Articles about Google

When you're taking a flight, you can check the arrivals and departures section of your airport website to see if you're going to take off on time, or just rely on an airline announcement. Or you could just ask Google Assistant.

Google has announced that it will start to predict flight delays, using a combination of historic flight information and machine learning. The company says that it is able to deliver predictions with 85 percent confidence.

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The days of simply walking, taking the bus, or hailing a taxi to get around a city is quickly becoming unfashionable. Instead, small electric vehicles -- such as scooters and bicycles -- are being used to go from place to place. While some people own their own e-bikes or e-scooters, many just rent them instead. Yes, rent. If you aren't familiar, there is a huge trend right now where popular cities are littered with e-scooters, pedal bicycles, and e-bikes from companies like Bird, Citi Bike, and Lime. When you tire of walking, you just hop on the vehicle and use it as needed-- for an affordable price.

Google Maps is a great service for getting directions for traditional means of transportation. Not only does it help with navigating by car, walking, or biking, but it can offer mass-transit assistance too. Today, however, Google Maps gains yet another new feature that will surely delight millennials -- integration with Lime on both Android and iOS.

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It may well just be coincidental timing, but shortly after DuckDuckGo accused Google of personalizing search results even for people not signed into their account, Google has handed control of the Duck.com domain over to its rival.

The concession comes after years of frustration for DuckDuckGo, with Google having acquired Duck.com after buying On2 Technologies (previously The Duck Corporation) in 2010. The privacy-focused search engine has long asked Google to point the address at its website, and this has finally happened. Duck.com now redirects to DuckDuckGo.

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2018 has been quite the wild ride, and it isn't even over yet! Sure, there has been a lot of negativity in the news, but let us not forget -- there are many positive things happening too that simply don't get reported. The world isn't all bad.

With Google being the most popular search engine on Earth, it has the ability to offer great insight into the interests of people all over the world. Today, the search giant reveals its 2018 top global search trends.

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Google Maps is probably the best navigation and maps application available today -- it is chock full of useful features. While Apple Maps is actually pretty great these days, the search giant's offering still reigns supreme. It isn't hard to see why Google's app is so good -- the company collects data on its users to create a more focused experience. In other words, if you are willing to trade privacy for convenience, Google Maps is sure to delight you.

As a way to leverage some of the information it collects, Google Maps introduced a new "For You" tab for Android users earlier this year. It is essentially a personalized section based on the data Google has collected on the user. Today, iPhone and iPad users in more than 40 countries get to take advantage of this feature too. In addition, the search giant announces it has expanded "For You" Android availability to users in more countries too.

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We already knew that Google+ is closing down, but following the discovery of a second data leak, Google has announced that it is bringing the closure forward.

The company has revealed that a bug in the Google+ API exposed the data of 52.5 million users, and as a result it is expediting the shutdown. Previously due to close in August 2019, Google+ will now be killed off in April 2019.

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Speak to most app developers and they’ll tell you it’s much harder, more complicated and less interesting to produce an Android app, compared to iOS. Indeed, ask for a quote and both will be priced separately as both require separate development time and teams.

This might all be about to change with the final first release of a new cross-platform development tool from Google. Imagine a toolkit that you can use to program the functionality, allowing the UI framework to be provided to you separately and seamlessly.

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Gender and sex are two different things -- the latter is biological, while the former is a social construction. For much of humanity, the two have been linked, but in recent years, some of our minds have evolved to think outside this box. Sure, there are still ignorant people that feel gender and their stereotypical roles should be cemented into society, but the truth is, women are doing jobs that men have historically done, and vice versa. And doing them well, I must add. For instance, a woman can be a soldier, while a man can be a nurse -- it is wonderful.

Unfortunately, major languages were formed during the ages of gender ignorance, causing some words to unnecessarily have masculine and feminine versions. For instance, in English, a man is a hero while a woman is a heroine. This is problematic with translation services, as gender bias in machine learning can influence the end results. Google is not satisfied with that, so today, it announces its Translate service will be offering multiple translation results when they can vary by gender. The user can then select the appropriate one.

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There has been a great deal of speculation recently about what Google's plans are for dealing with its plethora of messaging tools. There had been suggestions that Hangouts could be for the chop, but now Google has spoken out to say that this is not -- quite -- the case, and in fact it is Allo that will be shuttered.

