Seth Weintraub

This one is a head scratcher: FastCompanyDesign named Google Maps for iOS a design award winner in the Interactive category. “The app’s continued polish is a testament to the power of focused iteration”.

If any of us ever took Google Maps for granted, that impulse ended the moment Apple released its mapping software. Apple’s PR nightmare reminded us all just how hard this whole navigation space can be. But Google Maps for iPhone not only rescued us from bad directions, it did so through a more refined UI than ever before. “I think Maps is iterative…but I don’t think we should penalize for that,” says Doug Bowman, creative director at Twitter. “It’s even harder to get folks’ attention when something has been up for a while…it speaks to what Google, as a large company, can actually focus a team on.”

Someone show them Maps on Android?

We got a tip (Thanks Guy!) that Amazon had trademarked the name ‘Firetube’ in Canada and the US. With all of the news surrounding the Amazon Phone lately – I immediately thought that is a dumb name for a phone.

[tweet https://twitter.com/llsethj/status/385746818480742400]

Seconds later it hit me. Tube=TV. Amazon needs a TV product to counter Apple and Google.

[tweet https://twitter.com/llsethj/status/385748077677936640]

It makes a lot of sense.  Amazon has all of this content on the Fire and no way to put it on a TV yet. They have to release some type of Chromecast competitor and quick. There are, of course, rumors of an Amazon TV. Lots of rumors. Bloomberg thinks Fall 2013 is the planned launch window. That’s right now.

Quick thoughts: Will it play from the iOS app? Will it be cheap and cost ~$35 like the ChromeCast?  Bundled with Kindle? Will it work with older devices? I’ve reached out to Amazon for a comment.

With the name now public and the holidays approaching, it would be surprising not to see an announcement soon.

[tweet https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/385532994527567872]

We’ve already heard some rumblings of a Asus powered Nexus 10 tablet (to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of ASUS hardware so kinda bummed), but today evleaks has some further evidence of the existence of said tablet.

Honestly, I hope it is better than the current version but now I’m starting to think it might just be cheaper.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baTh1jeObRw]

Not a fan. Either show how this will make my life better or bash Apple. I don’t know what this is.

[protected-iframe id=”848de174e335ee9cb9bfb826d6674b89-22427743-13611283″ info=”http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1″ width=”480″ height=”270″]

A Georgia Fire Chief is singing the praises of Google Glass. It isn’t hard to see why a heads up display would be a big benefit to Firefighters but a less Beta product would probably more optimal for bigger rollouts. (which are probably a year out at least).

Still, good for them for being open to trying it.
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We’ve seen a lot of pictures and videos of the Nexus 5 and that’s why this one has some merit: it looks like the others. It was originally on a forum and picked up by Droid-Life but since has been deleted.

This weekend  MyCE/Android World leaked out some specs of the upcoming device.

• Display:  5-inch Full HD display, 442 ppi (potentially 4.97-inch)
• Processor:  2.3GHz Qualcomm Snadragon 800
• RAM:  2GB
• Internal Storage:  16GB (could be another model too, this is what was in the log)
• Camera (rear):  8MP (no idea if it has OIS like the LG G2 camera)
• Camera (front):  1.2MP
• Sensors:  accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, proximity, light, barometer, orientation
• Battery:  2300mAh (via FCC) and wireless charging
• Other:  LTE, NFC
• Model:  LG-D820

Also the FCC has picked it up as well as some benchmarks. All we are missing is a launch date and price. 
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[protected-iframe id=”f5e7fcf0b03811b277a7c7cb3858d29d-22427743-13611283″ info=”http://www.fastcompany.com/embed/b511ee4bed85b” width=”704″ height=”420″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen=””]

Google HR Press release from Fast Company.

I’m not sold. Why aren’t these things floating in space? Why does there even need to be wires? Come on Google, try harder.

Verizon began carrying the HTC One in August a full 4 months after it was released in the US and over month after the Google Play Edition graced our reviewers’ hands. 

We’ve already reviewed the HTC One in its many forms and came away singing its praises. There’s no doubt it is a great phone, made much greater when you strip away HTC Sense overlay. Its 4.7-inch 1080P display is glorious. The feel of its rounded aluminum case feels great in the hand and it performs amicably.  Even the camera, which we loved in the Google Play edition version is the best we’ve seen.

Nothing has really changed here on the Verizon version. Same great build quality, great screen and great camera. Same awful Sense overlay.

Add the universally-loved Verizon’s LTE 4G network and you’d think you’d have one of the best smartphones on the market. Not so fast.

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Among other smaller additions, Android Police found a pretty big change coming to Google’s Gmail 4.6 App this week: Ads.

While El Goog hasn’t officially activated ads on mobile yet, the App is getting ready for them with a bunch of new code tailored around bringing ads to Gmail. Snippets are pasted below

<string name=”ad”>AD</string>
<string name=”ad_will_not_save”>Will not save ad as message</string>
<string name=”ad_will_save”>Will save ad as message</string>
<string name=”ad_dismissed”>Ad dismissed</string>

The above appears to suggest that you’ll be able to save ads as messages. Like an ad? Save it, and it’ll become part of your inbox. Don’t like it, and it’ll get dismissed. Very interesting, isn’t it?

To support ads, a whole brand new library was added called… ads:

com/google/android/gm/ads/

Inside, we have 8 classes, all related to ad presentation – toasts, teaser, sender header, ad header, ad border, and the ad view itself:

The likely move isn’t at all surprising and with Google popping ads disguised as email in Gmail tabbed interface and well, that’s how Google makes money.  You didn’t think Gmail was really free, did you?
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Google announced today that those folks seeing the flattened search logo and the app launcher weren’t delusional. They were just guinea pigs for what Google just launched.

