Google is working on a new Maps app for iOS 6, but there are a couple of things that have held up development, according to the New York Times. Google claims it was surprised by Apple’s move away from its maps app. Read more »
For the first time Google has purchased wind power to directly power a data center in Oklahoma. Previously Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into clean power projects, but had yet to power its data centers directly with clean power. Read more »
Would Google chairman Eric Schmidt like his company’s search engine to replace Microsoft Bing as the default search in Yahoo.com? Do you really have to ask? If so, the answer is yes, according to reports out of Japan. Read more »
Welcome to the fast-growing world of work media, a class of social tools oriented toward the needs of enterprises. Their emergence is due to the shifting expectations of an increasingly social workforce and the sense that older approaches to work like email are arguably approaching obsolescence. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Google added new Japanese reading features to its ebooks app yesterday and is now selling the Nexus 7, ebooks and movies through the Google Play store in Japan. Kobo expanded to Japan in July, and Kindle is expected to launch there in October. Read more at paidContent »
At a security conference a scary demonstration showed that a single line of HTML code can remotely wipe out a Samsung Galaxy S III handset. Worse: It appears to work on many Samsung smartphones that run TouchWiz, which is most of Samsung’s line of handsets. Read more »
Google is adding some new features to its Android ebooks app, including highlighting and annotation, translation, dictionary definitions and geographic information. Google Play Books for iOS lacks these features for now. Read more at paidContent »
The New York Times article on data center power consumption got a few things wrong but a couple things really right. Read more »
Should the same app have a different interface on different devices? Netflix doesn’t think so, updating its Android app for smartphones to replicate the tablet interface found on Android slates and on Apple’s iPad. The improvements make it easier to find and watch content. Read more »
With multiple Amazon Kindle Fire tablets that differ in screen size, display resolution and even hardware capabilities, how will developers manage their mobile apps across the platform? A new “device targeting” feature will help and it supports Android devices through Amazon’s app store as well. Read more »
Samsung is wasting little time in getting Android 4.1 to its successful Galaxy S III smartphone. Although slated for an October release, the company has the software available in one country now and it listed the 15 other Galaxy devices that will get Jelly Bean. Read more »
Sometimes the lack of $10k means the difference between life and death for a startup. Upstart, says founder Dave Girouard (formerly president of Google Enterprise) will match college grads with patrons who will back their proposed startups money and advice. Read more »
Rich Miner isn’t a huge fan of Apple Maps. The co-founder of Android, who is now a partner at Google Ventures, had that to say, as well as that carriers just keep on conceding and RIM’s market share loss is an opportunity for startups. Read more »
According to The Guardian, Google has already begun working on a Google Maps app for iOS 6, and it “will appear in time” on Apple’s App Store. But when? Apple new Maps app is attracting a ton of criticism and has seriously disappointed new iOS 6 users. Read more »
Dennis Crowely of Foursquare has a big goal of creating an ambient-aware location service that will recommend people, places and events happening nearby, but the hardware isn’t quite up to snuff yet. In the meantime, he’s using location data to take on Yelp and Google. Read more »
More people watched video on the Internet through YouTube than any other site by a wide margin during August, as Google continues to enjoy the benefits of having the most engaged online viewers. Still wondering if Google is a media company? Read more »
A solid app gets even better today with the ability to read aloud saved articles on an Android device. This will make Pocket, already one of my most used apps, an even bigger part of my day, allowing me to hear offline articles at spare moments. Read more »
Listening platforms — or social media monitoring, analysis, and engagement tools — are bringing massive amounts of new information to businesses’ marketing departments. These tools are also leading the way in the growth of social media information and access throughout organizations so that customers’ wants and needs can be better understood and, presumably, satisfied. This report analyzes how the adoption of listening platforms is transforming marketing departments, their relationships with central IT, and the core systems that run the enterprise. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Small slates are expected to account for 32 percent of all tablet sales this year says iHS iSuppli. After nearly two years of saying there’s a market for the 7-inch tablet, it’s good to see the analysts reaffirm my own experiences. Now: Where’s that 7.85-inch iPad? Read more »
Google+ now has 400 million registered users, and more than 100 million active users visit the service every month. However, chances are, many of them don’t actually realize they’re visiting Google+ at all. Instead, they might just be there to make a video call. Read more »
