Chrome to Mobile and Print to my Phone are both going bye-bye next month

Google is shutting down both Chrome to Mobile and “Print to my Phone” early next month. Chrome to Mobile was that browser extension that allowed you to easily send whatever web page you were viewing on your desktop, right to your mobile device. I often found it useful, but Google started Tab Sync a couple of year’s ago that might not be as quick, but is a lot more useful.

Tab Sync shows you every Chrome page that is open on every single device that you have so it’s a lot more versatile. All you need to do is tap on any of those open web pages from your mobile device, and it will open. I stopped using Chrome to Mobile ever since Tab Sync was introduced.

Print to my Phone is a feature in Google Cloud Print that allows you to choose one of your mobile devices as a printer option. I can say that I have never used the option, nor have I ever heard of it, so it’s no surprise that Google is shutting it down.

source: +Moshe Brevda More info on Tab Sync: Google

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Google said to be investing major dollars in SpaceX project

According to a report from The Information, Google is considering a large investment in SpaceX. For those that don’t know, it’s a privately funded company led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk that’s set on making advancements in space travel. However instead of investing in the space travel portion of the SpaceX project, Google is apparently looking at helping to “support the development of SpaceX satellites that could beam low-cost Internet around the globel to billions who don’t have it.” As the report says:

Google is close to investing in rocket maker SpaceX, according to several people familiar with the talks, creating a formidable alliance in Silicon Valley’s accelerating Internet space race… The price and terms Google and SpaceX are discussing couldn’t be learned although one person familiar with them said Google has agreed to value SpaceX north of $10 billion and that the size of the total round, which includes other investors, is very large.

Musk hosted a SpaceX event in Seattle earlier in the week to announce the company’s goal to launch communication satellites into space to help increase Internet speed, creating access to over three billion people who don’t have reliable high-speed Internet access. This will be done by launching satellites much lower than traditional communication satellites. Apparently, according to Musk, the “speed of light is 40 percent faster in the vacuum of space than it is for fiber.”

The project would work two-fold as the Internet service could possibly serve as a global communications network for when the company eventually enables the colonization of Mars. It’s also possible that this new Internet network could be the eventual next step of Project Loon.

source: The Information
via: 9to5 Google

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New patent reveals why Google invested in Magic Leap

Back in October, Google invested in a startup called Magic Leap, a company that makes specialized augmented reality hardware. Now a new patent is revealing just what Google saw in this company.

Magic Leap’s new technology is called “cinematic reality” and will offer a 3D experience not offered on any other device. It’s a pair of smart glasses and other than seeing 3D virtual objects and scenery that can be downloaded from the cloud, users will also be able to share the real-life environment around them to another user. Imagine being at a concert, a sporting event, or some other tourist attraction and being able to share exactly what you see with someone else.

There could also be automatic triggers. For example, if you’re in a store and look at a product while wearing the glasses, a game or an interactive demo would start.

All of this sounds cool, but with people still reluctant to wear Google Glass, they are even more unlikely to wear something like this. Still, I don’t think it’s meant to be a 24/7 device, so I can see people using it for certain situations, but they would have to carry it with them at all times so that it’s ready to go.

What do you guys think? Does this sound interesting to you?

source: USPTO
via: Business Insider

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Google’s working on a feature for Chrome OS that will let you import files from external hard drives

We’ve known for a while now that Google is redesigning the File Manager application within Chrome OS and today some leaked details have appeared online. If a report published by OMG Chrome is anything to go by, it looks like the search engine giant has baked a new ‘Cloud Import’ feature into its latest build of the app.

This new function will allegedly allow files on MTP, external hard drives or SD cards which have been unearthed by its new background file system scanner to be quickly and easily backed up to Google Drive. The majority of this process will be automatic. The only thing the user will have to do is name the data and select a suitable place to store it.

‘Cloud Import’ will be accessible in Drive’s button bar whenever a supported device is connected to the computer — when an active import is in progress, the number of files remaining to be transferred together with the option to cancel will be shown in the File Manager.

Would you like to see Cloud Import built in to the next build of the File Manager app? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Source: OMG Chrome

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A Google-backed startup wants to change VR as we know it

What do you do when a good idea fails? You invest in a better version of it. We’ve known about Google’s huge bet on startup Magic Leap for months, but a recent patent application explains why Mountain View has thrown over $540 million at an unknown entity. We don’t know exactly what Magic Leap will offer, but by piecing together various patent applications we can surmise it relates to a wearable display system that will supposedly enable a super-realistic type of VR it calls “cinematic reality”.

We’ve seen a ton of patent filings from Magic Leap, covering both the tech behind its efforts and the outcome. Without going into too much detail (Road To VR breaks the hardware patents down neatly, if you’re interested), the company is working on a lightweight wearable display system that combines sensors with a fiber-optic projection display to create the illusion of 3D. It does this by detecting what you’re focusing on and layering two-dimensional images at the right depth. You’ll then be able to interact with the projections using a “tactile glove” to detect movements.

In its latest patent filing, Magic Leap gives a clue as to what those interactions could look like. Business Insider has pulled loads of images from the application, which show various use cases for augmented reality, including in-store advertising, productivity and interactive entertainment. One drawing, for example, shows a “friendly monster” in a store enticing a child to interact with brands.

It seems Magic Leap will offer a cross between Google Glass, Oculus Rift and ARI from ‘Heavy Rain’

If you piece the fragments together, it seems Magic Leap will offer a cross between Google Glass, Oculus Rift and Heavy Rain‘s Added Reality Interface (ARI). In the 2010 video game Heavy Rain FBI agent Norman Jayden can use a pair of VR sunglasses to augment his reality, switching his mundane surroundings for a beach, rainforest, or even the surface of Mars, using a glove to interact with an interface that floats in front of him. The vision laid out in patent filings suggests — if Magic Leap can follow through on its ideas — we’re close to seeing an even-more-advanced version of ARI become a reality.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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Via: Business Insider, The Verge

Source: Magic Leap (USPTO)

Google’s self-driving car is not familiar with snow

The technology behind the self-driving car being developed by Google is incredible. And things are starting to look very promising for the project as Google was able to secure various manufacturing partners for a launch targeted in 2020. Right now, there is one rather important roadblock for Google. Its self-driving car is not familiar with snow. The company has yet to figure out a way for its self-driving car to operate successfully (and safely) in snowy conditions. Why is that? The self-driving car has been primarily used in California and, more specifically, Mountain View where it is highly unlikely to snow. A Google employee at the Detroit Auto Show did explain that it is something the company is working on.

Via: Business Insider UK

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