Explore New Zealand’s ‘Great Walks’ with Google Street View
If you want to take a trip to Middle Earth tonight but don’t have a passport, Google’s got you covered with a new addition to Street View. The internet juggernaut’s partnered with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation to use Google Trekker to create some pretty rad 360 degree panoramas of the country’s most stunning vistas, the “Great Walks.” It isn’t the first time Mountain View’s gone someplace that inspired a movie before, and hopefully it won’t be the last. The real question here is if that’s an ent moot off in the distance or just your eyes playing tricks on you.
Source: Google Lat-Long, Google Maps
Google engineer takes on subpar USB Type-C cables
Trying to save a few bucks by purchasing offbrand cables? We’ve all done it — but there’s something you should know about new USB Type-C connectors popping up on cellphones (Nexus, OnePlus), laptops (Macbook, Pixel), tablets (Pixel C) and even Apple TV. The reason why they can charge so many devices, is their ability to transmit currents up to 3A, which could be 50 to 100 percent more electricity than older standards. That’s why Google engineer Benson Leung has been putting various USB-C cables sold on Amazon to the test. He worked on both of Google’s recent Pixel devices that use the new cable to charge, and found that many of the cables advertised as Type-C aren’t actually suited for use with the laptop. They might not be wired properly to charge a laptop, or they don’t accurately identify the power source — something that could damage your laptop, USB hub or charger.
Source: Benson Leung (G+), (2), Benson Leung “LaughingMan” (Amazon)
Google Maps for iOS speaks out traffic warnings while you drive
If you’re carrying an iPhone, Google Maps just got much more helpful in those moments when you’re determined to avoid gridlock. As on Android, Maps’ iOS app now speaks out traffic warnings in navigation mode. You’ll get a verbal summary of conditions before you start moving, and alerts for any congestion or crashes while you’re on your way. Is this a simple addition? You bet — but it could mean a lot if it helps you take a detour.
Source: App Store
Google is relaxing Android One guidelines to try and capture the Indian market with new phone
Android One was Google’s great idea for capturing emerging markets with cheap smartphones. On paper, it’s a fantastic idea. In reality, it hasn’t really done so well. Google is sticking with it, though, and they’re taking a slightly more hands off approach for their upcoming devices.
Google has partnered with Lava International Ltd. to create a new, cheap device to lead Android One devices in India. We’ve been hearing rumors about a sub-$50 Android One handset on the horizon, and it sounds like this could be that device. This new device will supposedly give a little more freedom to Lava, and subsequently, other Android One OEMs, in an effort to bring a little more variety to the program to give it the shot in the arm it needs to be successful.
Currently, Google mandates many specific requirements on Android One devices, which include forcing manufacturers to buy certain components from limited manufacturers, and that it makes it difficult for some OEMs to differentiate from other devices. Android devices are a dime a dozen all over the world, and they all need some kind of unique feature to really stick out from the competition. This guaranteed a certain level of quality, but it hurt profit margins and slowed down new devices. With Google taking a more hands-off approach here, we’ll likely see tons of new Android One devices trying many different things.
India is a key market for tons of manufacturers, and Google has a personal interest in getting as many people online as possible to use Google services like Gmail and YouTube. We’ve seen tons of growth in India recently, especially in the budget-friendly, large screen sector of the market. This is exactly the kind of market that Android One was created to capture, and with a refreshed take on the program Google stands to gain some ground in India with more Android devices.
source: Wall Street Journal
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Google hopes to reboot its low-cost Android phone program
Google’s Android One program was supposed to help the developing world go mobile and promote ‘pure’ devices full of Google services, but that’s not how it panned out — the phones flopped as both customers and vendors preferred heavily customized Android devices. However, the search giant may not be giving up just yet. Wall Street Journal sources claim that Google is planning to relaunch Android One in the “coming months” with a more relaxed policy that reflects some lessons learned. It’s reportedly loosening the strict hardware requirements, which made it difficult to compete on price and launch phones quickly — companies now have their pick of multiple parts. That’s important in India, where even a small discount can lead to a competitive edge.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Google hopes to reboot its low-cost Android phone program
Google’s Android One program was supposed to help the developing world go mobile and promote ‘pure’ devices full of Google services, but that’s not how it panned out — the phones flopped as both customers and vendors preferred heavily customized Android devices. However, the search giant may not be giving up just yet. Wall Street Journal sources claim that Google is planning to relaunch Android One in the “coming months” with a more relaxed policy that reflects some lessons learned. It’s reportedly loosening the strict hardware requirements, which made it difficult to compete on price and launch phones quickly — companies now have their pick of multiple parts. That’s important in India, where even a small discount can lead to a competitive edge.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Google Drive adds sharing notifications
Google has added a few new features to Google Drive. Currently, Google Drive will send you an email about share requests, but soon it will send you a notification right to your phone.
