Google

Google unveils new unified ‘Hangouts’ messaging service for iOS, Android

Cody Lee ∙ May 15, 2013

Google's I/O keynote is still ongoing, and the company just unveiled a major new service: Hangouts. Originally rumored to be called 'Babel,' Hangouts is a cross-platform messaging system that will take the place of Google Talk, Google+ Messenger, Google+ Hangout video chat, and pretty much everything else.

It's basically a messaging app, in the same vein as WhatsApp or Kik, offering synchronized chat across virtually all of your devices. Google has mixed in a lot of its own personal flavor though, building in the ability for users to go back through their chat history, delete messages, and even grab files from past conversations...

Google announces Play game services coming to iOS

Cody Lee ∙ May 15, 2013

Google is in the middle of its I/O developer conference keynote right now, and so far it's been pretty boring. There's been no mention of consumer products yet, just some talk about developer API access and some new software and services.

The search giant did, however, unveil a new game service. Flying under the Google Play flag, the service resembles Apple's Game Center, hosting leader boards, achievements, and facilitating real-time multiplayer. Oh, and it's coming to iOS...

Apple’s China sales neared 7M as iPhone 4 fuels demand

Ed Sutherland ∙ May 15, 2013

When seeking increased sales of mobile phones, observers need to look east. That's the word from one large analyst firm, noting more than half of all mobile phones sold during the first quarter of 2013 were in the Asia/Pacific market. For Apple, its sales in mainland China alone neared seven million units during the period, largely credited to the lower-priced iPhone 4. Worldwide, the California-based smartphone maker saw its share of mobile phone sales rise...

Googiri is Google voice search meshed with Siri

Jeff Benjamin ∙ May 15, 2013

I don't think I've left it up to sleuthing to understand that I pretty much loathe Siri. It's a great idea no doubt, but the execution is so poor that it makes me hate the service. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but Siri rarely, if ever, does what I want it to. I ask her for directions to Starbucks, and she replies with "I can't find a place called scarred duck." It's really pathetic.

So imagine how ecstatic I was when I first tried out the voice search embedded into Google Now. It was amazingly accurate, fast, and it didn't sound like an old worn out robot from the 70's. Sad to say, but this is the how Siri should be. Google owns the new gold standard for voice recognition...

Google now gives you 15GB of shared Gmail, Google+ Photos and Drive storage

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Hands up who lives in the Google cloud. If you keep your images on Google+ Photos (formerly Picasa Web Albums), manage documents in Google Drive or file messages with large attachments in Gmail, you are tapping the power of Google's cloud storage. But up until today, each of these relied on their private cloud locker in the sky, which was inconvenient.

This morning, Google has tweaked the offering to include fifteen gigabytes of unified, free storage shared across Gmail, Drive and Google+ Photos. Previously, Google gave you ten gigabytes for Gmail and an additional five gigabytes of combined storage limited to Drive and Google+ Photos.

The change strengthens the Drive brand while simplifying things for consumers, akin to Apple's iCloud that comes with five free gigabytes of shared cloud storage...

SoundCloud now has Google+ Sign-In and sharing

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 13, 2013

Nearly a year ago, the Internet giant rolled out Google+ Sign-In as a way to counter Facebook Connect, a feature web site owners predominantly tap to simplify the sign in and account creation process for their users.

The Google+ SDK for iOS was released shortly after, giving Apple's registered iOS developers a set of tools and social plugins to write programs that are deeply integrated with the Google+ thing.

Although apps that support Google+ Sign-In are few and far between, at least relative to Facebook Connect-enabled mobile software, more and more developers are integrating Google+ features into their warez. The latest example: SoundCloud, an online audio distribution platform that today updated its iOS app with support for Google+ Sign-In and sharing...

Google suffers setback preventing Apple from obtaining Android documentation

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 10, 2013

Earlier this week, we told you about Apple's complaint over Google's resistance to hand over parts of the Android source code documentation. Apple’s request is part of its ongoing California patent fight against Samsung. Bloomberg now reports that U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal ordered the Internet giant to disclose within two days what terms it’s using to find documents Apple has requested.

Despite Google's insistence that the collection of such information would be "too burdensome," the court also ordered that the search monster tell Apple "which Google employees those documents came from"...

Canalys: one in five smart devices are Apple

Ed Sutherland ∙ May 9, 2013

Research firm Canalys Thursday offered data on first-quarter smart mobile device shipments, with an estimated 300+ million new units for a 37.4 percent year-over-year growth. Google's Android powered 59 percent and Apple's iOS powered a little over nineteen percent of these devices, according to researchers. Key takeaways: Android leads the smartphone race, Apple is holding onto the tablet market and laptop demand continues falling.

Pay attention to Canalys's parlance because 'smart mobile devices' include smartphones, tablets and laptops. Another important caveat: Canalys stats don’t divulge shipped vs sold units. This is an important distinction as a device shipped into a channel does not automatically result in a device sold to a consumer...

How to search Google using Velox

Jeff Benjamin ∙ May 8, 2013

As we discussed on yesterday's episode of Let's Talk Jailbreak, Velox is great, not so much because of what it does right now, but because of the many possibilities it opens up for future add-ons. Now the add-ons have begun to flow into Cydia, and one in particular allows you to search Google without necessitating the launch of the Google app.

Check out our overview of Google Search for Velox inside.

Apple wants to take a peek inside Android source code

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 8, 2013

Apple's proxy fight against Google and its Android platform has just taken an interesting turn as the iPhone maker asked the court to force Google into turning over Android’s source code. The request is part of Apple's ongoing California patent fight against Samsung. Bloomberg reports today Apple is dissatisfied with Google's handling of the request.

According to Apple's lawyers, the search giant in “improperly withholding information” related to Android's source code documentation. Google's mobile operating system, Apple argues, “provides much of the accused functionality” and argues the Google platform is used in all of Samsung’s allegedly infringing products...

Google Now likely coming to Macs via Chrome

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 26, 2017

Isn't it interesting how Google circumvents Apple and builds its own platform on top of iOS? Not only are the Internet giant's popular services like Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Search available as native iOS apps, they're among most downloaded App Store items.

Despite early complaints of excessive battery drain (and Google's mild response), the potentially disruptive Google Now feature is now available on iOS devices through Google's standalone Search iOS app. And now, Google Now could be heading to Macs...

Google spotlights Chrome integration tool for iOS developers

Cody Lee ∙ May 7, 2013

Hot on the heels of yesterday's Gmail update—which added the ability for users to choose to use Google's iOS apps over their stock counterparts—Google has published a blog post reminding iOS devs that they too can utilize Google's offerings.

Particularly, it spotlights Chrome integration in the post, informing third-party developers that they can use a simple callback function in their apps that will launch web links in Chrome (if it's available, obviously) instead of mobile Safari...