Zac Hall

The private social network Path updated its Android app today with a simpler chooser for posting content and a tabbed navigation bar for moving around the app. It’s biggest feature, though, follows a growing trend with mobile apps: Path Messaging has moved to a standalone app called Talk that’s rolling out today.

With its new Talk app, Path wants to replace SMS and Facebook as it focuses on privacy with a feature called Off the Record. While it’s not quite as ephemeral as instantly self-destructing messaging app like Snapchat and Cyber Dust, Path promises its users that messages sent via Talk automatically erase from the social network’s servers after 24 hours from sending the message…

Expand
Expanding
Close

According to a report from PC World, both Google and Microsoft are planning to announce plans to add a smartphone kill switch to their mobile software in an effort to combat device theft. The feature would allow users with stolen devices to report their device as missing and disable it from being used without specific credentials in an incident of theft. This feature has already proven to deter theft of iPhones as iOS recently introduced a similar functionality.

The news comes after The New York Times released data from the city’s police pointing to a 19 percent decline in iPhone thefts in 2014 compared to the same period in 2013 which considers Apple’s Activation Lock feature introduced to the public last fall with iOS 7. The report from PC World notes that thefts of Samsung devices have risen by more than 40 percent.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Access to Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have reportedly been blocked in Iraq by the the state government according to reports from several media outlets covering the Middle East. The tweet shown above comes from a reporter for The Guardian covering the conflict on the ground in Iraq. It is believed that the Iraqi government has moved to block access to social media outlets to suppress videos and images being shared by ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria…
Expand
Expanding
Close

Earlier this year we told you that a number of additional cities were on the map for Google Fiber’s super high-speed Internet service including Portland, Oregon. Today, Portland’s City Council voted unanimously in approval of bringing Google’s gigabit Internet service to the area, The Oregonian reports. While the Portland commissioners did deliver approval for Google Fiber’s terms of the deal, the report notes that Google will “decide by the end of the year” if it will deliver on servicing Portland…
Expand
Expanding
Close

Earlier this year, Google introduced its Video Quality Report that measures the performance of your Internet Service Provider based on YouTube content playback. At the time, Google’s project was only available for users in Canada. Four months later, the company is sharing that its Video Quality Test will now be available to users in the United States as well…
Expand
Expanding
Close

Before smartphone marketshare was a race between Android and iOS, the smartphone market was dominated by players like BlackBerry and Palm. In the years since, the handset race has largely become between Samsung (and other Android-powered handset makers) and Apple as BlackBerry’s presence has shrunk and Palm has been sold to HP and consequently retired as a brand.

Nothing is more tangible an illustration of the change in landscape than the key players of today taking over the office space of the former leaders, and that’s exactly what Google is doing with Palm’s former headquarters, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reports.

The lease of the PalmPilot maker’s former two-building, 285,000-square-foot project in Sunnyvale brings Google’s holdings in the city to well over 1 million square feet.

Sources familiar with the transaction said Google leased the complex at 950 and 1000 W. Maude Ave. last week.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Quest Visual announced today it has been acquired by Google and will be joining the Translate team:

With Word Lens, we’ve seen the beginnings of what’s possible when we harness the power of mobile devices to “see the world in your language.”

By joining Google, we can incorporate Quest Visual’s technology into Google Translate’s broad language coverage and translation capabilities in the future.

As a thank you to everybody who supported us on our journey, we’ve made both the app and the language packs free to download for a limited time while we transition to Google.

We’re looking forward to continuing our work at Google – stay tuned!

The app, which debuted in 2010, features versions available on both Android and iOS (it was even featured in Apple’s latest ad) and has a Google Glass version for translating languages on the fly. It’s ability to translate text in real life scenarios using the smartphone camera and behind-the-scenes intelligence is quite sophisticated so it’s a good fit for Google’s portfolio.
Expand
Expanding
Close

As we mentioned earlier this month, Foursquare plans to split its mobile app in half as it introduces a new app called Swarm that will soon be the only place to check-in to locations using Foursquare’s service. Foursquare will instead focus its main app on reviews and location discovery and plans to remove check-in functionality later this year. Check-ins, mayorships, location sharing, and other social features will instead be focused in Swarm going forward.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Research firm IDC is out today with new data on the state of tablet and 2-in-1 sales during the first quarter of this year. While Apple maintains its lead in overall market share, it isn’t exactly experiencing growth. Samsung, however, experienced both an increase in total shipments and market share between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014, according to IDC’s report.

Samsung increased its tablet shipment by nearly 3 million between the two quarters from 8.5 million to 11.2 million. It’s total market share in Q1 2013 and Q1 2014 jumped by 4.8% from 17.5% to 22.3%. Pair that with Lenovo’s market share increase from 1.3% to 4.1% and the collective group of “Others” moving from jumping up nearly 2.5% and you start to see where growth from competitors have chipped away as Apple’s shrinking majority in market share.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Shortly after shipping its new flagship (and generally well received) smartphone, HTC’s Senior Vice President of design is departing from his role at the company. Scott Croyle, who HTC hired when it acquired his company One and Co. studios six years ago, will be transitioning out of his role as he prepares to focus on non-HTC projects, The Verge reports. As part of his exit, Croyle will consult with the company as his #2, Jonah Becker, takes over his responsibilities, HTC confirmed to the site. The report also shares that Drew Bamford, who leads development of the widely-critiqued Sense user interface, will now be in charge of all software and services…
Expand
Expanding
Close

If you use Android, then download this app. That’s the recipe popular automation service IFTTT, or If This Then That, hopes you will follow as it debuts its software on the Google Play Store for Android users for the first time. The service has long had a web component for programming automating functions between a number of supported services, and it delivered an iPhone version about a year ago, and now it’s finally available on Android.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Facebook announced today it will be rolling out a new social feature to its mobile app called Nearby Friends. The feature allows Facebook users to occasionally receive notifications when common friends are in similar locations similar to features offered by Foursquare and Google Latitude/Google+.

If you turn on Nearby Friends, you’ll occasionally be notified when friends are nearby, so you can get in touch with them and meet up. For example, when you’re headed to the movies, Nearby Friends will let you know if friends are nearby so you can see the movie together or meet up afterward.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ZddN9FabY]

Google has shared its first quarter earnings result announcing consolidated revenue of $15.42 billion, up 19% since Q1 2013, earnings per share of $6.27, and net income of $3.45 billion. For comparison, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted $15.58 billion in revenue at $6.33 a share.

“We completed another great quarter. Google’s revenue was $15.4 billion, up 19% year on year”, said Larry Page, CEO of Google.  “We got lots of product improvements done, especially on mobile. I’m also excited with progress on our emerging businesses.”

Today’s earnings report marks the first quarter since Google offloaded Motorola to Lenovo in a surprising exchange announced a day ahead of Google’s previous quarterly earnings report. That transaction is referenced below as “Net loss from discontinued operations.”

Google is scheduled to host its live earnings call with investors and analysts to discuss today’s report at 1:30 PM (PST) / 4:30 PM (EST).

Google’s full press release follows:
Expand
Expanding
Close