Google I/O

At Google I/O‘s keynote yesterday, one of the highlights of the final unveiling of Android N was all about Virtual Reality. While no “Android VR” headset was announced, the search giant introduced Daydream, a VR platform that will be available within Android N.

According to Clay Bavor, which debuted Daydream on stage, as many as eight big-name partners are already onboard: Samsung, HTC, LG, Xiaomi, ZTE, Asus, Alcatel and Huawei, and today, the latter OEM is giving us some more information about its integration with Google’s VR vision…

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Google has announced a new version of Android Wear at I/O this morning. In the biggest update to Android Wear so far, version 2.0 has been redesigned with a focus on more customisable watch faces, fitness and messaging.

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Google shared some updates on company stats today while kicking off its Google I/O developer conference including updates on Chromecast, active users, new Android phones, Google Play installs and more.

In addition to showing off its new chatbot-style Google Assistant, Amazon Echo-like Google Home device, new Allo and Duo messaging apps, and Daydream VR platform, the company also announced 25 million Chromecasts sold, 200 million Google Photos users, 600 new Android phones launched over the last year, and 65B Google Play installs.

Head below for the roundup of all the numbers Google announced during I/O today and check back for more as the event unfolds.

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Following the announcement of its Assistant digital helper as well as the Amazon Echo‘s competitor Home, Google is now focusing on messaging and videos.

Allo was the first app announced at I/O 2016, and now Duo, a mobile exclusive one to one video service has been unveiled…

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Hugo Barra, a former VP at Google and now Vice President of Global Operations at Xiaomi, has today announced on Twitter that he — or at least the Chinese firm — will be back at Google’s upcoming developer conference…

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A couple of months ago, Google launched an Android Experiments competition. Three winners would win a trip to this year’s Google I/O conference, including a $5,000 budget towards lodging and food, while five runners-up would each receive a Nexus 6P. Google has now announced who those winners are, and updated its Experiments page with the winning projects…

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References to the previously-rumored Android VR headset have been found in the Android Developer Console, suggesting the device’s launch is indeed imminent. Developers logging in to the tool are now seeing an option for Android VR appear alongside the pre-existing Android Auto, Android TV and Android Wear options.

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With the announcement of the Apple Watch‘s “Force Touch” first and the iPhone 6s‘ 3D Touch after, Apple introduced a new, intriguing way to interact with our screens, matching interesting software features with the pressure-sensitive panel behind the actual display.

Predictably, despite some devices like Huawei‘s Mate S or ZTE‘s Axon Mini already supporting some sort of similar, proprietary technologies, Google was rumored to be working on a system-wide implementation for all Android OEMs to use. However, as Recode reports, the support for such a feature seems to have been put momentarily on hold…

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Google is planning on tapping into its Project Tango technology to offer superior interior 3D mapping of buildings and a new revenue stream through virtual reality apps using the platform, Bloomberg reports.

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Back in March, The Information reported that Google is working on an Amazon Echo competitor. Today, Recode has confirmed such a device and added that we might get a peak of it at Google I/O. While it won’t launch next week, the conference will reportedly have a big focus on voice search and personal assistants.

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Google has just updated its Google I/O app in preparation for Google I/O 2016 (which is set to kick off in Mountain View in just a couple weeks!), and while it’s not a complete overhaul like the update we saw for 2015, it’s a nice to see the app updated for this year’s conference…

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With I/O 2016 less than a month away, Google has updated the conference’s site with a full schedule of sessions and accompanying descriptions. There’s the usual kick-off keynote from Sundar Pichai and several sessions related to VR and specifically Project Tango.

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We told you last week that registration for Google’s 2016 I/O developer conference opened up to the public, and now it appears those that entered the drawing are receiving acceptance and denial emails. The lucky lottery entrants that have been accepted this time around, though, are apparently getting an error preventing them from registering…

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In January, Sundar Pichai announced that Google I/O would kick off May 18 in the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. The I/O 16 website is now up, with registration beginning at 9AM PST on March 8 and ending on March 10 at 5 PM.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai has shared that Google I/O 2016 will happen between May 18-20th in Mountain View this year. This is one of the earlier Google I/O announcements to date and is notably in Mountain View versus the usual Moscone venue in San Francisco.

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We first heard about Google’s “Designed for Families” Play Store program in mid-May, and Google officially announced that it would be adding new family-focused features to the Play Store at Google I/O 2015. Now, a new section labeled as “New Family Fun” is popping up on the Play Store, featuring the friendly star mascot, iconic character categories, and more…
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We told you yesterday that Google’s ATAP team is working on a couple new projects dubbed Soli and Jacquard, and today the group of self-proclaimed “pirates” came out to officially announce (and demo) them both on stage at their much-anticipated Google I/O session. They’re both about reimagining how we interact with technology, but both projects attempt to do so in different ways…
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