Google recently purchased some premium real estate close to its headquarters in Mountain View, California and it looks like the outfit is trying to expanding its office setup on the East Coast. According to Vornado Realty Trust the tech company has signed a lease for an 180,000 square foot industrial space in New York at 85 10th Avenue that used to be a Nabisco factory.
Nest recently announced a new sales partnership with Irish utility firm, Electric Ireland that will give the energy provider’s customers an option to receive a free smart thermostat from the Google-owned company after signing a two year service contract. This partnership give’s Mountain View’s growing home automation arm a shot at Electric Ireland’s rather large customer base.
Last week, multiple security reports hit the web claiming that Samsung’s Find My Mobile service had a flaw that left users vulnerable to remote attacks by hackers. Today, Samsung has addressed the claims, saying that the issue was already addressed in an update on October 13th, which pre-dates most of the claims associated with this exploit.
Google recently launched a new program called “Open Roberta,” a cloud-based platform that helps teachers and students in Germany learn to program small robots. In terms of hardware, the search company’s new project uses LEGO MINDSTORMS kits that feature unique hardware and software to develop simple programmable robots.
Update: Financial Times reports that Xiaomi has lined up $1.5 billion in venture funding as part of a valuation that could exceed $40 billion. Russian internet company DST, which also backed companies like Alibaba, Facebook and Airbnb, is one of the investors currently in negotiations with the Chinese handset maker.
Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter, reports that Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is in talks to hold a funding round that could value the smartphone maker at between $40 billion to $50 billion. The news arrives just days after it was reported that Xiaomi overtook LG to become the world’s third-largest smartphone maker.
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AT&T announced today that it’s increasing the data allotment on two of its wireless service plans. Starting on Sunday, November 2nd, Ma Bell will begin offering 3GB of data for $40 per month and 6GB of date for $70 a month. Also sweetening the pot, AT&T is tossing in unlimited talk, text and international messaging at no additional charge.
Google isn’t the only one feeling festive this Halloween. If you’re rocking an HTC One M8 and invested in the device’s Dot View Case, there’s a nice little jack-o’-lantern theme ready to be installed. If you’re allergic to pumpkins, there’s also a theme featuring a groovy skeleton and a pair of bats.
Verizon has officially made the Motorola DROID Turbo available on its website starting at $199.99 with a new two-year service agreement. The smartphone can also be purchased through the Verizon Edge program for 24 equal installments of $24.99 per month. The full retail price of the DROID Turbo starts at $599.99 without a contract.
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Sony Corporation announced on Thursday that it will appoint senior vice president Hiroki Totoki as the new president of its Sony Mobile division on November 16th. Totoki, who currently serves as corporate planning director at the Japanese company, will replace outgoing Sony executive Kunimasa Suzuki to run the smartphone business.
The corporate mixup is largely unsurprising given that Sony has been faced with declining Xperia smartphone sales due to tough competition from rivals Apple, Samsung, LG and others. The company has been forecasted to once again report slowing smartphone sales when it announces its latest quarterly earnings results on Friday.
As of November 16, 2014
Kunimasa Suzuki
(New)
Group Executive, Sony Corporation
Executive Vice President, Sony Entertainment Inc.
(Current)
Corporate Executive Officer, Executive Vice President,
Officer in charge of Mobile Business, Sony Corporation
President & CEO, Sony Mobile Communications Inc.Hiroki Totoki
(New)
Group Executive, Sony Corporation
President & CEO, Sony Mobile Communications Inc.
(Current)
Corporate Executive, Senior Vice President,
In charge of Corporate Planning, Finance and New Business Creation Department, Sony Corporation
Samsung on Thursday announced that it will be launching the Gear S smartwatch in the United States on next Friday, November 7th. The first 3G-connected smartwatch was originally announced in August and features a 2-inch curved Super AMOLED display, 1.0 GHz dual-core processor, network connectivity, 300 mAh battery and more.
The Gear S essentially doubles as a fitness tracker, with a myriad of sensors including an accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, heart rate monitor, ambient light sensor, UV sensor and barometer. The smartwatch is based on Samsung’s own Tizen software platform, a clear differentiation over Samsung’s other smartwatches and Android Wear.
