Almost every tech company claims to hate patent trolls, but they certainly don’t always back up their words with actions. Recent patent activity around the Hadoop big data platform might show how companies can effectively battle trolls — if they really want to. Read more »
This week Facebook became the next tech giant to build upon Google Android. That raises quite a few questions — and some potential answers — about privacy, control over Android and who might use Facebook Home as their full-time Android launcher. Read more »
Its a unicorn. No it’s a phone. Actually it is Facebook Home, for now; Apple’s China Syndrome is making it think different; The Bit coin boom (& bust); Chrome & WebKit go to war and did Vdio really kill the Rdio star? Read more »
Got browser tabs that don’t seem to retain their data in Chrome OS? The problem is annoying, particularly if you open and close numerous tabs during a session. This one command line is a big help to reduce the issue. Read more »
Google and the City of Austin are planning an event next Tuesday to show business leaders, “something new” that’s coming to the city. Could it be a Google Fiber gigabit network? Read more »
Most of what we’ve seen from Google’s Project Glass is after fact, not while the connected glasses are actually in use. This demonstration offers a glimpse of the Glass user experience and how developers should design for it. Read more »
Developers can now sink their teeth into the smartphone OS that picks up where MeeGo left off. However, the operating system will struggle to make its voice heard in a turbulent year for mobile. Read more »
Starting April 12, you can get the HTC First from AT&T: An LTE, Android 4.1 phone with Facebook Home as your launcher. AT&T hasn’t provided many specs, but some nosing around on the HTC site yielded quite a few. Read more »
Facebook didn’t quite unveil its own phone, but you can make your Android phone a Facebook phone with a custom launcher. The question now is: will you? Read more »
Getting into Google Compute Engine isn’t impossible, but it isn’t super easy either. You sign up and wait. Now Google is opening the door to new users willing to pay for support. Read more »
Could any other cloud storage services get integrated into Google’s Chrome OS or will Google Drive be it? Others could be added if this feature enhancement request is approved and coded. Read more »
There’s both good and bad in Google’s news that it would be forking WebKit to create the Blink rendering browser engine. It really comes down to motive: Is it just for speed of development or for more control over web standards? Read more »
A year ago, it seemed mobile was going to be Facebook’s achilles heel. Things seem to have turned around, though I am not entirely convinced that it means big dollars for the company. Read more »
The algorithmically generated travel guides have received a major update on the iPhone and iPad, with the Android versions set to receive similar upgrades at some point down the line. Read more »
It’s about time Google’s Nexus 7 tablet gets a refresh and sources tell Reuters it will happen in July. Here’s what to expect in terms of pricing and hardware changes. Read more »
Got 20 minutes to spare on your commute or at work? Why not tune in to this week’s call in podcast where we answer your tech questions. Plenty of Chromebook tips on this week’s show as well as thoughts on the Facebook phone. Read more »
In October, I suggested that more than half of all Android devices would run Android 4.0 or better within four to six months. My time was just about up, but it happened as planned. That’s good for developers and for end users. Read more »
There’s little doubt that Facebook will unveil a new phone on Thursday, but the star of the show will be software, not hardware, in this battle between Facebook and Google for user engagement. Read more »
Remember when Google drew together all its privacy policies last March? That move has now prompted investigations from privacy regulators across Europe, who say the company has ignored their recommendations. Read more »
So who will be number two in public cloud after Amazon Web Services? Smart money is now on Google Compute Engine. With caveats, of course. Read more »
Google Nose (now in beta) is an April Fools joke, but computers that smell or even taste things will soon be within the realm of possibility. Just ask IBM. Read more »
New AWS group appears to gird for mobile development; Google issues non-aggression patent pact; and PayPal caught in cloud war crossfire. Read more »
John Arrow is the 26-year-old CEO of a four year old mobile application company that has 375 employees. Here’s how he managed to grow his business while growing as a leader at Mutual Mobile. Read more »
A “Facebook phone” is one of the longest-running rumors in the technology world, but a number of observers think such a beast is actually going to make an appearance next week. But do users actually want one? Read more »
Dave Winer is the father of RSS and a blogging pioneer, so it’s worth paying attention to him when he comes up with something new — which he has, in the form of a browser-based note-taking and blogging tool. Read more »
Nearly every Chromebook Pixel review says you shouldn’t buy one. But as someone who took a 60-day web-only challenge in 2008, I’m ready for exactly what the Pixel offers, so I bought one. Read more »
The era of constrained resources is just beginning, so right now access to resources acts as sort of dark matter, quietly putting pressure in complex ways on how the virtual world operates. Read more »
Google announced a “patent pledge” in which it will donate 10 patents related to MapReduce to protect the emerging cloud and big data industry from lawsuits. Read more »
Twitter may be run by a private corporation, but it has quickly become one of the strongest tools we have for free speech, which is why it’s so important that the company resist efforts to curb that speech. Read more »
Remember eSolar, the solar thermal startup incubated by Idealab, and backed by Google.org, GE, and others? It’s still here and trying to raise a $30 million round, of which it’s close almost half. Read more »
Heading out of the country with your Android phone? Consider upgrading to the latest version of Google Translate for Android, which now supports offline language translation. Read more »
On this week’s mobile call in podcast, we recap all of the T-Mobile news: no contracts, the iPhone 5 and a new LTE network. Then we hit your questions about running Linux on a Chromebook and which is the best keyboard for Android. Read more »
Developers love the latest and greatest tooling. Whether it’s Sawzall, a Google language that bridges declarative and procedural worlds. Or Kafka, a real-time framework for managing data streams. Here are four or five tools that deserve a look. Read more »
Medical researchers are using a mathematical process similar to Google PageRank in order to identify organs most likely to spread lung cancer throughout the human body. Read more »
Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has earned a lot of Google air milage points recently, touting technology in stops across Asia. Take a look at where he’s gone and what he’s been up to along the way. Read more »
OpenDNS has transitioned from providing only domain name servers to offering a security product designed with insecure mobile devices accessing corporate networks in mind. Now it has raised an undisclosed Series B. Read more »
With the smart watch making many headlines these days, we ask GigaOM readers to weigh in with their thoughts on the device: which features they want, how much they would pay, and which company will rule this market. Read more »
The wait is over for Google’s Chromebook Pixel with LTE: According to the Google Play store, April 8 is the date of shipment for the LTE model. Here’s a look at the LTE pricing options. Read more »
Google+ announced Monday that it’s incorporating some photo editing and filtering features into its iOS app from the team at Snapseed, which Google acquired back in September 2012. At this point the “photo wars” seem to have died down slightly, but Google+ gets into the mix. Read more »
If NRG Energy starts offering solar leasing options to home owners and small businesses, it would represent the mainstreaming of solar roofs and also likely disrupt the current sector filled with a variety of smaller players. Read more »
