Twitter and Google team up, so tweets now go straight into Google search results

Tweets are now going straight into Google, so that they will show up as huge boxes in search results.

The companies hope that the agreement will allow for real time updates to be fed into Google's results, meaning that a search for a topic or hashtag will show new and trending updates alongside the usual lists of websites and news articles. For Twitter, it could increase the importance of the site to those who don't use it — potentially bringing new users to register, as growth has stagnated.

Clicking on the results on Google takes users through to Twitter, where they can see the tweet in its context as well as exploring the rest of the topic.

A tie-up between Twitter and Google now means that tweets are being fed straight into Google as they are posted, meaning that Google doesn't have to send robots out to crawl over tweets and index them in its data. Instead, Google has been given access to Twitter's "firehose" — the constant stream of tweets that it had access to before, until Twitter turned it off.

In a blog announcing the change, Google said that the update is "a great way to get real-time info when something is happening". "And it’s another way for organizations and people on Twitter to reach a global audience at the most relevant moments," wrote Ardan Arac, a Google senior project manager.

Google Sets End Date for Google Earth API

Goodbye, Google Earth API. Google has officially announced that it'll be killing off said API at the end of next year—December 12 of 2015, specifically.
And before you shed a tear for all of your favorite tie-in websites that embed Google Earth on their pages in some capacity, know that Google put some thought into the API's departure. This isn't just a snap decision.
First off, the Google Earth plugin wouldn't be able to live on anyway, thanks to Google's concerns over browser security.

"...the Earth API is built on a technology called the NPAPI plugin framework, and recently, for security reasons, both Chrome and Firefox have announced they're removing support for this framework. 
These security reasons, combined with dwindling cross-platform support (particularly on mobile devices),

Beyond that, nobody is really using Google Earth. According to Venturebeat, Google says that only 9.1 percent of Chrome users fired up the Google Earth plugin in October of last year. This year, that number is down to miniscule 0.1 percent.

Google's listing of supported browsers during the depreciation period should come with an asterisk, because the Google Earth API needs browsers to support NPAPI. If newer versions of Chrome and Firefox don't, then the plugin won't work on those; people interested in using it will have to run older versions of these browsers.

And the same holds true for Internet Explorer or Safari, if either Microsoft or Apple decide to remove NPAPI support for the framework in their browsers as well.

"Google Earth has a proud legacy, which continues with the new Google Earth for Android, powered by a brand new renderer. 3D is in our blood, and while we can't announce anything just now.

Google Hangouts for Android gets ‘last seen’ timestamps, smart location sharing, and video filters

Above: Google's Bradley Horowitz walks through the new Google Hangout app at LeWeb 2014 in Paris.

Image Credit: Chris O'Brien

Google  announced a major update to its Hangouts app for Android and promised that the equivalent iOS update would be “coming soon.” The new features are aimed at making it easier to find your friends, know when they’re around, and cut down the time you spend messaging in the app.

Google vice president Bradley Horowitz debuted the new features on stage at LeWeb 2014 in Paris. He promised that there are many new features to come.

“We’re still just getting started,” he said.

First, contacts now have a “last seen” timestamp. As Google puts it, you never have to ask “are you there?” again – much like in Facebook Messenger, you can now see when your friend or colleague was last active.

Hangouts already lets you share your location by hitting the attachment paperclip icon, choosing Location from the options, and then hitting send. Now, Google has added smart suggestion location sharing which lets you do this in one tap: When someone types “where are you,” the app will prompt you to drop a pin on the map.

It is also now easier to find your friends in Hangouts based on their phone number. They don’t need to be a personal contact in your phone: If your friend or colleague already uses Hangouts and has opted-in to phone number discoverability, you can easily connect with them on Hangouts.

Hangouts is also getting 16 new sticker packs and a few easter eggs. Google didn’t specify the number, but it did hint that sending keywords will result in an animation popping up (“woot” and “happy birthday” are pictured above, but there are others, like “hahaha,” as well).

“Stickers are not new,” Horowitz said. “But we really went to town on this.”

Last but not least, video calls are getting video filters (including sepia, vignette, black & white, and more). We wouldn’t recommend using these if you use Hangouts to communicate at work, but between friends they could be a lot of fun.

