Virgin America passes out Nexus 7s to crew members
Nexus 7 tablets will soon be a common sight on Virgin America planes, but unlike other airlines that lend passengers tablets for entertainment, you can only use them if you’re part the crew. On a VA plane, you can easily order grub by pressing a special “food button” on an in-flight entertainment system’s touchscreen panel or on a seat’s armrest remote control. When you do press the button, the order’s relayed to (you guessed it) a tablet connected to the system. Well, the company felt that it was time to replace its old tablets, so its employees took the Nexus 7 for an obviously successful 30-day test run. Branson and his cohorts (who’ve decided to call the modified 7-inch device the CrewPad) have already begun handing out new tablets to flight crew members. But, with a 9-inch entertainment system in front of them and several programming options to keep them occupied, it’s not like passengers have any reason to feel envious.
Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, Google
Source: Virgin America
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Google snags Instagram-scanning city guide startup Jetpac
Google’s summer of startup acquisitions rolls on, ladies and gentlemen. In today’s installment, the search giant snapped up a San Francisco-based travel startup called Jetpac for (you guessed it!) an undisclosed lump of money. As is the case with plenty of new ventures, Jetpac has gone through a few phases — in its current form, the team offered up travel guides for cities that culled sentiments from people’s Instagram photos. No, seriously.
You see, Jetpac would algorithmically scan people’s Instagram photos for smiling faces of all genders to automagically craft guides like “10 Outdoor Adventures in Hong Kong”. If we’re being totally honest, those guides weren’t all that illuminating — tapping into one wouldn’t give you much more than a stream of Instagram photos and location/contact information for each hotspot. Still, you could drill down based on the types of people (Intellectuals, Skaters, Business Travelers) who frequented each spot, and the broad strokes could be helpful for people getting a sense of their surroundings.
Alas, we won’t be able to argue over how useful the app is for much longer because Jetpac will put its apps out to pasture very shortly. Now the only weighty question remaining (besides, you know, how much Google paid for it) is what will become of Jetpac’s tech and team after Mountain View assimilates it. Google declined to comment on the deal, but it’s not hard to see the company slowly bolstering its reputation as a travel titan. After all, between Google snapping up Zagat and launching Google Flights after acquiring ITA Software, there’s a whole lot of data meant to get you up and moseying around the real world. Then there’s the fact that the Jetpac team cooked up a way to scan images for sentiment information — those sorts of smarts could feasibly get baked bake into Google+ someday too.
Source: Jetpac
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Engadget Daily: the future of Xbox One, a graveyard of Boeing 747s and more!
Today, we investigate the future of the Xbox One, visit a graveyard of the world’s most prolific jumbo jets, round up our favorite laptops for school and more! Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
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Google Now tempts you with a Field Trip to nearby sights
The folks in Mountain View have been adding new tools to Google Now, like suggesting another flight if yours is delayed. The search company’s Field Trip app has been suggesting local points of interest since its launch in 2012, and now the two are in cahoots. Now already displayed a list of nearby sights, but with a recent update, the other app’s more detailed info on art, architecture and more is automatically beamed to your mobile device. So when you’re out of town, expect to see a few more recommended cards in that feed to entice you to change those plans.
[Photo credit: Melville B. Grosvenor/National Geographic/Getty Images]
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Google
Via: BGR
Source: Google Search (Google Play)
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Google Search now listens for multiple languages simulatenously
For all those multilingual speakers out there, the latest Google Search update brings some beneficial functionality that sees Google listening for multiple languages to trigger a search. A user can now have Google listen to up to five languages all at once, allowing multilinguals to change language mid-sentence. The Google Hotword detection, however, still remains… Read more »
The post Google Search now listens for multiple languages simulatenously appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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Not even a sharknado will stop Google’s conquest of the undersea internet
How’s this for Shark Week? At a recent event, one of Google’s product managers recently revealed just how far the outfit goes to protect its subaquatic infrastructure. Word is that Mountain View’s shiny new internet pipeline crossing the Pacific is going to need a Kevlar cover to keep it safe from the jaws of your favorite Great White. It’s believed that the apex predators are attacking these cables (video after the break) because they give off the same kind of electrical signals as those of wounded fish, according to Network World. That, or maybe the sharks are just trying to snuff out the untruths that Discovery Channel has apparently been spreading.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Via: The Guardian
Source: Network World
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Google Voice Search can now handle multiple languages with ease
It’s not unusual for people who speak several languages to forget particular terms, and that can be pretty frustrating when you’re trying to look up stuff through Google Voice Search. Thankfully, the latest Voice Search update for Android gives you the power to choose up to five languages as your default instead of just one, making random lapses in memory a bit less annoying. This change, spotted by Android Police (and which the Google Search team first revealed on Reddit in July), allows you to do voice queries in different tongues without having to dive into the settings page each time. The app now even understands a query even if it’s spoken in more than one language — the bad news is you’re still stuck with English as the sole default if you use the OK, Google command. If that’s not a dealbreaker, just sit tight and wait for the update to arrive on your phone, if it hasn’t yet.
[Image credit: Android Police]
Filed under: Misc, Mobile, Google
Via: Android Police
Source: Google Play
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Google Chrome will start flagging misleading downloads
Not surprisingly, Google wants to keep everyone on the internet as protected as possible — after all, it has to stay true to its “don’t be evil” ways. Today, in an effort to continue guarding you from virtual harm, the search giant has introduced a new feature that’s part of its Safe Browsing initiative. According to Google, the goal with this expansion is to protect people “against additional kinds of deceptive software,” something like a malware program that may be looking to make abrupt changes to a computer. On the Chrome browser, soon you’ll start seeing a warning every time a third-party tries to lure you into downloading a piece of software — ultimately, though, it’s up to you to determine whether or not to install it. Naturally, Google’s blog post does emphasize that you should always beware of the sources you trust, but you already knew that, right? Life 101, folks.
[Image credit: Shutterstock/bioraven]
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google
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Most new Android phones sell for less than $200
Want to know a big reason why Android smartphones are virtually ubiquitous these days? Because many of them are very affordable, that’s why. IDC’s latest market share estimates show that 58.6 percent of Android phones shipped in the second quarter cost less than $200, many of them from surging Chinese manufacturers like Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi. Simply speaking, many in China and other developing countries can’t (or won’t) justify buying the expensive phones that thrive in regions like Europe and North America. It’s no wonder that Samsung is losing the battle at the moment, then — while the company has budget handsets, it’s heavily invested in high-end hardware like the Galaxy S line.
The influx of low-cost devices also helps to explain year-over-year dips in market share for both iOS (11.7 percent) and Windows Phone (2.5 percent), which pale next to Android’s 84.7 percent slice of the pie. Apple doesn’t participate in the sub-$200 realm to start with, so it won’t compete in terms of sheer units; it’s doing fine profit-wise. Windows Phone, meanwhile, has few bona fide hits in this space outside of the aging Lumia 520. There are new iPhones and more budget-friendly Windows Phone makers right around the corner, though, so it won’t be shocking if there’s a different story in the months ahead.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Blackberry
Source: IDC
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YouTube refreshes television app for set-top boxes, game consoles and smart TVs
If you use YouTube’s app on your TV, get ready for a new UI (finally!). The app has a much cleaner look now, in line with Google’s Material Design, and includes features that you’re used to seeing on your computer, smartphone and tablet, such as a guide that pops up on the left side, latest videos from your subscriptions and curated channels. The refreshed interface should pop up soon — it’s available now with Xbox One, and Google plans to roll it out to other devices within the next few weeks.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Google
Source: YouTube
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AIVAnet 