Google, which is notoriously secretive about technology advances, has opened up the vault and spit out a research paper on its Spanner database. And like other Google innovations, this one is hot. It’s a database that scales to millions of machines and trillions of rows. Read more »
New updates to Alfresco’s content management system and Box’s cloud sync service renew questions about whether these file-share-and-sync services are best offered as part of a larger, legacy product or by an independent provider that specializes in this technology. Read more »
On this week’s audio podcast with Matt and Kevin, find out which host upgraded to iPhone 5 while the other sold iPhone 4S and ordered a new iPod touch. Also: What happened to NFC in the iPhone and why so many LTE handset models? Read more »
Open Handset Alliance partners have to follow the rules, else face the wrath of Google: The company effectively shut down a press event for a new Acer phone for China. Meanwhile, it looks like Intel is about to redouble its Android smartphone efforts. Read more »
In the five years since the iPhone hit the market, Apple and Google have delivered more than 40 billion cumulative downloads of apps. Other sources predict the app marketplace will swell to surpass 66 billion downloads in 2016, a growth fueled by tablet, entertainment, and enterprise apps. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A patent troll, working with the University of California, gained infamy by filing patent suits claiming to own the world wide web. Even though Amazon and Google knee-capped it earlier this year, the troll marches onward. Read more »
Barclaycard US is the latest card issuer to back Google Wallet. The company also backs Isis, the mobile payment joint venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile, illustrating that not even the traditional banking companies know yet which mobile payment standard will be successful. Read more »
After watching the mobile market pass it by, Intel is aggressively moving forward. Its newest chips for smartphones and tablets run longer on a single charge and the company now has the latest version of Google Android, known as Jelly Bean, running on those chips. Read more »
The Finnish firm’s founders are moving to New York to cash in on heavy U.S. demand, they say, while also revealing the opening of a Singapore office. Read more »
The Go language is gaining momentum among PaaS and IaaS vendors, says Apcera founder and CEO Derek Collison. Research shows the language gaining ground, although it hasn’t cracked the top 20. JavaScript and Java remain top dogs among overall programing languages. Read more »
Google says it blocked viewers in Egypt and Libya from seeing a controversial video clip on YouTube, after the video was allegedly linked to violence in both of those countries. But should Google be censoring content without even a request from a government or court? Read more »
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the social network is already handling a billion search queries per day, and that it is interested in launching a social search engine powered by the activity of its users — something that could turn out to be Google’s worst nightmare. Read more »
Carriers are struggling to match the demand for data with pricing plans that keep their profits up. Over the top services like Viber and WhatsApp are causing even more pain, but 3 Hong Kong may have found a solution that would work for everyone. Read more »
Google has launched a new shopping app only for China called Google Boutique, which helps shoppers get local information on promotions, discounts and gifts from nearby stores. It’s unclear if this app will be confined to just China. Read more »
It used to be iPhones at every turn, but now there are plenty of Android sightings. That makes sense since there are now 500 million Android devices activated since 2008. That’s more than total iOS devices, however, Google hasn’t yet monetized its broad Android base. Read more »
The smartphone boom that began with iPhone and captured fire with the release of Android-based devices is going to hit a fever pitch soon and by 2016, DisplaySearch expects a billion smartphones to ship, making me wonder if there will be a need for feature phones. Read more »
The growing data center clusters in Oregon and Washington could suck up 10 percent of the regions power by 2030, if the facilities and infrastructure don’t become more efficient, according to a report. Read more »
Samsung isn’t known for speedy Android software updates, but it’s apparently making an exception for its fastest selling phone, the Galaxy S III, which recently surpassed 20 million in sales. The company said it would start the Android 4.1, or Jelly Bean, software update in October. Read more »
As the volume of connected devices increases, so too will the probability of hackers targeting these systems to exploit networks, steal data, hijack systems, and compromise workflows. Security specialists recognize the potential risks and are already developing technologies and methodologies for hardening M2M systems from attack. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Just a few days after the approval of the DOJ’s ebook settlement, HarperCollins has entered into new contracts with ebook retailers, and they’re already discounting its titles. What kinds of deals will you get? Read more at paidContent »