All of today’s additions are great, with “last seen” timestamps probably being the most useful of them all. Yet some will consider these “bloat” and demand a basic SMS app instead. To those, Google will likely point you in the direction of its recently-launched Google Messenger app.

Google-Motorola Nexus 6 coming to India on December 10; priced at Rs 43,999 onwards

The Google-Motorola Nexus 6 smartphone is one of the first devices to come with Android 5.0 Lollipop, the next version of Google's mobile OS.

 The largest-ever Nexus smartphone is equipped with a 2.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor and features dual front-facing speakers.

The new Nexus 6 sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilisation and a 2-megapixel front camera. According to the company, 

Nexus 6 users can get up to 6 hours of use from only 15 minutes of charging. The 3220 mAh battery in the Nexus 6 is claimed to last for 24 hours on a full charge.

The phone will be available in Midnight Blue or Cloud White colours.

The GOSF will see 450 partners offering their best deals for 72 hours this year, 

Google said in a statement.

Focussing on the first time buyers, gosf.in will feature a special section of Rs 299 with heavily discounted products with free shipping and cash on delivery option.

The section will feature products and offers from brands like Philips, Uber, JBL, Benetton, Alia Bhatt collection and EverPure water purifier.

"Great Online shopping festival is India's version of cyber Monday and is an exciting platform to move the industry forward," said Anandan.

The consumer confidence to shop online has grown considerably in the last 12 months, boosting the growth of both large multinational and homegrown companies, he added.

Google India has partnered Aditya Birla Money My Universe as a preferred partner for this year's event. The initiative was launched by Google in 2012, and has seen tremendous response with most players seeing over 350 per cent growth in daily sales.

Gmail will soon allow you to ‘unsend’ your sent email

In October 2014, Google launched a new email client called ‘Inbox’, which is essentially a much more organised, easy to access, more intuitive and informative mail service. 

According BGR India, Inbox will soon include a feature that will allow its users to unsend the sent mails. A similar feature exists on Gmail’s web version via its Google Mail Labs channel. It allows user a period of 10 seconds after hitting the sent button to retract the mail. Inbox is expected to feature a similar option.

Other than the power to retract sent mails, the Google team plans to introduce features like cross-browsing and integration with Google Drive. The team is also working to make the Inbox app available for tablet devices.

These features are expected to be rolled out in a few weeks. 

Google: Ok, so about half of our online ads are never actually seen

One of the weaknesses in online advertising is whether ads are seen by actual, you know, humans. Google has now acknowledged that more than half of its ads are not on the screen for even one second.

The tech giant this week released an infographic, “Five Factors of Viewability,” showing that “many display ads that are served never actually have the opportunity to be seen by a user.” The exact figure: 56.1 percent of all ads the Google and DoubleClick display ad platforms served. comScore has separately estimated that 46 percent of ads are not seen.

Google uses the Media Rating Council’s definition that an ad is viewable “when 50 percent of an ad’s pixels are in view on the screen for a minimum of one second.”
Some of the reasons given for non-viewability: a user scrolled right past it, it wasn’t delivered, or it was delivered but the “viewer” was a software bot.

Below-the-fold ads, which require most users to scroll down to view, are expected to have lower viewabilities, and 60 percent of ads below-the-fold are not seen. But Google also notes that 32 percent of above-the-fold ads are not viewed, either. The most viewable position: right above the fold.

The average publisher’s visibility is 50.2 percent, Google said, so some publishers are serving more non-viewables than others for some reason.

Because of this high level of non-viewability, several efforts are underway to move from a payment system based on impressions, to one based on viewability. The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has undertaken such an initiative, and Google has been rolling out its own Active View technology.

Nexus Android 5.0 Lollipop Update: What Not to Expect Now

Google’s Nexus Android 5.0 Lollipop release continues to make progress but the roll out still isn’t complete. With Android 5.0 Lollipop problems swirling and select Nexus looking for guidance, we want to take a look at what we do not expect now from the Android 5.0 Lollipop update and release for Google’s stable of Nexus devices.

