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Pinterest rolling out new point-and-shoot visual discovery tool for mobile app called Lens 

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Pinterest is introducing a new feature for its Android app called Lens. Rolling out now as a beta feature, Lens lets you point your camera at your surroundings to discover new design ideas based on what it captures.

Just point Lens at a pair of shoes, then tap to see related styles or even ideas for what else to wear them with. Or try it on a table to find similar designs, and even other furniture from the same era. You can also use Lens with food. Just point it at broccoli or a pomegranate to see what recipes come up. Patterns and colors can also lead you in fun, interesting or even just plain weird new directions.


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Google has finally added holiday hours to Google Maps

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After many years of people trusting Google Maps far too much and accidentally driving across town to a store that ended up being closed, Google has finally added the ability for companies to designate holiday hours on Google Maps. Whenever you open up the Maps app and click that little drop-down to see hours for the week, you’ll now see a designated section for these special hours. And if a company hasn’t provided these, you’ll see a warning suggesting that the normal hours might not be right…
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Report: Google to take on AmazonFresh, will begin testing fresh-food delivery in two US cities this year

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Bloomberg reports that Google will begin testing grocery and fresh food delivery in two US cities later this year in an attempt to directly compete with AmazonFresh. Brian Elliot, general manager of Google Express stated that the company will be partnering with Whole Foods Market and Costco Wholesale, among others, to deliver the new service. Initial testing will begin in San Francisco and one other unnamed city…


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UK retailer Tesco launches its shopping app for Google Glass

Shopping with Google Glass on Vimeo 2015-01-13 11-39-13

Google Glass has been on the downtrend as of late, but there are still many groups who believe in the product enough to keep developing for it. One of those groups is UK grocer and general retailer Tesco, which has today released its Google Glass shopping app—six months after the company first released a video demoing what the app would be like. While the company has had a prototype working for a while now, Tesco now says that its shopping app is ready for prime time.


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Google preparing to jump into online commerce with ‘buy now’ button

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Google is preparing to take on commerce giant Amazon by incorporating a “buy now” button into its shopping search results, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The results currently rely on links to third-party retailers, but the Mountain View search company is apparently looking to integrate itself a little deeper into the checkout process.

Unlike Amazon, Google doesn’t plan to maintain its own warehouses, stock products, or handle any sales itself. Instead, it will create a system for consumers to buy products from third-parties using Google Shopping as an intermediary service.


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Google forces removal of Amazon app from Play Store over hidden app store

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Amazon App Android

Back in October, Amazon updated its official Android app with hidden yet fully functional access to its own app store. Amazon then vaguely mentioned the new feature in a subsequent press release, perhaps hoping the move would go unnoticed. But it hasn’t taken long for Google to catch wind of what happened, and the search company clearly isn’t happy about the move.
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Google Now will alert you when nearby shops have products you’ve been searching for

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If you find yourself constantly searching the web for new toys, you’re really gonna dig Google Now’s newest trick. As a follow up to a recent update that helps you locate stores while cruising the mall, this new software push takes things to another level. Starting today, Google Now will display a product information card whenever you’re near a shop that carries an item that you’ve been searching for online.


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Google Shopping launches revamped experience on desktop & mobile w/ curated holiday shopping lists

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Google today announced some nice additions to its Google Shopping service available to users browsing for products in Google search and directly through the Google Shopping site on desktop and mobile. In addition to new curated shopping lists from some of its partners (note: These are Google’s partners buying paid product listing ads), Google Shopping also receives an updated look and feel, part of an ongoing update that Google started rolling out back in October with an updated storefront and improved local listings.

One new feature in the redesigned shopping experience pictured above is the ability create your own shortlists that are easily accessible from the top of each page while browsing:
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Google announces Trusted Stores to give you a piece of mind when shopping online

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Google announced today a new pilot program called Trusted Stores. Trusted Stores will give shoppers a piece of mind when shopping online, telling them which stores ship on time, have good customer support, etc. Once awarded the Trusted Badge, credited stores can display it on their website (seen after the break).

If a company would like to participate they need to provide Google with information regarding shipping, and Google will also collect information from the store’s customers. Here’s a part we really like: if a customer decides to select free protection from Google, they will receive help from Google if a problem ever arises. Google will also offer a $1,000 lifetime protection package. Expect this to start popping up around the web a lot more.


