Category Archives: Google

Sprint keeping a watchful eye on G1, will offer Android when it’s good and ready

Okay, so maybe Android isn’t ready for prime time — we’re not here to judge, at least not at the moment — but Sprint’s still fully committed to launching a Google-powered set down the road, as evidenced by Miner’s cameo at its developer conference tomorrow. That encouraging sign has been reinforced by new comments from Kevin Packingham, Sprint’s veep of products and devices, who gloats that “We can, when the timing’s right, pull the trigger.” With the G1 out the door, why isn’t the “timing” right this very second? According to Packingham, “We’ve just got to make sure our customers are saying, ‘If you had a phone like this, man, I would really be more interested in Sprint because of it.

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Google Chrome Officially Leaves Beta [Featured Windows Download]

Windows only: Google’s new web browser, Google Chrome, has officially left its beta tag in the dust, graduating to a full-fledged 1.0 release today (just 100 days after the initial release).

Yesterday we told you Google Chrome would be leaving beta soon, but we had no idea it would be this soon. According to the Official Google Blog:

We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met but our work is far from done. We are working to add some common browser features such as form autofill and RSS support in the near future. We are also developing an extensions platform along with support for Mac and Linux.

Good news all around for folks excited about what Google Chrome has to offer.

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T-Mobile produces official statement regarding international G1 data roaming

Okay G1 owners, so here’s the end-all answer to your data roaming quandaries. For those not caught up, there has been quite the hubbub going around about the G1’s inability to not suck down data whilst traveling aboard. Allegedly, the handset would continue to digest pricey bits and bytes overseas even after users had selected that data roaming be disabled. Now, T-Mobile has issued an official response (posted in full after the break) to clear things up, and the gist of it is this: for users with a bone stock G1, the “Off” selection in data roaming should work fine, but third-party applications can essentially override this command and wreak havoc on one’s phone bill.

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Google Reader Minimalistic Trims the Fat from Reader [Featured Greasemonkey User Script]

Firefox with Greasemonkey: The Google Reader Minimalistic Greasemonkey script streamlines Google’s popular newsreader by removing unncessary images and links while also shrinking the text. Once you’ve installed the script, just tap ‘w’ on your keyboard to toggle between the default view and the Google Reader Minimalistic view. Google Reader’s recent redesign may have been an improvement, but between the previously mentioned Absolutely Compact script and this one, it’s clear that users still want to fit more content on Google Reader. For a better idea of what you can expect, check out the before and after screenshots.

Here’s Google Reader pre-minimalistic:

Here’s the Reader layout with Google Reader Minimalistic installed and enabled:

As you can see, the top row of links, the reader logo, and all of the friends, trends, and other non-feed subscription links are gone—leaving you with your feeds and feeds alone. Google Reader Minmialistic is a free download, requires Firefox with Greasemonkey.


Google’s 2008 Year-End Zeitgeist Rounds Up Your Searches [Google]

Google shares the top searches for 2008 in their annual Google Zeitgeist, offering such gems as: Fastest Rising Global search: Sarah Palin; Most Popular “What is…” search: What is love?; Social Networks: Facebook; and Comfort Food: Ice cream. The zeitgeist is the result of billions of search queries that ran through Google’s search box over ‘08, providing a great snapshot of what occupied our minds over the past year. Share any gems you dig up from the zeitgeist in the comments.


Reality Check: Games Not Really On Year End Zeitgist [Year-end Google Zeitgeist]

It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture when most of your time is spent working on, writing about or reading about video games.

That’s why the annual Year-End Google Zeitgeist report is so important to check out. Each year the folks at Google look through a year’s worth of searching to spot trends. What did people search most often for? Which searches had the biggest increase during the year? Their list offers a fascinating insight into the world, or at least that part of the world populated by techies and computer owners.

Digging through the data I could find only one video game related search that made the list.

The Wii, it seems, is huge in the Netherlands where it showed up as the sixth most popular search word.

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Google Chrome to Leave Beta Soon [Google Chrome]

According to a TechCrunch interview with Google’s vice president Marissa Mayer, Chrome will leave beta soon—though, frankly, the all-important “when” is conspicuously absent from the post. But I guess in a world where Gmail has remained in beta for going on five years, just knowing that Chrome has plans to leave beta sometime in the next year (maybe?) is good news.


Sony Ericsson, HTC say new Android-powered handsets due next year

According to two reports, Sony Ericsson and HTC are both semi-confirming Android handsets for 2009. An SE spokesman by the name of Garfield Brusewitz was quoted as saying that the company would introduce higher-end models of the Google-powered devices to start with, then supplement those handsets with cheaper versions aimed at a broader market. In another article, HTC says that it will launch one “or more” Android phones in the new year, aiming to have them on shelves by Summer. This hardly comes as a surprise from either of these companies, as HTC has been on-board since day one of the OHA and, you know, already has an Android handset out, and Sony Ericsson’s announcement of participation was naturally going to lead to some actual hardware.

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Google’s Rich Miner to deliver keynote at Sprint’s mobile developer’s conference

Remember not so long ago when Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said that Android was “not yet good enough” for the Sprint brand, and how weird and awkward that was, all things considered? Well, it turns out that Google’s VP of mobile technology, Rich Miner, is set to deliver the keynote at Sprint’s mobile developer’s conference on December 12th. We assume he’ll be there to talk about how much he loves hot dogs, or… an Android and Sprint teamup. So, does this mean that the platform is now approaching Sprint Speed, or what?

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Google’s Rich Miner to deliver keynote at Sprint’s mobile developer’s conference originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:23:00 EST.

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Picasa Web Albums Uploader Also Downloads [Picasa]

Mac user’s who rely on Google’s Picasa Web Albums Uploader to get photos from OS X to Picasa online will be happy to see a new button in the latest release that can also download full albums to your hard drive. The Windows and Linux versions of Picasa have had similar options for a while, but this should be a welcome addition for Mac owners. [via]