In October, Google announced a slew of new products including a Nexus 6 smartphone, a Nexus 9 tablet, and an Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and Nexus 5. It also confirmed Android 5.0 Lollipop for its stable of Google Play Edition devices. While Google detailed its Android 5.0 Lollipop update for Nexus users, it did not go into detail about the release date.

Last month, Google’s Nexus Android 5.0 Lollipop release date finally arrived for select Nexus usersincluding owners of the Nexus 5, Nexus 4, Nexus 10 and Nexus 7. The update, one of the biggest in the history of the Android operating system, takes Nexus users from Android 4.4.4 KitKat to Android 5.0 Lollipop and delivers a number of new features including the Lollipop update’s new Material Design.

KitKat on 34 Percent of Android Devices; Lollipop Yet to Debut: Google

Google has updated its Google Play distribution data for the seven-day period ending December 1, revealing that Android 4.4 KitKat running devices are steadily rising and closing the gap on Jelly Bean-powered devices.

Sharing the distribution data of different versions of Android, Google
reported that KitKat OS has a total share of around 34 percent (precisely
 33.9 percent) of active Android devices that check into Google Play
compared to the 30.2 percent reported at the beginning of November -
an increase of 3.7 percent in roughly a month.

Interestingly, Google's latest Android build - Android 5.0 Lollipop - that
was released in mid-October, and is now around for more than a month,
is yet to make a cut into the chart. The Android Developers' webpage
notes, "Any versions with less than 0.1 percent distribution are not
 shown," tipping that the Android 5.0 Lollipop despite of beingrolled
out to a bunch of devices has not yet reached the minimum mark.

The Mountain View giant shows that Android Jelly Bean still powers
the majority of Android devices, with the combined percentage of 48.7
 percent - dropping 2.2 percent from November's 50.9 percent. The 
Android 4.1.x is seen on 21.3 percent devices, Android 4.2.x on 20.4 
percent and Android 4.3 on 7 percent devices.

Android 4.0.x or Ice Cream Sandwich, in Google's December report,
registered a share of 7.8 percent, down 0.7 percent from November.
Android Gingerbread (v 2.3.3-2.3.7) and Android 2.2 Froyo's device
distribution shares are 9.1 percent (down 0.7 percent) and 0.5 percent
(down 0.1 percent) respectively in the latest report.

The OpenGL version, on the other hand, saw OpenGL 2.0 at dominating
 72.2 percent, and OpenGL version 3.0 steadily rising to 27.8 percent.

Google further adds, "This data is gathered from the new Google Play
Store app, which supports Android 2.2 and above, devices running older
versions are not included. However, in August, 2013, versions older than
Android 2.2 accounted for about 1 percent of devices that checked in to
Google servers (not those that actually visited Google Play Store)."

Interestingly, Apple's iOS 8 within three months of its public release is
powering the majority (60 percent) of active iOS devices. It took Google's
 Android 4.4 KitKat version 13 months to reach 34 percent of the worldwide
 users, according to Google's figures shared in December.

Google rolls out 'smart' spoon

MOUNTAIN VIEW: Google is throwing its money, brain power and technology at the humble spoon. 

But these spoons (don't call them spoogles) are a bit more than your basic utensil: Using hundreds of algorithms, they allow people with essential tremors and Parkinson's disease to eat without spilling. 

The technology senses how a hand is shaking and makes instant adjustments to stay balanced. In clinical trials, the Liftware spoons reduced shaking of the spoon bowl by an average of 76 percent. 

"We want to help people in their daily lives today and hopefully increase understanding of disease in the long run," Google spokesperson Katelin Jabbari said. 

Other adaptive devices have been developed to help people with tremors — rocker knives, weighted utensils, pen grips. But until now, experts say, technology has not been used in this way. 

"It's totally novel," said UC San Francisco Medical Center neurologist Dr Jill Ostrem, who specializes in movement disorders like Parkinson's disease and essential tremors. 

She helped advise the inventors and says the device, which has a fork attachment, has been a remarkable asset for some of her patients. 

"I have some patients who couldn't eat independently, they had to be fed, and now they can eat on their own," she said. "It doesn't cure the disease — they still have tremor — but it's a very positive change." 

Google got into the no-shake utensil business in September, acquiring a small, National of Institutes of Health-funded startup called Lift Labs for an undisclosed sum. 

