LG’s Nexus 4 Unveiling on 29th October

With Google’s major Android event  just days away from happening, surprisingly LG has officially announced Google will officially unveil the Nexus 4 during the October 29 event. Along with other rumoured device’s unveiling to take place, this is the first officially announced smartphone to take part in the said event.

The official statement just mentions about it being available in Indian markets as soon as this November, which means that other parts including Europe and Asia will get the device pretty soon as well, maybe sooner than in India.

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Much is yet to get disclosed, hopefully we’ll have to just wait till the official event to know what Google has in store for people. For what it’s worth, it seems like this is going to a pretty exciting event for Android and Tech lovers around the globe.

Read more: Chip Hazard

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Brazilian court bans anti-Islam film from YouTube

A court in Brazil said it has ordered YouTube to remove clips of the movie that has touched off deadly protests across the Muslim world, the latest in a spate of court-ordered content-removal cases against the video-sharing site here.

Sao Paulo-based judge Gilson Delgado Miranda gave the site ten days to remove videos, which has raised the ire of many Muslims around the world. After the 10-day window, YouTube’s parent company, Google Inc, will face fines of $5,000 a day for every day the clips remain accessible in Brazil, according to the statement posted on the court’s website late on Tuesday.

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The company did not respond to requests yesterday for comment about the case.

Read more: First Post

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Anti Muslim Film: Google Refuses to Remove YouTube Video

Despite the outrage expressed by the entire Muslim world and the Muslim community in the USA against the airing of the anti Muslim film and White House officials' asking YouTube to review an anti-Muslim video Friday, the Google-owned site doesn’t have any intention of taking it down, according to The New York Times.

Google told the publication that the “Innocence of Muslims” video does not violate terms of service for YouTube regarding hate speech because it is focused on the Muslim religion and not the people who practice it. Although Google put up a temporary block on the clip in Egypt and Libya due to local violations in those countries, it still remains accessible to most worldwide.

The 14-minute video, which was a trailer for an upcoming “Innocence of Muslims” film thought to be created by an American man — upset the Muslim community for insulting the religion’s Prophet Muhammad.

Read more: Mashable

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'Jelly Bean' 4.1 takes on Siri

Google has officially unveiled Android 'Jelly Bean' 4.1, taking on Apple's Siri with enhanced voice-driven search and a personal assistant feature called Google Now.

Jelly Bean will debut on the Asus-made Nexus 7 tablet — also announced at Google I/O on Wednesday — and will start rolling out to the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S smartphones and Motorola Xoom tablet in mid-July. In addition to the Siri-like features, the update introduces a significantly enhanced notifications system and security features for developers.

"Today's smart devices still rely on you to do pretty much everything — that is, until now," Android chief Andy Rubin said in a blog post. "Google Now is a new feature that gets you just the right information at just the right time. It tells you today's weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, or your favourite team's score as they're playing. There's no digging required: cards appear at the moment you need them most."

read details: ZD Net

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Blatant Errors found in Apple's New Maps App

Just when the map war was being intensified between Apple and Google, there are reports that 'blatant error' have been observed in the Apple's new Maps App.

Apple's new Maps app for its upcoming iOS 6 mobile operating system gets most of its maps from TomTom, instead of tested Google Maps.

Screen shots of Apple Maps [Courtesy: Business Insider]

The Beta version of the Tom Tom maps is laced with many errors - so don't be surprise if you find Indian Ocean in Green Land or the Arctic Ocean just below Sri Lanka.

Since this is the Beta version, one may ignore such 'innocent errors' but if the same are found in the actual application, the students may have to be careful qouting Apple Maps in their exams and assignments.

Read more: Business Insider

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Beware of the spy planes in the sky

Spy planes able to photograph sunbathers in their back gardens are being deployed by Google and Apple.

Cartoon courtesy: PUNCH/Mail Online

The U.S. technology giants are racing to produce aerial maps so detailed they can show up objects just four inches wide.

But campaigners say the technology is a sinister development that brings the surveillance society a step closer.

Read more: Mail Online

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If Google Loses the Oracle Battle, the Internet Will Never Be the Same

A jury on Monday turned in the first big verdict in the high-stakes dispute over intellectual property between Google and Oracle. Unfortunately it didn’t do much to resolve the conflict, failing to rule on a key point that would give either party a clear victory.

