Google Fiber buys a gigabit ISP that uses fiber and wireless

Hoping Google Fiber will come your way soon? The Alphabet subsidiary just made an acquisition that could help it roll out high speed internet faster. It agreed to purchase Webpass, a company that currently has “tens of thousands” of customers for high speed internet in the Bay Area, San Diego, Chicago, Boston and Miami. Webpass is notable because it’s used high-speed point-to-point wireless technology as well as fiber to link up apartment buildings and businesses without having to wait for a physical link, and offers its customers speeds of up to 1Gbps.

Great news! We look forward to welcoming @Webpass to the Google Fiber team once the deal has closed: https://t.co/bioFpMk4aW

— Google Fiber (@googlefiber) June 22, 2016

Running fiber everywhere faces both regulatory and labor hurdles that those wireless links could help sidestep. There’s no word on the exact plans in place or price, but Webpass president Charles Barr writes that his company “can accelerate the deployment of superfast Internet connections for customers across the U.S.,” and Google Fiber will help it reach more customers.

Source: Webpass Blog

Nest can slash people’s energy use during peak prices

In California, energy companies have to switch all customers to Time of Use (TOU) rate plans by 2019. Under TOU, energy prices change throughout the day — it won’t be easy to monitor rates and adjust cooling and heating manually every hour or so. To help users stick to their budget, Nest is introducing a new feature called “Time of Savings.” The service shares customers’ TOU rate info with Nest, which then auto-adjusts itself to reduce energy consumption during the most expensive periods. Nest will only change the temperature by a degree or two, though, and users will have to tweak it themselves if they want to save more money.

According to Nest’s announcement, the feature will only be available to its energy partners’ customers, since companies have to be willing to share TOU rates with the thermostat maker. At the moment, the only people who can access Time of Savings are SolarCity subscribers, but Nest says it’s already in talks with other energy providers not just in the Golden State (including Southern California Edison), but across North America.

Ben Bixby, Nest’s director of energy and enterprise business, said in a statement:

“The California Public Utilities Commission has mandated that the state’s major utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison – move their residential customers to TOU rates by 2019. This means millions of California homes will be billed for energy differently in just a few years. Working with our energy partners, we designed Time of Savings to help customers manage these changing pricing schedules and make it easy for them to use less energy without sacrificing comfort. We’re excited that SolarCity is our first partner to offer Time of Savings and Nest is working with regulated energy providers across North America to offer this new service.”

Source: Nest

Google Simplifies 2-Step Verification Process With iOS Search App Prompt

Google is making the two-factor authentication process to log into a user account a simpler affair by integrating it into the company’s iOS search app.

Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to users’ Google Apps accounts by requiring them to enter a verification code in addition to their username and password when signing into their account. The two-step verification process prevents unauthorized access if someone obtains a user password.

Previously, users had to opt to receive a text message or phone call to get an authentication code, or alternatively use the Google Authenticator mobile app, which generates time-limited numerical codes that users needed to enter into their account log-in page.

The change, which is being rolled out from today, means that when a user tries to sign into a Google account with two-step verification enabled, a notification from the Google search app now asks if they are trying to sign in. A simple tap on the option “Yes, allow sign-in” quickly authenticates the account.

To enable two-factor authentication, users need to sign into Google’s My Account section and select Google prompt under Sign-in & Security -> Signing in to Google -> 2-Step Verification.

Google notes that the option requires a data connection to work, and that it may take up to three days for the feature to appear across all account pages.

The Google app is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tags: Google, security
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Android Pay Day offers UK discounts for mobile payments

Now that Android Pay is available in the UK, Google wants to make sure people are actually using it. The company has come up with a promotion called Android Pay Day, which offers discounts every month on the Tuesday before your next pay slip. The scheme kicks off today with two deals; firstly, in Starbucks, you can get two-for-one on Frappucinos; the second is a £5 voucher (ANDROIDPAY5 for new users, ANDROIDPAY2.5 for existing customers) that you can redeem inside the Deliveroo app, provided you select Android Pay as your payment method at checkout.

These discounts are designed, no doubt, to educate people about the different ways they can spend with Android Pay. Most Brits will know they can use their phone to pay at physical stores — they’ll have seen iPhone users doing the same with Apple Pay. But it’s possible, or rather likely, that users are less familiar with Android Pay’s second role as a digital wallet. Android Pay Day could, therefore, be an important tool for raising awareness among the Android-wielding public. Success will ultimately hinge, however, on Google promoting the monthly rewards effectively — if no-one knows they exist, they won’t have an impact on adoption.

A good start would be a promotions page like the one it’s set up for US customers.

Source: Android Pay Day

Google Prompt streamlines two-step verification

It seems like not a week goes by without news of a major password hack, and the subsequent reminders to turn on two-factor verification for all of your devices and services. So, to make the process that much simpler on your end (but not any potential hacker’s end, hopefully) Google has announced a streamlined method for approving sign-in requests. Google Prompt, as 9to5Google is calling the service, allows you to approve these requests with a simple yes or no pop-up, rather than receiving a confirmation email, text or setting up a separate security key.

The setup is simple: when logging into gmail or other Google apps product, a Google Prompt notification on your phone will ask you to approve or deny the login request, along with information about the profile, location and device you’re trying to log in from. Making things even easier: the new feature is actually baked into Android using Google Play services, users only need to update to the latest version to get it. On iOS, users will need to have the Google Search app installed.

Users can enable the new feature on Google’s My Account page and the older methods are still available, if that’s your preference.

Elmo takes the spotlight in new YouTube series

Sesame Street’s producers realize that kids these days are spending their days glued to devices other than their TVs. Its presence on YouTube has more than two million subscribers, and it recently launched Sesame Studios to test new ideas on web-savvy kids. But that doesn’t mean that the regular Street channel is being neglected, since it’s about to devote the next six months to making Elmo a YouTube star. The Sesame Workshop is launching the “Love to Learn” campaign that’ll see the channel providing a series of themed videos between July and December. Each month will tackle a different topic, from Animals and Music through to Cooking and Kindness.

The TV version of Sesame Street often ropes in a famous actor, politician or musician to do a little sketch with the adorable muppets. The show has played host to such figures as Johnny Cash, Richard Prior, Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton and Julia Roberts. But, since this is YouTube, producers have sought out partnerships with figures who have become stars from shows on the video-sharing service. So, Elmo will appear in clips with Simon’s Cat, Eh Bee and Jerome Jarre, while Cookie Monster gets a lesson in food preparation from Rosanna “Nerdy Nummies” Pansino.

Sesame Street is something of a towering institution that, you feel, is a permanent fixture of our culture. But the truth is very different, with Sesame Workshop (formerly known as the Children’s Television Workshop) suffering from a funding crisis. In 2009, the nonprofit felt the bite of funding cuts, and began operating at a significant loss, which was only exasperated by the decline in physical media sales, which had previously been covering the shortfall. These days, HBO has stepped in to help, which has given the Workshop time and space to develop new projects online as well as launching its own startup incubator.