’s Down’ app shows which of your friends are free to hang out

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 30 2015 - 11:47 am PT
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Google has just quietly released a new app on the Play Store, called “Who’s Down”. As you might be able to tell from its name, the app will apparently — once there are people who are actually using it — let you see which of your friends are free to hang out. Currently, the app is invite-only, so the only things we know about its functionality are from the app’s Play Store screenshots…
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Google Photos brings face grouping features to more countries in 1.8 update

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 30 2015 - 10:55 am PT
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Google has updated the Google Photos app this week, and it’s a fairly substantive update — at least in comparison to the almost-weekly bug fixer updates that Google pushes to many of its apps. The new version brings the face grouping features of the well-reviewed cloud storage service to more countries…
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Defensive Google SVP: We’re still ‘very committed to Chrome OS’

Avatar for Cam Bunton Oct 30 2015 - 4:34 am PT
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Following reports yesterday that Chrome OS might vanish and be merged in to Android, one of Google’s chiefs was keen to defend the platform and state that it’s not going anywhere. Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP of Android, Chromecast and Chrome OS tweeted that the company is still ‘very committed to Chrome OS’ and that the platform as a whole is seeing huge momentum…


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Review: Google’s Nexus 5X is a great smartphone, but not the best in its class [Video]

Avatar for Dom Esposito Oct 29 2015 - 12:44 pm PT
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Google’s Nexus 5X may not the best budget smartphone you can buy, but it’s the only one that will appeal to purists out there. Google’s LG-made Nexus 5X is definitely worthy of some attention, but these days it’s a tough market out there for a flagship with a midrange price. The question is, can its $379 price tag win your heart and the cash in your wallet?

The Nexus 5X is the first budget Nexus we’ve seen in quite a while, the smallest as well, and as the name suggests, it’s the sequel to the Nexus 5. With that, you’ll find a very familiar plastic build with updated internals and a few extra surprises…


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Nexus 6P teardown reveals that the attractive flagship is extremely difficult to repair

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 29 2015 - 9:13 am PT
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There are plenty of different comparison points between this year’s Nexus phones, and in most of them the Nexus 6P is simply superior. The Nexus 6P has a larger screen, a more premium build, a better camera, and more powerful internals. But there’s one area that we now know that the Nexus 6P is clearly the loser. When it comes to repairability, the Nexus 6P is one of the worst phones ever, getting a score of just 2 out of 10 from iFixit…
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BlackBerry details the features of its upcoming PRIV slider phone [Video]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 29 2015 - 7:07 am PT
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BlackBerry’s PRIV handset is getting a lot of attention, and there’s many reasons for that. The most obvious is that it’s a slider phone — something that we haven’t seen on Android for quite a while. BlackBerry was known for their sliders and holding onto the physical keyboard when the rest of the industry moved on, and now they’re bringing that back in a secure package that seems to be more than decent. Many won’t bat an eye, but there are others who might notice some of its unique features.

To highlight those features and hopefully catch those potential customers, BlackBerry has uploaded a video demonstrating what the PRIV has to offer: it’s physical keyboard, BlackBerry Hub, Pop-up widgets, its curved 5.4-inch screen, and more:

The PRIV is also bringing a lot to the table for those more interested in getting great specifications. The phone has a 5.4-inch, 2560 x 1440 resolution AMOLED display at 540ppi, a Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor, 3 GB RAM, and 32 GB of expandable storage. You’ll find an 18-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front camera, dual-LED flash, and a 3,410 mAh battery. Sadly, though, it looks like the phone is going to launch with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.

You can pre-order the BlackBerry PRIV from the company’s website.

Alphabet partners w/ three carriers to bring Project Loon service to Indonesia

Avatar for Chance Miller Oct 28 2015 - 5:00 pm PT
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Google X’s incredibly ambitious Project Loon is expanding into another country soon. Parent company Alphabet today announced that it is teaming up with the three largest wireless carriers in Indonesia to test its Project Loon in Indonesia beginning next year. Google is targeting Indonesia because it is the fourth most populous country in the world, but two-thirds of its citizens lack access to Internet.


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Google names Oklahoma City, Jacksonville and Tampa as potential Fiber cities

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 28 2015 - 4:00 pm PT
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Google Fiber is slowly but surely gaining momentum, and the Mountain View company just last month announced that it began exploring Irvine, Louisville, and San Diego as potential cities for the service. Today, it looks like there are three more cities being added to the “maybe one day” list (which is definitely an upgrade from the “who knows” list most cities are still on): Oklahoma City, Oklahom, Jacksonville, Florida, and Tampa, Florida.

Google says these “growing tech hubs” have a “strong entrepreneurial spirit”:

That’s why today, we’re inviting Oklahoma City, OK, Jacksonville, FL and Tampa, FL, to explore bringing Google Fiber to their communities, as we did last month with three other cities. These growing tech-hubs have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to small business growth. Their list of accolades is long—from Jacksonville’s title as a top 10 city for tech jobs, to Tampa Bay’s #2 spot on the list of best cities for young entrepreneurs, to Oklahoma City’s recognition as the #1 city to launch a business. One of our goals is to make sure speed isn’t an accidental ceiling for how people and businesses use the Web, and these cities are the perfect places to show what’s possible with gigabit Internet.

