Google - page 31

LAS VEGAS — Nobody wants to get hacked like Jennifer Lawrence’s iCloud account. Everyone, including Apple, is pushing two-factor authentication in the wake of the high-profile hack that exposed dozens of celebrities nude selfies, but verifying an account login with a code sent to your phone is a total pain.

In the not-so-distant future, we might all be storing two-factor authentication on our keychains.

Yubico is already providing eight out of 10 Silicon Valley companies with a tiny USB dongle called YubiKey that securely verifies an employee’s online identity. You just plug it into a computer and tap it when it’s time to log in. Now that Gmail has started supporting YubiKey on the front end, anyone can use it as the second verification step for getting into their inbox.

Google today announced a new Apple AirPlay competitor called Google Cast, which lets you stream audio from a whole bunch of popular apps to Cast-compatible speakers. The search giant has teamed up with a number of popular services for its launch, including Pandora, Rdio, and NPR One.

Apple’s splash into home automation with addition of HomeKit to iOS 8 is expected to have a huge impact on sales of smart home devices in 2015 according to a Park Associates report that found 37% of U.S. households plan to purchase one or more devices next year.

The rising popularity in smart home device sales has been aided by both Apple and Google introducing new solutions in 2014. The research firm discovered retailers are getting ready for smart home devices to hit the mainstream by expanding shelf space for items like Nest thermometers, Philips Hue bulbs, smart door locks and other items.

First debuted with Android L, Material Design is Google’s new in-house unified design ethos, Material Design. Boiled down, it’s a series of UI/UX tricks that makes Google’s web properties not feel unified with one another, but like digital paper, folding and unfolding underneath your fingertips no matter what device you use.

Android L, of course, has already seen a Material Design revamp, but now we’re starting to see Material Design creep to Google’s iOS app.

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These days, Google is clearly heading toward delivering more helpful search results, which makes some people believe that search engine optimization has become a thing of the past. The reality is quite the opposite, though: It has never been more important to understand best SEO practices and get your hands on accurate data to maintain a stable online presence.

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It’s been over two and a half years since Apple TV was updated, and while Apple’s been happy resting on its laurels, its biggest competitors are passing it by.

Google’s Chromecast is now more popular than Apple TV, reports Parks Associates, which says streaming media players become more popular than ever in the first three quarters of 2014, as 10 percent of U.S. households bought at least one new streaming device.

Google has launched a new online tool that allows users to see all the devices that have logged into their account in the last 28 days. If you have suspicions that someone may be logging into your Google account without your permission, you can log in and quickly identify any unauthorized access from computers and mobile devices.

Apple has spent a great deal of time distancing itself from Google ever since its erstwhile partner launched Android back in 2008. Google Maps and YouTube haven’t been bundled as default apps on iPhones or iPads for years, and rumors keep swirling that Apple will kill its partnership with Google as a default search engine in Safari on both iOS and OS X.

But now? Now it looks like Apple might finally pull the trigger, ending all of its Google partnerships for good.

The patent-holding consortium Rockstar — which includes Apple among its members, alongside Microsoft, BlackBerry and others — has reached a settlement with Google.

In a lawsuit filed last October, Rockstar alleged that Google was infringing on 7 different search-related patents, which had been acquired by Rockstar in 2011 following the bankruptcy of networking products supplier Nortel.

Rockstar outbid Google to acquire the patents, for which it paid $4.5 billion. Some reports put Apple’s contribution as high as $2.6 billion.

Google’s new Inbox app is a godsend for people like me who seem to teeter on the brink of inbox bankruptcy weekly, but there’s one problem with the killer Gmail manager: it’s not only available on iOS, Chrome, and Android.

The Inbox team might not be in a hurry to bring its service to Safari, but if you want don’t want to defect to Chrome just manage play with Inbox, our friend Rishi at Zinx has discovered how to access Inbox from Safari.

Here’s how to do it:

Andy Rubin, co-founder and former head of Android, has left Google to start up a hardware incubator dedicated to building robots.

Rubin helped establish Android as the world’s most widely-used mobile operating system after it was bought by Google in 2005, before switching to run Google’s robotics business last year.

Are you interested in Inbox, Google’s innovative new attempt to “fix” email, but haven’t gotten an invitation into the beta?

