This post about the Toshiba Chromebook 2 has been a long time coming. It isn’t because I don’t like the machine. I do. Rather, it has taken time because I tried to see how it might fit into my workflow. I’ve come away from the experience impressed by what Google and Toshiba have done. Still, I need to come clean…
Google today announced their widely anticipated Nexus 6 Android flagship smartphone. They unveiled two additional devices – one a Nexus 9 – a 8.9″ IPS screened tablet sporting 8MP rear camera, 1.6MP front camera. The other a Nexus Player featuring apps, games and more for your TV. Both the tablet and smartphone will run the latest version of Android 5.0 – now known as Lollipop.
Google’s swing at a social network – Google+ – has just made a big about-face in their much despised real name policy. When the network went live in June 2011 there was a major struggle with users wanting to choose whatever name they wanted and Google insisting on real names only.
Google’s popular multi-player online game Ingress was finally released this weekend for iOS. The game began as a beta on November 15, 2012, and until now it had been limited to Android smartphones. Ingress is basically an electronic game of capture the flag (aka portals) between two sides (aka factions) – Enlightened (green) and Resistance (blue).
I love Google Hangouts. I think Hangouts is the best free group messaging service I’ll never convince most of my family and friends to use. Until today I had one major problem with Google Hangouts when used inside Gmail; because I also use Google Voice, every incoming call would ring in my Gmail Hangouts. A new update has fixed that.
When the option to purchase the Google Glass Explorer Edition was made available to me, I jumped in with both feet — completely disregarding the fact that I was paying $1500 to be a beta tester of roughly $80 worth of electronics (as it turns out). Dan bought in, too, and then we both decided Glass wasn’t for us.
Today, Audrey Hepburn would have been 85 years old; to commemorate, Google has released a doodle in her image. A gifted actress, international style icon, humanitarian, and one of the most beautiful women ever, Audrey’s life was cut short by appendiceal cancer at 63. What better way to celebrate her life than to do something kind for a needy child?
I requested a Google Wallet card recently. As you may know, this is Google’s second major push to get you to adopt their payment service which now operates both through a card and your Android phone. The first attempt focused heavily on paying by phone (aka tap-to-pay). That failed due to not enough capable terminals and carriers blocking the feature.
Google announced it has reduced pricing for supplemental storage for its Google Drive (As well as Gmail and Google+ Photos which both draw from the same storage bucket). Whereas the monthly fee for 100 GB used to be $4.99, the new price is $1.99/mo.
Google’s ubiquitous social network Google+ gets a picture editing update which allows for adding high dynamic range (HDR) effects to a single image, with a single click. HDR Scape is currently available in the Snapseed apps for Android and iOS and today you can use it in Google+ by editing a photo and clicking HDR SCAPE in the right corner.
An article this morning mentions a service which blocks annoying robocalls. These calls are mostly illegal and advertise dubious services. I regularly receive robocalls to create or enhance a web site that I could have done myself for free. Why hasn’t Google Voice implemented a solution blocking these? Is it because Google Voice is (all but) dead?
Today we got confirmation that Google sold its money-losing Motorola handset business for about $3 billion to Lenovo. Google bought Motorola for $12.5 billion a couple of years ago, then sold off the set-top box unit and now the handset division. With the sale Google retains many of the valuable Motorola patents it sought initially.
If any company wants to go right for the jugular with Google, they should focus on the poor experience of using multiple Google accounts. Google has struggled since inception to get this right. Multiple accounts kinda work — but only intermittently and awkwardly; add the desperate prompt to create a Google+ account for every email, and it’s chaos.
There’s been a lot of discussion about a recent decision to allow Google+ users to send Gmail directly to another Google+ user via their online profile. This new feature allows strangers to send a single email to any Google+ user (provided they have not disabled the option) without knowing that user’s email address.
If someone suggested to me a year ago we would be looking back at data showing that more than 21% of laptops sold last year were Chromebooks … I would have laughed heartily in their face. I mean, to me these were pretty much netbooks that only run a browser. Yet that is the reality at the end of 2013.
One thing I love about my Google Glass is that it takes better hands-free video than anything else I’ve seen. One thing I dislike is that in under 40 minutes of shooting video, without some kind of external battery pack, Glass’s battery will die. For $50, GazerGlass adds a 1500 mAh battery to the skinnier Glass arm. Not too shabby!
When I ordered my Google Glass, I stuck with the relatively boring Charcoal (black), and I’ll admit that there have been times when I wish that I’d been a little bit more adventurous with my color choice. Now I have no regrets, because GPOP has $9.99 Glass skins that can make my spectacles appear as wild as my mood.
Gear Diary has written about PhatWare apps on a number of occasions, including here, here, and most recently, here. One of their best known products is PhatPad, a note-taking app that features handwriting recognition. I’ve used PhatWare products, including PhatPad, off and on for years. I’ve always been impressed with the quality of its handwriting recognition.
Last week I placed my order for the second phase Google Glass Explorer Edition, and within two days they were in my hands. Since invitations to purchase the $1500 Glass are still limited, I figured I’d share the unboxing and initial set up experience.
Joe Stirt, an original Glass Explorer program participant, recently received three invitations he could share; he gave me one. That invite entitled me to purchase a second generation Google Glass device for $1500. Is the tech compelling enough for me to pay to be a beta tester for an unfinished product? I sure hope so — because I mine arrived tonight!
Nate over at The Digital Reader had a post about installing Google apps on the new Kindle Fire HDX. Since I use GMail and other Google stuff and have the new Kindle Fire HDX, I figured ‘why not’. Turns out there is a basic reason – not all services work correctly and there are no notifications. As a result, my only recommendation is ‘just say no’. The method to installing everything comes in four steps: • Google Account Manager • Google Play Services • Google Service Framework • Gmail You add one, reboot the Fire the install the next, and…