The Verge - Breakings

Yahoo to hold press event Monday as Tumblr buyout rumors swirl (update)

2013-05-17T19:14:53Z

CNBC is reporting that Yahoo will hold a "product-related" news event this Monday in New York City. None other than CEO Marissa Mayer will be speaking at the event. Exactly what Yahoo plans to announce hasn't yet been disclosed, but news of the event comes in the midst of rumors pointing to an acquisition of Tumblr. The extraordinarily popular microblogging site is based out of Manhattan, so the location would make sense if a deal has indeed been finalized.

Reports indicate that Yahoo could spend up to $1 billion for Tumblr, which would represent Mayer's biggest spend yet after high profile acquisitions of Summly and Astrid. The company has also recently signed exclusive content partnerships that will bring it video programming from Saturday Night Live, World Wrestling Entertainment, and others.

Update: Yahoo has made the event official, providing The Verge with an invitation that reads, "Join us as we share something special." Clearly the company isn't being shy about hyping its coming announcement. We'll be bringing you all the news as it happens Monday starting at 5PM EST.

Update 2: Despite the rumors, Bloomberg reports that Marissa Mayer will be announcing an update to Flickr, a previous acquisition, at the event. That could mean nothing else is in the works... or that another announcement is also planned.

Microsoft responds to YouTube demands, 'more than happy' to include ads if Google allows it

2013-05-15T23:17:53Z

Following Google's demands for Microsoft to remove its Windows Phone YouTube app, Microsoft has responded saying it's happy to include advertising. Google sent a cease and desist letter to Microsoft recently, with concerns that the Windows Phone YouTube app does not display ads. "We’d be more than happy to include advertising but need Google to provide us access to the necessary APIs," says a Microsoft spokesperson.

Microsoft appears to want to rectify the situation, noting Google CEO Larry Page's comments at I/O today. "In light of Larry Page’s comments today calling for more interoperability and less negativity, we look forward to solving this matter together for our mutual customers." Microsoft recently released an update for its Windows Phone YouTube application to support sign-in, downloads, and a full YouTube experience. The application has been available for just over a week, but Google has demanded that it be removed by May 22nd for violating its YouTube API rules.

Google unveils Hangouts: a unified messaging system for Android, iOS, and Chrome

2013-05-15T17:38:16Z

After years of waiting for Google to tie its disparate communication services together, the company has today announced a unified messaging system simply called Hangouts, available for Android, iOS, and the web using the Chrome extension. The new app will be available today on all platforms.

The new service, which adopts the name of one of Google's most popular and beloved products, replaces Google Talk, Google+ Messenger, and the original Google+ Hangout video chat service — Hangouts will eventually replace all of Google's communication properties. The new Hangouts is basically a messaging app, in the same realm as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, but with some of its own twists.

"We want to fill in all the boxes so people can just focus on just hanging out."

The Hangout app will present users with a list of recent text conversations instead of a contact list; rather than something like Google Talk, this has more mobile messaging DNA. Each conversation gets its own name, like a chat room, and can be labeled with an image or one of Google's new emoji. (Google says it has created 850 new hand-drawn emoji for Hangouts.) Hangouts will store all conversations in the cloud, and allow users to message friends at any time, even if they're not connected. Users can visit past conversations and access shared photos and video call history; thanks to Google's cloud, Hangouts will sync everywhere, giving people access to conversations on any device.

True to the original Google+ Hangout service, the new Hangouts allows any conversation to become a video call with up to 10 friends. "We want to fill in all the boxes so people can just focus on the obvious, which is just hanging out," Google's Vic Gundotra said on stage today at Google I/O 2013.

Part of that focus on "just hanging out" includes a new "watermark" feature that allows users to show when someone else is typing, and indicate how far others have read in a conversation. As noted in our exclusive preview of Hangouts, the watermarks create a sense of immediacy that's missing from regular text conversations, allowing you to see who is available or away at a glance — but the "active / away" presence indicators you may be used to from Google Talk have been replaced.

Google has also integrated Google+ tightly into the new Hangouts experience, and one of the most useful new features is automatic photo saving. Every photo that you or a friend posts in Hangouts will be automatically saved in a private shared album on Google+, and users can view the photos they've shared over time.

Google Voice will also be integrated into Hangouts over time, but Google has not yet provided a timeline for integration. The service is also missing other features users may have come to expect in other universal messaging platforms, like SMS support.

Google+ completely redesigned, now automatically enhances photos and highlights your best shots

2013-05-15T17:31:44Z

Just over a year since the last major redesign to Google+, Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra has revealed at I/O 2013 that the search company is completely reworking the layout of its social network. It will be available later today. The new design bears resemblance to the rather attractive layout Google+ adopted for its iPad and Android tablet apps last June: a three column-wide grid of cards replaces the long list of posts, photos, and comments that currently makes up the Google+ Stream, and high-resolution photos and videos take up the full screen width. There will also be an option to switch to a one-column view. By exposing visitors to more visual content at once, Google is likely hoping that users will find something that intrigues them quicker.

