Tag: Google

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Google Shows Off Driverless Car Prototype With No Steering Wheel

Vehicle Prototype Image Banner Cropped 600pxTil now, Google’s prototype driverless cars have been actual production vehicles, often Toyotas, retrofitted with sensors and cameras.

Well Google is following in Tesla footsteps by building their own vehicle designed from the ground up to be a self driving people mover. It looks like a toy version of a Fiat or Smart, but it carries two people in comfort. It’s basically a rolling couch with seatbelts and some navigation equipment.

As  this is very much a prototype, the initial run of vehicles will be capped to 25mph, but they have enough faith in the platform to build out 100 of these little cars to push the driverless program forward. Google is hoping to bring cars like these to market in the next couple years, and it’s no small stretch to think we might see them start filtering into taxi fleets or partnering with services like Uber.

You can see the little prototype in action below.

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Sign Me Up. I’m Ready For Driverless Cars In California.

google self driving carThe open road. The freedom. The romance of wide open throttle on a long stretch of asphalt.

None of that exists in Los Angeles anymore.

Sure, on a holiday weekend at three in the morning you can let loose a little, but the normal condition for Los Angelinos is a bumper to bumper, stop and go, passive-aggressively, road ragey experience. You can’t live in the state for any length of time without witnessing the most common stories we all share. The jerks who skip the line of cars to merge at the last possible second. The jerks who cut you off while driving ten miles an hour slower than you were going. The INSANE number of people doing anything else instead of focusing on driving, even watching videos on tablets (actual pic from one of my commutes)… Continue reading “Sign Me Up. I’m Ready For Driverless Cars In California.”

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Google Plus App Updated! Feature Walk Through of the New UI!

new google plus app on HTC one m8

We normally wouldn’t make such a big deal out of an app update, but Google has made some pretty significant changes to the Google Plus UI for Android.

Utilizing a sleeker and bolder interface, the whole experience feels a little snappier too. We go hands on in the video below to compare it to the older G+ app, and show off all the goodies!

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Galaxy S5 Pro Tip: How to enable developer options and speed up system animations!

galaxy s5 developer optionsQuick pro tip for you fine folks rocking the Galaxy S5. Even though it’s one of the most powerful phones on the market, doesn’t mean we can’t tweak it!

Here’s a handy trick to tighten up the animations so transitions will feel a little faster. All we have to do first is turn on the developer options in settings…

Continue reading “Galaxy S5 Pro Tip: How to enable developer options and speed up system animations!”

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PSA: Windows Phone Users Only Have One Week Left to Use 3rd Party Google Voice Apps

unhappy windows phones google voiceJust a friendly reminder folks. This is the last week to use those terrific 3rd party Google Voice clients like MetroTalk on our Windows Phones.

Rumors are pointing towards merging Voice and Hangouts on Android handsets, but that’ll leave WP users out in the cold as there is no Hangouts app for people who happen to prefer Live Tiles.

Live it up. Send a few extra texts. Make a few more phone calls. In seven days the cord gets cut.

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Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and More Stand Against FCC Proposed Rules

Nothing like waiting until the last minute right guys?

FCCWhile Netflix had been a common talking point for illustrating the concept of Net Neutrality, pretty much any company doing business online should be interested in how bandwidth is regulated.

Now the big boys are starting to make a little noise. In a letter sent to the FCC yesterday, 150 companies including those listed in the title of this post, signed on in opposition to the FCC’s proposed “fast lane” rules. The proposed rules will allow carriers and ISP’s to negotiate separate deals with individual companies for consistent bandwidth.

The FCC will vote on the proposal in one week. If you’re interested in voicing your concerns to the FCC and your elected officials, we’ve put together a contact list here.

You can read the letter below.

Continue reading “Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and More Stand Against FCC Proposed Rules”

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Google Camera Update Includes Photo Capture While Shooting Video

google camera iconThe Google Camera was recently unleashed on the Play Store for any phone running KitKat. It provides a consistent and super simple interface for photos and vids no matter what phone you use.

For being so streamlined, it does pack some handy features like PhotoSphere, HDR, exposure control, and panorama modes. Google is now rolling an update which will allow users to take still photos while shooting video.

While shooting a video, just tap the screen and it’ll grab a 2MP screenshot. Super simple.

This isn’t exactly mind blowing on its own, but this update process is what’s exciting. It’s a small update for one app, and users are getting it directly. We aren’t being forced to wait for a full OS update which may or may not be sent down from the carriers.

And for folks curious how the Google Camera app works, we have a full hands on review below!

Google Camera on Google Play

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Google Adds Lane Guidance and Uber Support to Maps!

Google Maps Navigation with Lane GuidanceThis has always been one of my biggest complaints about turn by turn apps in general, and Google Maps specifically. Unless a turn is intermediately following another direction, Maps will only give you one instruction at a time, with little guidance as to which lane you’ll need to be in.

To address that issue, Google is now building Lane Guidance into their turn by turn directions. When you approach a turn or intersection with multiple lanes, the app will try to highlight which lane you should be in, and what direction each lane will travel. A terrifically welcome update to Google’s mapping app.

Google is also improving the offline caching for maps. Going on vacation? You can search a locale, save it offline, and name it for quick reference.

Also added to the navigation options, Google has included support for Uber. After searching for directions, you’ll now have the option to tailor results to Uber, and selecting that will automatically open the Uber app on your phone.

It’s a pretty substantial update for one of the best mobile mapping experiences available, and should be rolling out to all phones over the next couple days.

More info on the Google Maps blog.

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