The final significant roadblock to Google’s buyout of Motorola has been cleared, as Chinese regulators have just given their rubber stamp. Their approval follows a few months after the simultaneous American and European clearances, and virtually all that’s left now is to formally close the deal and start integrating the two mobile giants. It might still come too late for the combined entity to present a united front at Google I/O, but at least they won’t have any awkward glances at each other across the room. We’re just trying to decide on whether or not Googorola is the best pet name for the loving, $12.5 billion-dollar Android union. Update: Google has since told the AP that the deal will likely wrap up early next week, so Motorola should be part of the family well in advance of Google I/O.

China clears Google acquisition of Motorola, eliminates last barrier to Googorola bliss originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  WSJ  | Email this | Comments

View full post on Engadget

American Android users started getting carrier billing in Google Play early this month through T-Mobile (and later AT&T), and now Sprint can join the party. Any app, book, music or video purchase can be tacked on to the monthly bill for your EVO 4G LTE instead of going through Google. The move leaves Verizon as the only major US carrier without a carrier billing option, so you’ll have to sit tight if you own the original US Galaxy Nexus and hate the thought of a separate download bill. We’ve also heard nothing about regional carriers being on the roadmap, but we’ll keep you posted.

Sprint’s Android users get carrier billing in Google Play originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 21:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Google+  | Email this | Comments

View full post on Engadget

Google’s social team has had a lot of love for iOS lately: Just days after rolling out a revamped iPhone app for Google+, the company now released an iOS app for its social activity service Schemer. The app mimics Schemer’s Android app in form and functionality, allowing users to tell the world what they’re plans are – and then join with friends for group activities.

Schemer has been an interesting initiative for Google. The service launched under the radar a few months back, then opened up to the public in April. Schemer is using a separate branding, but it’s tied closely to Google+, using your Google+ contacts to devise collective schemes. One has to wonder if Schemer could eventually become one of many apps running on top of Google+.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Controversy, courtrooms and the cloud in Q1
• Facebook’s IPO filing: ideas and implications
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

src='http://ads.gigaom.com/show/rss/'
alt=''
border='0'
/>

View full post on Apple

(CNN) – Which platform is better to advertise on, Google or Facebook?

On Tuesday, General Motors announced it will stop paid advertising on Facebook. "This happens as a regular course of business and it's not unusual for us to move things around various media outlets," the company said in a statement. But coming the week Facebook has its initial public offering, the announcement is raising more than a few eyebrows and begs the question:

Is Facebook really worth $100 billion?

WordStream, a U.S.-based search engine marketing company, released a study Tuesday comparing the advertising influence of display ads on Google versus ads on Facebook. The results: While Facebook is good, Google is better.

Both companies have a large advertising reach, but Google Display Network reaches 80% of global online readers versus Facebook’s  reach of 51%.

“Facebook's advertising growth has been strong – but it hasn’t kept pace with growth in its user base,” WordStream’s Larry Kim wrote in his blog.

Facebook’s click-through rate (CTR) on ads is less than 0.05%, according to WordStream’s calculations, “just half the industry average for banner ads,” Kim wrote. “Why? It may be Facebook’s relatively slim offerings in terms of ad formats and targeting options.”

Facebook currently has only two options for advertisers – a standard ad and sponsored stories. “This is paltry compared to Google’s display network ad format options: text ads, image ads, flash-based image ads, in-video ads, as well as ads for mobile web and mobile games,” Kim wrote.

“Given its impressive global reach, Facebook has the potential to be as much of an advertising behemoth as Google,” Kim said. “But the question remains – does Mr. Zuckerberg even want Facebook to be an advertising-based company? In his 2,500+ word letter to shareholders, he only mentioned advertising once.”

View full post on Business 360

Apple surprised some earlier this year when it debuted a new iPhoto app for iOS devices that featured maps from a source that was not Google. Now a new report indicates Apple may be on the verge of replacing Google Maps altogether in the next version of iOS.

9to5Mac cites “trusted sources” who say that iOS 6, the next version of the software to power the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, will ditch Google Maps as the source for the Maps app in favor of an Apple-built solution: a maps app whose technology is derived from several companies Apple has acquired over the past few years. It too will be called Maps:

The application design is said to be fairly similar to the current Google Maps program on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, but it is described as a much cleaner, faster, and more reliable experience.

