GMail users are now able to video chat with up to ten of their contacts, thanks to a new integration of Google+ Hangouts. The group video chat platform replaces Google Talk’s video chat, and is part of Google’s efforts to merge all of its messaging products. Read more »
It’s here! Samsung’s Galaxy Note has arrived for those wanting a T-Mobile version and it looks to be worth the wait. This video look shows Android 4.0.4, the S-Pen and an overall size comparison between the Note, Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 tablet. Read more »
Last week it was Android tablets, this week was about Android smartphones. Sprint announced a QWERTY keyboard version of the Photon Q with LTE, while Samsung’s Galaxy S III continues to set sales records. Can the leaked HTC One X+ slow Samsung’s momentum? Read more »
Companies doing business on the web and in the cloud must spend a lot on infrastructure to stay running and to support new services. Here’s what Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Zynga spent in the recent quarter, and what it might mean. Read more »
Google’s launch of its gigabit fiber to the home network on Thursday had many positive elements, including free broadband at lower speeds for residents. But there were some things about the proposed network that will disappoint people in the industry and may worry privacy groups. Read more »
The long-running lawsuit over Google’s decision to scan millions of books could be nearing the end game. Google’s latest filing, in a case poised to redefine copyright law, cites everything from Mad Men to minority rights to argue that book scanning is “fair use.” Read more at paidContent »
The Boston area’s push to remake itself as a bike-friendly venue, is starting to pay off, at least in Cambridge’s tech-heavy Kendall Square neighborhood. And now things may get even greener as the Hubway bike-sharing is set to expand beyond Boston into Cambridge as well as Somerville and Brookline. Read more »
Google’s fiber-to-the-home network may look like a loss leader for the search engine company, but its executive teams says it’s profitable. Here are the three ways Google has managed to cut the costs of building out a network and beat ISPs at their own game. Read more »
Amazon didn’t wow the street with its Q2 earnings news but the company will definitely keep investing in its cloud infrastructure. For its upcoming quarter, it plans to spend a strapping $800 million to $900 million capex money on technology, said CFO Tom Szkutak. Read more »
Motorola is giving its suburban digs for a new home in downtown Chicago, where it will anchor the Windy City’s emerging tech community. The corporate HQ will officially be in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, along 3,000 employees, but the big brass will reside in Silicon Valley. Read more »
Google Fiber just launched today to offer faster access to consumers with a TV product, a terabyte of free storage in G Drive and more. The search giant will even offer free access at what it deems “average” Internet speeds of 5Mbps down. Read more »
The popular Google Talk app is down for most users on Thursday morning. This snafu, which cut many people off from their instant messaging/video chat app of choice, along with today’s WIndows Azure snafu in Europe, show the dark side of cloud computing. Read more »
Google plans to launch a fiber network in Kansas City with the goal of seeing what people there can do with a gigabit connection. But as one city that already has a gigabit network can tell you, the answer so far may be, “Not much.” Read more »
For years, tech vendors built complicated partner programs to sell, support and maintain their stuff and break into new markets. Now Google, Amazon are following suit with new-look partner programs. The goal is to bring new customer business into their respective clouds. Read more »
Google has improved its movie and TV show offerings in Google Play; great for the new Nexus 7 tablet and Nexus Q streaming device. But you’re out of luck for video playback — rentals or purchases — if you have a Google-powered Chromebook. What gives? Read more »
Benchmarking results from Zencoder show that Amazon Web Services beats out Google’s Compute Engine in a test of a specific CPU-intensive workload. Compute Engine’s performance was hindered by a lack of HPC instances, which Google could one day add. But it’s nice to see real-world comparisons. Read more »
A long-running dance between the European Commission and Google over antitrust allegations is finally coming to an end amidst reports that the two sides have reached an “understanding.” Read more »
While it’s overstating the case to say that Box has renounced its fatwa on Windows Phones, it is worth pointing out that the cloud storage company now supports the current release of Windows Phone and will support the upcoming Windows 8 Phone as well. Read more »
Samsung’s “one phone model for the world” strategy continues to pay off: The Galaxy S III has already topped 10 million sales since its May 29 launch. A rough estimate shows that figure to be nearly 20 percent of Android activations on a daily basis. Read more »
Amazon is expected to introduce up to 6 new tablets, including a 10-inch model. Why not? Few besides Amazon have the consumer data, shopping experience and content to make multiple screen sized tablets, proving that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to mobile devices. Read more »
Organizations are coping with the challenge of processing unprecedented volumes of data. However, the processes involved with using a large cluster to run applications like Hadoop are error-prone. So IT managers are turning to cluster-management solutions to automate tasks associated with cluster creation, management and maintenance. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
