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PSA: Google has made international phone calls to France free on Hangouts

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In the wake of some absolutely tragic and terrifying events tonight in Paris, Google has made international phone calls to France free on Google Hangouts. In other tragic past events, many companies that offer calling services have offered similar opportunities.

In a related initiative, Facebook has tonight launched a feature called Safety Check, which allows you to “quickly find and connect with friends in the area” and mark them safe if you know they’re safe. You can also let your friends know if you’re in the affected area.

You can head over to the Play Store or the App Store to grab the app for free, or head to hangouts.google.com to make free international calls to France straight from your browser.

OnePlus let more than 200 people line up to buy 20 OnePlus 2 units in Paris

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OnePlus is just having too much fun marketing the OnePlus 2. In their latest stunt, the company invited the public to a special launch of the device at colette Paris. “We’ll be there from 11:00 am until the OnePlus 2 is sold out. It’s a very limited stock sale, so be sure to come early,” the company said. More than 200 people came out, according to a post on the company’s forum. It seems OnePlus really meant it when they said “very limited stock sale,” though…
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Google donating $300k to help French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo hit a 1m print-run

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A minute’s silence in the newsroom of French news agency Agence France Presse (Photo: Bertrand Guay)

In response to the terrorist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Google is one of a number of companies contributing to a campaign fund to ensure the survival of the publication and to help it reach a print-run of one million copies for its next edition, reports the Guardian. The normal print-run of the publication is around 60,000 copies.

Within 24 hours of the massacre of 12 people – including eight journalists – some €250,000 (£195,000) had been earmarked to support Charlie Hebdo by the Digital Press Fund, paid for by Google, to support the French press.

Le Monde, France Télévisions and Radio France are all working to match Google’s donation of €250k (around $300k), while the Guardian is itself contributing $150k … 
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The terrorism memorial made for Google Maps

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What you’re looking at is not a graphic, but a memorial built by relatives and friends of a DC-10 airliner brought down by a bomb in 1989, killing all 155 passengers and 15 crew on board. The memorial was constructed some eighteen years after the tragedy.

Flight UTA 722 was flying from the People’s Republic of Congo to Paris, France, when an explosion caused it to break up over the Sahara Desert. An investigation found that the cause of the explosion was a bomb in the forward cargo hold … 
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Google captures 360-degree Street View imagery from atop the Eiffel Tower

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Google has teamed up with the Eiffel Tower Operating Company in Paris to capture Street View imagery from on top of the Eiffel Tower for the first time ever. Not only is it making the Street View panoramas captured with its Street View Trolley available to all, it’s also making “50 archival images, plans, engravings and photos telling the story of the Eiffel Tower’s development and social impact in the 19th century” available through its Google Cultural Institute project:

The first exhibition presents the birth of the Eiffel Tower from the initial idea until its realization. You can then followthe construction of the monument step-by-step through photos and sketches. Details on the inauguration and the first visitors lie in the third exhibition, with photos of people admiring the Paris vista on the opening day leading into today’s Street View imagery from the top floor. Did you know that during the Tower’s inauguration for the Universal Exhibition of 1889, the elevators were not yet in service but 12,000 people per day rushed to climb the 1710 steps leading to the top?

Google allowing more users in field trial for Gmail results in Google Search

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Google has opened its Google search+ Gmail result beta further this afternoon so more users can get Gmail results in their main Google Search. The feature was first introduced in a limited beta in August. For those who do not know about the feature, relevant Gmail conversations will appear in Google Search (as you can see in the image above). Just search “Paris” and emails that you have sent talking about “Paris” will then appear. If you think about it, expanded search makes a lot of sense.

Furthermore, the folks at Google announced this afternoon that Google Drive, Google Calendar and more will now appear when searching in Gmail:


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Marisa Mayer talks about SoLoMo at LeWeb

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Silicon Filter grabbed some pertinent quotes from Marissa Mayer’s interview today at LeWeb on Mobile, Local, Social (SoLoMo).  We’ll have the video up when it becomes available.  Notables:

  • Google+ was a pleasant surprise. Comparing to the low bar set by past efforts, we’ll give this one a “#obvious tag.
  • “We save two years, every day, of idle time using Google Maps and Navigation.”
  • Google+ Check-In Deals Coming Next Week (goodnight FourSquare?)
  • On the location space in general, there is still  a lot of competition
  • Android is a vehicle for delivering Google services


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