The closure of Allo will come just two-and-a-half years since it first appeared. Google says that it has learned a lot from releasing Allo, and plans to bring the best of its features to the Messages app. In a blog post, Google also talks about the other messaging apps and services it offers, including Hangouts and Duo.

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You might well expect that if you perform a Google search while signed into your Google account that the results will be tailored according to what that company has learned about you over the years. But what about when you're not signed into your account?

A study carried out by the privacy-centric search engine DuckDuckGo yielded some slightly surprising results. In tests earlier in the year, it was found that even when people searched without logging into a Google account -- or when they used private browsing mode --  "most participants saw results unique to them", suggesting there was still personalization of results.

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Santa Claus is real. While it is popular to think the jolly fat man is merely fiction, that simply isn't true. Don't believe me? Back in the early 90s, when I was a kid, I asked Santa for a Super Nintendo and I got it! How else can that be explained? Exactly.

If you want further proof that Mr. Claus exists, every year, Google launches a Santa Tracker that allows you to track his gift-delivering journey around the world. The search giant's offering is more than just monitoring Santa's route, however. Actually, Google also shares a fun interactive online "village" with cool games and activities. This year, the Santa Tracker village is better than ever, with such things as an "Elf Maker" which allows you (or your child) design a custom elf. Beginning December 23, users of Google Assistant can ask it "Google, where’s Santa?” to get live location updates.

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As 2018 comes to a close, many people start reflecting on the year. While there were many bad things occurring, such as the California wildfires and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, it is important to remember many good things happen too -- they just don't often make the news. Hell, I am sure no person had a perfect 2018 -- everyone encounters peaks and valleys -- so hopefully you had more of the former than the latter.

Media is a great way to distract us from the daily pitfalls of life. Things such as apps, games, music, and movies can help us to forget our troubles. The Google Play Store offers all these things and more, and today, Google reveals the best of 2018.

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Pixel Slate arrived at the Wilcox household on Nov. 28, 2018, from Google Store, with the order correctly fulfilled. Initial out-of-the-box reaction: "Oh". Underwhelmed. Nearly five days later: "Wow". The Chrome OS tablet is understated in all the ways that matter. My brain just needed a wee bit of time to appreciate the many nuances, rather than one obvious thing flipping the "ah-ha" switch.

The Slate will finally complete my move away from Apple products, started in late July. The Chrome OS slab is set to replace iPad 10.5 and possibly could displace my beloved Pixelbook, as well. We shall see about the latter. The delayed "Wow" response means something. That said, Google's tablet, like first-generation Chromebook Pixel, feels too much proof of concept: The hardware's potential awaits future software, and supporting services, refinements. As such, based solely on a few days use, I don't see the device as being right for everyone, or even most anyone. However, Google geeks will find something truly exotic to get excited about. Android and Chrome OS enthusiasts, rejoice! Linux lovers, too!

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Google is no stranger to killing off services, and it seems that one of its next victims could be Hangouts.

Having split the chat tool into corporate-focused Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, sources familiar with Google's plans say that the company is due to shut down the consumer version of Hangouts in 2020. The writing has been on the wall for a little while, but now the clock really is ticking...

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Part 3 of three. My six-week saga, where Google Store sent the wrong Pixel phones, is nearly over. I would like to thank the Advanced Support Technician team member who worked with me to end the drama and restore my (previous) confidence purchasing gadgets from the retailer. The generous solution minimizes any further complications and leaves me with a usable phone—with "Preferred Care" that I paid for correctly attached. Sometimes satisfaction is a process, rather than immediacy.

To recap: The 128GB Clearly White Pixel 3 ordered on launch day arrived on Oct. 17, 2018 as a 128GB Just Black Pixel 3 XL. Uh-oh. I agreed to keep the larger phone, following the online operation's difficulty generating a return authorization. Then, on November 2, I dropped the device and shattered the screen. But Assurant couldn't honor the insurance claim because of the shipping error; the phone covered wasn't the one possessed. Frustrated, days later, I bought an iPhone Max XS from Apple Store but returned it two-and-a-half hours later. My Pixel preference was so great that on Black Friday I purchased another XL with expectation of taking a loss on the first. But when the new one arrived, November 26, the IMEI on the order didn't match the phone. Meaning: In the event of defect, or need for repair, once again there would be trouble. Are you confused yet?

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