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Preparation for Google+ to rival Facebook

Google will be rolling out major enhancements for its social networking platform Google+, such as integration of search and Google Docs, over the next three months in a bid to bridge the gap with rival Facebook.

According to a Financial Times report on Wednesday, the Internet giant will be looking to compete better with market leader Facebook with major improvements to its Google+ platform. The first round of enhancements will include incorporating Google Docs, the word processing application which will make collaborating on documents easier "within days", and its search function with the networking platform, noted Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of engineering, in the report.

Subsequently, all of Google's Web offerings "are going to be fundamentally changed by the Google+ graph", he added.

Users of multiple Google services, for instance, will be able to rely on a single system for sharing across the different platforms and not have to wonder whether to share content using Google+ or YouTube, Gundotra explained.

He also said the company is delighted with the more than 40 million users who have registered for its social networking service, but acknowledged the figure is still less than a tenth of Facebook's user base. The executive declined to say how many daily active users the platform has, though.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who sat in on the same interview, noted that Google was cleaning up its multiple brands in order to make them less confusing and said Google+ would be one of the core products going forward.

While in the past, the company wanted to let "a thousand flowers bloom", Brin noted that once these flowers bloom, "you [would] want to present them in a coherent bouquet".

Google had earlier showed its determination to streamline its operations by shuttering Buzz, Photovine and Fast Flip, among others, in recent weeks.

Source: http://www.zdnetasia.com/google-preps-google-for-facebook-challenge-62302588.htm

Google and Samsung's Ice Cream Sandwich Galaxy Nexus

Samsung Electronics and Google took the wraps off the Galaxy Nexus, the latestAndroid handset to carry the flagship smartphone moniker.

The smartphone, unveiled at a Samsung event in Hong Kong today, marks the debut of the latest version of Android, known as Ice Cream Sandwich (each iteration of Android is named after a dessert).

For Samsung, the introduction of another flagship Google phone underscores its growing influence as an Android vendor. While the company was slow to shift away from basic phones and move into the smartphone game, it has more than made up for lost time with the success of its Galaxy line of Android mobile devices, particularly with its recent line of Galaxy S II phones in the U.S. It also made the previous Nexus phone, the Nexus S.

"Samsung and Google have closely collaborated to push the mobile experience forward," J.K. Shin, head of Samsung's mobile business, said in a statement.

Unlike previous versions, Ice Cream Sandwich will run on any mobile device.

"Ice Cream Sandwich demonstrates the Android platform's continued innovation with one release that works on phones andtablets and everything in between," Andy Rubin, head of Google's mobile business, said in a statement.

As with all Nexus phones, the Galaxy Nexus boasts some impressive specifications. The smartphone features a 1.2 gigahertz dual-core processor, a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD screen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a pronounced curved shape that is intended to cradle the face. There's a a 5-megapixel camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats, and support for 1080p HD video capture and playback. Samsung says that its camera experiences zero shutter lag.

The body of the HSPA+ version is a svelte 8.9 millimeters thick (Neither Google nor Samsung specificed the thickness of the LTE version in their presentation.) The Nexus S also featured a subtle curve in its design, in keeping with the original curve of the Samsung Nexus S.

The Galaxy Nexus will launch in November in the U.S., Europe, and Asia (including China and Japan). Although no pricing has been announced, Samsung did mention that NTT DoCoMo will be the Japanese carrier.

The Galaxy Nexus debuts amid a number of other super smartphones. Earlier today, Verizon Wireless and Motorola unveiled the super-thin 4G LTE-enabled Droid Razr, a 7.1-millimeter thin phone that comes on the heels of the Droid Bionic. Apple, meanwhile, boasted of selling 4 million iPhones over the weekend after the 4S launched on Friday.

Since the first Nexus One from HTC, Google has used its line of Nexus phones as a showcase for the latest user interface and features available with the updated version of Android. In fact, theNexus One was Google's stab at selling smartphones directly to consumers, although the lack of marketing and customer supported quickly forced the Internet giant to shutter those plans.

