Google and Yubico offering Security Key USB drives for 50% off!
Google and Yubico are partnering up to offer eligible customers a 50% discount on Yubico’s U2F Security Keys. This would bring the price down to $9, which is a significant discount over the original $18 price point. It sure is a good deal, especially when considering some companies buy these for many of their employees.
The offer is only applicable to Google for Work users, who happen to be the main target for Google’s Security Key USB thumb drives. Not sure what Security Keys are? These USB drives offer a stronger 2-step verification process that doesn’t sacrifice your precious time.
No longer do Google for Work users need to enter a password and a code sent to their smartphones every time they want to log into a secure document or account. With Security Keys, Google allows users to replace the smartphone code with hardware verification. Simply plug in a USB thumb drive into the computer and press a button when prompted. The system then recognizes your credentials and grants you access.
It’s a simple concept that also manages to keep your account secure. We all know password security is flawed in most cases, as intruders can sometimes steal your credentials with amazing ease. Not to mention, IT departments have complete control of these Security Keys. Managers can track when and where members used their Security Keys; they can also revoke the key if needed.
It’s truly a great product for those who care about security and use Google for Work. Interested customers can go to Yubico’s website and see if their Google account is supported. If it is, simply order as many Yubico U2F Security Keys as you want and go through the purchasing process as one normally would. The discount will be applied during checkout – no codes or coupons needed.
We are also not sure how long this deal will be around, so you may want to act quickly. By the way, this special edition Security Key only supports FIDO U2F. Those who need additional protocol support will have to dig deeper into the Yubico store, and this discount won’t apply then.
How many of you guys have used one of these Security Keys? Are they really as awesome as they seem? Let us know in the comments! I also have to wonder if we will ever see consumer versions of these coming to the market. I wouldn’t mind trying one of these out!
Tegra X1 Chromebook might be happening, codenamed “Smaug”
If you’ve kept up with Chromebooks over the past few years, you’ve probably noticed how different manufacturers have been testing out different processors for their ultra-portable laptops. Most Chromebooks tend to use Intel’s low-power chips, but we’ve seen some experimentation from other companies, such as Samsung using their own ARM Exynos processors and Asus using Nvidia’s Tegra K1 chips. However, ARM processor usage has been pretty limited up to this point, mostly because ARM processors just haven’t completely matched up to Intel’s offerings in the performance category.
The Asus Chromebook that used the K1 processor fared better than any other ARM-based Chromebook, offering fantastic battery life with very little compromise in terms of performance. It looks like we might see Nvidia’s chips make their way into more Chromebooks in the future, too, if some new software commits from Google are any indicator.
Google’s Chromium team engineers have added support for Nvidia’s high-powered Tegra X1 processor into Coreboot, which is what Google uses instead of the BIOS firmware you’ll typically find on Windows laptops. That hints pretty heavily that someone is working on a Chromebook with an X1 processor, which is even more likely since another commit was added for an X1-board for Chrome OS. This board was codenamed Smaug, and it would mark the first ever 64-bit ARM Chromebook. It’s also a pretty good indicator that someone at Google is a Tolkien fan.
Nvidia’s Tegra X1 is currently used in their Shield devices, and it offers some pretty fantastic performance, especially since it’s using Nvidia’s highly efficient and powerful Maxwell architecture, which is the same architecture that you’ll find in their laptop and desktop graphics cards. Hopefully this translates into a beefy Chromebook with fantastic battery life.
source: Tom’s Hardware
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Google Drive now works with custom maps from My Maps
Google has announced that My Maps, its custom map tool, is accessible for Drive users. Custom maps can be attached to documents, forms, presentations, and spreadsheets that are housed in Google’s cloud storage service. Drive users can use the search functionality to call upon items so they never waste time sifting through files for the right custom map.
The blog post announcing the features appearance in Drive contained the following statement:
Whether you’re planning your next event, mapping out the best route to visit clients, or sharing the location of your food truck with fans, Google My Maps makes it easy to put your world on a custom map. Starting today, you can access My Maps right from Google Drive on your Google Apps account, so it’s even easier to create, find and share your custom maps.
And here are some of the potential uses, according to Google, for My Maps being integrated with Drive:
- A food truck owner composing a form for people to vote and decide his or her next location. The votes are gathered and the food truck owner can decide where the most popular location is.
- A businessperson is preparing for an annual conference and forward’s everyone the event and hotel’s locations. Tickets, event information, and a custom map are bundled into a single folder.
