Google

The web-based integration service If This Then That, which is trying to tie your physical connected devices to your digital services (and everything to each other), now supports the Nest thermostat. Or rather the Nest thermostat, which is the subject of a new open developer program, now supports IFTTT. So now readers could geo-fence their Continue Reading →

“I have a weird question for you,” I stammered, sitting in a hotel room across from Matias Duarte and Jon Wiley, the Google design leads for Android and Search, respectively. As a reporter, you tend to ask a lot of stupid sounding questions, and it’s generally no big deal. But I was about to ask Continue Reading →

In a sign of growing consolidation in the digital music business, Google announced on Tuesday that it had bought Songza, a three-year-old app that competes with Pandora and others in making customized playlists of recommended songs. The price was not announced. But a person briefed on the deal, who was not authorized to speak about Continue Reading →

Google recently showed off the future of Android at its I/O conference. The most exciting thing on display might have been a $20 piece of cardboard. Google’s Cardboard project is the company’s take on Virtual Reality – an area of tech that saw Facebook spend $2 billion to acquire VR device maker Oculus. So how Continue Reading →

The keynote at Google’s big developer conference is over, and in its three hours(!) we found out about AndroidTV, Android Auto, and the next big release of Android for you phone. But there was also a ton of rumored stuff that Google didn’t announce. Here’s what was missing, and our best guesses at why. Coming Continue Reading →

We’ve been told that an Internet of Things (IoT) is coming, and our salt shakers will soon be speaking to our light bulbs. But how? There’s no decided way for all of these devices to talk to one another. That was, until this week, when Nest, the smart thermostat company owned by Google, opened its Continue Reading →

The day after Google gave its developers a vision for the immediate future, Regina Dugan and the ATAP team — “a small band of pirates trying to do cool sh*t,” as she calls them — have taken the stage to talk about a few slightly more ambitious things. One is Project Tango, the tablets and Continue Reading →

Last November, Google launched Google Play for Education, a portal for teachers and schools to more easily buy Android apps, books and educational YouTube video, and distribute them to their students. At the time, the program was solely focused on tablets, but starting Thursday, the team also launched support for Chromebooks. With the revamped Google Continue Reading →

Amidst Google’s numerous announcements at its I/O developer conference, it was Google’s low-budget but practical take on virtual reality that was perhaps the most notable device, for me at least. Facebook may have dropped $2 billion to buy VR device maker Oculus, but, for Google, using cardboard and an Android device is enough. That comparison Continue Reading →

It happened with the PC: Apple built one first, but Microsoft operating systems became the dominant way people computed. It happened with the smartphone: Apple’s iPhone defined the category, but around the world far more phones run Google’s Android. On Wednesday, Google launched a new Android platform for watches that it hopes will change history Continue Reading →