More than 10 million people worldwide, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin's mother, have essential tremors or Parkinson's disease. Brin has said he also has a mutation associated with higher rates of Parkinson's and has donated more than $50 million to research for a cure. But the Lift Labs acquisition was not related, Jabbari said. 

Lift Lab founder Anupam Pathak said moving from a small, four-person startup in San Francisco to the vast Google campus in Mountain View has freed him up to be more creative as he explores how to apply the technology even more broadly. 

His team works at the search giant's division called Google(x) Life Sciences, which is also developing a smart contact lens that measures glucose levels in tears for diabetics and is researching how nanoparticles in blood might help detect diseases. 

Joining Google has been motivating, said Pathak, but his focus remains on people who are now able to eat independently with his device. 

"If you build something with your hands and it has that sort of an impact, it's the greatest feeling ever," he said. "As an engineer who likes to build things, that's the most validating thing that can happen." 

Pathak said they also hope to add sensors to the spoons to help medical researchers and providers better understand, measure and alleviate tremors. 

Shirin Vala, 65, of Oakland, has had an essential tremor for about a decade. She was at her monthly Essential Tremor group at a San Ramon medical clinic earlier this year when researchers developing the device introduced the idea and asked if anyone was interested in helping them. 

As it was refined, she tried it out and gave them feedback. And when they hit the market at $295 apiece, she bought one. 

Without the spoon, Vala said eating was really a challenge because her hands trembled so hard food fell off the utensils before she could eat it. 

"I was shaking and I had a hard time to keep the food on a spoon, especially soup or something like an olive or tomatoes or something. It is very embarrassing. It's very frustrating," she said. 

The spoon definitely improved her situation. "I was surprised that I held the food in there so much better. It makes eating much easier, especially if I'm out at a restaurant," she said.


Source:The Times of India

Chrome Will Start Blocking All Remaining NPAPI Plugins In January

Starting in January 2015, Google’s Chrome browser will block all old-school Netscape Plug-In API (NPAPI) plugins. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise, given that Google started its efforts to remove NPAPI plugins more than a year ago.

Over the last year, Google went from recommending that developers move away from this old architecture to actively blocking almost all NPAPI plugins. There was, however, always a whitelist that allowed some of the most popular NPAPI plugins like Microsoft’s Silverlight, Unity and Google’s own Google Earth plugin to continue to run in the browser. Starting in January, even that’s going away and all of these plugins will be blocked by default.

Other plugins that will be affected by this move include the Google Talk and Facebook plugins. Most of the whitelisted plugins saw their usage decline since Chrome started the deprecation program, but according to Google’s own data, Silverlight still remains popular with 11% of Chrome users launching it at least once per month. Most of that usage is probably from Netflix users, but now that Netflix is slowly moving away from Silverlight, too, the impact will likely be less than those numbers suggest.

Enterprises, which may still run some mission-critical NPAPI plugins, will be able to bypass these restrictions for the time being. Come September 2015, however, Google will completely remove support for these plugins from Chrome.

Source:Techcrunch 

Android One incoming: Google goes for the kill in the Indian smartphone market

Google's Sundar Pichai announces Android One at I/O 

The last few months have witnessed a mid-range and low-end revolution in India, with the arrival of the Xiaomi phones, as well as announcement of upcoming phones from the likes of Motorola, OnePlus and other Indian brands. Firefox OS is here too, lowering the price threshold for smartphones. With smartphone leader Samsung ceding ground to rivals, the stage is set for any manufacturer willing to take the initiative to sweep the Indian market. Curiously though, it’s not the vendors that have the biggest plans for such a sweep, but Google itself.

The Android One launch is expected to happen in India on September 15 at an event Google India has invited media for. At I/O we witness the unveiling of Android One, a version of Google’s Android designed for low-cost phones, that are expected to retail for under $100. Google’s Android One initiative promises to change the experience of budget smartphones. By working closely with manufacturers, component makers and production companies, Google is hoping to eliminate some of the pitfalls such as performance, longevity and software updates that have long plagued this segment.

With a focus on sub-$100 smartphones, Google is hoping to bring more people into the Android fold. One could wonder why exactly Google is planning such a massive push, where besides working with manufacturers before and during production and it will also give vendors room under its marketing umbrella. Google will reportedly spend more than Rs 100 crore on advertising and marketing, and bringing these devices to a mainstream audience.

