Google is engaged in a war on many fronts with large rivals, suggests Om Malik. Google’s Android, YouTube, Books, Music, Google+, Google Ads, Nexus 7 and Google Wallet compete with comparable products from Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and others.
Moreover, Google no longer has a monopoly on top talent, as many Googlers are being lured away to work in start-ups.
By trying to expand into so many areas, Google may be risking its core search business.
“As Google tries to expand into new territories it is leaving its core search vulnerable — not to another rival’s technology, but to end-users,” writes Malik for GigaOM. “The injection of Google+ into search results seems to be a growing point of dissatisfaction.”
“In my years of following the company, I came to understand that what separated Google from many of its competitors was its audacity,” notes Malik. “When I look at the first day of Google I/O, I am left impressed by Google Glass. The product itself is too nerdy and it still has ways to go before it becomes an everyday product. Nevertheless, it represents a bit of old Google. It represents the kind of things the company needs to do in order to leap forward of its rivals.”
At its Google I/O developer conference on Thursday, the company announced that Gmail now has 425 million users, including government agencies in 45 states and 66 of the top 100 universities in the U.S.
“Google also announced that over 5 million businesses have now ‘gone Google.’ This, says Google, includes a number of large companies, including Roche, KLM and others,” reports TechCrunch.
Sundar Pichai, SVP Chrome and Apps, says Google Chrome now has some 310 million users, compared to 160 million last year. “Pichai says there’s every indication that Chrome is now the biggest browser in the world,” notes AllThingsD.
The company demonstrated Chrome used across multiple devices while retaining the same settings, bookmarks, and tabs. Chrome will be available on the iPhone and the iPad.
Google Drive is being used by 10 million users. The demonstration highlighted the ability to scan through documents with OCR, and showed Google Drive apps for diagramming, faxing and creating presentations. Users can access the same document on a smartphone, tablet or Chromebook, and documents can be edited offline. Beginning today, it will be available for Chrome OS and iOS.
In a move to compete with Amazon, Google announced Compute Engine to provide infrastructure as a service by accessing Compute Engine’s virtual machines. In one example, a customer was able to access 771,886 cores for their app. The company claims this will provide 50 percent more computing per dollar than other providers.
Yahoo and Spotify have agreed to partner in a deal that will bring Spotify’s music library to Yahoo’s Media network. Spotify will also promote Yahoo’s app on the Spotify platform.
The deal will override a four year partnership between Yahoo and music service Rhapsody.
“The deal will see Spotify first rolling out to Yahoo Music. Later it will also start appearing in other verticals within the media network, including Yahoo Movies and omg!” reports TechCrunch.
A related post from AllThingsD explains that “Yahoo users will see Spotify links on their site, but will only be able to play music if they’ve already downloaded and opened up Spotify’s software (new Spotify users will still have to sign up for the service using their Facebook login).”
Yahoo will receive a commission if a Yahoo referral results in a paid subscription for Spotify. The two companies will not share any advertising revenue.
The deal will help Spotify gain exposure, as it looks to grow its 10 million users. Yahoo claims to reach 700 million people, so the deal will certainly get Spotify in front of more eyes.
A report from the Pew Internet & American Life project notes that 17 percent of adult cell phone owners access the Internet more frequently on their phones than on desktops, laptops, or tablets.
“That’s the number for all cell phone owners in the U.S, including those with feature phones,” reports TechCrunch. “Just looking at those who already use their phones to go online (55 percent of all cell phone owners), a whopping 31 percent now say they mostly use their phones to go online.”
Notably, 45 percent of adults ages 18 to 29 who use the Internet on their phones report using the devices as their primary Web browsing tool.
The report also shows that African-Americans and Latinos are more likely than others to report that they mostly use their phones for Web browsing — 55 percent of African-Americans and 52 percent of Latinos reported “cell-mostly” use, while only 24 percent of whites fell into this category.
People in the “cell-mostly” category reported that they prefer cell phones for browsing because “they are more easily available (64 percent), fit their usage habits better (18 percent) and are simply good enough to perform basic online activities (7 percent)” explains the post.
Steve Wozniak this week criticized the U.S. government’s handling of the Megaupload case, suggesting many used the site for legitimate purposes and closing it was not necessary.
“You don’t just shut down the whole street because somebody is speeding,” said the Apple co-founder, in response to the government mandated freeze of all user accounts.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has worked to defend Kim Dotcom, Megaupload’s founder and CEO. (Wozniak helped fund the formation of the EFF.)
While Wozniak recognizes that Dotcom may not be as legitimate as he contends, Wozniak questions the authorities’ treatment of Dotcom. “It’s just kind of ridiculous what they did to his life,” he says, labeling the piracy case as “hokey” and suggesting the actions are an impediment to Internet innovation.
“Wozniak believes that people should pay for content, but also says the Internet should be open and shutting down sites like Megaupload is futile,” reports The Verge.
“If you’ve got a huge steamroller coming, instead of trying to stop it, you should get out of the way,” says Wozniak.
Sony has announced development of a small, lightweight, rugged HD action camera intended to target the extreme sports market and compete with the popular GoPro 11-megapixel HD Hero2.