The iOS and Android app will be receiving this sharing update. The second someone sends you a shared file, you will receive a notification that you can open right away. No more having to open your email, click a link, then open the Google Drive file. This update cuts out the middle man.
Also, you could always share links to files very easily before, but if you didn’t already grant access to someone they wouldn’t be able to open it. Now, on Android, people receiving the file can request access to it with just one tap. On iOS and Android the file owners will receive a notification of the request instantly.
The biggest change brings the ability to preview files without a Google Account on Android.
Until now, you needed a Google Account to view shared files on your Android device. Now, you can do this without a Google Account just like on the web.
Not all the features listed here are out yet, but they will be available soon.
Source: Google
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The Nexus 6P, after another bend test, truly has some structural flaws
YouTuber JerryRigEverything earlier posted a video of him doing a scratch, burn, and bend test on the Huawei-made Nexus 6P. It wasn’t received very well, particularly because of users questioning the legitimacy of the video. Some claimed it was “fake” because they couldn’t see any logos on the back as well as other reasons. As a result, JerryRigEverything is back with yet another bend test video to clear the air.
In this new video, he thoroughly explains why the Nexus 6P’s structural integrity is so poor, which is because of the use of dovetails and a couple free-floating pieces of aluminum. When it comes to actually bending the handset a second time around, guess what? He breaks it yet again with little effort. Who knew?
Click here to view the embedded video.
There are two takeaways from this video. The first being that when you set out to break something, you’re going to break something. After all, what do you expect to happen when taking a hammer to a car window or a wrecking ball to a tower?
Secondly, some of this is Google and Huawei’s error. Sure, you cannot expect to design your phone in a way to stop people from bending it or taking a hammer to it, but it should be designed in a way that there aren’t any major structural flaws, simply to prevent bending in the pocket or from any other real-world encounters.
All in all, the Nexus 6P bends, but that doesn’t make it a bad smartphone. It’s uniquely designed, but sports some of the best specifications on the market. Not to even mention how clean and slick the stock interface is. If you’re looking for the Google experience, the Nexus 6P might be something you want to consider. If you’re looking for something that has plenty of durability, then looking for a more rugged device will suit your needs.
source: JerryRigEverything (YouTube)
Come comment on this article: The Nexus 6P, after another bend test, truly has some structural flaws
Code in the Galaxy S6 Edge isn’t as secure as you think, Google researchers reveal
Google security researchers decided to dig into the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge to see what they could find as far as vulnerable code goes. Suffice to say, what these Googlers found wasn’t good news.
In their digging, 11 vulnerabilities were found that have the potential to be used for creating files within the system privileges for stealing personal data, such as the user’s email. Potentially even more dangerous is that these vulnerabilities could be used to advance an application’s permissions to obtain even more data.
Google sent their findings to Samsung, and got a quick response saying that eight of the major issues had been fixed in an October Maintenance Release. The other three will be fixed in a November Maintenance Release, though it wasn’t mentioned how long these updates will take to get to carrier-branded units.
“It is promising that the highest severity issues were fixed and updated on-device in a reasonable time frame,” Google researchers said.
The goal of this experiment was to see that if the security measures that were put in place across the Android platform could prevent the exploitation of these vulnerabilities in a manufacturer’s code. The results were a hit-or-miss, in some cases. For instance, SELinux, a defense mechanism put in the Android code by default, made it difficult to exploit these vulnerabilities, but some bugs in the code allowed SELinux to be disabled, giving Crackers a wide open field to play in.
For those of you interested, you can find all of the hard details on these vulnerabilities and more at the source link below.
source: Google
via: Computer World
Come comment on this article: Code in the Galaxy S6 Edge isn’t as secure as you think, Google researchers reveal
Matias Duarte says Windows 10 looks like XP with a new skin
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Matias Duarte is a man most famous for bringing Material Design to our Android devices – he’s also the Vice President of Design at Google, so naturally, you’d expect him to have some pretty strong opinions about designs used in devices from Google’s competitors. The target of Duarte’s ire was Windows 10 today after the Googler managed to get his hands on a Microsoft Surface 4 Pro running Windows 10. It’s clear that Duarte wasn’t impressed, saying that Windows 10 was “basically XP with a flat design skin”, following up with:
#Windows10 ? More like Windows 10 years ago!
— Matias Duarte (@MatiasDuarte) November 2, 2015
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
As is the way with social media, this elicited quite a strong response from Twitter. Some of the best comebacks comment on the lack of regular updates from Google, the dated design of ChromeOS, and the general crassness of the tweets. On realize his tweets had gotten quite a lot of (negative) attention, Duarte clarified his statements by saying that he only meant that he was disappointed how Windows 10 operated like Windows XP, not that he found the design lacking.
What do you think about Duarte’s comments? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
The post Matias Duarte says Windows 10 looks like XP with a new skin appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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