Google might want to start trying to pour the bubbly it poured over its $1.1 billion acquisition of social mapping company Waze back into the bottle, at least until the Federal Trade Commission is done with its antitrust review of the deal. The company confirmed that it’s been contacted by antitrust lawyers from the FTC, which isn’t a surprise. You take one huge company and have it buy up another smaller one, and the FTC will be there. [More]
Apple Says It Received 5,000 Data Requests From Law Enforcement, Doesn’t Say How Many It Fulfilled
By 6.17.13
With many people still wondering about the extent to which the National Security Agency and other authorities were peeping in to consumers’ phone and Internet activities, some of the larger firms caught up in the scandal are making attempts at being transparent about what they did and didn’t hand over to the government. However, some are being more transparent than others. [More]
Law Enforcement Officials From Around The Country Ask Smartphone Manufacturers To Install Kill Switches
By 6.13.13
As we mentioned yesterday, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón are meeting this week with execs from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and Google to discuss ways wireless device manufacturers can help deter theft and eliminate the market for stolen phones. Today, Schneiderman and Gascón — along with attorneys general, district attorneys, chiefs of police, consumer advocates, and educators — have launched a nationwide initiative to bring this issue to the fore. [More]
Google Scoops Up Online Mapping Service Waze Just Like Everyone Expected
By 6.11.13
Despite the fact that online mapping service Waze has been all up in the news lately for flirting with several suitors, the announcement that Google has emerged triumphant after a short courtship is barely a surprise. It’s like the new girl at school being polite and talking to the various guys trying to make a great first impression, until the quarterback walks in and everyone knows it’s all over. Google just always seems to get the girl. [More]
Google Referenced Once Every 2.3 Minutes In ‘The Internship’
By 6.10.13
Even after our product-placement round-up last week, we still haven’t seen two-hour Google ad called The Internship, and now it’s even less likely that we ever will, as someone who did see it went through and tallied up all the times Google or one of its properties is mentioned in the movie. [More]
It Only Took A Few Hours After Sexytimes App Debuts For Google To Ban Porn On Google Glass
By 6.4.13
If you’re in the mood for love, simply because you’re near your heart’s desire, you better keep your clothes on if you happen to be sporting Google Glass. Just hours after the first porn app for the cyborg glasses was announced, Google officially banned any sexually explicit material on the devices. That’s one point of view Google seems to not be interested in. [More]
Google Says No (For Now) To Facial Recognition Apps For Glass
By 6.3.13
As consumers test Google’s Glass device on the streets and subways of America, many people have raised privacy concerns about the possibility of developers creating facial recognition apps for the wearable computers. But Google is trying to calm those fears by saying it won’t allow such apps… for the time-being. [More]
Motorola To Assemble Next Smartphone, Moto X, In United States
By 5.30.13
Wages are rising in Asia, energy costs are falling in the United States, and two out of three Americans at least say that they would pay higher prices for gadgets assembled in America. That means that it’s an ideal time for Motorola Mobility to try assembling the Moto X, its first phone designed under Google ownership, on shore. [More]
Google Thinking About How To Let Users Cherry-Pick App Permissions
By 5.20.13
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 5.20.13
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 5.20.13
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 5.16.13
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 5.15.13
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 5.14.13
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]
Google Goes Voice-To-Voice Against Siri With Update To iOS App
April 29, 2013
Google 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 4.18.13
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 4.18.13
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 4.12.13
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]