The anointed handset vendor partner, meanwhile, gets an early peek at those upgrades, useful for planning out the rest of its Android lineup. The Nexus S, for instance, was the first to have an integrated near-field communications chip, allowing it to use the Google Wallet mobile-payment system. The Galaxy Nexus will also have an NFC chip.

It's unclear how long Google will continue to pick its favorite Android partners; it plans to get into the hardware business itself with the planned $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Google, for its part, said it will remain a neutral partner to all of its vendors.

The pervasiveness of Android and Google's ability to work with multiple partners has fueled its ascent in the mobile world. The momentum has allowed it to take a dominant lead in the smartphone market even as Apple's iPhone remains the top-selling smartphone in the world. Google hopes the Galaxy Nexus will be able to sustain that strength.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20122278-94/google-samsung-unveil-ice-cream-sandwich-powered-galaxy-nexus/?tag=mncol;txt

Flickr announced its first official Android app today.

(Credit:Yahoo)

SAN FRANCISCO--Yahoo today unveiled the first officialAndroid Flickr app, as well as a new feature that will allow users of its popular photo service to quickly and easily share pictures in real time with family and friends.

The new Flickr Android app gives users the ability to see their own photos, albums, and photostream, as well as that of friends and contacts.

(Credit:Yahoo)

Released at a press event here that was meant to highlight part of Yahoo's overall mobile strategy, the new Android Flickr app is the first Yahoo has released, although developers have already built dozens for both Google's and Apple's mobile operating systems. There is already an official iOS app.

Within the new Android app, users will be able to access all their own photos, as well as their albums and contacts. They can see activity streams, and photos that friends have uploaded.

In addition, Flickr developed its own camera experience that is built into the app. It has a custom viewfinder that allows a user to select different photo ratios, and lets him quickly name new photos and add metadata. The app also automatically appends geolocation data. Any new photograph taken inside the app can be instantly and automatically uploaded to Flickr, and can also be sent to other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, by clicking a check box.

Photo Session
In addition to its new Android app, Flickr also unveiled its new Photo Session feature, which is intended to replicate the traditional way that people would show others pictures from vacations or of their kids or pets. But instead of requiring that everyone be in a room together, Photo Session is meant to make it possible to share such experiences regardless of where anyone is.

It works, said Eileen Hiromura, the product manager for Photo Session, by generating a unique URL that a Flickr user can then send to up to 10 friends or family members. Once they click on the URL, those people can then join a group viewing of an album.

Flickr unveiled Photo Session, a feature that makes it possible for users to share photos with friends and family in real time.

(Credit:Yahoo)

The idea here is that the person who generated the session controls how those he or she shared it with see the pictures. So, as that person moves from photo to photo in the album, others taking part in the session will see the same progression. The feature works on computers, iPads, and iPhones. The URL lasts for 24 hours.

Photo Session also lets others who are partaking in an album viewing to make modifications to photos--such as drawing on them--that are instantly seen by everyone involved. And anyone invited to join a Photo Session group can also choose to browse the photos at their own leisure rather than look at them at the speed chosen by the photos' owner. If they want, they can then re-join the group whenever they want.

Photo Session will allow anyone participating in a group to modify photos. Everyone else in the session will see the modifications, such as drawings.

(Credit:Yahoo)

Flickr lead product manager Markus Spiering suggested that it's not entirely clear when users will create new Photo Sessions, but said it's likely that people who want to ensure friends and family members will be available to join a group together will contact those people in advance of sending out the session invitation.

Yahoo's eight mobile pillars

Flickr's announcements today were part of what Yahoo head of communications and community products Steve Douty said was the company's newly defined eight mobile strategic pillars.

