Posts Tagged ‘chrome’

It’s easy to miss the Google TV booth here at I/O 2013, hidden in the corner of the third floor. That may not be an accident: there was apparently no room in the company’s sprawling three-and-a-half-hour keynote to mention Google TV, either, just a short blog post hours later announcing that it now runs the latest version of Android . So in a sea of new products, services, and pitches to developers, we couldn’t help but wonder: is TV dead? Google has killed plenty of products with many more fans than Google TV — will it go the way of Reader ? Continue reading…

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Google TV: silent but not forgotten at I/O 2013

High-end British department store Selfridges has called the BlackBerry Q10 its “fastest-ever selling consumer electronics product.” Although it declined to give exact statistics, the store said it was selling thousands of BlackBerry’s latest smartphone per hour, and SeekingAlpha reports one store sold 2,000 of the handsets in ninety minutes . This may seem like good news for both BlackBerry and Selfridges, but while it is certainly great for the latter, it’s way too early to judge the Q10 a success in the UK. Selfridges was the only company in the country to sell the BlackBerry Q10 this weekend — the £579.99 (roughly $900 including 20 percent sales tax) handset went on general release today — and only has four stores in the UK,…

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UK store reports selling ‘thousands’ of BlackBerry Q10s per hour

Microsoft has tried a number of ways to advertise Windows Phone handsets, but the latest pits two rivals against each other. In a new minute long spot that’s due to air on US national TV, a wedding reception is interrupted by Apple and Samsung fans. “Would you mind moving your enormous phone,” asks one iPhone 5 user, before the guests — a clear 50 / 50 split of iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy users —begin to trade insults. One member searches for “one tricky pony” using Siri, while another fires back “aren’t you a little young to have an iPhone?” Microsoft wants people to notice its phones Insanity ensures and a mass brawl breaks out where each side can be heard trading insults like “iSheep” or “copybox.” The ad finishes up with two..

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Microsoft creates an Apple vs. Samsung wedding fight for its new Windows Phone ad

As influenzas go, the H7N9 virus at first seemed relatively benign: in late March, the Chinese government reported that three individuals had contracted the illness, and that two had died. The disturbing revelation was tempered, however, by reassurances that human-to-human transmission was highly unlikely, and that Chinese health authorities were taking unprecedented measures to monitor and contain the virus. But four weeks later, the situation has changed: 23 people are now dead, and 122 have been infected across several provinces. Officials with the World Health Organization last week warned that the virus is one of “the most lethal” they’ve ever seen, and appears to jump easily from birds to humans

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Why is China a hot zone for the deadliest strains of bird flu?

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg launched an immigration reform group , FWD.us, earlier this month, designed to promote innovation and investment in the US jobs market. After teaming up with some high-profile technology executives and venture capitalists to form the group, Zuckberg is adding some more household names today: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, and Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, will both join Intuit CEO Brad Smith and Napster co-founder Sean Parker as part of the FWD.us group. Existing supporters also include Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Google chairman Eric Schmidt. Zuckerburg’s FWD.us venture is separate to his work at Facebook and is designed to push for immigration reforms and higher standards in..

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Mark Zuckerberg adds Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to his FWD.us lobbying group

Two months after it announced it would support the platform, Skype has launched its BlackBerry 10 app . Currently, the app is available as a preview build and support is limited to the BlackBerry Q10. The new app has been tuned to take advantage of the Q10′s smaller screen, integrating tightly with BlackBerry’s phonebook by automatically importing a user’s Skype contacts. It also supports the BlackBerry Hub, displaying chat requests, file transfers, and friend requests in BlackBerry’s unified communications app

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Skype now available for BlackBerry Q10, coming to Z10 with 10.1 OS update

After Facebook was found to be updating its Android app without using the Google Play store’s update mechanisms , Google has clarified its terms and conditions to ensure no other developers attempt to circumvent its store. While Google has always outlawed “applications that cause users to unknowingly download or install applications from sources outside of Google Play,” it’s added a new sentence to its ” Dangerous Products ” section: Continue reading…

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Google closes Facebook’s loophole, bans non-Play Store app updates in Android

Everything was red. I opened my eyes slowly, wincing as the world came into focus. The emergency lights were flashing; sparks sputtered from a broken panel to my right. Then I remembered. The impact .