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Google updates Shopper app for iPhone to give users deals in their city

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Google has released an update to their Shopper app conveniently giving users information on daily deals, including Google Offers. The update adds a “Offers” and “My Offers” tab at the bottom, along with the Shop tab you know and love. The Offers tab displays deals in map view that are available in your city. The deals you find can be saved in the My Offers tab for later use. Businesses can publish deals through Google Places. If Google Offers is available in your city you can redeem your purchased offers in the My Offers tab. Check out the update in the App Store.
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Staples offers $100 off coupon for Android Tablets

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From 9to5toys.com:


(Click to print)

That little marvel above means the Acer iConia Tab is $299 after coupon, the ASUS EeePad Transformer is $299 as well and the Dell Streak 7 drops to a paltry $199.  The Motorola Xoom drops to $399.  Not bad for folks who have a Staples nearby.

Remember, only one per person per day and not good for the Nook Color – which you can get from Barnes and Noble for $199.


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Some fresh Google Offers details

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Google Offers hit the web about a month ago in Portland, Oregon. The service is a competitor to sites like Groupon, LivingSocial, and Gilt City – to name a few. These types of services give users deals on products. Business Insider has published a story on why they think Google Offers will succeed, and also provides information about the service. Business Insider has posted three points outlining what Offers offers over its competitors.

“Vastly better payment terms than other deal providers, especially compared to Groupon”

The vastly better payment terms Business Insider is talking about is that Google will give merchants up to 80% of the voucher revenue in four days, and the other 20% will be shared within a 30-90 day range. Google also requires that the service or product be immediately available, while Groupon’s doesn’t.

 “Google pays merchants for vouchers that are sold but not used; Groupon doesn’t”

Groupon will only pay merchants for vouchers that are used. Google wants to sweet talk merchants by giving them a split of the revenue for ever voucher sold, even if it’s used or not. This method seems a little more fair.

“Google will eventually “distribute” deals to consumers through many other channels in addition to email, including search ads, display ads, Android phones, Google Wallet and “Places” pages.”

Lastly, it’s obvious that Google has a better channel to promote products. Don’t forget about Google’s widely used ad program (though a Google Spokesperson said this won’t be a factor), Android devices, the new Google wallet , and “Places pages”. Merchants will want a network that can market their product through more channels.

Business Insider also gives a fourth point: a Google salesperson in New York promised SEO benefits to a merchant. Now, what company wouldn’t like that? But.. a Google spokesperson had this to say: “Google Offers has no influence whatsoever on the ranking of Google search results.”

Google Offers is reportedly on its way to San Francisco and New York later this year. The lingering question is will this take off? Leave us your opinion in the comment section below.

Stanford professor/iPhone camera app developer to take two years off to work at Google

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Google’s photo software is about to get upgraded…

Stanford professor and iPhone Camera app developer Marc Levoy is going to Google for two years according to his Stanford bio page:

I will be on part-time leave of absence from June 2011 through June 2013, to pursue a project at Google. 

This stint at Google won’t be his first.  He co-designed the Google book scanner and launched Google’s Street View project.

Levoy’s current interests include light fields, optical microscopy, and computational photography – meaning computational imaging techniques that extend the capabilities of digital photography. Levoy’s recent research focuses on camera applications.

My research has recently focused on making cameras programmable. One concrete outcome of this project is our Frankencamera architecture, published in this SIGGRAPH 2010 paper. To help me understand the challenges of building photographic applications for a mobile platform, I tried writing a cell phone app myself. The result is SynthCam. By capturing, tracking, aligning, and blending a sequence of video frames, the app makes the near-pinhole aperture on an iPhone camera act like the large aperture of a single-lens-reflex (SLR) camera. This includes the SLR’s shallow depth of field and resistance to noise in low light. The app is available for $0.99 in the iTunes app store. I don’t expect to get rich from this app, but I learned a lot by writing it, and yes – seeing it appear in the app store was a thrill. Here are a few of my favorite reviews of the app: MIT Technology ReviewWiReD.

What’s Levoy going to be working on at Google?


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