Tag: Google

Posted on

Google Announces Massive Reorganization, Becomes Alphabet

google alphabetGoogle is a pretty diverse company. It’s easy to forget how many pies they have their fingers in. Off the top of my head, you’ve got search, Youtube, Social, Photos, medical research, Fiber, self driving cars, Glass, Nest, Calico, Android, and I’m sure I’m missing a good dozen other divisions.

Announced today, Alphabet will now represent the full umbrella of companies and services, while Google will become the name of a much more streamlined part of the greater whole. Co-Founder Larry Page will become the CEO of Alphabet, Sergey Page will become President of Alphabet, and Sundar Pichai (formerly in charge of Chrome OS and Android) will become the CEO of the leaner Google.

Google will now be comprised of the most successful business ventures of the whole organization. Search, Ads, Maps, Android, and Youtube are now “Google”. Alphabet includes Google, and every other division, program, and experiment.

This move makes each department a bit more accountable to the whole of the organization, and it should be easier to see which teams and companies are performing well.

Investors seemed bullish on the news, with around a 7% stock bumping following the announcement, though that has calmed back down in after hours trading.

Still, it’ll be curious to see future ventures from Larry and Sergei under the Alphabet banner, instead of seeing future Google “BETA” products.

Larry Page’s full announcement is below.

Continue reading “Google Announces Massive Reorganization, Becomes Alphabet”

Posted on

Motorola Announces Trio of Phones: Moto X Style, Moto X Play, New Moto G

motorola moto x style pure play moto gIt’s NEW Motorola time!

Rumors have been swirling about what the company will reveal now that they’re owned by Lenovo, and it’s not a single phone, but a trio of new gadgets.

The New Moto G

Gaining a water resistant build, Gorilla Glass, more color options in Moto Maker, this is the phone that bolstered Moto’s market share. It was an inexpensive, entry-level handset which brought a higher quality of performance to the budget crowd, one of the first Android’s to fight Nokia at “cheap” price points.

This Moto G will come in two flavors, 1GB RAM and 8GB of storage for $179, or 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage for $219. Both come with a 13MP camera, a 5″ 720p Screen, and an “all day” battery powered by a Qualcomm 410 series processor. Recently we’ve seen more companies like Asus and Alcatel’s Idol 3 delivering inexpensive options near this price, and Moto’s offering looks to be pushing the boundaries even further.

Moto X Style

This is our new flagship! Taking some of the lessons learned from building the Nexus 6, you can now get a similar phablet build with some of Motorola’s fun customizations.

Moto X Style has a 5.7″ QHD display. Happily they opted for the Qualcomm 808, the same processor powering the LG G4, instead of the more powerful, but hotter and slower Qualcomm 810. X Style will have 3GB of RAM, and if its build of Android 5.1 is anything like last year’s Moto X, it should smoke the Galaxy S6 in multi-tasking performance.  Plus we’ll see the addition of a Micro SD card slot for storage expansion. The whole affair will be powered by a 3000mAh battery, which based on these specs, should be good for all day run time.

Continue reading “Motorola Announces Trio of Phones: Moto X Style, Moto X Play, New Moto G”

Posted on

Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 Smartphone Review – Budget Price, Killer Specs

The quality of phone you can buy at the sub $300 price point is improving rapidly. Alcatel offers up a compelling option for folks wanting to shop an inexpensive Android handset. Let’s take a look!

Shop the Idol 3 on Amazon.
Idol 3 Speaker Test.
Idol 3 Camera Review.

Posted on

Waze Unveils Ride Sharing Service “RideWith” in Limited BETA

Fullscreen capture 762015 10536 PMServices like Lyft and Uber have been disrupting the market for traditional taxi and town car service in a number of cities, thanks to lower prices and timely notifications through apps.

Today Waze took the wraps off of their solution for ride sharing named “RideWith”.  Focused on reducing business commuter traffic, RideWith seeks to pair up drivers and riders who are already traveling in the same direction at the same times. It’s a 21st century version of the bulletin board a company might use for coordinating an employee carpool.

This is not a spur of the moment service, as Waze recommends passengers book a trip at least a day in advance, and the app will help calculate and pay drivers for fuel costs per ride. As Google now owns Waze, it’s no surprise that the service is launching first on Android, with iOS “coming soon”.

If you were hoping to try this out, you might have a bit of a wait. RideWith is currently in very limited BETA, only servicing Israel at the time this article was posted. You can pull up more info and an FAQ by heading to the RideWith website.

Is this the solution for alleviating traffic congestion during rush hour? Leave a comment below.

Posted on

Youtube App Update Brings 360 Degree Video to Google Cardboard

youtube 360 video google cardboard sampleGoogle continues to move forward with cardboard, bringing some really fun features to the low budget VR platform which uses your phone and an inexpensive cradle (often made out of cardboard) to surround you with immersive content.

The newest update to the Android Youtube app builds in native support for Google Cardboard. Now when you fire up a 360 degree video, a small cardboard icon will appear on the overlay. Tapping on that icon will split the screen automatically for stereo view through the VR headset of your choice.

youtube 360 google cardborad screenshot 1

Hitting the switch built into Cardboard viewers will pause the video, and moving your head along a timeline will let you fast forward or rewind the video. Very handy controls as you wont be able to touch the screen.

youtube 360 google cardborad screenshot 2

It’s a super fun feature to bring to the Android ecosystem, tying together the new Youtube 360 rollout and the improved developer tools for Cardboard. You can try it out with a video below, which we shot using the Kodak SP360, driving around Hollywood.

The Youtube app update should be rolling out to devices soon, or if you’re impatient you can grab it from APK Mirror and install it manually.

Posted on

Google & Amazon Cut Price of Nexus 6 Smartphone by $150

Google’s monster phablet is getting a price cut!

The Nexus 6 has dropped $150 from its price tag on the Google Play store, and Amazon has followed suit. This applies to both the 32GB and 64GB models which are currently selling for $499 and $549 respectively.

It’s unknown whether this is a permanent price drop, a special sale being run for Father’s day, or a promotion to line up with the first round of invites for Project Fi (Google’s MVNO phone service). However, if you were shopping a stock Android phone, the price just got a LOT sweeter.

Nexus 6 on Amazon
Nexus 6 on Google Play

Posted on

Asus Announces ZenWatch 2 Android Wear Smartwatch

We still think the Asus ZenWatch is one of the more attractive smartwatches on the market today, but Asus has already taken the wraps off of their follow up.

The Zen Watch 2 will come in more color options, and have more straps available in plastic, leather, and metal. The front face will now be made out of Gorilla Glass 3, the build will be more durable with an IP67 rating, and a new magnetic charger will be included.

It doesn’t look like a dedicated heart rate monitor will be included, which might be a good thing for folks with skin conditions, but the ZenWatch 2 will get a crown button, which has proven very useful on the LG G Watch R and Moto 360.

You can catch the Asus teaser vid and full press release below.

Android Wear 5.1 Review (on Asus ZenWatch)

Continue reading “Asus Announces ZenWatch 2 Android Wear Smartwatch”

Posted on

Google Photos App: New Features and Filters – The Full Scoop!

Borrowing inspiration from Apple Photos and Lumia Storyteller, Google has given their Photos app a fresh coat of paint. Combined with Unlimited storage for compressed photos and videos, it’s a nice step in the right direction for cleaning up the disparity between Manufacturer photo gallery apps and Google Plus. Let’s take a full tour through all the new features and tools!

Proudly powered by WordPress