Wednesday was a busy days for updates, with Android 4.4 KitKat rollouts to the Nexus 4 and the Verizon Moto X, and a bug squashing update for Google Nexus devices.
The update, which has already begun rolling out to some users as an OTA, brings the build number to KRT16S, from the KRT16O of the original KitKat build that rolled out last week. This update applies to the Nexus 7 (2012) WiFi, the Nexus 7 (2013) Wi-Fi, and the Nexus 10...
Read the full story here... Source: Android Authority
A publication has revealed in a Nexus 5 one-week-of-use review that the handset may soon get new Google Now features, with an update pegged for November 13.
According to Wired, more smart Google Now features are coming soon, although Google is yet to officially announce them.
Apparently Google Now will get even smarter than it currently is, with the voice-based assistant getting some sort of answering back features...
Read the full story here... Source: Android Authority
Despite all the promises, smartwatches remain an acquired taste. Yes, there's a market but one that largely caters to the likes of health junkies and early adopters.
Fitness bands are cheap and light but too minimalist. Samsung's Galaxy Gear is all brawn but lacks device compatibility and email support. And the Pebble, one of the first true-blue smartwatches, is still trying to build an app ecosystem the way that Google and Apple did for their smartphones. It's an uphill battle for Pebble, the smartwatch darling, and it won't get any easier when those tech titans join the fray...
Read the full story here... Source: CNET
Last night, Google announced KitKat, the next version of its Android operating system. To mark the occasion, it released a video showing the unveiling of the new statue, but what's this? Eagle-eyed phone fans over at Android Policespotted a new Nexus blower in the vid. Could it be the Nexus 5...
Read the full story here... Source: CNET
A leaked image seems to suggest that the T-Mobile Moto X version will be available only from the Google Play Store, although nothing is official just yet.
TmoNews has posted a purported T-Mobile screenshot that says the Moto X will be launched via “Google Play only,” with the actual launch date still “TBD” – to be decided. Pricing details for the handset aren’t mentioned either...
Read the full story here... Source: Android Authority
Along with support for Bluetooth Smart and Restricted Profiles Google has added some stronger security features to the latest release of the Android mobile operating system. Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, which Google is calling “a sweeter Jelly Bean”, adds support for Wi-Fi configuration on WPA2-Enterprise networks as well as a variety of internal changes that make it more difficult for hackers (and the NSA) to exploit security vulnerabilities...
Read the full story here... Source: Android Authority
One of the few OS perks iPhone owners have still held over the heads of their Android compatriots is Apple's official -- and free -- app for locating and remote wiping a lost device.
After years of user complaints and shoddy third-party variants, Google has finally answered iOS's "Find My iPhone" feature with a locator of its own: the Android Device Manager.
To be released later this month, the app will let Android users find and ring a misplaced or stolen device on a map in real time, as well as wipe its contents remotely. The feature will be available for users running Android 2.2 or later.
Google's solution to the increasing problem of device theft comes at a time when smartphone manufacturers have seen mounting pressure from authorities to add software-side features that could help curb what has been called a violent crime epidemic. Some initiatives, discussed at a meeting between lawmakers and tech giants like Apple and Samsung in June, have included the potential for a "kill switch," which would permanently brick a stolen device and make it worthless for resale.
But just how violent is smartphone theft -- which has picked up the unique law enforcement nickname of "Apple picking" -- becoming these days? Examples abound, including the killing of a 26-year-old Museum of Modern Art employee for his iPhone in the Bronx and the mugging of a Crown Heights, Brooklyn woman over her Android device at gunpoint.
Source: CNET
When it comes to its ambitions for television, Google's hoping that the third time's the charm.
This morning the company unveiled Chromecast. Google's latest foray into the television is a low-cost stick that plugs into a HDMI input to let a wide swath of smartphones, tablets, and devices using the Chrome browser seamlessly fling what they're playing onto the TV.
Google argues that it is solving a unique problem, but it really isn't. In fact, a myriad of devices already exist to do just that. But by coming out with a cheaper, more innovative offering, Google fired its loudest shot across the bow of Apple TV and all of the other streaming TV peripherals with the Chromecast. And at $35, it claims to have a winner.
The television is "the most immersive experience in the house," said Sundar Pichai, Google's head of Android, Chrome, and apps at the breakfast unveiling Wednesday in San Francisco. He noted more than 200 billion online videos are watched globally by users every month, and Netflix and YouTube combined represent nearly half of peak downstream Internet traffic in North America.
"It's very difficult to get your online media onto your television in your house," said Pichai.
True enough. It has been difficult, but largely only for Google...