Sony’s blog on Tuesday posted an early look at its upcoming “action camera,” not providing a formal name just yet.
“Sony’s developing a new type of hi-def wearable video camera for POV and action sports,” reads the post, “and we’re giving you — our stellar fans — the first look at the device!”
“Specs are scant at this point, though the company offers a few bits of information — vital for such a device, Sony’s SteadyShot image stabilization technology is included. It also incorporate an Exmor R CMOS image sensor and an ultra-wide angle Carl Zeiss Tessar lens,” reports Digital Trends.
“That means, whether you’re shredding major powder, jumping out of a plane, or kayaking through an epic waterfall, you’re capturing super high-quality video of it to show off to your family and friends,” explains the Sony post. “And there’ll be ruggedized and waterproof housings available so the camera can do its job in even the most extreme environments.”
Vizio announced its Co-Star this week, a Google TV-based set-top box priced at $99. The product aims to compete with the Apple TV media box and similar products from Roku and Sony.
The Co-Star provides access to the Google Play App Store, live gaming, and a Bluetooth remote control with a a touch sensitive trackpad, QWERTY keyboard and game controls. It comes preloaded with Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and iHeartRadio.
The product also features 802.11n support, one USB port, HDMI in/out ports, and an option to use a wired Ethernet cable.
“One big advantage the device has over other Google TV set-top boxes is its support for cloud-based gaming service OnLive, which lets you stream popular video games to other platforms,” reports VentureBeat. “Essentially, this makes the Co-Star a legitimate game console competitor.”
Availability has yet to be announced, but pre-orders start next month. The post features a collection of detailed images.
Google kicked off its I/O event in San Francisco yesterday with news that it has activated 400 million Android devices, up from last year’s 100 million. The company claims to now be activating one million devices per day.
Android 4.1 (“Jelly Bean”) was introduced. Highlights: triple buffering of graphics pipeline allows parallel performance of CPU and GPU resulting in 60fps performance, voice typing works offline, and voice searches receive spoken answers.
Google Play has more than 600,000 apps and games, with more than 1.5 billion downloaded each month. Apps are available in more than 132 countries.
The Nexus 7 is a 7-inch tablet manufactured by ASUS that runs Jelly Bean and includes a 1280 x 800 display, Tegra 3 quad-core CPU plus 12-core GPU, front facing camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 9 hour battery life. The $199 tablet can be ordered online for mid-July delivery.
Nexus Q is a new social streaming device and the first CE product Google has completely built from the ground up. The $299 Android device is controlled with your smartphone or tablet and features a Galaxy Nexus processor, HDMI, dual-band Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, and supports NFC.
The keynote also included an astounding demo of Google Glasses with live streams from skydivers via Google+ Hangouts. Glasses have camera, processor and “a lot of memory to store information.” The product also has a gyro, accelerometer, compass, touchpad, microphones and speaker.
Google Glass Explorer Edition is available for pre-order only to U.S.- based developers who are physically at Google I/O at a cost of $1,500. It’s expected to ship early next year.
News Corp.’s board has approved a proposal to split the media conglomerate into two segments, separating its publishing business from its entertainment operations.
The process should take about a year and will require the board to approve a a final detailed plan. The split is expected to be formally announced today.
“One company will house entertainment businesses like 20th Century Fox, Fox broadcast network and Fox News Channel while another houses the publishing assets, which include The Wall Street Journal and the Times of London along with HarperCollins book publishing and News Corp.’s education business,” reports WSJ.
Publishing interests currently generate significantly less profits than News Corp.’s TV and film operations, and continues to face competition from the growing popularity of online news outlets.
“For the entertainment company, its overall profit margin will be higher without publishing,” suggests WSJ. “Its stock market valuation is expected to rise above that of News Corp.’s current valuation, analysts say, as the publishing assets are seen as a drag on the stock.”
“Moreover, without the taint of the phone-hacking scandal at News Corp.’s British newspapers, the entertainment company may have an easier time doing certain acquisitions, say people familiar with the situation.”
Former Disney technical director and Nickelodeon animation supervisor, Sang-Jin Bae, thinks kids have become “digital illiterates.”
He describes the students who come into his animation classes at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts as falling into three groups: “There are the pure geeks who love technology,” he explains. There are those trying to understand. And then there is the biggest group: “Those who couldn’t care less.”
“The kids I have, and that is roughly two dozen of the brightest young digital artists a semester, often have no idea what Microsoft Word is,” he says, noting a dumbing down of essential computing skills. “They can’t tell a Mac from a PC. And forget Excel. They will not use email. It’s a constant struggle to have them simply stop SMSing me.”
To make matters worse, software developers are creating simpler versions of their products. He cites Windows 8 as an example. Even AutoCAD’s Maya, a professional tool, has a hair animation function that has been re-designed for the “non-techie.” Apps like Instagram also cater to these digital illiterates.
“It has gotten to the point now that if it takes something basic like a password, they can’t figure it out,” suggests Bae. “Application developers are in a race to the bottom.”
A Nielsen survey on 4G wireless trends suggests teenagers are leading the transition from 3G to 4G technology. The report notes that 63 percent of teenagers under 18 report interest in switching from a 3G to a 4G device by the end of the year.
