Zach Miners
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Google to widen Maps’ offline features
Google will let users access more key functions of its Maps service, including search and navigation, without an Internet connection this year.For the first time, offline users will get search results for places and be able to use turn-by-turn voice navigation, said Jen Fitzpatrick, VP of engineering at Google, who announced the changes during Google’s I/O conference for developers in San Francisco. She didn’t say when this year the offline features will go live.Users might also see local business reviews and their operating hours.Google is also working to bring its public transit directions in Maps to more countries around the world, Fitzpatrick said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Google’s Project Brillo is an OS for the home — and a lot more
Google has made a big play for the Internet of Things, announcing a new OS on Thursday that will connect appliances around the home and allow them to be controlled from an Android smartphone or tablet.Dubbed Project Brillo, it’s a stripped down version of Google’s Android OS that will run on door locks, ovens, heating systems and other devices that have a small memory footprint, and allow them to communicate and work together.Project Brillo also includes a communications layer, called Weave, that provides a common language developers can use to locate devices on a network and tap into their capabilities, said Sundar Pichai, Google senior vice president, who announced the system at Google’s I/O conference in San Francisco.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Google takes another swing at payments with Android Pay
Google is overhauling its approach to mobile payments with Android Pay, which will let people use their smartphone to make payments in brick and mortar stores as well as in apps like Lyft and GrubHub.The changes are an effort by Google to reclaim momentum in the area of mobile payments, where Apple Pay has been fast taking hold and other rivals like Samsung’s LoopPay are emerging.Android Pay will be incorporated into the next version of Android, currently known as Android M, which was unveiled at Google’s I/O conference for developers in San Francisco Thursday. The service will also work with previous versions of Android as far back as KitKat, said Dave Burke, VP of engineering at Google.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Google takes another swing at payments with Android Pay
Google is overhauling its approach to mobile payments with Android Pay, which will let people use their smartphone to make payments in brick and mortar stores as well as in apps like Lyft and GrubHub.The changes are an effort by Google to reclaim momentum in the area of mobile payments, where Apple Pay has been fast taking hold and other rivals like Samsung’s LoopPay are emerging.Android Pay will be incorporated into the next version of Android, currently known as Android M, which was unveiled at Google’s I/O conference for developers in San Francisco Thursday. The service will also work with previous versions of Android as far back as KitKat, said Dave Burke, VP of engineering at Google.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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After medical marijuana, Sidecar eyes alcohol and pharmaceuticals
Earlier this month, Sidecar expanded its mobile ride hailing service to deliver medical marijuana in San Francisco. It’s not the only substance the startup wants to bring to your door.Sidecar is in talks with potential partners to deliver alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs to its users, said CEO Sunil Paul. And in case you’re craving them badly, it will get them to you in an hour. It’s not yet delivering those items but plans to by the end of the year, Paul said in an interview Wednesday.Sidecar’s ride hailing service works similarly to that of Uber and Lyft, with a few differences. The app lets riders choose from a list of drivers who are able to set their own fares. And the company claims to be more transparent than rivals when surge pricing is in effect, specifying the exact fare up front. Still, Sidecar hasn’t proved as popular as Uber and Lyft and is active in far fewer cities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Judge classifies as class action an email scanning lawsuit against Yahoo
A lawsuit that alleges Yahoo’s email scanning practices are illegal can proceed as a class action complaint, a development that will shine the spotlight on the Yahoo Mail use of messages’ content for advertising purposes.Plaintiffs allege that emails sent to Yahoo Mail users by people who do not have Yahoo Mail accounts are scanned by Yahoo in violation of federal and California wiretapping laws.In a decision Tuesday evening, Judge Lucy Koh said all U.S. residents who are not Yahoo Mail subscribers but who have sent emails to or received emails from a Yahoo Mail subscriber between Oct. 2, 2011, and now may sue the company.California residents who are not Yahoo Mail subscribers but who have sent emails to or received emails from a Yahoo Mail subscriber between Oct. 2, 2012, and now may sue the company, according to the judge’s filing in the U.S. district court in the northern district of California.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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At Google I/O, Android may push deeper into the home