According to the report, the app icon itself is also getting a slightly new look. It will still be a map view of Apple headquarters in Cupertino, but will have “a new color scheme.”

One of the features that Apple plans to highlight is its own version of Google’s Street View, a 3D-mapping mode. Here’s how it’s described:

The 3D mode does not come enabled by default, but users simply need to click a 3D button that is conveniently and visibly stored in the app. Perhaps under the fold like the current traffic, pin, and map view buttons. This 3D mode is said to essentially be technology straight from C3 Technologies: beautiful, realisitic graphics based on de-classified missile target algorithms.

Here’s why this report isn’t at all implausible:

• Apple did quietly buy up a bunch of mapping technology companies several years ago: PlaceBase in July 2009, Poly 9 in 2010 and C3 late last year. It’s reasonable to think that this would follow a similar pattern to what Apple did with Siri: buy an outside company for its technology and a few years down the line incorporate it into iOS.
• Apple always prefers not to be dependent on third-party technologies. It is at a place where it designs its own software and hardware, even down to the chips and battery and almost all of the key apps that come with iOS devices — with the exception of the Maps app and YouTube. In other words, moving from a third-party solution to an in-house one eventually would be very much in line with Apple’s philosophy and history.
• In particular, Apple probably would like to have as little to do with Google as possible. This is the same company that Steve Jobs promised to go “thermonuclear” on and accusing it of “grand theft” in designing Android. It makes sense not to incorporate product from one of your chief rivals in mobile into your most important product.

The report also claims that iOS 6 will be introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference scheduled for the second week of June. Be sure to head to 9to5Mac for videos and photos of what the 3D mapping product could look like.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Hyperlocal: opportunities for publishers and developers
• CES 2012: a recap and analysis
• Carrier IQ and the continued erosion of operator trust

src='http://ads.gigaom.com/show/rss/'
alt=''
border='0'
/>

View full post on Apple

Google released a new version of its Google+ iPhone app today, and it represents a big step for the social service on iOS. The existing app was more or less a wrapper around the Google+ mobile experience, but the update replaces this with a much more visual approach. Google SVP of Engineering Vic Gundotra announced the changes on Google’s blog:

“We’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller. We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive.”

Key parts of this new experience include photo and video sharing. Take a look at some of the changes below:

iOS has been a bit of an afterthought for Google+, with new features generally launching on Android first. However, with this update, Google decided to innovate on the iPhone and then take some of those new features to its own mobile platform. Gundotra said on Google+ that a similar update to the Google+ Android app will be rolled out “in the next few weeks,” and he teased that the Android app would include “a few additional surprises.”

Google+ still doesn’t have a native iPad app, and a Google spokesperson told me Wednesday that the company has “nothing to announce at this time for the iPad.”

The update of the iPhone app isn’t just a big step for Google+ on iOS, it also hints at where Google is going with its social network. The company recently rolled out a revamped Web app for Google+, which features a much simpler layout and also includes a better presentation of photos.

That could point to Google viewing photos and other kinds of media sharing as a key part of the Google+ experience, which the company has in the past described as two sides of a coin: One part is Google+ the social layer, which enables users to personalize search and add functionality to Google services like GMail and Google Drive. The second part is Google+, the social network, which is more directly competing with Facebook. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Google views media and especially photos as a key asset in this competition.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Controversy, courtrooms and the cloud in Q1
• The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro
• Connected Consumer Q2: Digital music meets the cloud; e-book growth explodes

src='http://ads.gigaom.com/show/rss/'
alt=''
border='0'
/>

View full post on Apple

Google has a new version of Google Maps for Android users, with v6.7 delivering indoor walking directions for stores, entertainment venues and other locations that have shared floorplan information. The updated app also includes new Google Offers integration, making it easier to discover nearby deals and either redeem them immediately or save them for later use. Finally, if you’re undecided whether to hit up a store or restaurant, there’s new panoramic photo support for inside.

Google indoor maps rolled out back at CES 2012 in January, with broader support following shortly after. Google then offered businesses and venues the tools to create their own floorplan files, and it’s the data from Google Floor Plan Maker that is now being integrated into the Android app. “This will help you get directions not only to a building’s front door,” the company explains, “but also through those doors to the places where you want to go inside.”

