GOOGLE

TECH

Google to add Galapagos Islands to Street View

May 24, 2013, 12:48 pm | Associated Press TECH

San Francisco: Few have explored the remote volcanic islands of the Galapagos archipelago, an otherworldly landscape inhabited by the world's largest tortoises and other fantastical creatures that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Soon it will take only the click of a mouse or finger swipe on a tablet to explore some of the Galapagos Islands' most remote areas, surrounding waters and unique creatures. Mountain View, California-based Google sent hikers to the Galapagos with Street View gear called "trekkers," 42-pound computer backpacks with large, soccer ball-like cameras mounted on a tower. Each orb has 15 cameras inside it that have captured panoramic views of some of the most inaccessible places on the Galapagos. Crews from The Catlin

TECH

ITC says Microsoft did not violate Google patent

May 24, 2013, 10:52 am | Reuters TECH

Washington: Microsoft Corp won a round in a complex patent war on Thursday when the International Trade Commission said the company's popular Xbox entertainment system did not violate a patent owned by Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility. If the ITC had found that Microsoft infringed, it could have barred the Xbox from being imported into the United States. The fight over the Xbox is related to a larger smartphone patent war between Apple, Microsoft and the mobile phone makers who use Google's Android software, including Motorola Mobility. Motorola Mobility originally accused Microsoft of infringing upon five patents when it filed its complaint in 2010. Four were dropped in ensuing months, leaving just one - a patent which allows

TECH

Google, like Facebook, in talks to buy Waze for about $1 bn: Report

May 24, 2013, 10:29 am | Reuters TECH

Bangalore: Google Inc is considering buying Israeli mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze Inc, which may lead to a bidding war with Facebook Inc, Bloomberg news reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Waze is seeking more than $1 billion and is fielding expressions of interest from multiple parties, said Bloomberg, citing a source. Other media have reported that Facebook Inc has held talks to buy Waze for as much as $1 billion. Google and other parties approached Waze after the Facebook talks became public but none of the bidders are close to clinching a deal, Bloomberg said, adding that the start-up might decide to remain independent. Waze could not immediately be reached for comment. Google did

TECH

Google All Access review: One more nice thing Android has going for it

May 23, 2013, 12:55 pm | Associated Press TECH

Los Angeles: Google's new music service offers a lot of eye candy to go with the tunes. The song selection of around 18 million tracks is comparable to popular services such as Spotify and Rhapsody, and a myriad of playlists curated along different genres provides a big playground for music lovers. The All Access service represents Google's attempt to grab a bigger piece of the digital music market as more people stream songs over mobile phones. Such services are also meant to further wed smartphone users to Google's Android operating system, where the search leader makes money from advertising and transactions on its digital content store, Google Play. For a monthly fee, All Access lets you listen to

INDIA

Delhi HC seeks suggestions from FB, Google to protect minors

May 22, 2013, 8:34 pm | Press Trust of India INDIA

New Delhi: "Worried" that children can be exploited through social networking sites, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked Facebook and Google to submit within four weeks suggestions on safety measures for online usage of such sites by minors in India. A bench of justices BD Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru voiced concern about Indian children entering into agreement with Facebook and other social networking sites and then being lured knowingly and unknowing into illegality by adults. "What we are worried about is children who have been part of the social network and some adults misleading them and taking advantage. We are also concern about the use of their data by the adults for their advantage," it said. "The counsel

TECH

Delhi HC seeks suggestions from FB, Google to protect minors

May 22, 2013, 8:34 pm | Press Trust of India TECH

New Delhi: "Worried" that children can be exploited through social networking sites, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked Facebook and Google to submit within four weeks suggestions on safety measures for online usage of such sites by minors in India. A bench of justices BD Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru voiced concern about Indian children entering into agreement with Facebook and other social networking sites and then being lured knowingly and unknowing into illegality by adults. "What we are worried about is children who have been part of the social network and some adults misleading them and taking advantage. We are also concern about the use of their data by the adults for their advantage," it said. "The counsel

TECH

YouTube turns 8: More than 100 hours of video uploaded every minute

May 20, 2013, 1:16 pm | IBNLive.com TECH

New Delhi: Celebrating its eight birthday, Google's YouTube has divulged an interesting fact. According to YouTube, today, more than 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. This means, users upload a humongous 1,44,000 hours of video every day. Recently, YouTube announced that the number of unique users visiting the video-sharing website every month has reached 1 billion. That's almost one out of every two people on the Internet. Millions of partners are creating content for YouTube and more than 1,000 companies worldwide have mandated a one-hour mid-day break to watch nothing but funny YouTube videos, claims the company. Founded in February 2005, YouTube was first launched in May 2005. Later, Google acquired it in

TECH

Google Glass review: Users maintain that privacy fears are overblown

May 19, 2013, 11:08 am | Reuters TECH

San Francisco: Google staged four discussions expounding on the finer points of its "Glass" wearable computer during this week's developer conference. Missing from the agenda, however, was a session on etiquette when using the recording-capable gadget, which some attendees faithfully wore everywhere - including to the crowded bathrooms. Google Glass, a cross between a mobile computer and eyeglasses that can both record video and surf the Internet, is now available to a select few but is already among the year's most buzz-worthy new gadgets. The device has geeks all aflutter but is unnerving everyone from lawmakers to casino operators worried about the potential for hitherto unimagined privacy and policy violations. "I had a friend and we're sitting at

