Items tagged with NASDAQ:GOOG
Earlier this year, Google made a big splash with its $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest Labs. In the months following the announcement, Google tossed around the idea of displaying ads on your thermostat or fridge and began the process of harvesting data from Nest Thermostat users.
However, the Google-Nest Labs hook-up is beginning to make
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Last week, Google announced that a fresh update for Android Wear was on its way. The new software upgrades the base operating system of Android Wear from Android 4.4 KitKat to Android 5.0 Lollipop and brings with its faster navigation, new operating modes, and support for new watch faces built with the new Watch Face...
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What at first seemed like a “You’ve got to be kidding me” contraption from Google is actually turning out to be quite a surprise breakout for the search giant. Google announced this week that over 500,000 Cardboard virtual reality headset kits have ended up in the hands of consumers since it was first released earlier...
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Google's efforts to thwart piracy and appease organizations like the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) are pretty much non-stop. It involves removing millions of infringing links from search on a weekly basis, and more recently, Google tweaked its search algorithm to be better at downranking sites that...
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When I think of Lamborghinis, I think of flashy automobiles that are as much about making an in-your-face visual statement as they are about clipping apexes and hurtling you and your passenger to near (or surpassing) 200 mph. But Lamborghini isn’t just about fast sports cars (or four-door sedans and crossovers if you...
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We're fast approaching the finish line for 2014, and with less than three weeks remaining before it's time to pin up a new calendar, it's a good time to reflect on the past 12 months. Google made it easy for Android users to do exactly that -- the search giant posted a list of the most downloaded Android apps, games...
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Have you ever sat down and thought to yourself, "Self, what the Internet really needs are more animated GIFs!" Probably not, but brace yourself for a deluge of GIFs in the coming months anyway as YouTube rolls out a new feature that will make it easy to create them from videos that have been uploaded to the...
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If you’re one of many people out there that has already bought into Android Wear with devices like LG G Watch R, Samsung Gear Live, Sony SmartWatch 3 and Motorola Moto 360, you’ll be glad to know that Google is in the process of pushing out a rather big update for he platform in the coming week. The base operating...
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Following an investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Google has agreed to refund at minimum $19 million to Android users for unauthorized in-app purchases. The search giant has already begun sending out emails to potentially affected individuals, which includes people who have made at least one...
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Google has ramped up its efforts to distance itself from sites and services that are known to engage in or otherwise promote copyright infringement. Earlier this year, Google retooled its search algorithm so that it would sink search results associated with copyright infringement, and now the Mountain View company has...
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Samsung has begun delivering Google’s Android Lollipop 5.0 to Galaxy S5 smartphones, but so far, the rollout is limited to phones in Poland. A rollout to U.S. Galaxy devices hasn’t been announced. Don’t hold your breath, as it’s likely going to be some time before you see the OS on a Galaxy smartphone here.
Once...
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The Internet is a wonderful place overflowing with information and different kinds of content. It also has its seedier sides; places where you wouldn't want your children stumbling into. Parental controls can only do so much, and while the burden ultimately falls on mom and pop to protect their kids from the web's...
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An online music video with a catchy tune and words that you probably can't understand has racked up so many views that it burned up YouTube's hit counter, no joke. That's right, not even YouTube could handle the number of views that Psy's "Gangnam Style" video has received since it was first posted in 2012. We were...
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Sometimes it feels like it would be easier to translate hieroglyphics than try and determine what garbled text lies in a CAPTCHA box. We've all been annoyed by it, yet the reason it exists is to keep the spam bots from ruining our online playgrounds. Still, does it have to be so difficult? Perhaps not -- Google is...
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A research group in the UK has found that nearly 70 percent of schools there are using tablets in the classroom. That probably won’t surprise teachers in the U.S., where Apple has already delivered more than 10 million iPads to schools.
It’s easy to see why teachers and administrators favor tablets and inexpensive laptops (like Google’s
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Carrier bloat is something almost every smartphone owner has to live with. What's worse is when you're not even allowed to uninstall certain third-party software that your wireless carrier decided to integrate into the OS. It's one reason why the newest Android builds take so long to deploy, but that's not the worst...
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Popularity is a fickle thing, and while Apple's iPad was once the top dog at schools, Chromebooks have replaced them as the cool kids that everyone wants to hang around with. That's according to the latest data from International Data Corporation (IDC), which pegged Google's Chromebook shipments to U.S. schools in the...
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For what it's worth, Apple iOS device owners were victorious over their Android-toting brethren in the Thanksgiving Day mobile spending war. In terms of dollars spent, iOS owners on average doled out $118.57 per order, over $20 more than the typical Android user, who spent on average $95.25 per order.
That's...
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Black Friday is officially in the rear view mirror, but it's full "stream" ahead for Cyber Monday. No, we didn't mean to say "full steam," not when there are so many deals on streaming devices to be had, including a delightful $11 savings on Google's Chromecast dongle. We've been fans of Chromecast ever since we...
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Cyanogen, a company that provides users with the ability to customize their Android smartphones, has announced a “Themes Challenge” contest. Themes is a new app from Cyanogen that will be able to host skins that are available to Cyanogen OS users.
The Cyanogen Theme Showcase launched on the Play Story earlier this...
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The San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Championship last season and are legitimate contenders to do it again in 2015, but if you need another reason to move to Texas, consider the good fortune falling upon San Antonio's neighbor to the northeast. Lucky folks in Austin, Texas, are being treated to Google's ultra high speed...
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Who would have thought that bootleg watch faces would become a thing? Yet that is what is occurring as smartwatches continue to make their way to consumers. The Apple Watch isn’t out yet, but the need for consumers to customize the watch face of their device is growing as smartwatches like the Moto 360, allows them to...
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