Briefly, the jury found that Google infringed on Oracle’s copyrights over Java code — which serves as a basis for a big chunk of Android — but didn’t rule at all on whether or not Google’s actions could be considered “fair use.” 

The judge in the case, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup, has said he’ll make a further ruling that will address that point and potentially alter the outcome with a final decision on whether software APIs (application programming interfaces) can be copyrighted.

Read details: Mashable

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U.S. Regulators Approve Google's Massive $12.5 Billion Purchase

Google's $12.5 billion bid to buy cellphone maker Motorola Mobility has won approvals from U.S. and European antitrust regulators, moving Google a major step closer to completing the biggest deal in its 13-year history.

Monday's blessings mean Google Inc. just needs to clear regulatory hurdles in China, Taiwan and Israel before it can take control of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and expand into manufacturing phones, tablet computers and other consumer devices for the first time.

Read more: Huffington Post

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Join Google Piracy Policy!! It Will Give You Money To Give Up Privacy

While there is much hue and cry for piracy on the internet, Google has announced that it will PAY some of its users to share their search history as part of a new project dubbed Screenwise.

People who sign up to be on the Screenwise panel will receive a $5 credit on Amazon for installing a browser extension that allows all of the data from their Chrome browsing to be collected. Participants will get an additional $5 for every three months of participation up to one year.

However, so far Google has not come out with a  clear cut policy on the subject except that "As a panelist, you'll add a browser extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them," Google said.

Read more: Huffington Post

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Offensive India content removed by Google and Facebook

Facebook and Google say they have complied with an Indian court directive and removed "objectionable" material.

They are among 21 web firms, including Yahoo and Orkut, facing a civil suit in Delhi accusing them of hosting material that may cause communal unrest.

Judges have threatened to block sites that fail to crack down on offensive content, but many firms say it is impossible to pre-filter material.

Read more: BBC News India

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Android throws a 'Bouncer' to Fighting Growing Malware Threat

Months after the reports of malware threatening Android, Google Inc has thrown a bouncer to fight back the growing malware threat.

The new sheriff in town is Bouncer: a security service Google put in place to scan new apps as developers load them onto Market, its applications store.

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Bouncer sweeps apps for potentially malicious behavior and also analyzes new developer accounts to prevent "repeat-offenders" from distributing their wares, Google says. Those heightened efforts are paying off, it added.

Read more: Huffington Post

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Google Trims The Fat

Google has more than 40 core products, and hundreds of products depending on how you count them. Even with over 30,000 employees, that’s a lot to support. 

In the name of refocusing, the company announced Friday that Picnik, Sky Map, Urchin, Needlebase, Google Message Continuity, and the Social Graph API are all headed for the deadpool, open source, or absorption into more central divisions.

While Google has long encouraged experimentation, its found itself overextended. The company needs all hands on deck fighting the wars for social, mobile, and the cloud.

Read more: Tech Crunch
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Damning Evidence Emerges In Google-Apple

Next week a class-action civil lawsuit will be heard in San Jose to determine if Google, Apple, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Adobe, Intel, and Intuit conspired to eliminate competition for skilled labor. 

In anticipation of the hearing, TechCrunch has obtained evidence from the Department of Justice’s investigation in 2010 which was made public this evening for the first time. It appears to support the plaintiff’s case that the defendant companies tried to suppress employee compensation by entering into “no poach” agreements.

Read more: Tech Crunch

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Indian court threatens to block Google, Facebook

An Indian court has threatened to block sites such as Facebook and Google unless they take steps to eliminate "offensive and objectionable" content.

"You must have a stringent check. Otherwise, like in China, we may pass orders banning all such websites," the Delhi High Court said during a hearing Thursday with legal representatives for Facebook and Google India.

Read more: France24

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Google Merges Search and Google+ Into Social Media Juggernaut

[ via Mashable ] 10 Jan

Now we know Google’s master-plan for integrating Google+ ever more deeply into the Google ecosystem: Pour the whole thing into Google search. Starting today, Google+ members, and to a lesser extent others who are signed into Google, will be able to search against both the broader web and their own Google+ social graph. That’s right; Google+ circles, photos, posts and more will be integrated into search in ways other social platforms can only dream about, writes Lance Ulanoff at Mashable.

