Tag: google

Barnes & Noble Teams Up with Google to Take On Amazon

Posted on by Lab Team

Following yesterday’s announcement that Amazon is expanding its same-day delivery program, Google and Barnes & Noble are joining forces to compete with their rival. Starting today, book buyers in selected urban areas can opt for same-day deliveries from local Barnes & Noble stores for orders placed through Google Shopping Express.

As its brick-and-mortar sales continue to decline, Barnes & Noble desperately needs to up its digital game to meet the shifting purchasing habits of book lovers and save itself from the threats posed by Amazon’s current dominance in online book shopping. How this alliance would challenge the online book market is still too early to tell, but it’s only logical that Google is now B&N’s new best friend.

Google Reportedly Buying Game-Streaming Platform Twitch For $1 Billion

Posted on by Lab Team

One billion dollars. That’s the reported price Google is willing to pay to get Twitch, the biggest real-time game-streaming platform, into its digital empire. The deal has yet to become official, but the industry is already buzzing about all its implications. Twitch provides the players with platform to broadcast their gameplay sessions on PC, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4 live to online viewers, building a community of over 50 million of monthly active gamers around the world, which would provide Google with a enormous advertising opportunity. Furthermore, this billion-dollar deal, if confirmed, would not only validate the emerging market of live-streamed gameplay, but also seem to signal an upcoming transformation of YouTube’s current streaming model. It’s an acquisition that could potentially upend the status quo of OtT video market, bringing Twitch’s live-streaming model into the mix.

Update : In an interesting turn of events, Amazon has closed a deal to buy Twitch for $970 million. — Aug. 25, 2014

Google Leads In Autonomous Cars Influencers

Posted on by Lab Team

When asked about driverless cars, which company do you think of first? According to a new study by Appinions, Google is dominating the current buzz over the most prestigious automakers in the market. As the ultimate form of connected cars, autonomous cars have been in public consciousness for a while now, mostly thanks to Google’s experimental efforts. With such high level of technology involved, it’s hardly surprising to see the tech overlord certified as the most influential player. Clearly, auto companies have some catching-up to do if they want to have a say in this growing market.

Google Looking To Turn NYC Payphones Into Wi-Fi Hotspots

Posted on by Lab Team

Over 7,300 payphones in New York City may be transformed into something much more relevant in this mobile age, as Google proposes to convert them into free Wi-Fi hotspots. If completed, this project would basically blanket the whole city with Google-owned Wi-Fi networks, which in turn would benefit the Internet giant greatly with user location tracking and other valuable marketable data. Similar to Facebook’s lofty plan to bring free Internet access to the whole world, Google is looking to move closer towards the inevitable future of big data and ubiquitous computing.

Google’s Busy Week Of Launching iOS Apps

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It’s been a busy week for Google on the native iOS apps front. Just over a week after launching a new separate YouTube Creator app, which lets video creators manage their channel on the go, Google is now introducing the Google Analytics app to iOS. Earlier this week, the internet giant further embraced iOS with the launch of its Ingress augmented reality game, while on Wednesday an all-new Google AdWords Express app for small businesses arrived for both iOS and Android.

Although most of these launches are mere catch-ups with its existing Android app, this at least shows that Google is not giving up on the Apple users yet, despite the on-going competitions between the two brands. After all, making those Google apps available across popular platforms serves as a perfect way to maximize audience reach and, in this case, to subversively infiltrate the user-base locked in Apple’s closed ecosystem with its brand presence. Such is the power of universal access and compatibility.

Nest And Samsung To Introduce New IoT Network Protocol

Posted on by Lab Team

Not long after the announcement of OIC, Samsung is now joining Google’s Nest Labs and six other manufacturers to launch a new wireless network called Thread for smart home automation. This new IP-based IoT network protocol doesn’t rely on Bluetooth, and will be made compatible out of the gate with 250 products, allowing smart gadgets to talk to each other. With Apple’s HomeKit, the aforementioned OIC, and other generic Bluetooth networks, the state of IoT network protocols seems to be getting a bit messy, which is understandable since the market is still in an early stage. For the sake of truly integrated IoT network, however, sooner or later the tech giants will have to figure out which one works the best and settle the matter. Until then, stay tuned for new developments.

Google Teams Up With Novartis To Develop Smart Contact Lens

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Watch out, Google Glass! The next star in wearable tech is coming. Google is teaming up with Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to develop a smart contact lens that analyzes the user’s tears to consistently monitor blood glucose levels. This product appears to be health-focused, at least for now, only emphasizing its functions in tracking diabetes and correcting farsightedness. Nevertheless, with this deal to develop and commercialize the smart lens, it would only be matter of time before other potential functions, such as photography, being integrated in. The real question here is, do we really want our wearable tech this close to our eyeballs?

Pioneer of Google Glass Moving To Amazon

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Babak Parviz, the man who helmed the Google X project that eventually led to Google Glass, has moved to work at Amazon. The optics expert announced the news on his Google+ page, saying that he is “super excited” but doesn’t disclose any details about what he’ll be doing next. One would assume that with Google Glass largely moved past the research stage, this move certainly signals Amazon’s interest in expanding the company’s effort around optical tech. Or at least, improving the “object-recognition Firefly feature on their new Fire Phone. Given the hot market trend of moving towards wearable techs, it looks like Mr. Parviz will keep busy for the foreseeable future.

Google Play Unveils Android Wear Apps

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A new section specifically for apps that work with Android Wear capable smartwatches has been unveiled on Google Play. Even though the compatible smartwatches, which include the LG G and the Moto 360, haven’t even been shipped yet, Android users can now plan ahead by checking out the apps. The news came right after Google announced it will close the ecosystem for Android Wear, forbidding third parties to create custom skins or smartwatch interfaces while universalizing the smartwatch experience across the Android platform. This preemptive strike, harnessing the considerable public curiosity about what exactly these watches could do, seems to indicate Google’s confidence in launching the Android-powered smartwatches. And given the burgeoning wearable market and the general trend towards wearable tech, Google’s vote of confidence on these apps could solidify their lead on wearables devices as they continue to flourish.

YouTube Blames ISPs

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Shots fired, again! Joining the blaming game that was just played by Netflix, YouTube is now publicly shaming the internet service providers for the low streaming speed experienced by some users. Now when your buffering speed is less than optimal, a blue notification bar pops up under the video that directs you to a comparison page between other ISPs in your area, which ranks providers based on the average speed they provide for their customers on YouTube.

The message is loud and clear: ISPs are responsible for whether your video playback is smooth. As the heat between OTT service companies and ISPs continues to rise, especially with the debate over net neutrality caught in recent media spotlight, Google, along with other internet-based companies, is no doubt working this user-experience angle as a subtle PR campaign. The effectiveness of this campaign, however, remains to be seen.