Google

The Facebook Phone: It’s Finally Sorta Real (Update: Eyes-On)

We’ve been talking about it for years now—half dread, half excitement—and now it’s no longer just our imaginations. The Facebook Phone is as real as it’s probably ever going to get: it’s called Facebook Home a complete Android takeover that converts your smartphone. It’s important to know what Facebook Home, “the Facebook Phone,” isn’t. Facebook…

Why You Might Actually Want a Facebook Phone

Facebook’s got a new phone. And a new home screen. They’re going to be fine, probably, more or less. But you are also asleep now because the idea of a Facebook phone bores you, deeply. Maybe it shouldn’t. In a perfect world, there’s a compelling case for a true blue Facebook phone. It’s the Messaging…

Google Is Forking WebKit to Create a New Rendering Engine For Chrome and Opera

Google announced last night that it’s going to stop using WebKit—the rendering engine currently used by the likes of Safari and Chrome to display web pages—in favor of its own solution which will be called Blink. That is, admittedly, super-nerdy news, but it’s important. Google claims that WebKit has been slowing down the way it…

Let’s Hope the Facebook Phone Really Does Look This Darn Beautiful

It’s widely believed that Facebook will announce a new Android phone UI, called Home, along with accompanying HTC hardware at an event tomorrow. I know, we’re all thinking, “Ugg, Facebook phone.” But everything we’ve heard is really exciting. 9To5Google claims to have some shots of the new UI, and if they’re real, it’s going to…

Reuters: Google to Launch Second-Gen Nexus 7 in July

Reuters is suggesting that Google will launch a new version of its Nexus 7 tablet in July—which will bring with it a decent spec bump, if the rumors are to be believed. Citing two “sources with knowledge of the new product”, Reuters claims that the new Nexus 7 will pack a higher resolution screen, thinner…

Google says it’s having issues listing iTunes preview pages in search, but that it’s a technical fault. Suspicious much?

Could Adjusting Your Cameraphone Settings Based On the Weather Really Improve Your Shots?

Like it or not, compared to a DSLR, or even a point & shoot, your smartphone’s camera sucks. They’ve gotten considerably better over the years, and will continue to improve, but their tiny sensors and limited optics means image quality and their ability to accurately process a scene still have a long way to go.…

Google Drive’s shared folders just got a lovely UI update that even lets you preview and flip through content.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 Has Been Rooted Before It’s Even Available

Samsung’s new flagship Galaxy S 4 isn’t even on the shelves yet, but a team of dedicated tinkerers over at XDA Developers has already managed to root the thing. That means that those who can’t resist getting under the skin of their phones will be able to do so immediately with the new S 4.…

This Secret Google Maps Gesture Is Totally Brilliant

So this is great. Google might have the smartest new gesture we’ve seen in a while: a smart, simple way to zoom in and out with one hand. Just double tap the screen with your thumb—anywhere on the screen is fine—and on the second tap, hold your finger down. Now slide your finger up and…

Okay, April Fool’s 2013 Is Happening

YouTube and GoogleMaps are getting the ball rolling today. According to the release above, YouTube is not actually a video viewing and sharing site, but an 8-year contest to find the best video anyone can make. And GoogleMaps now has a treasure map layer. Nice, we see what you did there. [CNET]

8 Random Celebrities Who Are Getting Google Glass

When Google started its Glass-giving spree, it picked out some odd picks. It got so bad that some of those offers got pulled. But you can bet these celebrity winners will get their copies. https://gizmodo.com/meet-the-lucky-people-who-suddenly-owe-google-1500-5992617 Stanford computer science student Andrej Karpathy put together a handy-dandy script that trawls Twitter and spits out the winners in…

Report: Facebook’s Secret Android Project Isn’t a Facebook Phone But a Home Screen Dedicated to Facebook

The WSJ is reporting that Facebook’s upcoming Android event will be a home screen—as in the first screen you see when you flip on your phone—dedicated to Facebook. It will “display content from users’ Facebook accounts on a smartphone’s home screen.” Facebook is expected to first offer this feature to an HTC phone but hopes…

Google Keep, Instructables, Sidewalk Buddy, and More

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you had no excuse for being unproductive this week. What with Google’s new note taking service coming out (and staying out), a coupon organizer in the palm of your hand, and easy to use instructions that can basically tell you how to do anything, any thing…

Is Facebook About to Announce a Facebook Phone Running Android?

Facebook just invited the press to an event at Facebook HQ that’ll show off Facebook’s “new home on Android”. Is this the much talked about (and denied) Facebook phone? Will Facebook be using the Android OS to build a layer of Facebook on top of? HMM. Or is this just some new version of the…

Magazines have finally killed blogs — but in a way you never expected

When Google recently announced it was killing the RSS reader known simply as Reader, a small corner of the internet went apeshit. The rest of the internet asked, “What the hell is RSS?” The answer to that question reveals a lot about why blogs are doomed to be upstaged by the magazines they tried to…

Google is now using Gmail’s new compose experience as the default one.

Google’s Shopping Express, a subscription-based, same-day delivery service, just opened to the public in San Francisco.

Just Kidding, Google Is Now Disqualifying Some Winners of the Google Glass Contest

After letting people know that they owe Google $1500 for the honor of getting Google Glass early, Google busted the ol’ elementary school take back on them. Meaning, some of those “winners” won’t be able to get Google Glass because they’ve been disqualified by Google. I wonder who those people are. https://gizmodo.com/meet-the-lucky-people-who-suddenly-owe-google-1500-5992617 Straight from Google…

Google Street View Just Added Haunting Panoramas From the Fukushima Exclusion Zone

It’s been almost two years since the disaster at Fukushima, but the surrounding area is still off-limits, and will continue to be for who knows how long. The town Namie-machi has been vacant since its evacuation on March 11, 2011, and now Google’s uploaded Street View images of the eerie, hollow shell that remains. Once…