The answer is two-fold. One Google wants to ensure India remains an Android-first market. Secondly, it wants to nip the rising tide of Android forks in the bud. India may not be a big market for Android forks yet, with Nokia X bombing, but there’s room for brave manufacturers to make that play and still earn a foothold. Google will obviously not see much revenue from Android forks, and that’s what Android One is hoping to prevent.

More hints about Google’s plans can be seen in the list of hardware partners. Not only are Micromax and Karbonn part of Google’s plans, but Android One hardware will also be produced by Intex, Celkon and Spice, none of which are reputed to be great OEMs, and have worse market standing than Micromax and Karbonn. This indicates Google is preparing a mass market strategy, releasing several devices at one go.

In a way, Google is mirroring the efforts of Microsoft, which continues to see success in the low-end Windows Phone segment. Microsoft not only worked with manufacturers but has actively promoted the new players in the ecosystem. Google took a page out of that at I/O. For its Indian hardware partners, Android One is a garden path to global legitimacy something that has eluded them so far. With Google’s backing, the collective standing of Indian brands will certainly rise. So in a way, it’s a win-win move for Google and Indian smartphone makers.

Ten Cool Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Google

Why click thrice when once will suffice? Of late, this seems to be Google's 

mantra for search results. You might have noticed that one no longer needs

 to click on articles to gather information. Google's Knowledge Graph puts a

 tonne of information next to search results in an attempt to become the world's 

most powerful database of knowledge.

Here are some of the best ways to use this massive trove of information to 

speed up searches and tasks:

1. Your Personal information

Google knows everything about you - as long as you're signed in to your 

Google account. If you have a contact in your smartphone with your name 

and email address, Google can show you your contact details via search 

results. If you use Google contacts, you can search for any contact with

 these keywords: "what is ...'s number". Just fill the blank with the name of 

the contact. Remember that this result will only be visible to you as long as

 you're signed in to your Google account.

There's more Google can tell you about yourself though - search for "what
is my IP address" or "where am I" and it will answer in a box under the
 search bar.

2. Translation and dictionary

Found someone online who doesn't speak your language? Fear not, just
search for "translate", followed whatever the person said. We tried this with
 phrases in European and Indian languages and found the translations to
 be useful when working with short phrases, but not always accurate when
 we had long sentences.

You can add modifiers, like "translate from", or "translate to", to set the
operative languages - for example, "translate reis from german to hindi".

Google can also help you with the meanings of words, or finding synonyms
and more. For best results, put define (or synonyms, or antonyms) before
the word you want to look up.

You can also use Google to get on-the-spot meanings of words. Simply add
 the prefix define - e.g. "define Schadenfreude".

3. Time, weather, and even a timer

Time and weather are another cool function of Google search. Just search 

for "Time in New York" or any other city and country. The same thing works 

for the keyword "weather".

You can also use Google as a timer. Just search for "timer" and Google will

 show you one. By default it is set to 5 minutes, which you can change by

 clicking on the time. It supports full-screen mode and rings when the time is up.

4. Flight information

All you need to know is the flight number of any aircraft, and Google 

Knowledge Graph can show you arrival and departure times and the flight's 

destinations in a neat graphic that shows the departure time, arrival time,

 and even the terminal and gate.

We found this very useful when planning trips, but we really wish Google
could make a similar feature for trains.

5. Converting units and currencies

Not sure how many teaspoons to use when the recipe mentions
tablespoons? Just Google for "2.5 tablespoons to teaspoons," to get your
 answer. The same format can be used for other like "feet to cms" too.
You can also search for "USD to INR" or "$30,000 to INR" to get the
current exchange rate and trends over the past few years.

Google's units conversion tool supports temperature, fuel consumption
(MPG to km/litre, etc), length, mass, speed, volume, area, time and even
 digital storage (from Gb to MB, for example).

6. Location and directions

Google search is very good at finding places and telling you how to get
 there. Whether you know the entire address or just a pin code, a quick
search will show a map marking the area. For example, searching for
 "110001" will show which areas fall under the pin code.