Good news: as long as you have a real-world friend who is already part of Inbox’s invite-only beta, you can easily get in, no invite required. Here’s how.

Nest has acquired Revolv, the Colarado-based startup which allowed users to control their smart home devices from a single interface using their smartphone.

No price has yet been announced for the purchase, which follows Nest’s $555 million Dropcam purchase back in June, and Nest’s own acquisition by Google for a massive $3.2 billion earlier this year.

Apple may be out-earning its rivals, but there’s one place it’s lagging behind: political lobbying.

While companies like Google and Facebook continued to pour millions of dollars into influencing U.S. lawmakers during Q3, Apple spent a fraction of this sum.

According to recently published data, between July and September Google spent $3.94 million on lobbying, while Facebook spent $2.45 million. Apple, for its part, spent just over $1 million — mainly pushing issues related to consumer health legislation, transportation of lithium ion batteries, international taxes, e-books, medical devices, and copyright.

Apple and Google have resumed mediation talks with tech workers who are suing Silicon Valley’s top tech firms for an alleged anti-hiring agreement orchestrated by Steve Jobs.

Court filings indicate that Intel and Adobe are also participating in the talks as the companies attempt to reach a new settlement for the class action case, after U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh rejected the companies’ proposed settlement of $324.5 million last month.

If you’re a Chrome user, good news: the latest beta version of Google’s excellent web browser finally takes full-advantage of the speed and performance boosts of your Mac’s 64-bit chip. Prepare for a speedier, more stable web browsing experience. And more new features besides.

Apple may view its mobile health push as a “moral obligation,” but for it to really become the tech leader in this area it’s going to need to ensure that it has user trust on its side.

That may help explain why — ahead of the September 9 event many predict will see the unveiling of the long-awaited iWatch — Apple has taken the opportunity to update its HealthKit privacy policy to ensure that developers keep user data away from advertisers and data brokers.

Until today, Google had free apps for making documents and spreadsheets on iOS: Google Docs and Google Sheets. To complete the trifecta, Google Slides has been released in the App Store for creating Powerpoint-like presentations.

Google is gunning hard at Apple’s iWork apps and Microsoft’s Office 365 suite. Docs, Sheets and Slides are not only completely free, but they have offline mode and the ability to convert and edit Microsoft Office files.

Google has launched an official Photo Sphere app for iPhone that allows users to snap 360° panoramas and then publish them on Google Maps. It’s perfect for capturing all of the amazing places you visit, and it lets your friends share your experiences in a way that regular photos just can’t.

The world already has more music streaming services than any sane person can subscribe to on a monthly basis, but Google is preparing to take on the likes of Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, and Beats Music with a new service of its own called YouTube Music Key.

Apple’s mega deal with IBM could give it a death grip on the enterprise market, but according to a report from The Information, Google’s Android team has been deep in talks with HP on ways it can push Android deeper into enterprise itself.

Using Google Now’s voice-search powers, the Android unit and HP have been discussing the potential of creating a mobile search product nicknamed “Enterprise Siri,” that could access financial data, product inventory, and more to become the perfect Siri-like tool for enterprise customers.

Google today rolled out a new Chrome beta for OS X — officially dubbed Chrome Canary — which finally takes advantage of the 64-bit processors built into the latest Macs. The change should mean better performance when browsing the web, but it isn’t quite ready to become your daily driver just yet.

Google Search for iOS has got a new Easter that allows Android-hatin’ fanboys – or anyone else who just likes destroying things – to tear apart the GOOG’s childish logo, one letter at a time.

To find the Google Search easter egg just open the app to the main search screen and you’ll be able to drag, flick and drop letters from the Google logo anywhere on the screen. Titling right and left makes the letters float or fall based on your tilt, and if you want to restore order, each letter can be put back in its proper place.

If your app still has the Nelson Mandela logo you’ll have to wait for an update, but in the meantime, checkout the easter egg in action in the quick video below:

While Android has a significantly larger user base, iOS has always been the more profitable platform for app developers. That’s expected to change over the next three years, however. One analyst believes that by 2018, Google Play will bring in more revenue than the App Store for the first time ever.

Apple has added extra protection to iCloud’s outgoing email, making it harder for hackers, the NSA, or any other malicious spying groups to get their digits on your messages.