Android, already the most widely used operating system in smartphones, could soon find its way into refrigerators, door locks and all manner of other “smart” appliances around the home.The OS will be in the spotlight at Google’s massive I/O conference in San Francisco later this week. As well as pushing into home appliances, it could also be extended to play a deeper role in virtual reality, allowing Android developers to build apps for smartphones or VR headsets.Google hasn’t confirmed any of those plans yet, but as usual, the rumor mill has been in motion. Extending Android to even more devices could help Google draw more people to its online services, and by putting the software in home appliances, Google could gather further valuable insights into people’s behavior.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Google to change Maps search system after offensive White House results
Google said Thursday it would make changes to its Maps search system after racist search terms brought up the White House among their top results.In Google Maps, some queries containing racist terms against African-Americans listed the White House and other surprising places among their top results. Google apologized and said it was working on a fix, but it had little else to say about what was causing the results to appear or how the company would fix the issue.Now Google is providing more information. The company has begun to update its ranking system to address a majority of the searches in question, by building on a previous algorithmic change that was developed for Google Search, Google said in a blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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PayPal hypes its mobile strengths ahead of IPO
As PayPal prepares for its upcoming IPO as an independent eBay spinoff, it wants to make at least one thing clear: It’s got mobile covered.Over the past couple years, the payments company has re-engineered its back-end technology to become a strongerplatform for merchants, letting them incorporate a wider range of features into their payments services and improve the checkout process for customers. Many of the changes have been aimed squarely at improving the payment process on mobile devices.Roughly one-third of transactions processed by PayPal now come from mobile devices, PayPal President and incoming CEO Dan Schulman said Thursday during an event in San Francisco. In 2010, mobile was responsible for only about 1 percent of the company’s transactions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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PayPal hypes its mobile strengths ahead of IPO
As PayPal prepares for its upcoming IPO as an independent eBay spinoff, it wants to make at least one thing clear: It’s got mobile covered.Over the past couple years, the payments company has re-engineered its back-end technology to become a strongerplatform for merchants, letting them incorporate a wider range of features into their payments services and improve the checkout process for customers. Many of the changes have been aimed squarely at improving the payment process on mobile devices.Roughly one-third of transactions processed by PayPal now come from mobile devices, PayPal President and incoming CEO Dan Schulman said Thursday during an event in San Francisco. In 2010, mobile was responsible for only about 1 percent of the company’s transactions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Racist query terms in Google Maps trigger the White House in results
Google Maps lists the White House among top search results for certain queries containing racist terms against African-Americans.The Washington Post first reported the issue after a reader alerted the newspaper that entering a well-known racial slur while Google Maps is focused on the nation’s capital yielded the White House as the first result. The result comes up when using Google’s mobile Maps app, as well as its Maps website.Regardless of the user’s location within Maps, a search for another racially insulting term against blacks listed the Underground Railroad TV station in Chicago as the top result, with the White House coming in second. Other similarly racist query terms also gave the White House as the top result, along with the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia in Big Rapids, Michigan.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Tweets now appear in Google search results
Performing a search on Google now also displays relevant tweets from Twitter. The integration will widely distribute Twitter content beyond its own site and is also aimed at adding a new real-time element to Google search results.The changes, previously announced earlier this year, take effect starting Tuesday for Google’s search app on iOS and Android as well as the mobile Web, for U.S. users searching in English. A desktop version is coming shortly, Twitter said in a blog post. The feature will roll out to more countries in the coming months.Google has provided links to tweets in its search results for some time. But the new integration will display actual tweets, including photos contained in them. Searchers can also click on the tweets to view them within Twitter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Feds slap PayPal with $25 million fine over credit service
The nation’s financial consumer protection watchdog has ordered PayPal to cough up US$25 million in fines for deceptive practices around the company’s credit service, which included signing up customers for the service without their consent.PayPal illegally signed up customers for PayPal Credit, formerly known as Bill Me Later, without their permission, made it their default payment method, and then failed to address disputes when customers complained, said Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray in the agency’s announcement Tuesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Facebook could cash in from Messenger games