- A delivery coordinator plans efficient routes for deliveries.
My Maps is a feature that Google has not pushed to the forefront; however, this type of integration will make it more accessible and useful.
Source: Google
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Google Earth celebrates it 10th birthday
On June 29th, Monday, Google Earth celebrated its 10th birthday. I know 10 years is a blip on the timeline, but for digital content and tech, 10 years is old. 10 years ago was 2005; we didn’t have the iPhone from Apple, and mobile companies like Nextel and Cingular were dominating the cellular networks. The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2005, and like Google Earth, 10 years later they still rule their domain. Although Google didn’t need to cheat to be great. Even the almighty Facebook was just over a year old. More importantly, online maps and GPS were expanding, allowing drivers to migrate away from ancient paper maps and Google Earth was at the forefront of that expansion. It was also free and still is free to this day.
How times have changed and let’s discuss the changes and value in Google Earth that have occurred over the last 10 years.
I remember when my older brother, Klinton, told me to check out Google Earth; he was a big fan of Google and their beta products so he was always the first to know about Google’s latest releases(although now he has an iPhone so I have disowned him). I opened up Google Earth and started exploring the world in a new and interactive way I was never able to do using a good old globe. I could type in a destination and then zoom in on a satellite image, something I could never do before, and I visited places from Hawaii to China all in a matter of seconds. The Forbidden Palace is quite a sight to see on Google Earth.
When was the last time you used a globe for directions?
More importantly Google Maps had a large impact after Hurricane Katrina, with before and after satellite imagery so rescue workers could locate where people were stranded after the flooding.
The benefits of Google Earth didn’t stop there as it has helped enable people of all ages discover new coral reefs, journey to the moon, find long-lost parents, clear land mines and much more.
Google Earth Voyager
Google Earth 10th birthday opening page
Voyager is available in the desktop version of Google Earth and it takes you to the newest and most interesting imagery around the world.
From the Google blog:
In this first edition of Voyager, you’ll find five sections to explore:
- Street View: highlights from Street View, including the Taj Mahal and the Grand Canyon
- Earth View: striking landscapes around the globe as seen from space (more below)
- 3D cities: a showcase of cities and towns available in photorealistic 3D (don’t forget to tilt!)
- Satellite imagery updates: a map of our most recently published satellite imagery
- Highlight tour: with thousands of Voyager locations to choose from, take a quick tour of a few to whet your appetite
The Kemgon Gompa – available in the Street View layer in Google Earth
Earth View
Earth view offers scientists and casual enthusiasts the opportunity to admire Earth’s natural beauty. It also allows for scientists to track global events like glaciers melting and deforestation.
CLASlite online: This shows deforestation and degradation in Rondonia, Brazil from 1986-2008, with the red indicating recent activity using Google Earth.
From Google Earth – the Hammar Marshes of Iran are an uncharacteristic yet beautiful wetland feature in the otherwise arid climate
For Google Earth’s birthday, Google is expanding the Earth View collection to 1,500 landscapes from every continent and ocean.
If you haven’t checked in Google Earth in a while it is definitely worth trying as it has evolved and added countless features.
Happy birthday Google Earth!
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Magic Leap adds former Vevo CEO to its mysterious team
Magic Leap is as mysterious as it’s ambitious. Ever since the Google-backed startup raised a whopping $542 million, it’s been pegged as the next big thing in mixed reality. But apart from it being a platform that incorporates digital lightfield technology, little is known about the experience or the headset so far. What’s known is that the company is building a rather unorthodox yet stellar team for its “techno-biology” mission. After appointing acclaimed sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson as the company’s Chief Futurist late last year, the company has brought on Rio Caraeff, former CEO of Vevo, as its Chief Content Officer.
Caraeff’s new role will include development and operations of the company’s cloud-based ecosystem and media network. Before setting up Vevo in 2009, he was a long time music executive with leading labels like Universal Records, Sony Music Entertainment and Capitol Records Group. According to a press release, his experience with music and media fits right into Magic Leap’s vision. “Rio grew up around musicians and computing, and he and I both share a love of creativity, art and technology,” says CEO Rony Abovitz. “This mutual passion for building new mediums and experiences with artists and creatives is the heart and soul of Magic Leap.” Those new mediums, however, continue to be the best kept secret in the world of reality-altering headsets.
[Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg, Getty Images]
Source: Variety
Google parks its map-making tool inside Drive for easy access
To make things easily accessible, Google is nesting its My Maps feature in Drive. This means that in addition to creating custom maps for whatever need may arise, you can also nestle them alongside documents or forms created with the productivity suite’s other apps. Drive’s cloud storage abilities also make it simple to store and share those custom maps in a place that you’ll know exactly where to find them. Even if you can’t remember, Drive’s search box can lend a hand. My Maps has been around for a bit, but it hasn’t nearly as easy to find. Now, it’s accessible from the red New button in Drive, situated in the extend menu under the core apps. As Google notes, it’s incredibly useful for building a guide for multiple colleagues attending the same conference or keeping a few different hiking trails organized. And perhaps best of all, it’ll pull data from a Sheet, Document or Form to save you from all of that extra typing.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Google
YouTube mobile app now supports 60fps video
Mobile device users looking for the smooth video performance of high frame rate videos will be glad to know that Google is bringing support for 60fps video to the YouTube app on both Android and iOS. Support for HFR video has slowly been added to the YouTube ecosystem, starting with the addition on the desktop last fall. This May YouTube added support for HFR to their live streaming service. The next step in the expansion of HFR support was announced yesterday by the YouTube Creators team as support will now be included in the YouTube app on mobile devices.
source: YouTube Creators (Google+)
via: Engadget
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HTC and Verizon will give you a $100 Google Play Store credit if you buy the HTC One M9
If you’ve been toying with the idea of ordering the refined HTC One M9 from Verizon, here’s a little incentive to follow through with the notion. HTC and Verizon have teamed up to offer a $100 Google Play Store credit to customers who order the HTC One M9 from the carrier.
The promotion has just started and will run until August 31st with the $100 Google Play Store credit remaining valid for 12 months after redemption. To redeem the offer, you will have to submit your details and proof of purchase to HTC, and the $100 credit will be added to your Google Wallet account by September 30th. This is on top of the UH-Oh cover that gives you a free one-time phone replacement within the first 12 months of ownership for cracked displays or water damage.
What do you think? Is it enough of an incentive for you to order the HTC One M9 from Verizon? If so, just click the source link below to get started. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Source: HTC
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Google apologizes for tagging black people as gorillas in Photos app
Google’s recently released Photos app proved to be a convenient addition to the Search Giant’s application portfolio. Google Photos offers automatic photo syncing, Assistant (Auto Awesome) and even a feature for automatic tagging, which can recognize and group food, things, places, animals and more. This automatic tagging feature is definitely among the most popular additions to the new service, but we now have proof that their recognition technology still needs some work.
It must have been the most embarrassing day in a long time for the Google+ team when they discovered their app was tagging people as animals. Things get worse when you consider this can be linked to popular racial slurs. Computer programmer Jacky Alciné shared his tagging results via Twitter when he discovered the Google Photos app was tagging dark-skinned people as gorillas. Something Google responded to rather quickly.
And it’s only photos I have with her it’s doing this with (results truncated b/c personal): pic.twitter.com/h7MTXd3wgo
— diri noir avec banan (@jackyalcine) June 29, 2015
Google’s own Chief Social Architect, Yonathan Zunger, reacted the best way possible. He took blame for the mistake, apologized and started working on a fix right away.
@jackyalcine Holy fuck. G+ CA here. No, this is not how you determine someone’s target market. This is 100% Not OK.
— Yonatan Zunger (@yonatanzunger) June 29, 2015
Soon afterwards, Zunger announced the label for gorillas had been removed from the app’s database. This is at least a temporary solution until they can work out the kinks of recognizing a human face. He goes on to mention there’s definitely “lots to be done” in terms of facial recognition, and that this is not the first time something like this has happened. Apparently there a was previous occurrence in which people (of all races) were being labeled as dogs.
We are definitely glad to see how Google handled this. It just goes to show all the work facial recognition really needs. It’s not simple to scan an image and recognize exactly what everything is. Have you guys encountered any similar issues? I keep looking to see if Google Photos will recognize my hairy face as Sasquatch! No luck there.
YouTube app for Android and iOS now supports 60 FPS playback
Google’s been systematically rolling out high frame rate (HFR) video — that’s 60 frames per second — across its YouTube ecosystem for a couple of months now. HFR debuted on standard videos last October. It hit YT’s live streaming service in May and today Google announced that the YouTube mobile app for both iOS and Android will now feature 60 FPS playback. Now you’ll be able to follow Far Cry 4 walkthroughs on your mobile device with the same silky smooth playback that you see on your TV.
Filed under: Internet, Apple, Google
Source: Google
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