Microsoft hopes it will boost Microsoft Store downloads. Photo: Apple
Microsoft is developing a “Movies & TV” app for Android and iOS in an effort to boost downloads from the Microsoft Store, according to a new report.
Customers can enjoy content purchased from Microsoft only on Windows platforms for now. The company hopes that by supporting new platforms, it will encourage more people to use its store over competitors like iTunes.
Real human developers can read your Gmail messages. But only if you let them. Photo: Google
Privacy is a hot-button issue in 2018, and the latest target is Google after it was revealed that developers of third-party apps can read your Gmail messages.
The thing is, you gave the application permission to do that. You just don’t remember. Or weren’t paying attention.
Apple's new "Spaceship" campus is contributing to soaring property values. Photo: Duncan Sinfield
Innovation is great but having it as a neighbor can be a mixed blessing.
Silicon Valley counties are reporting soaring property values thanks to a tech sector boom led by Apple and Google, who have spent the last few years buying huge swaths of land to build new headquarters.
They’re still running! Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Android owners are still ditching their handsets for an iPhone at an impressive rate.
New research reveals that up to 20 percent of iPhone buyers each quarter are switching from Google devices. The iPhone SE is one of the most popular models among former Android fans, but there’s a lot of love for larger Apple devices, too.
Apple has already taken steps to fight fake news. Photo: Apple
Apple is among the tech companies which recently met with members of the U.S. intelligence community to discuss the upcoming midterm elections.
Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Oath, Snap and Twitter were approached because of continued concerns about the way that tech platforms were allegedly used for spreading fake news during the 2016 Presidential elections.
Apple takes consumer privacy seriously, but Google and Facebook don't. Can an industry trade group that includes all three company reach any kind of consensus? Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The Information Technology Industry Council will meet on Wednesday. This trade group, made up of Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and others, will discuss consumer privacy.
The proceedings are likely to be contentious, as these companies have very different views on the subject.
One of Alphabet-subsidiary Weymo's senior engineers now works on Apple autonomous cars like this one. Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter
Jaime Waydo is leaving Google’s Waymo for Apple. This should help silence anyone who doubts that Apple is serious about its autonomous car efforts.
Waydo describes her old job at this Alphabet subsidiary as “Helping make self driving cars a reality!” Presumably, that’s what she’ll be doing in her new position too.
View all your messages individually if you prefer. Photo: Google
Some of us need to have email notifications enabled, but we don’t want our iPhone to ping every time a spam message hits out inbox. Gmail just got a big notifications upgrade that solves this problem.
Its official iOS app now uses artificial intelligence to provide notifications for your most important emails only.
On-device learning should make the Google Translate app much better at its job. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Neural machine translation (NMT) has made the online version of Google Translate more accurate for years. Today, this AI feature was added to the iOS and Android apps so it can be used offline.
NTM allows the software to learn over time to create better, more natural translations. And this function is available while traveling without a local data plan.
At the urging of vegans, the egg is being removed from Google's salad emoji, pictured at right. Apple's, Samsung's, and other's versions are already meat-less. Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Google has bowed to pressure from vegans and taken the egg out of Android’s salad emoji.
This isn’t something iPhone users need concern themselves with, as Apple’s version is already meatless.
Valve is making a huge change that’s going to have a massive impact on the content you see in the Steam Store. The company is doing away with human curation and allowing everything to be sold through its platform.
Valve says it should be up to players to decide what kinds of games they play, while developers should have the freedom to choose what kinds of games they make. However, it will be creating new tools that give shoppers greater control over what appears in their Steam Store.
Millions in Britain wants $1000 each because they claim Google invaded their privacy Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
A group of 4.4 million Brits accuse Google of illegally collecting and selling their personal information. They want a court to award them$1000 (£750) each in compensation.
The group, which calls itself Google You Owe Us, was in court today asking to be made a representative action, the British equivalent of a class action.
'Don't be evil' went from the first sentence of the Google code of conduct to the very last. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Google’s founders tried to define their corporate philosophy with a single phrase: “Don’t be evil.” Now that phrase has all but disappeared from the company’s official code of conduct.
But there are questions about whether Google could be anything but evil, given that its entire business model is violating the privacy of its users.
Qualcomm's upcoming processor might make Google's Wear OS more competitive. Photo: Google
One of the reasons Apple Watch has no problems fending off competition running Google’s Wear OS is that they all use a two-year-old processor. Qualcomm is finally readying a new smartwatch chip for release this fall.
In addition, the next version of Watch OS will make greater use of Google Assistant, the company’s artificial intelligence powered system for voice control.
Android P has a similar swipe-based navigation system as the iPhone X, and it supports screen cutouts. Graphic: Google
Anyone who’s used an iPhone X already knows how to navigate around in the next version of Google’s mobile operating system. The company showed off Android P at its developer conference today, and it includes a touch bar at the bottom of the screen, just like Apple’s flagship phone.
Android P also natively supports screen cutouts, so device makers will be able to easily produce iPhone X clones.
Google I/O 2018 was full of AI surprises. Photo: Google
Google just took the wraps off its big software lineup for 2018. If Apple executives were watching, there’s a lot they should be worried about.
Artificial intelligence has always been one of Google’s strengths over Apple. But in 2018, the search company is going all out, putting AI in everything. Pretty much every app the company has is getting some new machine-learning tricks in the next few weeks that make certain iOS features look ancient.
Check out the biggest announcements from this morning’s Google I/O keynote.
Did you ever open up Google on your iPad, and wish that, instead of just typing your query using the always-accessible keyboard, you could write it anywhere on the Google home page using a finger, or an Apple Pencil? No, me neither. But that doesn’t make the possibility any less real. Now, with a simple settings tweak, you need never type a Google query ever again.
What does Google have in store for us this year? Photo: Google
Google I/O 2018 kicks off in less than an hour.
There’s loads to look forward to this year, including an update on Android P, and previews of what’s to come for Chrome, the Google Assistant, Android Auto, and more. The recently-rebranded Wear OS may also get some much-needed attention.
Google is live-streaming its big keynote, which kicks off at 10 a.m. Pacific. If you can’t tune in, follow our live blog below to stay up to date with everything that’s happening in Mountain View.
Apple's Google cash is an easy source of money. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The money that Google pays Apple to be the default iOS search engine is poised to become a much smaller part of Apple’s Services revenue.
In its most recent quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple singled out licensing as one of the main factors for its 31 percent increase in Services revenue over the past quarter. But Google parent company Alphabet told investors that the money paid to distribution partners — including Apple — will slow down this year.
Apple requests DMCA removal of iPhone security tweet. Then changes its mind Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Google’s service making its accounts uncommonly secure has been extended to iOS native apps. This is only for people who carry around really sensitive information and who therefore expect their iPhone or iPad to come under sophisticated attack.
Starting today, the Advanced Protection Program supports Apple Mail, Calendar, and Contacts. Naturally, this is only for those who connect these iOS apps to Google accounts.
Data from your Fitbit smart watch could be sent straight to your electronic medical record thanks to a collaboration between Fitbit and Google. Photo: Fitbit
Fitbit wants Google’s help to turn its fitness trackers into health monitors. The wearables maker will use Google’s cloud solutions to tie directly to users’ electronic medical records.
The real goal, of course, is to help Fitbit be more competitive with arch-rival Apple Watch.