Category: Google

As reported on TechCrunch. by Frederic Lardinois Google’s offline Chrome Apps are about to find their way to both Android and iOS. Using Apache’s well-known open-source Cordova platform for turning web apps into native apps, Google today launched a developer preview of a toolchainfor building native apps using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.Using these tools, developers can take their existing Chrome Apps, wrap them into a native shell and submit them to Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Google is making a…

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As reported on Engadget. BY MAT SMITH Remember when Google said its wearable would work perfectly fine with prescription glasses? Well it’s finally delivered, offering a $225 upgrade option for current Google Glass Explorers. Crafted from titanium (whatever else?), the designs are pretty unassuming and classy: they look like glasses frames you’d see at an optometrist. There’s four styles to choose from — Curve, Thin, Split, Bold — making the selection sound more like font categories than frame categories.…

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As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS We’ve long known that D-Wave’s quantum computers are specialized tools rather than Swiss Army Knives, but just how good are they at their intended tasks? Googlehas just conducted some benchmarking to find out, and the short answer is that these systems are very good — but they have definite limits. A current-generation D-Wave 2 is about 35,500 times faster than a generalized problem-solving computer when both are running standard software. However, some of that advantage…

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Frederic Lardinois This isn’t Google Glass in a contact lens, but it may just be Google’s first step in this direction. The company’s Google X lab just teased a smart contact lens on its blog that is meant to help diabetics measure their glucose levels. The company says it is currently testing prototypes of this contact lens that use a tiny wireless chip and a miniaturized glucose sensor. These chips are embedded in…

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As reported on The Verge. By Dante D’Orazio You no longer need someone’s email address to send them an email. At least, that will soon be the case if you want to email another Google+ user. A new Gmail “feature” will let you simply type in anyone’s name into Gmail’s “to” field and send them an email. Google announced the new Google+ integration on its Gmail blog today, but company representatives have clarified to The Verge that — by…

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As reported on Engadget. BY ALEXIS SANTOS  Ambarella isn’t exactly a household name, but the 10-year-old company’s silicon has long found its way into GoPro cams and other hardware thanks to its video-compression chops and low-power tech prowess. Word broke last month that Google commissioned the outfit to produce a reference design for a wearable camera that would stream to its Helpouts service, which lets folks ask experts for help over video. Here at CES, the manufacturer’s brought along a…

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As reported on The Verge. By Carl Franzen As criticism of Google’s private shuttle bus service for employees living in San Francisco has reached new heights, the company quietly turned its eyes to the sea. CBS is reporting that Google has contracted a private catamaran called “The Triumphant” that ferries workers from San Francisco bay to Redwood City, California, about halfway to the company’s global headquarters in Mountain View, California. Presumably, then Google employees hop out and take a bus…

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As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS Google triggered investigations in six European countries when it revealed its unified privacy policy last year, but Spain is the first of the bunch to draw blood. The country just fined Google a total of €900,000 ($1.2 million) for allegedly violating data protection laws through its current approach. The firm isn’t properly explaining why it’s collecting personal information, the Spanish Data Protection Agency claims; it also isn’t saying how long it will keep…

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Greg Kumparak Quick! Where were you last Tuesday at 6:35 PM? If you’re anything like me, your answer is probably along the lines of “I… have absolutely no idea.” Most people’s brains just don’t work that way. But odds are, Google knows. They probably know where you’ve been most other days, too. And they’ll happily show you, letting you relive your life one step at a time. If you carry any Google-filled gear…

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