For all of Microsoft’s huge investment in the Windows Azure cloud computing platform, there was very little mention of the multi-billion-effort on Thursday’s Q4 and FY 2012 earnings call. Microsoft CFO touted major updates for Windows, Windows Phone, Office and Windows Server in the coming year. Read more »
Google offered few details about search advertising on cell phones even while noting that 400 million people are now using mobile devices that use its Android software. Meanwhile, Google’s CEO was unable to speak about the topic at all. Read more »
Thousands of people are now making six figures on YouTube, the company revealed during its Q2 earnings call Thursday. YouTube had previously put that number in the hundreds. Google’s Chief Business Officer, Nikesh Arora, said that the company has found its model for YouTube. Read more »
In a surprise move, the National Cable and Telecommunication Association used the results of today’s FCC report on broadband quality to congratulate cable … and to acuse Google and Netflix of slowing down the user experience. Here’s what’s behind its crazy claims. Read more »
Google announced Q2 earnings that showed the company is still enjoying strong growth. The company’s results beat expectations but its crucial ‘cost-per-click’ metric for ads continues to decline, likely increasing the pressure on Google to find a way to diversify its reliance on search advertising. Read more »
YouTube is sending golden play buttons to any partner that has surpassed one million subscriber on his YouTube channel. The company is also honoring partners with more than 100,000 subscribers, and released some interesting new stats about these audience magnets. Read more »
My gut instinct is to call Senator Al Franken a well-meaning fool when it comes to his latest outcry — this time against the advent of facial-recognition software — but he actually has a point. Facial-recognition software opens up a whole new class of privacy concerns. Read more »
Google Nexus 7 just launched and already there’s a documented method to get hacking on the small slate. Liliputing offers up a list to root the device, unlock the bootloader so you can install custom software and replace the standard recovery software with a third-party version. Read more »
Text messaging. It’s one of the few functions of a feature phone that graduated to today’s smartphones and continues to be used heavily by people all around the world. Now, in three African countries, it can even be used for Gmail at no extra charge. Read more »
Google today sent out invitations to a “special event” on July 26 which is undoubtedly the launch of its much anticipated fiber-to-the-home network. The invite reads, “We would like to invite you to a special announcement about Google Fiber and the next chapter of the Internet.” Read more »
Apple and Google still dominate the smartphone space, but look out for Microsoft, which finally has some muscle behind its mobile strategy. Meanwhile mobile-browser developers went head-to-head with native apps, and Facebook continued to buy mobile expertise via acquisition. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Former Google executive Marissa Mayer looks to some like the savior Yahoo and its shareholders have been waiting for. But her focus in the past has been on technology and product development, and that may not be what a media company like Yahoo really needs. Read more »
Apple wasn’t the only loser in the ruling. It was ultimately a loss for both parties since the court also disagreed with Motorola’s previous claim that Apple’s iPad design patent was invalid. As a result, both parties have to cover court costs generated by the dispute. Read more »
In cloud and big data, the second quarter of 2012 featured several high-profile deals and product launches that could reshape the marketplace for everyone. Google and Microsoft launched Infrastructure-as-a-Service offerings, software-defined networking took off, and all eyes stayed fixed on the continuing promise of data analytics. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Samsung’s Galaxy Note, the 5.3-inch smartphone (or is it a tablet?) will launch for T-Mobile’s U.S. network in the coming weeks, according to the company, which says 77 percent out of 1,031 surveyed U.S. smartphone owners want a device with a 4.5-inch or larger display. Read more »
Social TV is any application, website or software that allows viewers to interact with television programming and share that interaction with others. Startups in this space hope to combine ubiquitous second-screen technology with well-established audience behavior to drive new value around shows. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off the company’s latest Office software Monday, he hit all the right marks — a touch interface, cloud storage, VoIP integration and social networking tie-ins. They had to. But a very different interface might spook current Office users. Read more »
Yahoo’s drawn-out search for a CEO has taken an unexpected turn with the company stealing away Marissa Mayer, Google’s first female engineer and the head of its location and local services, as its new chief Yahoo. Mayer takes over as president and CEO Tuesday. Read more at paidContent »
Will the Nexus 7 be the “standard” for future tablets smaller than the iPad but bigger than a phone? After using a review unit for nearly two weeks, I think so, even though the Nexus 7 isn’t without a few minor flaws. Overall, I’m impressed. Read more »
