Google

Google’s making Google Voice more secure by requiring you to call from a phone number registered to your account in order to check your voicemails by phone. But maybe more noteworthy is that Google is still making minor tweaks to Voice instead of killing it and focusing on Hangouts already. What’s up with that?

Google Just Bought the Coolest Way To Transfer Data From Phone to Phone

Remember Bump, that nifty little app that let you transfer data from phone to phone—or phone to computer—with a handy little NFC-free bump? Well now it belongs to Google. https://gizmodo.com/bump-is-the-newest-easiest-way-to-send-your-digital-go-5984313 Bump/touch-to-share has always been a little bit of a novelty, mainly because most variations—like those built-in to Samsung’s Galaxy phones—rely on NFC to get the…

All the holiday paradises visited by Google execs using your tax money

Google and the Department of Defense signed a weird deal in 2007: the former would let the latter use a federal airfield and buy government jet fuel at half the normal price—for scientific and official purposes. However, Google’s top brass used tons of this fuel to travel to these hot playgrounds. Fort-de-France, Martinique, Caribbean San…

Eric Schmidt Says Government Surveillance Is Just Part of Our Society

Since the whole PRISM thing blew up, and dozens of other Snowden revelations followed it, there’s been a lot of talk about government spying—foreign stuff and domestic survellience—and what these revelations mean. According to Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt, not much; this is just part of our society now. In an event hosted by the…

Nokia Was Testing Android Lumia Phones Before Microsoft Swallowed It

It’ll never happen now but the dream of beautifully brawny Nokia hardware loaded with dominating Android software was an idea that Nokia had been toying around with before Microsoft swooped in and bought Nokia’s phone business. In fact, Android-powered Lumia phones actually existed inside Nokia. You heard it right, ANDROID LUMIA PHONES. https://gizmodo.com/breaking-microsoft-is-buying-nokias-phones-business-1243005211 The NY…

Google Street View Driver Rams 2 Buses, 1 Truck in Failed Hit-and-Run

It’s not a good year to be a Google Street View driver—or rather, in this case, to be anywhere in the vicinity of one. In Bogor, Indonesia, one ill-fated Google Street View car got itself into a bit of trouble when the driver’s failed attempt at a hit-and-run involved him ramming into two large public…

New FCC Filing May Reveal Fully-Assembled Nexus 5

Thanks to newly released regulatory documents by the FCC, we seem to have confirmation that a “Nexus 5” will, in fact, be coming to us from LG sometime relatively soon. The documents, first uncovered by Phonescoop, come bearing loads of photos that reveal both the internal and external workings of the device—a device that looks…

You Can Now Explore the Galapagos Islands With Google Street View

The Galapagos is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, and it was key in Charles Darwin’s findings in forming the the scientific argument of evolution. You may never get to travel to the volcanic archipelago in person, but now thanks to Google, you can explore it through 360-degree imagery on Street View.…

Google+ Now Works as a Serious Photo Editor (If You Use Chrome)

Google+ is now rolling out many of the image adjustment tricks included in its Auto Awesome feature as manual tools—if you use the right browser. https://gizmodo.com/google-new-photo-features-hands-on-fun-but-unreliabl-507748875 Auto Awesome did an admirable—if unreliable—job of applying image adjustments to photographs uploaded to Google+, but clearly the idea here that a human touch may help somewhat more. So,…

Google Search Data Makes the RIAA’s Censorship Efforts Look Pretty Dumb

By its own account, the RIAA will submit 30 million link takedown requests to Google this week. Google will ultimately comply with most of them, but the RIAA wants more. Now Google’s fighting back against censorship with data. Google has been at odds with the recording industry’s mouthpiece for some time over links to illegal…

Google’s Chromebooks Are Finally Getting Grown-Up Guts

Chromebooks aren’t known for being the beefiest machines out there, but they’re getting some hot new guts. Google just dropped the news that there are Chromebooks on the way rocking Intel’s new 4th generation CPUs, bringing serious computing power and better battery life to the table. https://gizmodo.com/the-kickass-processors-that-will-power-your-next-comput-510668761 The upcoming 4th gen-powered Chromebooks will be coming…

Intel Bay Trail: Laptop-Tablet Hybrids Might Actually Keep Up Now

Just a couple of months ago, Intel’s new 4th generation processors helped laptops get a whole lot better. Now Intel’s trying to work the same magic on mobile. Meet Bay Trail, a new flavor of chips designed specifically to make Windows 8 and Android tablets more awesome. https://gizmodo.com/the-kickass-processors-that-will-power-your-next-comput-510668761 Bay Trail is Intel’s newest Atom chip……

This Incredible Tablet Keyboard Transforms to Fit Your Sloppy Fingers

Not too long ago, Swype‘s one-finger swiping totally changed phone typing (on Android at least). We don’t all swipe all the time, but that functionality is built right in to the default Android keyboard. Now, the same minds behind Sywpe are trying to change tablet typing with Dryft, a virtual keyboard for touch typists. https://gizmodo.com/swypes-keyboard-is-now-out-of-beta-and-in-the-play-stor-5995311…

You Can Now Stream Video From Android to Roku

Roku has updated its Android app with an awesome new feature: you can now stream video from your Android handset to the media box. https://gizmodo.com/roku-3-review-the-new-best-streaming-box-5991159 All you need is the Roku Remote app, which is available from the Google Play store. Then you’re able to sling video to your TV in much the same way…

You Can Now Buy a Google Nexus 7 With LTE

Google, Facebook and Yahoo Join Forces to Fight For More Transparency

Facebook, Google and Yahoo are doubling down on their quest for more transparency in the government—especially the intelligence community. Specifically, the three companies filed amended petitions to coerce the government into allowing them to publish details about FISA requests. The request comes just days after Yahoo and Facebook followed Google’s lead and released their first…

All Gadget Teardowns Should End In an Explosion

We’ve seen your typical, sterile, tiny-screwdriver-filled teardown of Nvidia’s Shield that showed there’s actually a lot crammed in there. But Nvidia decided to do a teardown of its own that’s just a little…rougher. https://gizmodo.com/nvidia-shield-teardown-a-lots-crammed-into-this-stran-987565085 Admittedly this is pure marketing, what with that exhaustive spec rundown mid-explosion, but that doesn’t take away from the good (clean?)…

What Upcoming Tech Gadget Are You Most Excited For?

So we talked about smart watches this entire week, we’ll talk about the next iPhone and different color options all of next week and we’ll eventually start seeing if the upcoming iPad and iPad Mini are worth a damn next month which will give way for a conversation about the Xbox One, PS4, Kinect, rumbling…

Android Apps of the Week: Silent Text, MetroNap, PrivacyFix and More

Well, it’s Friday, and despite it only being a four-day work week for many of you, we’re still proud of you for making it to the end. Here are the best of the best Android apps we found this week, one for each day of working our fingers to the bone. Silent Text: Whether your…

Report: Amazon Wants to Give Away Its Rumored Smartphone for Free

We’ve been hearing rumors about Amazon developing its own smartphone for years. Now, a new report from Wall Street Journal vets Jessica Lessin and Amir Efrati not only says the launch is imminent but also claims it’ll have a very very consumer-friendly price tag: $0. https://gizmodo.com/amazon-might-make-a-kindle-phone-but-it-really-shouldnt-5860602 A free smartphone! Sounds pretty awesome, right? But let’s…