Google

Google tops Apple as leading App Store publisher

Ed Sutherland ∙ March 28, 2013

Obviously, home field advantage doesn't hold sway when it comes to app stores. That's the message from a new report showing Google the leading publisher on Apple's App Store while Facebook downloads outnumbered Google on the Mountain View, California company's own marketplace.

Although Apple led apps downloaded from its App Store in December, iOS video and mapping apps from Android's Google topped its smartphone rival during January and February. Meanwhile, a Facebook app grabbed the top spot on Google Play, reinforcing the importance of social networking downloads in generating app store revenue...

Gmail app updated with easier multi-message editing and navigation

Cody Lee ∙ March 27, 2013

Great news today for Gmail users. Google has updated its email client for iOS this morning, bringing the app to version 2.1. The update includes some nice UX improvements, including easier message navigation.

Users with the new app will now be able to swipe either left or right to move between messages, without having to return to their inbox. It also features easier multi-message editing, a handful of bug fixes and more...

Google+ updated with photo filters, new profile design and more

Cody Lee ∙ March 25, 2013

Google has rolled out a significant update for its iOS Google+ client today. The app, which is now in version 4.3, received a number of improvements, including new photo editing features and redesigned profiles.

The new photo editing features are probably the most welcomed addition, and come courtesy of Google's recently acquired Snapseed application. You can now add filters to, crop and rotate, your photos on the fly...

Google said to be working on its own smartwatch

Cody Lee ∙ March 22, 2013

A year ago, the smartwatch space didn't really exist. I mean it did, but it consisted of just a handful of lackluster products from the likes of Sony and Motorola. But if rumors are true, it'll serve as the next battlefield for the 3 biggest names in tech.

Hot on the heels of reports that both Apple and Samsung are hard at work developing smartphone-connected wristwatches comes a new one from The Financial Times claiming that Google's Android unit is working on a smartwatch of its own...

LG developing own iWatch and Google Glass-like wearable gizmo

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 22, 2013

Apple's unreleased iWatch is already inspiring a bunch of me-too products from big name tech giants (nothing wrong with that, mind you). Bloomberg recently quoted a Samsung executive who went on the record to confirm that his company has been "preparing the watch product for so long.”

Then, the Financial Times newspaper shared knowledge of Google’s Android team working on a smartwatch product to act as an extension to the smartphones using Android.

And now we're hearing that the South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation better known as LG is also developing its own iWatch contender, in addition to a wearable gadget akin to Google's Glass eyewear...

Eric Schmidt on Google Now for iOS: the ball is now in Apple’s court

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 21, 2013

An alleged promo video thought to show off an unreleased build of Google Now for the iPhone and iPad has piqued our interest, as you could imagine. It was pulled from YouTube soon after, posing questions about the state of the official Google Now software for Apple's mobile platform.

Speaking at the Google Big Tent Summit in India, Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt hints Google Now has been submitted to Apple for approval. He suggested the ball is now in Apple's court. If approved, Google Now features are likely to be added to the Internet giant's native Search iOS app.

Update: Apple confirmed to CNET that Google never submitted Google Now to the App Store in the first place...

Apple patents augmented-reality mapping tech

Ed Sutherland ∙ March 19, 2013

Apple Tuesday was granted a patent for technology enabling integrating augmented reality, the power of the Internet and smart device communications. A key component to the company's take on augmented reality is a system that recognizes live real-world objects, then builds 3D representations useful for mapping and annotating shared data. The patent, filed in 2010, is entitled "Synchronized, interactive augmented reality displays for multifunction devices."

In one potential use, an iDevice camera photographs a circuit board. A layer placed over the image then identifies the components and permits a team to exchange annotations, including text, web links and even images. But this only scratches the surface of how Apple envisions the future of mobile augmented reality...

iMessage beware, Google Babble is coming

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 18, 2013

The Internet giant Google, reportedly adamant to solve its instant messaging conundrum, is working on consolidating its many chat services and folding them under a new brand name - Google Babble. Not sure whether Babble is just a code-name, but I'd definitely chose a different moniker because the term 'babble' doesn't just denote chatter, it also means "to utter a meaningless confusion of words" and "talk foolishly or idly".

Be that as it may, a new report Monday claims knowledge of an all-new IM solution from Google designed around organizing chats by conversation rather than by people, no matter what chat service they happen to be using. It's said to support video, audio, file transfers and threaded conversations across all the existing services. Go right past the break for more tidbits...

100,000 die-hard fans want to keep Reader alive, Google wouldn’t budge

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 24, 2018

A petition to keep Google Reader alive, available at Change.org, already has more than a hundred thousand signatures. After the Internet giant Tuesday shocked the tech world announcing it will discontinue the service after July 1, 2013, the petition crossed 50,000 signatures in less than 24 hours as Reader die-hards scrambled to keep the web app alive. While the decision to axe Reader might actually revitalize the industry, Google refuses to change its mind, Friday news reports indicate...

Apple’s Tim Cook loses top CEO ranking to Facebook in Glassdoor survey

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

It's uncertain what caused it, but the first cracks are appearing in the honeymoon between Apple CEO Tim Cook and company employees.

After being named the top CEO of 2012, Cook slipped to 18th place, behind Google and Amazon. According to employment site Glassdoor, Apple employees gave Cook a 93 percent approval rating, down from 97 percent last year.

By comparison, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg jumped 14 points to land in the top spot for 2013 with a 99 percent approval rating from employees of the social networking giant...

14 Google Reader alternatives

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 21, 2018

Google sent shockwaves throughout the tech world yesterday when it announced that it would be killing off Google Reader this summer. Despite a recent decline in usage, a number of people, and apps, still depend on the service.

But never fear, as usual, iDB has you covered. We've done all of the leg work, and put together a list of 10 Google Reader alternatives. And by the time you get done reading through them, you'll be saying "Google what?"

EU watchdog tightens privacy rules governing mobile apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

The Article 29, a watchdog comprised of the European Union's top privacy protection groups, today issued a set of new recommendations aimed at app developers and tech giants that run the mobile application stores in the latest attempt to bring order to how your apps handle your private information.

The new set of more detailed recommendations arrives following the recent EU probe into the privacy practices of Google and other tech firms.

The United States Federal Trade Commission set out a similar set of guidelines last month so EU's new recommendations could have serious ramifications on how Apple's App Store, Google's Play Store and other application stores operate...