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90 Seconds on The Verge: Google Fiber, WebKit vs. Blink, and the always-on Xbox

The initial scans weren’t that promising — just an array of corridors and storage hangers, once busied with the citizenry but long since abandoned. It looked like the operation was going to be a bust after all, but then I noticed it: a blip. Nothing more than a shimmer, really; a tiny artifact in the digital latticework. You’re never going to cloak something from a phase scan completely. The trick’s in masking what traces you do leave behind, making them as innocuous as possible

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90 Seconds on The Verge: Apple’s new iPhone, Amazon’s new hire, and Prince

Our long, slow slog towards ubiquitous mobile payments isn’t getting any shorter, and today comments from Visa show that it’s going to get more contentious before it gets better. Visa’s CEO Charlie Scharf said that “it is totally appropriate” to charge companies like PayPal and Google a fee when their digital wallets get used. Both PayPal and Google offer something called a “staged wallet,” which means that those companies act as a kind of intermediary between you and your credit card. That theoretically helps make your wallet easier to use — since it can contain multiple cards — but Visa and Mastercard really hate this approach because it means they can’t collect as much data about your purchasing habits. Scharf’s statement comes..

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The knives come out: Visa, Mastercard will charge PayPal and Google for their mobile wallets

EA CEO John Riccitiello is stepping down from the video game giant as of March 30th, the company announced today. His departure comes at a time when EA is struggling with public perception over the troubled launch of SimCity, but the company also simultaneously announced that the game has sold more than one million copies since launching two weeks ago. The circumstances surrounding Riccitiello’s departure aren’t clear yet; EA’s press release indicates that both the former CEO and newly-appointed Executive Chairman Larry Probst came to a mutual agreement that the time was right for Riccitiello to move on. Riccitiello was a longtime EA vet, having served at the company since 1991; he was appointed CEO in 2007. In a statement, Riccitiello…

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EA CEO John Riccitiello stepping down on March 30th

In his first interview after assuming the role of co-CEO with Ted Leonsis, Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkosky is tough on outgoing CEO Andrew Mason. “In Andrew’s letter to the employees when he notified people that he was leaving, he accepted responsibility,” Lefkosky tells Elizabeth Spiers for Fast Company . “You could say, ‘Well everyone was here and everyone’s to blame including the senior manager, the board, whatever.’ But at the end of the day, the CEO is the CEO. And he makes those tough calls. If they go well, you’re a hero, and if they don’t go well, you’re accountable.” He adds that “in the first 12 to 15 months of us being public we did not do a very good job of controlling the process,” but insists that he had been..

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In first interview as Groupon CEO, Eric Lefkosky throws Andrew Mason under the bus

Apple doesn’t seem particularly worried about the imminent launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 — at least publicly. In an interview today, marketing chief Phil Schiller reiterated that Android doesn’t make for a pleasant user experience. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal , Schiller echoed Apple’s old talking points including Android’s continued fragmentation woes, which he described as “plain and simple.” Perhaps most damning of all, he took a shot at the very appeal of Google’s mobile operating system, saying “Android is often given a free replacement for a feature phone and the experience isn’t as good as an iPhone.” Schiller also criticized Android for an apparent lack of integrated software solutions. “When you take an Android device..

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Phil Schiller calls Android ‘a free replacement for a feature phone’

In the ongoing battle between Microsoft and Google over the market for office software, Massachusetts legislators are now considering considering a bill that would restrict cloud computing services from using student data for commercial purposes like (but not limited to) advertising. According to The Wall Street Journal , the bill is the work of Microsoft, which is trying to protect its lucrative Office business from encroachments by Google’s free Apps for Education. A Microsoft spokesman articulated the company’s position. “We believe that student data should not be used for commercial purposes; that cloud-service providers should be transparent in how they use student data; and that service providers should obtain clear consent…

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Microsoft backs privacy bill in effort to keep Google Apps out of the classroom

$99.99 gaming console Ouya will be shipping to its Kickstarter backers on March 28th, the company has just announced . A full retail launch is still planned for June, but the console will be shipping soon to more than developers, who started receiving kits late last year. We’re also hearing about some potentially exciting new Ouya projects. While we already knew a bit about what was coming to the platform, the company has announced that designer Kim Swift (of Portal and Left 4 Dead fame) and her team at Airtight Games will develop a new title exclusive to Ouya

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Ouya shipping to Kickstarter backers March 28th

The International Herald Tribune , a staple of newsstands around the world that just celebrated its 125th anniversary, is being renamed as part of The New York Times Company’s continued efforts to adjust its businesses. The paper will be rebranded as the International New York Times , and the transition is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The company has offered few details on how the rebrand will substantively change the paper, but it does say in a press release that a new website will be released and that the paper’s masthead will be changed.