Google calls the search update “Search Across Your World.” Jack Menzel, product management director of search, explained that now Google+ members will be able to “search across information that is private and only shared to you, not just the public web.”

Read for more details: Mashable 

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30 Best Google Doodles of 2011

[ via Mashable ] 1 Jan

his year, more than ever, visiting Google’s homepage became a bit of a surprise. Google Doodles have come a long way from the first one, which showed Burning Man’s iconic logo. It’s now become customary to the search engine’s homepage, and last year, we saw many that were colorful, interactive and crazy.

Here are just some of the Google Doodles of 2011. Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

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Google Nails 2011: Portrait of a Banner Year

[ via Mashable ] 31 Dec

It has proven to be a monumental banner year for Google. It’s hard to believe that one year ago, things such as Google+ and the now all-familiar +1 button were nonexistent. The company has come far from being just a search engine. 

For some, it is an office suite, email service, music player, social network, and much, much more. We’re not exaggerating when we write “Google Nails 2011,” writes Christine Erickson at Mashable.

This year, Google underwent some major changes, both internally and externally. Some old faces returned, such as current CEO Larry Page, and some interfaces went away, as we saw when the new Gmail appeared. The company acquired dozens of startups, made some significant environmentally-friendly investments and faced a couple of antitrust issues.

Read full story at  Mashable  for a month by month 'Nailing by Google' during 2011.

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5 Tips to Get Started using Your Android Device

[ via Chip Hazard ]

While there is an outcry for Apple - not because it is the best in the market, but just because of Steve Jobs, whose death made Apple to thrive, even when it came up with nothing new after iPhone 4, only adding a S with it.

But despite the hype, there is a large section of buyers still opting for the non-Apple stuff and is quite comfortable with it. This post is for these Android lovers to get started. 

Here are five basic tips to start your “Android” journey irrespective of the hardware manufacturer.

1. Get a Google account (if you don’t have one) as this account will be used as your login for Blogger, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Maps, in-short anything that is developed by Google (or has been acquired by Google). This will make your life a way much easier (if you decide to use Google services) to synchronize data between your PC and your smartphone.

2. Like Apple, Android also has an App store that can be used to download numerous applications for your convenience and games for your leisure time. The biggest hub of all this stuff is Google’s official Android Market where you can find numerous apps developed by not only from Google but also from third party developers. All apps are tested and verified so that your smartphone doesn’t get infected by malwares.

3. From Facebook to Twitter, there is an Android version of almost every social networking site out there that you can think of. So with Android, keeping yourself on top in your social circles is a piece of cake.

4. For music lovers, Google has a special treat for you: Google Music. It not only lets you to purchase thousands of high quality soundtracks for pretty low prices, it also synchronizes your music purchases and music library to the cloud for streaming.

5. Talking to your friends, colleagues, or relatives (some of them must own an Android-based smartphone) about your new Android phone is a great way to learn new stuff, so take some time and sit with someone to have a talk.

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Google Reveals The Most Popular Search Terms Of 2011

[ via Business Insider ] 21 Dec

Google just turned in its "annual report" of sorts as it has for the past several years in the form of Zeitgeist.

After sorting through billions of search terms, Google reveals the most popular things people searched for in 2011.

From pop culture to natural disaster, here are the 10 fastest rising search terms in the world for the year to date (to be read from least to best liked).

1. iPad2
2. Steve Jobs
3. TEPCO
4. Adele
5. iPhone 5
6. Battlefield 3
7. Casey Anthony
8. Ryan Dunn (of "Jackass" fame)
9. Google+
10. Rebecca Black (of YouTube fame)

Read more: Business Insider

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Don't ask Google "Let it Snow"

A friend sent a SMS and told me to ask Google "Let it Snow" - and snow it will. I just took as an April Fool like joke and discarded it. But then more SMMs followed. SO I decided to give it a try.

Screen shot of my computer screen when it was snowing

And you know what? It really started snowing on my screen - and by and by the opened window became frosty just like a glass window becomes in real snow.

An innovation by Google. But when your screen is frosty, you can wipe away the frost by using your cursor as an ice scraper or pressing the "Defrost" button, which appears in place of the blue "Search" button.

Watch the video below, shared at YouTube:

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