The redesign doesn't just feature a new layout for your Google+ stream — the company has also worked to turn the website into more of a proper app instead of a website. The redesign includes some very nifty animations that should serve to make using the social network a bit more fun. For example, clicking on a card flips it over to reveal comments. When you want to write a new post, clicking a button on the top right flies a window onto your screen to let you compose.

Part of the spruced-up Google+ is focused on hashtags. Hashtags have been expanded, and the social network will automatically scan your updates to add relevant links (you can disable the feature if you'd like). Google is also able to scan photos you upload, like one of the Eiffel Tower, and tag it appropriately.

What's more important than a new coat of paint (even if it is nice paint) for Google+ is the suite of photo features the company has announced today for its social network.

"Auto Awesome creates a new image from something that didn't exist."

First, Google plans to automatically make your pictures better. A feature called Auto Enhance will analyze and apply tweaks to your uploaded photos. From what we've heard on stage, this will include simple adjustments like brightness, contrast, color correction, noise reduction, tonal distribution, and saturation, but it will also make some more intensive changes. One demonstration showed how Google detects faces and will automatically blur out skin there to hide zits, for instance. Going off of the few examples we've seen, the feature looks quite effective, but it might be overzealous. All of the adjustments are non-destructive and you can disable Auto Enhance if you like. If you are looking at a photo that you upload you can look at before and after shots to decide if you want to use the feature.

There's also something called "Auto Awesome." By detecting the kinds of photos you take, Google is going to try to make other improvements. For example, if you upload a series of similar photos taken in a short period of time Google will automatically make an animated GIF out of it. If you upload a set of group photos it will stitch together one picture so that everyone is smiling. It will also make auto panoramas and HDR photos if you upload the right kinds of pictures.

The company is also going to pick out the best ones out of everything you've uploaded. By using algorithms, a feature called Auto Highlight will skip over blurry photos, duplicates, and underexposed shots, for instance, and choose the "best" photos to show off. Ideally, you'll be able to upload 600 pictures from your vacation straight to Google+ and not worry about having to sift through and pick the best ones to share.

Lastly, in addition to all the photo features, Google's heavily-rumored unified messaging service, Hangouts, is integrated into the Google+ redesign. Google is releasing Hangout apps for Android, iOS, and Chrome (as well as integration with Gmail). Instead of a mess of Google Talk, Google Messenger, and Video Hangouts, it's all streamlined across platforms — a much overdue change. Read much more on the new unified Google Hangouts here.

Google is clearly leveraging its massive cloud capabilities to try to make Google+ the best home for photos online — and attract users to a social network that's struggled to carve out its own niche in a world of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Most of the changes are focused on making uploading and sharing photos — a very tedious task — less painful. The company has already introduced photo-friendly features like unlimited uploads for photos under 2048-pixels wide, a fullscreen picture viewer, and 15GB of free space for photos that break that limit, and with all of the additions today it looks like the company has put together a very compelling package.

Google takes on Apple in schools with Google Play for Education

2013-05-15T17:27:05Z

Google just announced a new initiative to put Android tablets in schools and take on Apple on turf it has dominated for years, and its calling it Google Play for Education. It's a custom app store filled with curated apps specifically for students and educators. Developers can start submitting apps this summer, and the store will launch this fall — possibly in time for the next school year. It requires all students to have a Google account, and teachers can then pick an app and install it across all of the classroom's tablets. The store itself will be sorted by grade level and subject matter. Google's Chris Yerga also mentioned that Google was making it easier and cheaper to get Android tablets in schools, but there were otherwise no details on how Google will solve the longstanding problem of getting expensive hardware out to students. We do know that Google is already testing Google Play for Education in schools ahead of its planned fall rollout.

Google turns the Samsung Galaxy S4 into a Nexus phone, coming June 26th for $649

2013-05-15T16:56:33Z

Google just pulled out a Samsung Galaxy S4 on the Google I/O stage, but it's not like any S4 you've ever seen: It runs stock Android, is a completely unlocked device that comes with an unlocked bootloader, and Google's promising prompt system updates as well. The device runs on both T-Mobile and AT&T's LTE networks and comes with 16GB of storage. The handset will go on sale, directly from Google, for $649 this June 26th.

Basically, it's a Nexus device, and while Google didn't give it an official name, the company wasn't shy about describing the "Nexus user experience" on tap. When we reviewed the Galaxy S4 last month, we found it one of the most compelling Android smartphones we'd ever seen, if not as physically solid as the HTC One or a gigantic improvement over the Galaxy S III. It's also not nearly as inexpensive as the Nexus 4, which doesn't come with LTE but retails for only $299 fully unlocked. Another temporary caveat with this Nexus device might be that it comes with Android 4.2, even though we're expecting Android 4.3 relatively soon.

Google didn't have a lot more to say about the new Galaxy S4, but you can follow along with our Google I/O Live Blog for the latest updates.