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The latest numbers from Strategy Analytics reveal that Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has surpassed Huawei and LG to become the third-largest smartphone maker in the world. Xiaomi has been making impressive strides since recruiting former Google executive Hugo Barra and more than doubling its sales following international expansion.
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After warning investors that its third-quarter financial results will once again miss analyst expectations, Samsung on Wednesday reported a 74% drop in mobile profits during the three-month period ending September. The reason behind the significant decline: not as many people are buying the latest Galaxy smartphones as they used to.
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Google’s Project Ara is steadily making progress and the folks from Phonebloks recently paid a visit to NK Labs, a contractor working on the device’s prototype for Mountain View. The engineering firm sat down and talked about some of Ara’s recent developments, along with the challenges that come with taking on such a complex project.
Google is ready to take its obsession with search to a whole new level. The company’s super secret X division has been working on a new piece of tech that will help people sniff out signs of cancer and other nasty diseases. If it sounds like something from out of a sci-fi movie, it’s because it pretty much is. Today, Google revealed to The Wall Street Journal that it’s in the process of developing something that would use magnetic nanoparticles about one-thousandth the width of a red blood cell to check a person’s cells for trouble.
[tweet https://twitter.com/ftc/status/527143324269170688]
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has announced that it is suing AT&T for “deceptive and unfair data throttling”. The FTC’s announcement seems to target AT&T’s practice of lowering data transfer speeds for customers with unlimited data plans versus customers with tiered data plans now offered. From the FTC’s press release:
“AT&T promised its customers ‘unlimited’ data, and in many instances, it has failed to deliver on that promise,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “The issue here is simple: ‘unlimited’ means unlimited.”
AT&T has called the FTC’s allegations baseless adding that the carrier has been “completely transparent” with its subscribers.
Verizon Wireless on Tuesday announced the oft-rumored Motorola DROID Turbo at a media event in New York. The single biggest feature of the all-new smartphone is up to 48 hours of battery life based on usage time, meaning that you can actually use the device for two consecutive days before a recharge is needed. A complete rundown of the Motorola DROID Turbo tech specs, pricing and more is ahead.
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Remote device management is often billed as a security feature, but Samsung’s Find My Mobile service could be doing more harm than help. Security researchers have found an exploit in the platform that lets outsiders remotely lock, ring or wipe your Samsung phone. The issue is that Find My Mobile doesn’t validate the security code information it receives and all an attacker needs to do is overwhelm the device with traffic to gain access to someone’s handset.
Motorola has been busy creating a new lineup of smartphones that go beyond the next-generation Moto X and Nexus 6 in partnership with Google. Verizon Wireless is set to host a press event in a few hours in which it unveils its all-new lineup of its iconic DROID devices, including the Motorola DROID Turbo that has been leaked ahead of time.
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Microsoft on Monday announced that it will be eliminating its top-tier cloud storage plan and offering unlimited cloud storage to Office 365 subscribers at no additional cost. The change will begin rolling out today for Office 365 Home, Personal and University customers and will continue over the coming months.
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The 2014-15 NBA season starts this week and while some organizations are adjusting to new ownership and new tech, a few prominent teams are hitting the hardwood with a new teammate. Today, ZTE announced that it will be the official smartphone sponsor of the New York Knicks, Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors.
Today, Google announced plans to bring a new YouTube Space to São Paulo, Brazil. Similar to existing locations in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo and New York City, this new facility will offer tools to video creators like educational courses and high-end production equipment completely free of charge.
Every now and then, the folks in Mountain View will throw us a bone in the form of some free entertainment from Google Play Music or Google Play Movies & TV. Today, the company responsible for the world’s largest search engine has decided to do the latter. If you direct your smartphone, tablet or web browser to Play Movies, there’s a chance that you’ll see a free movie available to add to your collection.
Today, Nest announced that it has acquired home automation device maker Revolv for an undisclosed sum. It’s believed that the Google-owned company made the move to acquire the firm’s developer platform. Nest recently acquired Dropcam for $555 million as part of its continued push into consumers’ homes.
Almost two years ago, Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner made a 128,000 foot record-breaking jump from a helium ballon to the Earth in a stunt that was broadcasted on the internet and sponsored by Red Bull. Today, Google executive Alan Eustace quietly and successfully parachuted from 135,908 feet back to Earth, breaking Baumgartner’s record. Here’s a look at the Googler making his ascension into the record books.