Google

Google has built a prototype Android smartphone that can learn and map the world around it. The device comes from a new initiative called Project Tango, and it’s ready to get the phone into developers’ hands to see what the technology is capable of. Google says that the phone will learn the dimension of rooms Continue Reading →

Google-owned Waze updated its navigation app for iOS and Android just before the new year, improving the user experience with all manner of tweaks. Evidently, it neglected to add one specific feature, hence another update dropping today that’ll allow Waze to talk to the calendar apps on both those platforms. It means that if you’re Continue Reading →

The world’s forests are being rapidly destroyed, and a new map hopes to help conservationists figure out everywhere that it’s happening. Using technologies from Google Maps and Google Earth, the World Resources Institute has created an interactive map that shows forest coverage almost in real time, marking where coverage has increased and — more often Continue Reading →

Facebook’s surprise $16 billion acquisition of WhatsApp on Wednesday might not have been part of the only offer the messaging company received. Fortune reports that Google offered to buy WhatsApp for $10 billion. In a brief report on the rumored offer, Fortune notes that two separate sources have confirmed Google offered to purchase WhatsApp, but Continue Reading →

Google is working on a new WiFi app that could take a lot of the drudgery out of accessing public hotspots. According to our sources, the search giant has built Android and iOS versions of an app that automatically authenticate and connect to its free hotspots inside Starbucks stores or wherever they are available. Google Continue Reading →

If you’re unhappy with your current mobile service, the new Glove app for Android wants to find you something better. Launching today in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, the free app logs your location and phone usage for three days before serving up recommendations for the carrier that best suits you. Continue Reading →

You can now use Amazon Coins, the online retailer’s virtual currency, to purchase apps, games, and in-app content on Android devices. Unsurprisingly, those purchases must all be made within Amazon’s standalone Appstore; Google Play is sticking with more traditional payment options. Amazon first unveiled Coins last year and gave every Kindle Fire owner $5 in Continue Reading →

Google Fiber is ready to expand, as Google has identified nine sites scattered around the country as possible sites of deployment, the company said. “We’ve invited 34 cities in nine metro areas across the US to work with us to explore what it would take to build a new fiber-optic network in their community,” Google Continue Reading →

After just under a year in preview, Google on Wednesday announced that it is now rolling out the new Google Maps to all of its users as the default option. Since Google announced the new version of Maps at its I/O developer conference last year, users were able to switch between the two versions. Still, Continue Reading →

Google Plus, the company’s social network, is like a ghost town. Want to see your old roommate’s baby or post your vacation status? Chances are, you’ll use Facebook instead. But Google isn’t worried. Google Plus may not be much of a competitor to Facebook as a social network, but it is central to Google’s future Continue Reading →