TECH

Google Maps leads Chinese man abducted 23 years ago back home

May 18, 2013, 5:15 pm | Press Trust of India TECH

Beijing: A Chinese man kidnapped 23 years ago at the age of five and sold to a family 1,500 km from his home, has been reunited with his family again, all thanks to Google Maps. 28-year-old Luo Gang from southwest China's Sichuan province, abducted and taken to Fujian province 23 years ago, has finally found his way home after spending years trying to work out where he came from, the South China Morning Post reported. Luo, who was born in a small town in Guangan city, disappeared on his way to kindergarten 23 years ago, said his parents. Heartbroken, they did everything they could to find their son, but to no avail. They eventually gave up and later

TECH

Google Talk is now Google+ Hangouts; no invisible mode or file sharing

May 17, 2013, 6:18 pm | IBNLive.com TECH

New Delhi: Google's much used instant messaging platform, Google Talk (also known as GTalk or GChat), was ignored by Google for some time now in terms of new feature additions. Google has now reinvented Google Talk as Google Plus Hangouts that in a way integrates Google Plus video Hangouts and Google Plus Messenger and also does away with the some much loved features of Google Talk. The new Google Plus Hangouts replaces the Google Talk app on Android devices. Hangouts is also available on Apple's iOS and as a Chrome-based app for desktops. Google has not included a replacement for the classic installable Google Talk client. In fact to use Hangouts on your desktop you will be asked to

TECH

Apple's App Store hits 50 billion downloads; Google Play at 48 billion

May 17, 2013, 8:05 am | IBNLive.com TECH

Cupertino: Apple says its customers have downloaded more than 50 billon applications from its App Store since its launch in 2008. Apple said on Thursday that the 50 billionth download was a game called Say the Same Thing by Space Inch. The App Store had 500 apps when it first opened. It now has more than 850,000 individual apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The store hit the 10 billion downloads mark in early 2011 and 25 billion in March 2012. The 50 billion milestone does not include updates or re-downloads. Apps range from newspapers and magazines to games, business tools and travel applications. Google has announced at its ongoing developer conference that its

TECH

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr apps come to Google Glass

May 17, 2013, 8:01 am | Reuters TECH

San Francisco: Social networking services Facebook and Twitter are coming to Google Glass, the wearable computer made by the Internet search company. Google announced on Thursday a half-dozen apps specially designed to work on its Glass devices. News network CNN, fashion magazine Elle, as well as online apps Tumblr and Evernote were among the half-dozen new apps for Glass unveiled during Google's annual developer conference in San Francisco. Google Glass is a stamp-sized electronic screen mounted on the left side of a pair of eyeglass frames which can record video, access email and messages and retrieve information from the Web. Google began distributing the devices last month to a limited number of developers, but it has yet

TECH

Google now lets users send money over Gmail

May 16, 2013, 8:17 pm | IBNLive.com TECH

New Delhi: Google has announced that its has now integrated Google Wallet into Gmail. This means that Google Wallet users will be able to securely send money to friends and family in the US right from their Gmail inbox. This new feature will rollout to Gmail users over the age of 18 in the US over the next few months. Users should look for the dollar ($) icon in their attachment options to know whether their account has been activated for this feature or not. Users can also get earlier access if their friends have the feature and send money to them. To send money in Gmail, a user needs to hover over the attachment paperclip, click

TECH

Google filters out gimmicks, launches Samsung Galaxy S4 Nexus variant

May 16, 2013, 3:33 pm | IBNLive.com TECH

San Francisco: Contrary to speculation leading up to the Google I/O conference, Google didn't unveil the next generation of a mini-tablet called the Nexus 7 or the rumoured Motorola X Phone. Instead, the company announced that it will be selling a version of Samsung's new flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, which runs a pure version of Android, the version that Google makes and distributes, not the one modified by Samsung to include a host of features that have been dismissed as confusing gimmicks in reviews. The new phone will be unlocked, meaning it will work with any carrier, including those in other countries. But it also means the price won't be subsidized by the carrier. Google will sell

TECH

Google launches streaming music service 'All Access' ahead of Apple

May 16, 2013, 2:53 pm | Reuters TECH

San Francisco: Google launched a music service on Wednesday that allows users to listen to unlimited songs for $9.99 a month, challenging smaller companies like Pandora and Spotify in the market for streaming music. With its new service, announced at its annual developers' conference in San Francisco, Google has adopted the streaming music business model ahead of rival Apple, which pioneered online music purchases with iTunes. Google's "All Access" service lets users customise song selections from 22 genres, ranging from Jazz to Indie music, stream individual playlists, or listen to a curated, radio-like stream that can be tweaked. It will be launched for US users first, before being rolled out to several other countries. Google unveiled a