There are currently 3 Fiber cities, and 6 that are definitely on the way. This announcement leaves us with 9 cities that Google has designated as potentials, with the other 6 being Portland, San Jose, Irving, San Diego, Louisville, and Phoenix. Now, Google is going to start the “joint planning process” in collaboration with the three new cities’ local leaders to study their respective communities. Now it’s just a waiting game for those lucky enough to reside in these cities.

PSA: YouTube Red is now live, and you can sign up for a free trial now

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 28 2015 - 10:08 am PT
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Google introduced the world to its curiously-named YouTube Red service just last week, and mentioned that October 28th would be the day that it launched. Well, today is October 28th, and you can now head over to YouTube.com/red to sign up for the service. Google’s kicking off Red with a one month free trial for all users, after which you’ll be charged $9.99 per month…

With YouTube Red, you’ll get access to a completely ad-free YouTube experience (which alone is an enticing offer for those of us that still want to support content creators), you’ll be able to download videos for offline viewing on a variety of devices, and — one feature that has been much-requested since YouTube hit mobile devices — you’ll be able to keep the app running in the background when your screen is off.

The thing that’s confusing to me about this whole ordeal is that there’s so much convergence of content between Google Play Music and YouTube Red. A Google Play Music Unlimited subscription seems to get you a YouTube Red subscription and vice-versa, so now I have to decide which of the two platforms I will use for music streaming. But I guess that’s pretty typical for Google’s products.

I’m not complaining, so don’t get me wrong. I think it’s pretty nice that Google is making these two services just one monthly bill, and I doubt I ever be willing to pay for both. The reason for that is because there’s just so much content overlap, and I guess that’s the same thing that might make this confusing for the average customer. Either way, I get another free month of Google Play Music Unlimited out of this even if I don’t end up sticking with Red, and that’s fine by me.

https://youtu.be/YL9RetC0ook

Google says some Nexus 6P shipments delayed, offering $25 refund to affected customers

Avatar for Chance Miller Oct 27 2015 - 6:12 pm PT
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Several early Nexus 6P orders began shipping last week to eager customers, but now it looks as if many will have to wait a little bit longer before their device arrives. Google this evening has sent out an email to undisclosed number of people who pre-ordered the Nexus 6P, informing them that shipment of their device has been delayed.


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‘Future teardown’ of a Google self-driving car shows us who could be making the various elements

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Oct 27 2015 - 7:19 am PT
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While it seems near-certain that Google plans a full-scale commercial rollout of its self-driving cars, it has also made clear on several occasions that it has no plans to manufacture the cars itself. As a recent opinion piece on sister site Electrek argued, actually manufacturing a car is massively complex undertaking.

Google will therefore be looking for partners to pull together different elements of the car, and Re/code has put together an interesting look at the most likely candidates. Though the piece is focused on the Apple Car, the analysis applies to Apple and Google alike … 
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You can now buy the waterproof HTC RE camera for just $50 shipped (Reg. $200)

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 27 2015 - 6:57 am PT
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HTC’s RE camera hasn’t exactly been the blowout hit, and at least a few times over the last several months we’ve seen it as low as $100 brand-new. Now, you can buy the HTC RE from the company’s website for just $50 shipped, which is $150 less than its regular $200 retail price and the lowest price we’ve seen.

The HTC RE, importantly, has a waterproof build — which makes it the obvious choice for water sports and outdoors filming. The camera also sports a 146° wide angle lens, and a 16-megapixel, 1/2.3″ Sony CMOS sensor. It has just one button, made for when you’re out with friends and just want to quickly capture a moment.

HTC’s website is currently offering the device in four colors: silver, orange, blue, and green. The device is compatible with both iPhone and Android platforms, and also brings the RE Live Stream feature, which lets you stream up to 30-minutes of footage directly from the device to YouTube. It’s nearing impulse buy at this price.

Google adds more train information to Google Flights in Europe

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 26 2015 - 3:28 pm PT
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While this might not make much sense to North American readers, high-speed trains are commonly a very smart alternative to flights when traveling across the European continent. Due to this, it makes sense that Google would add train information to Google Flights in Europe. Now, when browsing flights in Google Flights, users will be able to quickly see when it might make more sense to go by rail.

Here’s the low down:

Every year, billions of people travel across Europe for personal and professional reasons — often choosing high-speed rail as a convenient option. Now Google Flights makes it easy to compare the time and cost to ride vs. fly when trains are a logical and good alternative to many flight routes in Europe.

We started by adding train options for routes in Italy and Spain. Today we’re excited to announce a partnership with Deutsche Bahn in Germany to bring their expansive, fast rail service to Google Flights.

According to Google, this launch brings train options for 56 destinations and hundreds of routes across Northern Europe. The company says that Frankfurt-Munich and Hamburg-Stuttgart are popular routes, as well as Zurich-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Amsterdam. As of today, you should be able to see these Northern Europe train options in the app, and even more routes in Italy and Spain, as well.

Opinion: I’m now a VR believer, and Google’s Tilt Brush app is particularly breathtaking

Avatar for Stephen Hall Oct 26 2015 - 3:12 pm PT
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Late last week, I got a chance to give HTC Vive a test run at the Big Android BBQ in Hurst, Texas. I feel almost ashamed to say this, but I hadn’t even touched virtual reality at all — besides Google Cardboard, of course — until Friday. And while this probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to those out there that have already played with devices like Oculus and Vive in the past, I’m absolutely, completely, thoroughly, fully, a believer in virtual reality. Here’s how it went down…
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