Kiddle lets children search the web 'safely', leaves the sex talk to mom and dad
Parents with younger children may well be concerned about the type of content their offspring could stumble across online. While it is possible to enable the Safe Search feature of Google, this is not 100 percent reliable, and more adult content can slip through the net. A new 'visual search engine for kids', Kiddle, launched this week to plug the gap.
Although nothing to do with Google, Kiddle apes the colorful logo of the famous search giant, and also relies on Google Safe Search for some of its results. The bulk of the first ten results returned by any search, however, are handpicked by editors to ensure they are safe for children and easy to read. There are also some automatic filters in place that prevent searches for 'bad words' and the like and, interestingly, treat searched for homosexuality and heterosexuality in completely different ways.
Android Pay coming to UK
The payments industry is in the midst of something of a revolution at the moment. Leading banks such as HSBC are introducing biometric security and high-profile companies such as Samsung are ready to get rid of cash for good by focusing on digital payments.
Contactless solutions that use near-field communication (NFC) to enable payments on mobile devices are growing in popularity and, following in the footsteps of its rival Apple, Google has announced that Android Pay will be coming to the UK by the end of March.
Spotify moves to Google's cloud
Swedish music streaming service Spotify has decided to transport its entire product onto Google’s cloud. The news was confirmed on the Spotify blog.
In the blog post, written by the company's vice-president of engineering and infrastructure, Nicholas Harteau, it was explained how Spotify decided for the move as it could no longer scale fast enough to meet the demand.
Google's Project Shield protects news and human rights sites from DDoS attacks
The web facilitates free speech, but it also gives groups the opportunity to try to silence those they disagree with. DDoS attacks are common way to retaliate against opposing views, and today Google is expanding Project Shield to protect sites from such attacks.
Project Shield is not a new service, but it has been limited to a group of testers since its launch a few years back. Designed to detect and eliminate "DDoS as a form of censorship" the free service is now available to everyone -- those who qualify, at least. The aim is to protect news and human rights sites to ensure uninterrupted access to news and information.
ISIS threatens Dorsey and Zuckerberg for closing terrorist Twitter and Facebook accounts
ISIS is many things including being a master manipulator of the media and an expert at utilizing social media. Facebook and Twitter have been key tools in the group's propaganda dissemination, and the social networks have reacted by closing down accounts whack-a-mole style.
Now Islamic State has released a video in response to the censorship. It depicts Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey riddled with bullets as "the sons of the Caliphate army" threaten to fight back against account closures.
Typing with fingers is so passé! Google enhances 'voice typing' in Docs for Chrome
In the classic film, Back to the Future II, some children remark to the main character that his use of hands to play a classic video game is essentially uncool and lame. In the real future, maybe mind-controlled input for games and apps will become a mainstream reality, but in the interim, mice, keyboards and game pads will reign supreme for computing overall.
A less futuristic alternative to using hands is dictation -- computers converting speech to text. Solutions have been offered for quite some time, but only in recent years have they become fairly usable and reliable. Google has been a huge proponent of voice, and today, the company announces it is enhancing 'voice typing' in Docs for Chrome to be much more than just dictation.
Google working with carriers to replace SMS
In an effort to modernize SMS messaging, Google and a number of mobile service providers are working together to expedite the release and adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS).
The company will be joined by the wireless standards group GSMA along with many global and regional carriers including America Movil, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Deutsche Telekom, Globe Telecom, Millicom, Orange, Sprint, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, Telstra, Turkcell and Vodafone.
Fiat Chrysler leverages Google's Android-powered Project Tango to improve car shopping
I love cars, but hate shopping for them. My vehicle is a meager Ford Focus, but it took me a year to buy it. Why? Some car salespeople can be very high-pressure, but worst of all, negotiating a price is an exercise in frustration -- it took me a long time to find the right car at the right price.
Why is it that buying a car can't be more straightforward? Well, Fiat Chrysler may have part of the solution to that problem. By leveraging Project Tango, Google's Android-powered augmented reality solution, consumers will soon be able to experience the vehicle of their desires without entering a showroom.
Google Compare is closing
From today, Google is starting the process of winding down Google Compare. The price comparison tool is to close completely in the US and the UK by 23 March.
From this date forward, anyone looking to find the best prices on auto insurance and mortgages, credit cards and more will have to turn to one of the alternative comparison sites. Considering the US version of Google Compare was only recently resurrected from the ashes of Google Advisor, the move will come as a surprise to many.
Google cleans up search results by ditching sidebar ads
Google generates a huge amount of revenue through advertising, and it's not afraid to try mixing things up a little. Ads in search results have long-been controversial, but the latest change is likely to go down well with many people -- the ads that currently appear in the right hand sidebar of search results are to be dropped.
The change means that ads will only be displayed above and below search results. There will be seven Google AdWords ads in total -- four above search results, and three below. The right hand side of the page will be left free for Google's own Product Listing Ads.
Google wants you to 'Gmailify' your non-Gmail email accounts -- but should you?
While Gmail is the most popular webmail service in the world, not everyone uses it. Plenty of people prefer to get their email through Outlook.com or Yahoo Mail.
Google would like you to use its service -- naturally -- but understands you may not want to go to the hassle of switching, or changing your email address. This is where Gmailify comes in. Link your existing Microsoft or Yahoo webmail account through it (support for other email providers is planned), and you’ll get all of the benefits of Gmail without needing a Gmail address.
Google 'Monotune' is goddamn good metaphor marketing
Great advertising strikes a chord, in this instance quite literally, with consumers. The best compares the primary product to another, effectively evoking emotional connection. Apple's "1984" commercial and "Get a Mac" series are excellent examples. In the former, the IBM PC is portrayed as Big Brother, while in the latter actors represent Mac and PC—the benefits of one and detriments of the other. Both examples use metaphors to simplify complex comparisons and to make lasting impressions rather than to checklist features.
Google spot "Monotune" is a magnificent metaphor—piano of 88 different keys representing Android set against another, portraying iPhone, where all the notes are the same. Music is memorable, and the comparison striking as much for the under current. Apple's brand often is associated with music and also creative individuals.
PSA: Time to switch to Google Photos as Picasa shuts down
It has been a long time coming, but when 15 March rolls around Google will no longer support the desktop Picasa app -- and this is just the start of the shutdown. Picasa is being gradually shuttered in favor of Google Photos as the search giant focuses its energy on a single photo service.
So what does this mean for Picasa fans? Well, the good news is that there's nothing to do in terms of migrating content from one service to another. Picasa Web Album content can be viewed, edited and shared through Google Photos, but if you don't want to migrate then it will be archived from 1 May.
Gmail now warns you if your emails are not TLS encrypted
To celebrate Safer Internet Day the other day, Google gave away an extra 2GB of cloud storage to anyone who completed a simple security audit of their account. At the same time the company also introduced a couple of important security enhancements to Gmail.
The first change sees the appearance of a simple indicator that makes it clear when an email is received through, or is about to be sent through, a service that doesn’t support TLS encryption. A broken padlock icon indicates that TLS encryption is not available, serving as a warning that there is the potential for the email in question to be dangerous or for the message to be intercepted.
Google enables peer-to-peer support in Hangouts to improve call quality
Call quality and speed issues often make it difficult for users to fully embrace video and audio calling over the internet. To help solve this, Google has updated its video and audio communications service Hangouts by allowing peer to peer (P2P) connections for some users.
By incorporating this functionality into the back-end of its service the company expects call quality and the overall experience of its users to improve.
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