Not even three years after Google bought wireless device biggie Motorola for $12.5 billion comes news that it’s made a deal with Lenovo to take the manufacturer off Google’s hands for a fraction of that amount. [More]
Google Unleashes Virtual LEGO Fun In Chrome
By 1.28.14
Want to play with LEGO bricks but you’re at work? Or sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s? Or maybe you just don’t own any LEGO sets anymore. If you’ve got Google Chrome, you could be building virtual, blocky worlds without having to deal with the hassle of cleaning up (or the horror of losing) all those tiny plastic pieces. [More]
Feds To Allow Tech Companies To Provide More Transparent Info On Data Requests
By 1.27.14
While a number of the largest websites and telecom companies have recently published transparency data detailing the number of data requests made about consumers, these companies have been very limited with regard to what they could say about federal requests that fall under the header of national security. In response to a call for more transparency from several major Internet businesses, the government is changing its restrictions. [More]
Google Glitch Is Resulting In Thousands Of People E-mailing Poor Hotmail User
By 1.24.14
Let’s get the obvious joke out of the way first — yes, someone out there still uses hotmail. Moving on… Something strange is happening this afternoon. People who click on the top Google search result for “Gmail” are automatically starting draft e-mails to some unfortunate hotmail user. [More]
Gmail Goes Down, World Wishes It Could Just Go Home Already
By 1.24.14
You’re not imagining things. Shortly before 2 p.m. ET on Friday, Gmail service (along with Gchat and Google Hangouts) went down, leaving millions of Americans staring at their computers and phones and wondering how in the world they were going to survive the remaining hours of the work week without complaining over Gchat to Mark in accounting about how stupid their new boss is. UPDATE: As of 2:25 p.m., Gmail service is slowly returning to users. We appear to have made it through this brief national crisis. [More]
Man Wearing Google Glass Claims Movie Theater Called FBI To Arrest Him For Piracy
By 1.21.14
UPDATE: A spokesman for AMC Theatres responded to Consumerist’s request for comment, saying the company takes movie theft “very seriously,” which is why the feds got involved. [More]
Google Testing Smart Contact Lenses And Already It Feels Like Something Is Stuck In My Eye
By 1.17.14
Anyone who wears contact lenses knows that if even the tiniest of fibers finds its way into your eye, it feels like a marching band of pain is stomping all over cornea and blasting tuba bits of misery all over your irises. On that note, Google says it’s now testing smart contact lenses with tiny computer chips embedded in them. ON YOUR EYEBALL. [More]
Court Throws Out Case Against Driver Ticketed For Wearing Google Glass
By 1.17.14
The saga of the California driver ticketed for wearing a Google Glass device while behind the wheel has come to an end, with the court throwing out the controversial charge, but leaving open the door for police to issue Google Glass-related tickets in the future. [More]
“Kid-Friendly” Plastic Surgery Apps Pop Up On Apple, Google Stores
By 1.16.14
Because there’s nothing children love more than animated fat-shaming and liposuction, a supposedly youngster-friendly plastic surgery app has popped up in various forms (and has also been taken down) on both Google Play Store the and Apple App Store. [More]
Google Moves Into Home Electronics With Acquisition Of Nest
By 1.13.14
A few years back, the folks at Nest came out of nowhere with their sexy, web-connected smart thermostats, treating a heretofore overlooked piece of home electronics with style. The company recently did the same thing for another necessary evil in the home, launching a line of equally sleek smoke detectors. Google apparently saw enough from these two product lines and has decided to buy Nest. [More]
If You Don’t Want A Google+ Stranger You’ve Never Met To Email You, Opt Out Now
By 1.10.14
If you’re a Gmail user who likes to keep tight control of your inbox, with nary a missive gone unread, you probably noticed an announcement from Google last night waving the carrot of: “Contact more people you know.” Sounds great! But what it really means is that anyone on Google+ can email you, even if they don’t have your email address. [More]
Man Blames Google+ For Violating His Ex’s Restraining Order By Sending Her An Invite
By 1.8.14
It’s bad enough when you’ve got friends in common with an ex, thus making it that much more difficult to fully sever the connection when the relationship is over. But one guy says Google+ is even worse and is the reason he found himself in jail for violating a restraining order his ex-girlfriend had against him. [More]
Google Officially Recalls Super-Hot HP Chromebook 11 Chargers
December 17, 2013
A month after Google pulled its then-new HP Chromebook 11 laptops because the micro-USB charger included with the device can reach unsafe temperatures (as high as 140 degrees), the company and the Consumer Product Safety Commission have issued a formal recall. If you have an affected Chromebook 11, just fill out this form here to get a replacement charger. [More]
Why It May Not Be A Bad Thing That Gmail Will Automatically Display Images In Messages
By 12.12.13
If you have a Gmail account, you’re more than familiar with opening a commercial e-mail that looks like a strange wireframe with no images. Then you click “Display images below” and the blanks get filled in and (hopefully) it all makes much more sense. Google announced today that it will now automatically load these images, which is a move that has its pros and cons. [More]
Ginormous Hack Targets 2 Million Accounts Spread Over 93,000 Websites Worldwide
By 12.5.13
About two million people should be checking your social media accounts and anything else one might have a login and password for: Hackers have snagged usernames and passwords for millions of Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo and other sites accounts, according to a new report. [More]
How YouTube’s Forced Google+ Integration Devolved Into ASCII Porn
November 26, 2013
Google’s push to merge YouTube and Google+ was in part an attempt to clean up the notoriously negative (and sometimes nonsensical) comments left on videos, by forcing previously anonymous users to associate their comments with the name of a real-life human. But this story on Ars Technica explains how short-sightedness at Google and clever (if juvenile) YouTube users have instead turned the site’s comments into “a sea of ASCII penises.” [ArsTechnica] [More]
FDA Orders Halt To Marketing Of 23andMe DIY Genetic Test Kits
By 11.25.13
Alleging that the makers of the popular, Google-backed 23andMe at-home genetic testing kit are violating federal law by marketing the product for things like disease diagnosis without regulatory clearance, the FDA has ordered an immediate halt to sales of the kits. [More]
Google Glass Prepping To Be More Than Geeky Headgear
By 11.22.13
Maybe you want to buy Google’s wearable Google Glass device when it hits the market, but don’t want to look like you’re dressed as Tech Engineer #3 from some episode of a late ’90s sci-fi movie? The company is reportedly talking with at least one eyewear company to come up with designs for Google Glass that would integrate prescription lenses and make the wearer slightly less conspicuous. [More]