Google Play services updated with new location, Google+ sign-in, and cloud messaging APIs

2013-05-15T16:32:19Z

Android lead Hugo Barra just announced a number of new APIs for Android developers as part of a Google Play services update. Aside from the highly-anticipated new gaming features, Barra outlined updates to Android location-based tools, Google Cloud Messaging, and Google+ sign-ins.

There are three new location-based APIs: fused location provider gives developers a new low-power location finding mode that uses less than one percent of battery per hour, which should make GPS-enabled apps a bit less power-hungry. There's also a new geofencing feature, which Barra said was a "big ask" from developers. The last is activity recognition, which users the accelerometer to determine whether you're walking, riding a bike, and so forth — that should be a big help in adding fitness-tracking features to Android devices.

The Google+ additions builds on the new sign-in features that have been rolling out recently — the big feature is a cross-platform single sign-on with Google+. It's the same kind of account-based sign in feature found in Facebook or Twitter, but you will get automatically prompted to download and install the Android app on our tablet or phone through the Google Play store. Once you open that app, you're automatically logged in with your Google+ account.

There are also some significant updates to Google Cloud Messaging, which was announced last year. Barra said that 17 billion GCM messages are sent per day. Now, GCM is part of Google Play service, with a number of improvements. There's now a persistent connection from an app's servers, messages can now be sent "upstream" (sending data from app to servers), and GCM can sync notifications across devices — something that the crowd definitely appreciated. Overall, it's a nice set of API updates that'll help Android developers make their apps better, but we'll have to wait and see exactly how they get implemented.

Google announces Android Studio, a new dev environment for Android

2013-05-15T16:31:05Z

Google is announcing its brand new development environment for Android today at Google I/O: Android Studio. Google isn't revealing all the changes today, but some of the big additions include a focus on multiple layout tools for a variety of devices and tablets. Changes to your Android app's code are reflected in the simulator in real time and Google says it's planning to integrate a number of services into the environment. "This is just scratching the surface of all the new features in Android Studio," says Hugo Barra, VP of Android product management.

Google is also improving its developer console today. Five new features are being added to the console, allowing developers to generate more revenue from Android apps. There's a section with optimization and development tips, with obvious hints like "design your app for tablets." An app translation service allows developers to get professional translations directly from the developer console. Developers will be able to upload what they need and pick from various translation services.

Developers get beta testing for their apps

Referral tracking has also been added, letting developers see which ads are the most effective for promoting their apps. This feature also integrates with Google's own Analytics service, allowing developers to see where installs come from directly within the console. The fourth addition is the new revenue graphs that simple display app revenue, and the final feature is beta testing and staged rollouts. This particular feature has long been requested by third-party developers and will let them roll out test versions of applications ahead of a public release.

Android 4.3 confirmed by Google developer website

2013-05-15T14:30:50Z

In advance of its keynote presentation at Google I/O 2013, Android 4.3 has been confirmed in a search listing on Google's developer website. Mention of the next iteration of Google's mobile operating system has since been removed (it was live just long enough to be cached here), but it's a safe bet that we'll see the next version of Android at today's big event.

Android 4.3 is still largely a mystery, but the update is expected to support Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and the OpenGL for Embedded Systems 3.0 graphics specification. BLE would help conserve battery life on mobile devices that connect to peripherals like smartwatches and speakers, and OpenGL allows for advanced visual effects in games and graphics-intensive applications. We'll find out for sure when Google kicks off its keynote at 9AM PT / 12PM ET — stay tuned to our liveblog for the latest updates.

Google CEO Larry Page says his voice problems were caused by vocal cord paralysis

2013-05-14T17:52:48Z

Google CEO Larry Page has finally opened up about a recurring and noticeable health problem — what Google Chairman Eric Schmidt characterized as the loss of Page's voice last year. In a post on his Google+ page today, Page describes how he first encountered the issue "about 14 years ago," right around the time that he cofounded Google, when he suffered a cold and then a hoarse voice, from which he says he never fully recovered. As Page writes: "So I went to a doctor and was diagnosed with left vocal cord paralysis. This is a nerve problem that causes your left vocal cord to not move properly."

Page says the same problem cropped up last summer in his right vocal cord, causing him to miss Google I/O in 2012, but in both cases, no precise cause was ever identified. Page writes that in researching the cause, he was separately diagnosed with "Hashimoto's thyroiditis" in 2003, but that this condition is a "fairly common benign inflammatory condition of the thyroid which causes me no problems." Page says it's unclear if this is related to his voice loss, and that there is speculation both could be related to virus-based damage from his cold. But in order to help identify the root causes of his vocal cord paralysis, Page is partnering with the Voice Health Institute to fund a survey others who have suffered from the condition.

"I went to a doctor and was diagnosed with left vocal cord paralysis."

As for his own quality of life following this latest instance of vocal cord paralysis, Page says "after some initial recovery I’m fully able to do all I need to at home and at work, though my voice is softer than before," adding that because this issue has impacted his breathing, his speaking engagements and aerobic activity will be more difficult going forward. He also says "surprisingly, overall I am feeling very lucky." Read his full post over at Google+.