The report adds that 4G usage has risen from 1.4 percent to 7.6 percent of American wireless consumers since 2011.
“Consumers under the age of 34 are the mostly likely to have switched from 3G to the faster 4G network and consumers that have adopted 4G are five times more likely to consider dumping a high-speed Internet subscription with a cable company in favor of 4G hardware as a replacement,” reports Digital Trends.
The report also notes that only 46 percent of respondents reported satisfaction with the 4G device’s battery life. “Many people stated that they would attempt to preserve battery life by switching between 3G and 4G service during the day,” explains the post.
However, while people report satisfaction with their 4G devices, less than ten percent of 4G owners cited the 4G connection as the most important factor in the purchase.
Smithsonian takes a look at the new generation of robots that are increasingly starting to learn how to think and adapt.
“It’s the first time we’ve had this level of technology that allows machines to solve problems on their own, to interact with their environment, to analyze visual images, and to manipulate their environment based on that,” explains technologist and author Martin Ford, who believes that within a decade machines will surpass humans in doing routine work.
Futurist Ray Kurzweil believes machines will soon be more intelligent than humans, but we should find it encouraging rather than threatening.
Kurzweil suggests “that by mid-century, humans and robots will merge in some form,” notes the article. “Maybe we’ll be able to live forever in a body of artificial parts. Or our consciousness will live on inside a computer, a kind of humanoid software. Whatever shape it takes, Kurzweil already has a name for it — singularity.”
“Five years ago, he likes to point out, who would have thought that hundreds of millions of people around the world would be walking around with devices as powerful as smartphones,” notes the article. “Or that almost half a million people could have jobs in the business of making mobile apps.”
The article cites various examples of robot tech development and examines possible implications regarding human jobs. (Be sure to check out the video of the i-SODOG Robot Dog that can be trained through your iOS or Android smartphone.)
Beginning next Monday, free Wi-Fi will be available at some New York City subway stations courtesy of Google.
“Boingo Wireless, the Wi-Fi provider well known for its wireless service for airports, has teamed up with Google Offers, the search company’s Web page for getting deals, to offer the free Internet,” reports The New York Times.
Google will foot the bill from Monday until September 7. Beyond that, Boingo will offer service plans for its Wi-Fi, such as “$10 per month for unlimited use on any two Internet-enabled devices, or $8 per month for unlimited access on a mobile device,” details NYT.
Boingo also hopes for more sponsorships to provide free Wi-Fi in the NYC subway system regularly, said a spokesperson for the company.
The provider says its Wi-Fi will be available in 36 subway stations by the end of 2012 and in 270 stations within the next five years.
Researchers have discovered the presence of a worm now known as “ACAD/Medre.A” which is designed to steal AutoCAD documents such as designs and blueprints and send them to email addresses in China.
While the worm has been centered mainly in Peru and neighboring countries, it is not restricted there.
Written in AutoLISP, AutoCAD’s scripting language, this worm has been spread through infected AutoCAD templates.
“After some configuration, ACAD/Medre.A will begin sending the different AutoCAD drawings that are opened by e-mail to a recipient with an e-mail account at the Chinese 163.com Internet provider,” wrote Righard Zwienenberg of Eset in an analysis of the worm’s activity.
“I don’t think it’s an APT. It’s kind of an uncontrolled attack,” suggests Dimitry Bestuzhev, head of Global Research and Analysis for Kaspersky in Latin America. “It’s hard to say who the target is, and it doesn’t seem to be government sponsored.”
“When it’s a targeted attack, they try to limit the propagation to machines they care about, and that’s not the case with this,” he adds.
Travel site Orbitz has segmented its website into Mac and PC users based on the fact that Mac users will typically be willing to pay $20 to $30 more per night for a hotel room, reports the Wall Street Journal.
“The sort of targeting undertaken by Orbitz is likely to become more commonplace as online retailers scramble to identify new ways in which people’s browsing data can be used to boost online sales,” notes WSJ.
Forrester Research places the average household income for Mac computer owners at $98,560, as compared to the $74,452 average income for PC owners.
“From an analytics perspective, targeting by operating system and pricing accordingly may not be such a bad idea,” adds CNET. “The bonehead move of the century is Orbitz yapping about it. Orbitz did note that pricing by OS is just an experiment.”
Execs at Orbitz point out that the experiment is merely highlighting different offers to Mac and PC visitors, not offering the same room to different users at different prices. According to Orbitz CEO Barney Harford, the news has been misinterpreted since the full story was hidden behind the WSJ pay wall for many readers.
“[It’s] nonsense that we’d charge Mac users more for the same hotel, which is unfortunately the incorrect impression that many readers seem to be drawing from this article’s ‘subscriber content preview,'” he writes via email to NPR. “However, just as Mac users are willing to pay more for higher end computers, at Orbitz we’ve seen that Mac users are 40 percent more likely to book 4 or 5 star hotels as compared to PC users, and [that’s] just one of many factors that determine which hotels to recommend a given customer as part of our efforts to show customers the most relevant hotels possible.”
