Google

Google’s home-entertainment experiments extend beyond the gadget the company announced Wednesday, which turns TV sets into an extra screen for watching Web videos and other content. The Internet giant in January used the Consumer Electronics Show to privately show off a prototype of a previously unreported set-top box device, similar to existing digital-media hubs sold Continue Reading →

It’s not just the computers on Star Trek that Google wants to build for real. The company is also working on a device similar to the show’s universal translator — a mythical device on the show that lets everybody speak any language and still be perfectly understood. Hugo Barra, Google’s vice president of Android product Continue Reading →

While its roots lie in search, today, Google wears many hats. From self-driving cars and wearable technology to social networking and mobile operating systems, there are few industries where the search and advertising giant has yet to make its presence felt. Lately, however, Google’s expansion has taken a noticeable tack in a more singular direction: Continue Reading →

Last year’s Nexus 7 kicked off the small-tablet movement and predated the iPad Mini, with an aggressive price and comfortable design, but a set of features that were slightly bare-bones (no rear camera). The iPad Mini offered a deeper feature set, but the new Nexus 7 has taken the lead — at least, on paper Continue Reading →

Google’s new Chromecast HDMI stick is a lot of things: it’s a simple new way to bring internet video to your living room after the company stumbled with Google TV, it’s a new platform for content creators like Netflix, and it’s an interesting extension of Chrome as a platform beyond the browser itself. That’s a Continue Reading →

News of the new Nexus 7 leaked early, so the highlight of today’s breakfast with Sundar Pichai was a product that truly surprised us: Chromecast, a tiny, $35 dongle that streams audio and video to your TV from phones, tablets and laptops. But that wasn’t all: the new Nexus 7 emerged as expected, with a Continue Reading →

Google just announced Chromecast, a TV dongle that lets you stream online videos straight from your phone, tablet or laptop to your TV. Chromecast is based on a stripped-down version of Chrome OS, and interoperable with a multitude of devices. “We will not force you to have the same operating system on all of your Continue Reading →

Google just introduced a new, dedicated gaming app for the Android ecosystem called Google Play Games. It’s essentially Android’s answer to Apple’s Game Center — it lists both games and your friends on a single screen and lets you see highlights from both categories. You can tap through to see achievements for the games you’re Continue Reading →

Android 4.3 isn’t an overly dramatic advancement over Android 4.2, but the new version of Google’s mobile OS announced on Wednesday does bring a number of improvements that should appeal to both developers and end users. Highlights include the redesigned camera interface, general performance improvements for the OS including smoother animations, and long-awaited Bluetooth Low Continue Reading →

Google today unveiled its new Nexus 7 tablet at a special event hosted by Android and Chrome chief Sundar Pichai. The tablet isn’t a surprise, thanks to a handful of early leaks, but it is an impressive device nonetheless. The Android 4.3-powered tablet ups the ante on screen resolution in a big way with a Continue Reading →