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International Herald Tribune renamed to International New York Times as NYT shifts focus

App.net is going freemium; CEO Dalton Caldwell has announced that starting today, paid users can help expand the social network’s reach by distributing invites granting free access to new signups. In a blog post announcing the new measure , Caldwell says his team has been researching a way to offer free accounts from the start — echoing what he told The Verge last month. He cites Dropbox and Github as just two examples of companies that’ve reached a massive audience (while maintaining their popularity with users) thanks to the freemium approach. Until this point, App.net has demanded an annual $36 fee to register with the Facebook / Twitter alternative. Caldwell says launching as a paid service enabled App.net to develop a community of…

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App.net adopts freemium model, now offering invite-only free accounts

Nvidia’s next-generation mobile processor, the Tegra 4, may have been announced at CES last month, but it’s only today that the company has truly let us get an idea of its pixel-pushing potential. Running a trio of the most popular Android benchmarks on an Android 4.2 development platform, we got to see just how much performance can be squeezed out of a quad-core Cortex-A15 processor with a 72-core GPU. Continue reading…

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Nvidia Tegra 4: the first benchmarks

It took a long time for HBO to let customers shift programming from a smartphone onto their TV. But good things come in spades, and after finally enabling AirPlay for its HBO Go iOS app last week, the company has enabled HDMI video output for compatible Android devices. With options like Miracast still in their infancy, Google’s OS lacks a unified, secure, and widespread mirroring technology of its own, so HBO opted to give users a physical solution. Now you’ll be able to tether your Android smartphone or tablet directly to your HDTV and watch the network’s premium content on the big screen.

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HBO Go app for Android now allows HDMI output

Google’s all-new Chromebook Pixel isn’t something we entirely expected, but it was something that Google absolutely needed to do : try to create a top-tier laptop that could conceivably become somebody’s main machine. We can’t say that ChromeOS is totally ready for that challenge yet, but the Pixel itself feels as premium as any laptop on the market today. It’s a solid, rectangular machine in a gunmetal gray metal shell, with an even thickness from the back to the front of the device. Lifting up the lid reveals two things: first, the hinge is smooth and feels strong, but secondly and most importantly it reveals the screen. Google has gone with a 2560 x 1700 LCD panel here, behind a glossy glass panel that’s touch-sensitive.

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Chromebook Pixel hands-on video and impressions

Snapchat has moved its Android app video capture and sharing feature out of beta and into full release in the Google Play Store. The video feature is available as an update for the regular Snapchat app, which works for Android versions 2.2 and up. The move comes after Snapchat first started letting some Android users test out the ability to send self-destructing timed videos last week, but almost three months after the same feature came to the iOS app . In a blog post, Snapchat explains that it had some trouble when porting video over to Android: The Android phones that many of us use were never designed with Snapchat in mind, and that can be tough when developing a hardware-based application. The video feeds and playback behavior can..

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Snapchat video for Android exits beta, now available in Play Store

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What’s your browser of choice? – Verge Forums

With a game soundtrack going up against the works of orchestral juggernauts like John Williams and Hans Zimmer for the first time at tonight’s Grammy Awards , 2013 is looking to be a promising year for video game music. Though for the true believers, events like MAGFest — a video game music festival just outside of Washington, D.C. — seem to grow almost exponentially each year, mainstream approval or no. Celebrating its 11th year last month, MAGFest is a strange beast of video game-related revelry.

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MAGFest remembers game music’s glory days as ‘Journey’ goes for Grammy gold

Following public opposition to drone use in Seattle, city mayor Mike McGinn has decided pull the plug on a plan to let the Seattle Police Department begin use of two drones it purchased through a federal grant. In a brief statement , the mayor said he cancelled the drone program so that the Seattle police “can focus its resources on public safety and the community building work that is the department’s priority.” The police’s drones were 3.5-pound Draganflyer X6 six-rotor helicopters that could be equipped with either a camera for 1080p video and stills or a thermal sensor. They will be returned back to the manufacturer. After receiving authorization from the FAA , the Seattle police department planned to use the drones to provide imagery..

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Seattle mayor scraps police department’s drone program after strong public opposition

Apple has issued a rare, rapid public response to a shareholder lawsuit, countering charges by Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn that the company hasn’t done enough to return its large cash reserves to shareholders. In sharp but diplomatic language, Apple suggests that Einhorn and Greenlight misunderstand or are misrepresenting an important governance proposal Apple will present to shareholders at their annual meeting on February 27. Earlier today, Greenlight filed a federal lawsuit against Apple and issued a public letter urging Apple shareholders to vote against a proposal by Apple. “Greenlight is voting AGAINST Proposal 2 in Apple’s proxy, which would eliminate preferred stock from Apple’s charter and thus restrict the Board’s..

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Apple responds to Greenlight Capital lawsuit seeking larger stock dividend