Facebook is said to be eyeing games for its mobile Messenger product, a move that might jump-start the revenue the company generates from non-advertising sources.Facebook is in talks with gaming developers to incorporate or tie their apps in some way into Messenger, The Information news site reported on Monday. The talks are at an early stage and they could break down. But incorporating games into Messenger, which is popular among a growing number of mobile users, could boost the company’s gaming business, which depends heavily on the declining number of desktop computer users.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Google looks set to join the ‘buy’ button trend
Google will include a “buy” button in its search results on mobile devices in the coming weeks, said a report on Friday in the Wall Street Journal, a move that could give online shoppers an easier way to buy products on small screens.The change might also give consumers an alternative to mobile apps from companies like Amazon and eBay, though it might jeopardize retailers’ ability to directly market to their customers.The buy button will appear on Google’s search results pages when people search for certain products on mobile devices, said the report, which cited unnamed sources. If users click on the buttons, they’ll be taken to another Google page where they can choose among sizes and colors, select shipping options and complete the purchase, the report said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Google looks set to join the ‘buy’ button trend
Google will include a “buy” button in its search results on mobile devices in the coming weeks, said a report on Friday in the Wall Street Journal, a move that could give online shoppers an easier way to buy products on small screens.The change might also give consumers an alternative to mobile apps from companies like Amazon and eBay, though it might jeopardize retailers’ ability to directly market to their customers.The buy button will appear on Google’s search results pages when people search for certain products on mobile devices, said the report, which cited unnamed sources. If users click on the buttons, they’ll be taken to another Google page where they can choose among sizes and colors, select shipping options and complete the purchase, the report said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Bing joins Google in favoring mobile-friendly sites
Microsoft is adjusting how it ranks Bing search results for mobile users, prioritizing sites that display better on smaller screens to accommodate the increased use of mobile search.The changes, announced Thursday, come less than a month after Google started prioritizing mobile-optimized sites in its search results. Both companies are looking to attract more users by providing a better search experience on smartphones and tablets.Microsoft said it expects to roll out the changes in the coming months. Sites that display well on smaller screens will also be flagged with a new “mobile friendly” tag.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Reddit’s new anti-harassment rules anger some users
Upon learning of Reddit’s plan to change its rules to prohibit harassment and make the site friendlier, some users reacted with resentment and confusion.Reddit, known for the unconstrained nature of its discussions among people who post anonymously, said on Thursday that it will also now let users contact Reddit employees to report abusive posts. The changes were made to balance free expression with privacy and safety, and improve the quality and range of discourse on the site, according to the company.But in a discussion thread on Reddit, some users called the changes vague because they didn’t clarify what constituted harassment. Others said the changes would destroy free expression on the site, or characterized them as a ploy to attract advertisers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Greenpeace fingers YouTube, Netflix as threat to greener Internet
The next time you watch “House of Cards” on Netflix, think about the impact you might be having on the environment.As the Internet powers ever more services, from digital video to on-demand food delivery, energy use in data centers will rise. To reduce their impact on the environment, companies like Apple, Google and Facebook have taken big steps to power their operations with renewable energy sources like hydro, geothermal and solar.But despite those efforts, the growth of streaming video from the likes of Netflix, Hulu and Google’s YouTube presents a pesky challenge to the companies’ efforts to go green, according to a report Tuesday from Greenpeace.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Google’s self-driving cars of tomorrow face the mean streets of today
Google says its self-driving cars can make driving safer because they pay better attention to the road than humans do—though there have been dings along the way.While smartphones and other in-car distractions can fatally hinder a driver’s concentration, “a self-driving car has people beat on this dimension of road safety,” says Chris Urmson, director of Google’s self-driving car program. With 360-degree visibility, the newest sensors in Google’s fleet can keep track of other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians to a distance of nearly two football fields, he wrote in a post on Medium on Monday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here