It is flatter. ChromeOS-ier. It is the new Google homepage design.

https://twitter.com/zkahn94/status/380760097497964545

At the end of July, Google let you invite 1 friend. As of today, Glass owners can invite 3 friends. Go hit up your friends with Glass for a pair.

It appears that you can no longer but a Nexus phone from Google Play. Google killed the 8GB version a month back saying there would no longer be replenishments. Now the 16GB version is out of stock. Luckily, there are replacements right around the corner. 
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From the latest @evleak we can see the rumored new Kindle Fire third generation above. It would appear that Amazon is unfortunately keeping their big bezels and also their heavy proprietary overlay. From the image you can see updated UI improvements that will likely also hit the current lineup. We’re sadly not expecting to see a Google Play Store App like the recently announced Nook OS updates with hundreds of thousands of apps including Google’s Maps, Plus, YouTube, Gmail and more.

BGR caught the purported angular backside of this generation of Kindle earlier this week and together we can usually conclude that leak frequency increase means launch soon. As for specs, BGR’s source says:

Amazon’s new 7-inch Kindle Fire HD will feature a high-resolution 1,920 x 1,200-pixel display, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset clocked at more than 2GHz, 2GB of RAM, Wi-Fi, optional cellular data, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage.

The updated 8.9-inch model is said to feature nearly identical specs beneath its 2,560 x 1,600-pixel high-definition display, and it also includes an 8-megapixel rear camera.

We’re told both models are lighter and more comfortable to use than the current-generation tablets they will replace.

If you are in Amazon’s ecosystem, this could be exciting news. However we’d take the new smaller-bezel Nexus 7 with an Amazon app sight unseen.

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Looks great. Raspberry Pis are around $40 these days so a lot of fun for little money.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_JQxm53114

Motorola just released a trio of humorous ads touting features of its Moto X phone that don’t come in other phones. Above, highlights the abilities of the Moto X to respond to voice commands without touching the device. Two more goodies below show the shake to camera and quick look features. Both are great.
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The NSA’s $2b data centre in Bluffdale, Utah (source: businessweek.com)

Google today said that it was filing an amended petition (PDF) in the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court which mirrors requests made to Congress and the President a letter (PDF) earlier this year.  In conjunction with other industry player and civil liberties groups, Google is asking:

to be allowed to publish detailed statistics about the types (if any) of national security requests we receive under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including Section 702. Given the important public policy issues at stake, we have also asked the court to hold its hearing in open rather than behind closed doors. It’s time for more transparency.

In addition, along with a number of other companies and trade associations, we are meeting the President’s Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies today. We’ll reiterate the same message there: that the levels of secrecy that have built up around national security requests undermine the basic freedoms that are at the heart of a democratic society. 

Google is also beefing up its encryption between data centers in response to multiple reports that the NSA has access to Google and every other major technology company’s Data.

Chrome has offered ‘Apps’ – bookmarks to web pages – to Mac and PC users for a long time. There is even a Chrome App store that gets little fanfare.  But today Chrome is getting serious about desktop apps.  In a post on the company’s blog, Google says that improved access to the computer, including USB/Bluetooth, full screen mode, desktop notifications, less ‘chrome’ (Tabs, bookmarks, browser bar, etc) and power off features will make the Chrome apps act more like real apps. So real, in fact, that most people won’t be able to tell the difference.

Today we’re unveiling a new kind of Chrome App, which brings together the speed, security and flexibility of the modern web with the powerful functionality previously only available with software installed on your devices. (Think apps designed for your desktop or laptop, just like the ones for your phone and tablet.) These apps are more powerful than before, and can help you get work done, play games in full-screen and create cool content all from the web. If you’re using Windows or a Chromebook, you can check them out in the “For your desktop” collection in the Chrome Web Store (Mac & Linux coming soon).

Here’s what you can expect with new Chrome Apps:
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CNET reports that Microsoft was awarded $14.5 million from Google Motorola for the abuse of the fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) patents by Google.

A federal jury in Seattle ordered the Google-owned handset maker to pay the software giant $14.5 million in damages for breach of contract for failing to license at reasonable terms standard essential patents covering wireless and video technology used in the Xbox game console. However, the award is half the $29 million in damages Microsoft had sought.

If Google didn’t get any value from FRAND patents from Motorola, what did they get?
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Samsung’s JK Shin today announced the Galaxy Note 3 at IFA today with improved LTE radios, better enterprise capabilities and improved specs. The Note 3 has a 5.7″ 1080p screen (up from 5.5″), 3GB of RAM (up from 2), 13 megapixel camera, 32/64GB storage, 3200mAh battery and a leather-like rear cover. It is also thinner and lighter even with the bigger display.

Samsung also updated the Note 10.1 2014 edition with better speakers, leather cover and display.

September 25th is the launch date and the products will roll out globally in October. Press releases and videos follow:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaBP1zLZBzY

Our Jordan Kahn is live on the scene capturing lots of the action but in the meantime, sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs81TTSMIFk

Samsung Tomorrow just released a teaser video for the upcoming IFA event in Berlin. Along with the rumored Galaxy Gear Smartwatch, we’re anticipating a Galaxy Note 3 and likely some other fun stuff.  Jordan will be on hand at IFA2013 starting…tomorrow.
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