Read the full story here. Source: CNET
During the annual Allen and Co media conference held in Idaho, Google chairman Eric Schmidt has revealed that the once very frosty relationship between Apple and Google is starting to improve. The two companies, which are simultaneously rivals and business partners, have been conducting “lots and lots” of meetings at often very high levels. According to the comments made by Schmidt, Google’s Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora has been leading many of the discussions.
Emphasizing the better relations between the companies, Schmidt said that the two are in “constant business discussions on a long list of issues.” He also praised Apple saying it was a “proud, well-run” company – as is Google. But that they are two very “different companies.”
Google’s relationship with Apple has been a real roller-coaster of a ride. At its high point Apple made Google the center of its online service offerings including search, maps and email. Eric Schmidt was even a member of Apple’s board. However when Google launched Android things turned sour. Jobs is quoted, in Walter Isaacson’s biography of the Apple co-founder, as saying, “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
After Schmidt left Apple’s board the relationship has been bumpy with Apple suing Google and Google’s partners over Android. Last year Apple tried to ditch Google Maps, which was – until then – the default navigation app on iOS and replace it with its own maps service. However Apple’s new map service wasn’t fully ready and caused lots of negative publicity for Apple. Earlier this month Apple also announced that it was dropping Google as the default search engine for Siri, instead it would use Microsoft’s Bing.
The initial benefits of an improved relationship between Apple and Google would probably be felt most by iOS users, who might see Google re-instated as the first choice of online services. However since Google now owns Motorola and the firewall between the two, which ensures that Motorola doesn’t get any special treatment, could be taken down if needed, it looks like Google and Apple will also remain both rivals and partners, in a complex but dynamic relationship!
Source: Android Authority
Google stands to rev up substantial revenue from self-driving cars.
The search giant is likely to gain whether it creates the hardware for self-driving cars or simply license the necessary software to automakers, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster said in an investors note released Tuesday. Either way, revenue from this burgeoning sector should start to ramp up for Google before the decade is over.
"We believe the utility of reducing auto deaths and idle time in traffic add up to a $200+ billion opportunity in autonomous vehicle technology," Munster said. And the analyst sees Google as the "best positioned Internet company over the next ten years" to profit from the technology.
outing the benefits of driverless cars, Munster noted a study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that cited around 32,000 deaths in 2011 due to car accidents. That number showed a significant drop from prior years, but the analyst clearly believes it could be further reduced through self-driving cars.
Another study from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute found that Americanswasted 5.5 billion hours in 2011 stuck in traffic, resulting in $121 billion in lost time and fuel. Driverless cars could potentially cut down on all those traffic jams...
Read the full story here. Source: CNET
You can now "stand" on top of the world's tallest building without having to face the dizzying heights in person.
In its first-ever collection in the Arab world, Google's Street View took its cameras to the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, dubbed the world's tallest manmade structure at 2,717 feet. The images show off the view from the observation deck on the 124th floor and offer a peek from the building's maintenance unit on the 73rd floor.
The tallest occupied floor in the world rests on the 163rd floor, while the highest swimming pool in the world spashes around on the 76th floor.
The 360-degree panoramic photos were captured over three days using the Street View Trekker, a backpack equipped with its own camera system. The Street View Trolley also lent a hand to snap photos in narrow and crowded spaces.
The new images mark the first time the Street View team has collected images of a skyscraper, Google said in a blog post published Monday.
Source: CNET
The dulcet tones of Apple's Siri and Google Now are getting high marks from most users, but Siri's enticing them to more tasks more often, according to a survey by market research firm Parks Associates.
Adoption rates for voice control are up from last year, climbing to about a fifth of broadband users, and both Apple's Siri technology and Google Now are commonly used for many functions.
But in most cases, save for sending text messages, Siri edges out Google Now in adoption.
Among Siri users, 48 percent turn to the feature for five or more activities a month, versus 39 percent among Google Now users. To look up information, Siri is the source for 77 percent of users versus 70 percent for Google Now. And more than half of Siri users play music or schedule events with the technology, a much higher rate than Google Now users.
In text messaging, Google Now has a slight lead: 74 percent adoption compared with Siri's 71 percent.
Earlier this month, Apple unveiled a new look for Siri with new voice options, actions, and some hot integration, including in-car options and music streaming. A recent software tweak had Siri prodding inquirers to keep their questions simple.
"Roughly one-half of those using these features say it is 'very important' to have voice control on their next smartphone, and our research shows this consumer demand is expanding to TVs and other connected home devices," John Barrett, the firm's director of consumer analytics, said.
Google voice search comes to desktop this year, via Chrome and the Chrome OS.
Source: CNET