Google has a fairly large database of addresses of public buildings and
commercial complexes. Queries such as "where is India Gate" or "where
 is the nearest hospital" will either show you the answer in a big box above
 the search results or show a map preview with the locations marked.

And in case you're about to hit the road, searching for "directions to" (say
 "directions to Khan Market") your destination will show you a map preview
 with how much time it will take to get there in current traffic conditions.

7. General Knowledge

Not surprisingly, Google is really good at answering general knowledge
 questions. Some queries will only land you the answer, while some other
 queries will show you answers to related questions as well. For instance
, "when was Mahatma Gandhi born" also shows the birth dates of
Jawaharlal Nehru, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.

It can answer questions such as "who is the prime minister of Japan" and
"who is the richest man in the world".

8. Astronomy guide

What's bigger, Mars or Venus? How about the relative difference between
 the Moon and the Earth? Search for "Mars vs Jupiter" to get the comparison
, while searching for "Moon to Earth", or "Earth to Aplha Centauri" will show
 you the distance between the two. To find how far the others are from Earth,
 try searching for "how far is ... from Earth". Fill in the blank with the celestial
 body (or man-made satellites such as Voyager I) to find the distance.

9. Popular culture including show timings

Google Knowledge Graph can also give you information about films, television
 shows, books and comics - when you search for an actor, book or film, this
carousel shows up with information on related people or works. A search for
 "best graphic novels" or "best films of 2014" will show you what other people
 are searching for.

Google can also name the films currently in movie halls. It can also list show
 timings. Search for "'movie name' show timings" or simply "films" for this.

10. Sports and stock information

Google can be used to track sporting events and even schedules. A search
 with the name of the team, such as "India cricket team" or "Arsenal FC" show
s you the result from the previous match, live score (if a game is on) and when
 the next match is scheduled. Google also shows some other information about
 the team and its achievements, pulled from Wikipedia.

If you search for a company's name followed by the word stock, you will see the results

 right away, and while the default view shows you the day's valuation, you can set this

 to 5 days, a month up to the time the company was first listed - try entering "Wipro

 stock" or "Google stock" to see.

With these ten tips, you should be able to save time with Google. In case you come 

across some handy uses for Google that we haven't listed, tell us via the comments.

Google Updates Play Music and Search Apps for Android With New Features

Google on Wednesday updated its Search and Play Music apps for Android with new features.

The Google Search app has been updated to version 3.6. The update is said to enable deep linking of apps through search and could possibly allow "Google to show content from inside an app and link you directly to it if you've got it installed," reported Android Police.

The updated Search app also includes a new pop-up warning when a user tries to enable 'Ok Google' hotword detection from any screen with a message, "Someone else may be able to use voice commands, such as calling or texting, or access your address, contacts and other personal information -even if your device is locked."

The updated Search app is also said to have new hands-free features from the rumoured KITT project from Google. While not much is known about the rumoured Android KITT project, it is said to be a project that's internally codenamed 'Android Eyes Free' that will allow car drivers to safely perform searches via voice.

The updated Google Search app seems to be rolling-out gradually across the world, as the Wednesday-updated app listed on Google Play India actually refers to other new features, specifically the new ability for public transport commuters to set an alarm "when it's time to get off the train/bus" (a feature that was being tested in June), along with a 'Things to watch on Chromecast' section, as well as some bug fixes and performance improvements.

Users who don't want to wait for the updated Search app to roll-out to their region can install the Google-signed apk from Android Police.

On the other hand, the Google Play Music app received a minor update which bumped the version up to 5.6.1616, from the previous 5.6.1609P. Notably, Google Play in India still lists the older updated version 5.6.1609P with the app updated on Wednesday.

The Google Play Music update includes a revamped 4x1 widget and has also added another 1x1 widget that gives instant access to the "I'm feeling lucky" radio, notes Droid-Life.

Users can simply tap on the new 1x1 widget to play random music directly from the home screen. The Manage downloads section in the updated Play Music app now shows the downloaded files along with the available space. Users can also 'undo songs that have been swiped away', while a long-press on a song in a playlist or the queue now lets users move it around. Those who don't want to wait for the updated Play Music to roll-out to their regions can download the Google-signed apk from Droid-Life.