Google - page 57

At Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters, they serve up to 15,000 meals per day to some of the illuminati of tech, including more than a few celebrities, without a blink. But according to Google superchef Charlie Ayers, when Steve Jobs entered the Google cafeteria, everything was different: the employees parted like “Moses before the Red Sea.”

Jobs liked Ayers’s food so much that when Ayers left Google to open his own restaurant, the Calafia Cafe, Steve Jobs followed him, and even brought his entire family to the restaurant for a last-minute Easter dinner. Even though he was a regular, Ayers says no one ever approached Steve Jobs, except one customer: a little boy who asked for (and received) an autograph. Awww.

[via Forbes]

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs could get a little ticked-off when speaking about Android. At one point, Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson: “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.” Well, Google certainly knows how to push Steve’s buttons. The latest example: Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of the Mountain View, Calif. company, says Android was way out ahead of the iPhone – sort of. Kind of. Well, pretty close, okay?

Earlier today Google announced the addition of Google+ Pages, which allows businesses to create pages and interact with fans, just like on those other social networks. We’re really excited about Google+ (Hangouts are pretty freaking awesome), so we’re not wasting time to get started. We created our shiny new Google+ Page for Cult of Mac that will be getting all latest Cult of Mac news and love. Now you can add us to your circle and enjoy Cult of Mac’s news in Google+.

You can get to our Google+ Page by clicking here. And if you haven’t added us yet to your Facebook and Twitter parties, we’d love to be your friend there, too.

We recently told you about Apple’s acquisition of geo mapping company C3 Technologies. By utilizing state of the art satellite technology, C3 Technologies specialized in enhanced 3D maps that put Google’s map images to shame.

C3 Technologies was apparently working on more than just beautiful 3D mapping. The company was also focusing on making interior mapping a reality.

For the last few weeks I’ve been using DuckDuckGo as my search engine, not just on my Mac but also on my iPhone.

The iPhone app in particular was a delightful eye-opener.

Google’s former CEO and executive chairman Eric Schmidt told U.S. Senators Apple’s voice-recognition system is an “interesting development,” suggesting the iPhone 4S feature posed a “competitive threat” to its search business. Schmidt’s written comments come as a new survey finds Siri drastically reduces the number of Google searches, many times to none.

This is one iOS app I am particularly excited about. I’m a huge fan of the Sparrow email client for Mac OS X, and ever since rumors started circulating that claimed the app is coming to iOS, I’ve been itching to get my hands on it. According to the application’s developer, Dominique Leca, Sparrow will land on the iPhone in the coming months.

Well, that didn’t take long. Just three hours after Google released their official Gmail for iOS app, they’ve already pulled it.

Why? Well, despite our initial enthusiasm, it kind of sucked.

Remember that fantastic native Gmail app that Google was on the verge of releasing? They’ve done gone and released it, and it’s available now as a free download for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 4 or above.

A third-party app allowing iOS devices to stream music via Amazon’s Cloud Drive has been yanked from the App Store amid reported legal concerns, and that’s not all: the developer says Apple is delaying approving an update for another music app that streams music from Google’s similar cloud music service.

The App Store is yet to offer any third-party email clients, but that’s all about to change thanks to Google. The company is reportedly “on the verge” of launching a “fantastic” Gmail app for the iPhone that may have already been submitted to Apple for approval.

Andy Rubin, Google’s senior vice president of mobile, doesn’t particularly care for Siri and the idea that the iPhone 4S could be your personal assistant. Rubin says it’s just a little weird for people to be talking to their phone. Those words he’s going to eat.

While sometimes it may seem that Samsung tries its hardest to taunt Apple’s legal department, the company’s mobile president has revealed that its latest Galaxy Nexus smartphone was built to avoid Apple patents, saving the Korean company yet another legal battle.

A Steve Jobs memorial held at Stanford Memorial Church on Sunday attracted a huge number of people who came to pay their respects to Apple’s former CEO and co-founder. Among them were a long list of celebrities, musicians, CEOs, and even a former president.

If retail stores are good enough for Apple, they’re good enough for Google.

Despite its unprecedented success and staggering popularity the world over, Apple’s iPhone is no longer Britain’s coolest brand, having been knocked off the top spot of the ‘Cool Brands index’ by Aston Martin.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed that both Apple and Dropbox have joined the Digital Due Process coalition — a group whose mission is to pressure Congress into updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

Suzanne Michel, a high-level employee in Google’s legal department (and former FTC Official), testified in court today at the Senate Judiciary hearings that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo all bid to become Apple’s default search engine in Safari on iOS.

You’d think that Android would hold a considerable chunk of Google’s mobile search, due to the integration that Google has with the OS and Android’s substantial market share. That doesn’t seem to be the case.

Before being cut off at the end of her testimony, Michel said that 2/3rds of Google’s mobile search comes from iOS devices.

That says something.

(via 9to5Mac)

In the current wave of patent wars, Google has become an arms supplier, buying technology from other firms to increase Android’s ability to fight back against Apple. In its latest purchase in the Silicon Valley’s version of an arms bazaar, the Internet giant snapped up 1,023 IBM patents.

Now that Samsung has denied that they are eying webOS as a potential platform for its mobile devices, HTC could end up being the one to purchase Palm’s former OS to compete against Apple’s iOS.

Not only would HTC buying webOS make sense financially, but it would also position HTC in a unique position to combat the growth of iOS in the mobile market.

While blogging services like Posterous, Tumblr, and WordPress have long catered to those of use who like to write up posts on our iPhones, Google made us wait a long time for an iPhone app for Blogger. But now it’s finally here, and it does a great job.

Google has just released an HTML 5 optimized iOS web app for its Google Music cloud service.

Now you can play your tunes on any iDevice from the browser.

Hot on the heels of the rumor that Apple is considering the acquisition of TV/movie streaming and subscription service Hulu, it’s now being reported that Google has entered the potential buyer foray with a handsome bid to put the others to rest.

Currently, Amazon, Yahoo, and the Dish Network are eying Hulu for a potential buyout, and there’s always the possibility that Apple could step in at the last minute. As of right now, Google may be the one that gets to take Hulu home.

Following Steve Jobs’ decision to step down from the position of Apple CEO yesterday, the internet is awash with reaction pieces and opinions from some of the industry’s biggest names. MacRumors points to a rather humorous anecdote from Google’s Vic Gundotra, in which he pays tribute to Steve’s meticulous attention to detail — which Gundotra believes every CEO should have.

If you’re a regular visitor to Cult of Mac, you’ll already have some appreciation of how terrific Steve Jobs is. But do his employees share the same opinion of him as us fans?  Well, according to the employment reviews and rating site Glassdoor, 97% of them approved of him as CEO — making Steve one of the most successful CEOs among those rated on the site.