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Google Bans Non-Play Store Android App Updates

If you use Android, you may have had Facebook updates foisted upon you that didn’t require going anywhere near the Play store. That made Google angry—so it’s banned developers from being able to update apps except from through its store. Previously, if users chose to allow installations from unknown sources on their handset, an alert…

The earliest of early adopters can now get the New York Times app on Google Glass. HUD headlines!

Eric Schmidt Thinks Controlling Google Glass with Your Voice Is “the Weirdest Thing”

There’s a lot of quirkiness to Google Glass and a lot of stuff that Google still has to figure out. One of those things, according to ol’ Google CEO Eric Schmidt, is talking out loud to control Google Glass. In a talk at Harvard today, Schmitty literally called it “the weirdest thing”. He also said…

Technology Soothsayer William Gibson Couldn’t Help But Love Google Glass

William Gibson has long been known as something of a prophet, predicting everything from reality TV to “cyberspace” itself. Way back in 1981 AD, he imagined something very similar to Google Glass when he introduced us to Molly Millions, the badass cyborg with a screen-like digital eye augmentation. But we’d yet to see Gibson weigh…

Swype’s Keyboard Is Now Out of Beta and in the Play Store—For $1

Swype has finally dropped its Beta tag and gone official—which means it’s now in the Play store, easy to install, and no longer free. Developers at Nuance—the company which purchased Swype in 2011—clearly deem the latest version of the Android Keyboard, 1.5, finished and ready for full public consumption. In reality, aside from a little…

Five Simple Ways to Keep Your Android Malware-Free

While it’s true that Android is a little more susceptible to malware attacks than iOS, the situation isn’t nearly as bad as Apple would have you believe. With a little knowledge and a sprinkling of common sense, you can make your device impervious to even the most dastardly of digital assaults. Here’s how. 1. Set…

Google’s Offices Have Awesome Secret Rooms Hidden By Swiveling Bookshelves

Google’s New York City office has something that every office in America needs: secret rooms hidden by swiveling bookshelves. If you’re not in the know, you wouldn’t know it existed. But if you do have Batman access at Google, you can pull the correct book and expose a whole ‘nother world. Or something like that.…

Google’s Earth Day Doodle is all kinds of wrong

If there’s one thing I love more than octopuses, octopodes and octopi (all of which are perfectly acceptable pluralizations of the word octopus, thank you very much), it’s pedantry. And good grief, does Phil Plait ever serve up a whopping helping of the stuff in reaction to today’s Earth-Day themed Google Doodle. https://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-correct-pluralization-of-octopus-5897603 Plait (aka…

Google Might Change Google.com and Make Using the Internet Way Better

As a fashionable internet denizen, you do not use a homepage, probably. You open a new browser window or tab, and you’re met with your Chrome apps, or Safari favorites, or whatever the hell Firefox is doing now. And if you do have one, it’s probably a legacy media hub like MSN, AOL or Yahoo,…

You Could Control Google Glass With a Wink

When was the last time you winked? When was the last time you winked and didn’t immediately regret it? It’s probably been a while, but Google’s aiming making winking cool again(?), by hard-coding some 😉 functionality right into Glass. The code was dug up by Redditor fodawim, who found some variables with variations on the…

This Family of Data-Stealing Android Malware Got Downloaded from Google Play Millions of Times

Everyone knows there’s malware on Android, but for the most part it just hides out in the seedier back alleys of the OS. You’re only likely to run into it if you start side-loading pirated apps, or frequenting sketchy unofficial app stores. But a newly uncovered family of malware—fittingly called “BadNews”—was just chillin’ in Google…

Sherpa, Google’s One Today, and More

Google has some exciting things on the horizon for Android. Its foray helping with charity transparence is already in beta, and the GoogleGlass companion app is finally here, even if most people still aren’t ready to drop $1,000 bucks for the hardware. One Today: Part of Google.org, its non-profit site, One Today’s ultimate goal is…

These Cheap and Cheerful Archos Smartphones Run Stock Android and Start at $120

Archos has announced a new range of budget smartphones for those of limited means—and while they may not be market leaders, they have value and stock Android going for them. While the new handsets might not be challenging the HTC One anytime soon, there’s no denying their value. The 35 Carbon, for instance, offers up…

Google’s Buying Provo’s Entire Fiber Network, Worth $39m, For $1

When Google announced it was rolling out a fiber network in Provo, Utah, it wasn’t clear how or why it had chosen the city. Turns out, Google has managed to secure a deal to buy its entire municipal fiber network—which cost $39 million to build—for just a single dollar. The deal, expected to be approved…

Turns out Julian Assange had a secret meeting with Eric Schmidt in 2011. You can read a full transcript on WikiLeaks.

Facebook Messenger users on Android can now enjoy free VoIP in the US.

The Very Suspicious Similarities Between Google Glass and… Glass

At first sight, the two logos above look so similar that you might think they’re the same product. But are they? Nope. The image on the right is the logo for Google Glass, the futuristic glasses from Google that just arrived to the hands of the first lucky explorers. The image on the left, however,…

Google Bans Selling or Lending of Glass

If Google thinks any of its new Google Glass owners have been flogging them on eBay or loaning them their to friends it has the right to remotely deactivate the tech spectacles, according to the Ts & Cs in the contract this first wave of buyers have agreed to. The oppressive Google Glass terms state…

Google has just announced that Provo, Utah, will become its third “Google Fiber City.”

Sherpa, the Lovechild of Siri and Google Now

Bark something at Siri and it might get back to you with what you’re looking for. Google Now is supposed to serve up relevant information when you need it without having to do the legwork yourself. Now imagine the two merging together to form a Voltron-like personal assistant. Sherpa is that Voltron and it’s finally…