Those pillars are, Douty said, delivering personal, quality content; a three-screen approach that brings Yahoo content in a seamless fashion to users'tablets, mobile phones, and computers; creating app-enhanced experiences; creating social and local scenarios that take advantage of what Yahoo knows about its users; creating continuous conversations between users irrespective of what kind of device they're using; sharing companion experiences with friends and family across devices; doing a better job of monetizing the company's mobile base via better mobile ads and commerce; and lastly, building new partner-friendly capabilities.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20112921-52/flickr-launches-android-app-real-time-photo-sharing/#ixzz1ZIqPO51y

Google today acknowledged receiving a so-called "second request" from the Justice Department for information as it considers the search giant's plans to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.

Google made the disclosure in a blog post this afternoon, saying the request was for "more information" in order to continue the review.

"While this means we won't be closing right away, we're confident that the DOJ will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile ecosystem will remain highly competitive after this deal closes," Google Senior Vice President Dennis Woodside wrote in the post. "We'll be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review."

The move is likely to prolong, and could potentially complicate, the review process.

Woodside dismissed the request as "pretty routine." And he pointed to a previous second request that Google received a year ago, shortly after it announced plans to acquire travel data provider ITA Software.
But while the Justice Department ultimately approved Google's acquisition of ITA, the agency compelled Google to agree to certain conduct. Regulators required Google to continue licensing ITA's travel technology to rivals for five years on "reasonable and nondiscriminatory" terms, and forward to the agency any complaints the company receives from travel competitors upset about where they land in Google's search rankings.

Moreover, second requests are perhaps less routine than Woodside suggests. According to The Wall Street Journal, about 4 percent of all deals last year received a second request from U.S. antitrust agencies.
In a regulatory filing, Motorola acknowledged receiving a second request as well.

"The companies intend to cooperate fully and respond expeditiously to the DOJ," the company wrote in its filing. "The transaction is currently expected to close by the end of 2011 or in early 2012."

There seemed little doubt that regulators would look closely at the deal when it was announced last month. The Federal Trade Commission began an antitrust investigation into the search giant's business in June. And a week prior to the announcement of the Motorola deal, the Journal reported that the FTC was including Google's Android mobile operating system in that investigation over concerns that the company was preventing handset makers from using rival technology.

Just last week, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt faced tough questions at a Senate hearing looking into the company's business tactics.

"We know that close scrutiny is part of the process and we've been talking to the U.S. Department of Justice over the past few weeks," Woodside wrote in his post.

It seems likely that those conversations will continue for a bit longer than Google might otherwise have hoped.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20113058-93/doj-asks-google-for-more-data-about-motorola-deal/#ixzz1ZIpOaKR5

Happy 13th Birthday Google!

Google is celebrating its 13th birthday with a simple doodle on its homepage. The doodle looks like an old birthday photo, with the Google letters gathered around a birthday cake.

Google opted for a low key doodle for its own celebration, as it usually does, and not any of animated or interactive doodles that it has been sporting some times.

It's hard to pinpoint the exact date when Google was created, but the company has settled on September 27 for the past several years.

It's not a date of any particular importance, at least not officially, but it's the date that the search engine has chosen for itself. A few times, Google has celebrated its birthday on September 7.

This year's doodle is a simple one, by comparison with some of the intricate designs it has been showing off on occasions, but it's one of the most elaborate birthday doodles the company has ever displayed for itself.

Until last year, each doodle was a simple variation of the Google logo, with some party and birthday elements thrown in. Last year, Google commissioned a doodle from American artist Wayne Thiebaud.

The doodle depicted a birthday cake with Google written on it. The artist is best known for his drawings of cakes, pastries and similar items.

Here, you can check out a complete list of all Google birthday doodles ever made, 12 of them.

Apart from the doodle, Google doesn't make a big fuss about its own birthday, at least not externally.

