When you download an app from the Google Play store — or when an update to an already downloaded app includes a change in permissions — users are required to accept those permissions before downloading. But there is no way to say no to any single permission, so users are either begrudgingly downloading apps with permissions they don’t want or not downloading otherwise acceptable apps because they are concerned about these permissions. But one Google engineer says there may be some hope. [More]
AT&T Customers Will Probably Have To Wait Before Using Google Hangouts Over Cellular
By May 20, 2013
If you’ve got an Android phone, you might have noticed that your pre-loaded Google Talk app has recently been updated and is now “Hangouts,” the name of Google’s video chat service. But if you’re an AT&T customer, you might have to wait a while before you’re allowed to use that app over the carrier’s wireless network. [More]
Graphic: Which Internet Biggies Are Even Slightly Concerned About Your Privacy?
By May 20, 2013
When it comes to online privacy, many consumers assume that their service provider, or the websites they are browsing, have the users’ best interest in mind and that these companies won’t simply hand over your information to authorities. These people are mistaken, as are those who believe that no online companies make user privacy a priority. The truth, as usual, is a bit from column A and a bit from column B. [More]
You Can Now E-Mail Your Friends Money Through Gmail
By May 16, 2013
While Google has made a big to-do about its new subscription music service, it has allowed a more interesting new wrinkle go virtually unmentioned, as yesterday the company integrated its Google Wallet payment system into Gmail, allowing users to send money to each other via e-mail. [More]
Google Launches Subscription Music Service, World Continues To Spin
By May 15, 2013
During the keynote speech at today’s Google I/O conference, the company unveiled its latest offering — a music subscription service that appears to be intended for users of existing services like Pandora, Spotify and Rdio. [More]
Google’s ‘For Any Reason’ Return Policy Does Not Include ‘Because I Broke It’
By May 14, 2013
Amanda bought a Nexus 4 smartphone direct from Google, and put it in a case the next day. Like many other readers we’ve heard from, her phone plunged to its doom, shattering the screen. She had time on her side, though: it was only ten days since she had bought the phone, and Google’s posted return policy says that you can return a device in the first fifteen days “for any reason.” But is “because I broke it” a valid reason? [More]
virtual showdownGoogle Now, the company’s answer to Apple’s Siri voice-activated “assistant,” has been available for around nine months on (some, but not most) Android-based phones and tablets. But today, iPhone and iPad users will have the option of chatting with Siri or Google Now, as it rolls out as part of a software update to the Google Search app on iOS. [More]
Don’t Even Think Of Letting Anyone Buy Or Borrow Your New Google Glass Specs
By April 18, 2013
So there you are, one of the first people to get their hands on the Google Glass. You’re tooling around like Geordi LaForge, taking photos or seeing maps or whatever, and your friend is all, “Hey, cool! Can I borrow those?” Stop right there, says Google. The first users of these specs are strictly forbidden from selling, loaning or otherwise letting anyone else touch them. [More]
What’s Behind Google Fiber’s Door No. 3? (Drumroll, Please)… It’s Provo, Utah!
By April 18, 2013
Google Fiber is rolling on again across the United States: After announcing Austin, Texas as its second city to officially join the family, the super speedy gigabit network is set to spread into Provo, Utah. It’ll give customers there another option for watching TV and surfing the Internet, and if we know anything in this confusing world, it’s that choice is a beautiful thing. [More]
Google Introduces Dead Man’s Switch For Your Accounts
By April 12, 2013
More than a decade ago, I had an online friend who abruptly disappeared, not answering e-mails or showing up on any of her favorite sites. Did she lock herself out of her accounts? Did her parents cancel their dialup? Did something happen to her? I never found out, and never would. What if you could prevent that? What if you could send a notice out to all of your contacts after you don’t log in to your accounts for a set period, and “will” your data to someone else? There are workarounds to do this, but now such a feature is built in to Google. [More]
April Fools’ Day, Anyone? YouTube Is Shutting Down After 8-Year Quest For Best Video
By April 1, 2013
We’re just gonna go ahead and take everything we read today with a giant grain of salt, as it just so happens to be April 1. In an April Fools’ joke that would likely devastate anyone who’s a fan of funny cat videos or 10-hour loops of Kate Upton on a runway, Google announced today that it’s shutting down YouTube tonight. [More]
Please Stop Almost Killing People Because You’re Staring At The Awesome Driverless Google Car
By March 29, 2013
Businessweek has an article by a Mountain View, California denizen whose neighborhood is besieged by the notorious driverless Google cars. The problem is not what you’d assume. The cars drive just fine. In fact, they are better than the people, says the author. His issue is that the fleet of robot vehicles have an unintended side-effect: They cause nearby humans to lose their own ability to drive. [More]
Google Launches Same-Day Shopping Service With Target, Staples, Toys R Us, Others
By March 28, 2013
Taking aim at Amazon, Google has launched a service for consumers in the San Francisco area that allows them to browse items from a selection of major retailers then get them delivered the same day. [More]
twice bittenEarlier this month, Google announced it will pull the plug on Google Reader come July, saying it would reallocate resources elsewhere in the company. But AllThingsD reports that another reason was because no one was really manning the Reader ship and Google didn’t want to get stung with another pricey privacy problem. [via AllThingsD]
Worst Company In America Round 1: Google Vs. Facebook
March 20, 2013
Two of the Internet’s coolest kids take a break from collecting every possible bit of data about consumers in order to beat each other into submission in a much-anticipated WCIA cage match. [More]
Facebook Android App Wants To Bypass Google Play Store For Updates
By March 15, 2013
As most Android users know, one of the nice things about the operating system is that you don’t always have to get your apps through the official Google Play app store. But usually, any future updates to an app come through whichever store you downloaded the app from. Except now Facebook is asking some Android users to accept an update in the app itself that would allow future updates to be pushed through without notice. [More]
Want Ad-Blocking Apps On Your Android Device? Don’t Expect Google To Sell Them Anymore
By March 14, 2013
Until yesterday, Android users could go into the Google Play store and find a bunch of apps developed to block ads from showing up on your wireless device. But now Big G has decided these types of apps violate its policies. [More]
Fans Start Petitions To Save Google Reader
By March 14, 2013
If you’re coming to this post from Google Reader, you will soon be requiring a different way to follow the feeds of your favorite news sites and topics, as Google announced last night that it’s saying goodbye to Reader on July 1. But there are those who refuse to say goodbye so easily. [More]