As for business photos, locations which have uploaded 360-degree panoramic interior images can share those via their profile pages, allowing curious would-be visitors to get a better perspective of what they’ll find inside. Compatible profiles have a new “See Inside” option alongside Street View.

Currently indoor walking directions are limited to the US and Japan. Google Maps v6.7 for Android is a free download from the Play Market.

Google Maps for Android gets indoor walking directions is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

View full post on SlashGear

All right, so Google Maps has gotten you safely to your destination. Now what?! Don’t panic — the company is rolling out indoor walking directions for the app’s latest Android release. Version 6.7 also features 360-degree photo views of businesses, to help ensure that you really don’t get lost once inside. Also new is nearby deals that can be accessed by clicking “Offers,” so you can nab some sweet deals within arms’ reach. The latest version is up for the download now via Google Play. If you’re still lost, please consult the instructional video after the break.

Continue reading Google Maps for Android takes you inside with improved walking directions

Google Maps for Android takes you inside with improved walking directions originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 May 2012 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Google  | Email this | Comments

View full post on Engadget

Nevada is the first state to grant Google a U.S. license to test driverless cars. The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed on Monday that it had approved the company’s application to test autonomous vehicles on public streets. Google will be required to have at least two people in the vehicle while testing it, however, including one in the driver’s seat. Prior to being approved, the Mountain View-based company had been testing the car on freeways in neighborhoods around Carson City and Las Vegas, according to Fox News. The tests showed the car was just as safe, if not safer, than cars operated by human drivers. “It gets honked at more often because it’s being safe,” said Nevada DMV Director Bruce Breslow. The driverless vehicles will be required to wear red license plates that contain an infinity symbol, which the DMV says represents their status as “the car of the future.” If testing goes as planned and the vehicles are ever used by the general public, the license plates will be green. “They’re designed to avoid distracted driving,” Breslow said. “When you’re on the Strip and there’s a huge truck with a three scantily clad women on the side, the car only sees a box.”

Read

View full post on BGR: The Three Biggest Letters In Tech

Google gets a lot of digital ink for its driverless car program, which recently got the go-ahead to expand its testing to Nevada highways. But Mountain View isn’t the only horse in this race. New start-ups and old standbys are preparing the cars of the future, and they all want a piece of the driverless car market. Here are five competitors to Google’s program, all trying to be king of the road.

GM

Of Detroit’s Big Three, only General Motors has a working driverless model that it’s ready to show off. They’ve modified a Chevy Tahoe with the help of a team from Carnegie Melon University’s DARPA challenge entrants. The SUV certainly works, but it’s a long way from production – as one CES Las Vegas test driver said, it looks more like the Ghostbusters hearse than a road-ready truck. GM estimates that it’s ten years away from production vehicles. They’re also working on semi-autonomous “supercruise” for Cadillac.

Mercedes

Mercedes is probably the farthest along of major auto manufacturers, with a small fleet of autonomous vehicles based on the E-class and C-class models. Their array of antennas and sensors look pretty similar to Google’s, though the German company is still testing driverless cars on closed tracks with no humans in sight. There’s currently no room in the driver’s seat, as the steering wheel and pedals are operated by robotics.

Volkswagen

Like GM, Volkswagon is employing former entrants in the DARPA Urban Challenge to help speed along their driverless efforts, this time from Stanford. Their Temporary Auto Pilot system is meant to assist human drivers rather than replace them, allowing for a safe transition to computer control if the driver falls asleep or becomes unconscious. Though the TAP system has gained millions of Euros in funding, there’s no concrete plans to put it into production vehicles at the moment.

Continental 

The leading independent entry in the driverless race is a German firm called Continental. They’ve outfitted a VW Passat with sensors and control systems similar to Google’s Prius models, with the added advantage of no external constructs. Continental has completed over 6,000 miles of testing on Nevada public roads, since the state’s legislature is friendly (if regulatory) towards autonomous vehicle testing.

Open Source Driverless Car Project

Free and Open Source Software proponents tend to be somewhat fanatical, but do they trust their model with their lives? A few do, and they’ve founded the Open Source Driverless Car Project. The aim is to create a Linux-based operating system that can control an automobile based on camera,s GPS and proximity sensors. But since the project hasn’t been updated in a year and a half, maybe they’d better leave it to those DARPA guys.

The driverless cars that want to run Google off the road is written by Michael Crider & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

View full post on SlashGear