The company can't be in much of a celebratory mood anyway. While Google is still growing, adding more users and increasing revenue, it's facing stiffer competition, from the likes of Facebook in particular. It's also under scrutiny from regulators over anti-trust issues, due to its large size and market share.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-s-13th-Birthday-Doodle-223862.shtml

Facebook vs. Google?

The algorithm is the key to success.

That's how Google replaced Yahoo as the Web's best search engine in 1998. Google became the font of the online world's information by both finding more information online than any other search engine, and by figuring out what of it was the most important to the Web's users. Google algorithmically connected the Web to people.

Facebook, by contrast, has always been about connecting people to each other, but as the the latest version of the Facebook platform illustrates, the company is now about using that information to do what Google has traditionally done: connect people not just to each other, but to things, ideas, and media.

The algorithm is a big part of today's announcement at the F8 developers' conference. The algorithm can determine what you're likely to like based on who you like, what you do, where you go, which apps you use (and how), and so forth--all of which is information that Facebook will now collect through its own service and all the apps that are being built to run on it.

Mark Zuckerberg describes how Facebook will connect people to media based on the strengths of their connections to other people.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Google also knows what you do online, but it doesn't have close to the same depth of personal information that Facebook has, for two reasons. First, Google's core service, search, is a way station, not a destination. Google knows where you're going because you transit the site and because you may be tipping it off through your browser's search bar or through ads on the sites you visit. But Facebook is a destination. People go to Facebook and stay there. And communicate. And like. And so on. All the while, Facebook collects the data.

Second, Facebook knows who your friends are. In addition to the fact that you tell it this when you "friend" people, how and with whom you communicate on the site is more data that Facebook's algorithm can use to classify your connections to other people. When you respond to what Facebook is now calling "lightweight engagement" activities in the Ticker--when you decide to listen to a song alongside a friend, for example--Facebook files away this information, building, bit by bit, a dossier on your preferences and the people who are most likely to influence you.

For advertisers, this data is more valuable than Google's. Facebook will be able to cluster likely interest groups together and sell marketers access to those people. The company will be able to work with media companies to make advertising on their pages more effective. This is a serious and credible threat to Google's position as the Web's premier advertising provider.

For users, Facebook will, probably quickly, learn what each of us is likely to like by watching what we do on the site. This will help solve a big problem on a Web overloaded with novel information: discovery. By mining the "data exhaust" collected from the activities, links, likes, and so on that we all generate, Facebook should be able to predict, with increasing accuracy, what we're most likely to engage with, be it music or grocery ingredients.

If Facebook gets this wrong, users will continue to complain about the new design of the site as being too cluttered and confusing. But if the algorithm starts to feed people links to things they like but didn't know they'd like, it means the algorithm is working and Facebook is on its way to becoming the source of the most valuable information on the Web: who likes what, who they influence, and how to reach the people most likely to influence others (hint: go through their friends).

It's scary to see one single company own this database, but Facebook is coating this pill in sweet candy. We will find music we love through it. We will connect with friends to go on hikes with it. We will learn things from publications using Facebook because we see our friends reading them. And we'll make the whole thing easier for our friends, and Facebook itself. But stuffing Timelines full of personal resumes of preferences and activities.

There will likely be privacy missteps along the way, as Facebook turns on the algorithm and makes the data available to more developers through its platform. One might be tempted to step away from Facebook or to try hard to not engage with the flow of attractive links and media that comes through it. But I think it's going to be hard for people to say no to what Facebook will soon be offering.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-20110418-250/yes-google-really-should-worry-about-facebook/#ixzz1Z7dy2xCk

News on Motorola Xoom 2?

Motorola, now with the backing of prospective new owner Google, may have a worthy competitor to theiPad 2 on the way, according to a report. And another, smaller model may be coming too.

Motorola Xoom 2?

(Credit:This Is My Next)

After some rather murky initial Xoom 2 speculation was reported earlier in the week, This Is My Next has come up with some more-solid details.

