Google has continued to expand its growing arsenal of native mobile apps by releasing its new Spotlight Stories app for iPhone onto Apple's iOS App Store. If you're a a follower of the Google Motorola saga then you may remember that when the Google sold the smartphone maker to Lenovo, it kept Motorola's ATAP Division which was responsible for the creation of Spotlight stuff that featured on Motorola devices. After initially creating a dedicated app to showcase the content for the Android platform back in May, Google has now launched with the same delightful content on Apple's iOS.
Google has long had something of a P.R. problem as far as privacy is concerned, and while some of it can be labeled as people getting a little carried away with themselves, there is no doubt that the amount of information Google has about us makes it easy to be a little uncomfortable with it. With so much location data also being piped into Google via our smartphones, the company has a pretty good idea of where we are and what we are doing almost all of the time.
Apple took on the big names in the music streaming space when it announced Apple Music at WWDC this year. However, that doesn't mean that Apple’s competitors in this space will just sit and not do anything. Today, the Mountain View company announced its free music streaming tier to the already-rich Google Play Music, which will basically serve as a curated, ad-supported radio station selection for non-subscribers (read: free users) of the search giant's music offering. The new free tier of Google Play Music is all set to take on Apple's iTunes Radio service, and the upcoming Beats 1 radio station, which is going to be a part of Apple Music.
Android is undoubtedly an extremely powerful and popular choice when it comes to choosing a mobile platform. Depending on which metric you choose to measure by, it's also the most popular mobile operating system globally. With that said, some individuals can easily be put off from adopting Android as their platform of choice due to the sheer volume of devices available that run the open-source operating system. If you fall into that category, and find yourself prolonging the decision due to an indecisive nature, then Google's new phone selector tool could serve up a solution.
Google managed to turn a lot of heads with its Project Tango initiative last year which was coupled with a tablet introduced as the test-bed for the project. The tablet has always been touted as a developer oriented gadget and was only available to buy through an invitation. This has now changed, as the Mountain View-based company releases the mysterious device for anyone willing to pay for it.
Google has announced a new collaboration partnership with GoPro - the makers of extremely popular high-definition video cameras that have become the module of choice for motorcyclists, divers and extreme sports fans around the globe. The recently announced collaboration has been struck as part of an effort to build a virtual reality filming rig using multiple GoPro cameras that will then be partnered with Google's Jump software that was introduced as part of this year's I/O conference.
With Google I/O 2015 currently underway we can be sure of plenty of big announcements coming out of the developer event, but there will also be one or two smaller ones that while not likely to change the world nevertheless should not be underestimated. One such announcement is the availability of Google Cardboard for iOS.
Apple has just been named the most valuable global brand by Millward Brown, a market research firm. The firm in its tenth annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report has shown the Mac maker as the leading brand with a value of $246.9 billion.
In this day and age online security and encryption is often at the forefront in the minds of those of us that all but live our lives on the Internet. We send so much information about us over the wires that we often forget that the mediums we use may not be as secure as we would hope. It’s a modern problem that isn’t going to go away.
Google Project Fi wireless network service launched. How to sign up details and more on how it works can be found right here.