Google

If you’ve ever been using any form of Google voice recognition and gotten frustrated that the friendly female on the other side just can’t understand you, you may be happy to know that a quick command can now fix misheard words. Previously, you would have to start the query over completely, but the Google Search Continue Reading →

Roku and Chromecast were the two most successful streaming devices sold in the U.S. in 2013, according to new data from Parks Associates, which puts Apple TV on third place. Google sold an estimated 3.8 million Chromecast streaming sticks after introducing the product in mid-2013, according to Parks, which also estimates that this about equals Continue Reading →

Was that naked selfie you took really deleted before you sold your phone on eBay? A new study from security software vendor Avast calls into question the effectiveness of Android’s factory reset option, which many people have relied upon to delete personal data from their old smartphones before reselling or making a charitable donation with Continue Reading →

As Microsoft continues to evolve Windows Phone in hopes of greater market share, its latest trick could be to support Android apps on its handsets. That’s the latest rumor, according to Eldar Murtzin, a long-time industry insider who has a few correct predictions to his name. Murtzin tweeted the information on Tuesday morning, sounding pretty Continue Reading →

Google is the undisputed king of search in all but one lucrative and vital category: Product searches. Over the past decade, Amazon has transformed itself from a seller of books online to the place Americans turn to when they want to search and buy just about anything — from diapers to flat-screen TVs. In some Continue Reading →

If you’re using an Android phone that’s less than three years old, it could be broadcasting the names of every Wi-Fi network you’ve connected to. A new investigation from the Electronic Frontier Foundation traced the behavior to a feature called Preferred Network Offload (PNO) introduced with the Honeycomb OS. As part of the phone’s ongoing Continue Reading →

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 →