Those deets include a 9mm thickness (the iPad 2 is 8.8mm) and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. This time it may be a Texas Instruments ARM chip variant, according to speculation. The Xoom currently sports a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2. The ability to record 1080p video is also expected.

Other goodies include Adobe Flash Player 11, Netflix streaming in HD, an optional keyboard case, a stylus pen, and the ability to synch wirelessly to a PC, according to the report.

And that's not all. There may be a smaller 8.2-inch 0.95 pound Media Edition coming too.

Tablets and smartphones pouring out of Motorola Mobility over the next 12 months should be compelling considering that well-heeled Google--the provider of theAndroid software that runs on Motorola's consumer devices--is expected to absorb the company. Perish the thought that this would give Motorola a leg up over rivals in the Android ecosystem!

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20111218-64/more-motorola-xoom-2-leaks-two-models/#ixzz1Z05QP8IH

Google+ on the Google Search Engine

Google+, the search giant's bid to boost its relevance in the socially networked world of the Web, is now open to the masses.

Google had required invitations to the service since its debut as a "project" in June. But this morning, Google opened the doors of Google+ to all. Google+ has also graduated to being a "beta" product.

"We're nowhere near done, but with the improvements we've made so far, we're ready to move from field trial to beta, and introduce our 100th feature: open sign-ups," Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra wrote in a blog post. "This way, anyone can visit Google.com/+, join the project, and connect with the people they care about."

Lifting the sign-up restriction comes just two days before Facebook's F8 conference. There, Facebook, the service that caught Google flat-footed and led to the creation of Google+, is expected to introduce a number of new features, potentially including a new music service that would help turn Facebook into more of a media platform. Some reports suggest that Facebook might even unveil a major site redesign.

In addition to opening up Google+ to all, Google is rolling out a host of new features to Hangouts, the videoconferencing service in Google+. Since its debut, the Hangout feature was limited to Google+ users on a PC, even though the social network was available as an application for devices running itsAndroid mobile operating system as well as Apple's iOS.

Google is now making Hangouts available to mobile devices running Android version 2.3 and later that have front-facing cameras. And it says it will add mobile Hangouts to iOS devices "soon."

Google is also turning Hangouts into a broadcast medium. From launch, Google limited the number of participants in a Hangout to 10. The company is now letting "a limited number of broadcasters," likely those with the biggest Google+ followings, set up Hangouts On Air. The new feature still limits the number of participants to 10. But anyone can tune into a broadcast. The company is kicking off the service tomorrow night with a Hangout On Air featuring Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am.

And Google is giving users the ability to share their computer screens with others during Hangouts as well. Previously, users could watch a YouTube video together. Now they can share computer screens to show off vacation photos, plan trips, collaborate on documents, or even scribble together with a new Sketchpad feature. And, as is Google's way with beta products, the company says it's testing the various features, which it expects to change over time.

"The extras are still under construction, but we wanted to preview these features and get your feedback sooner versus later," Gundotra wrote.

The company has also created application programming interfaces to let third-party software developers create their own applications that take advantage of Hangouts.

Google has also added search to Google+, a feature that had been surprisingly absent from the search giant's service until now. Users can type queries into the Google+ search box and get results from people and posts from the service, as well as content from around the Web.

Google also seems to recognize that users want to tap into their social network on the go. In addition to participating in mobile Hangouts, Google+ users can now post to updates and comments, receive notifications, and respond to group messages using text messages, according to a separate blog post from Punit Soni, Google+ Mobile product manager. AndiPhone users can show approval for a comment with Google's +1 feature, akin to a Facebook's like feature. Google says that using +1 from Android devices will be available soon.

Google is also renaming its Huddle mobile group messaging feature to Messenger. With the new name comes a new feature: photo sharing. Users can now snap a picture with their mobile phone and share it with their circle of friends instantaneously.

Souce: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20108879-93/google-opens-its-social-network-to-all/#ixzz1YeuVdJ54