After first acquiring the Waterloo, Ontario self-serve package pickup startup Buffer Box last year, Google today announced plans to expand the service. The company has been making its self-serve pick up boxes (pictured above) available for deliveries in the Toronto area close to its home, but today Google announced the BufferBox service is coming to San Francisco for online purchases:
Samsung originally planned to open up registration for its first developer conference earlier this month, but after a short delay, the company has finally announced today that it’s accepting sign-ups for the event. This will be the first time Samsung comes to San Francisco to host a developer conference, something Google and Apple have been doing for years and commonly use to introduce new products and upcoming developer facing features. Samsung too plans to unveil some new services and features for developers:
Samsung’s event will feature over 40 technical sessions and industry sessions from leading influencers in the mobile, consumer electronics and digital content industries. Samsung will also unveil a number of new SDKs and tools that will help developers maximize the latest innovations, features and capabilities found in Samsung devices.
Registration is open now on Samsung’s website for the event scheduled to take place on October 27-29 at Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Tickets cost $299 and will provide access to all keynotes and developer sessions.
We still don’t know what exactly we’ll be seeing at the conference, but Samsung does plan to show off some new tools and APIs for developers, including:
* First-look at new Samsung SDKs and tools including S Pen and new features
* Deep dive into Samsung Service Platform and services APIs including ChatON, Group Play,
Samsung AdHub, Context Aware and much more
* Best practices for developing Smart TV application in multi-screen environments spanning,
mobile, tablet and TV
* Cross-platform development case including HTML5, Web app and more
* Special sessions for B2B developers which cover the Samsung mobile partnership program,
building certified applications, KNOX, Enterprise SDK, and more
* Development opportunities in emerging categories such as gaming and much more
Event takes place in San Francisco from October 27-29 and includes over 40 working sessions, insight to new Samsung tools and SDKs and guest talks from industry luminaries
SAN JOSE, Calif.― August 26, 2013 ― Samsung Electronics Co. today announced that registration for its first annual Samsung Developers Conference has officially opened. The event, to be held at San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel, from October 27-29, will feature insight into new tools to help developers create exciting, innovative applications and services across Samsung devices and best practice demonstrations.
Samsung’s event will feature over 40 technical sessions and industry sessions from leading influencers in the mobile, consumer electronics and digital content industries. Samsung will also unveil a number of new SDKs and tools that will help developers maximize the latest innovations, features and capabilities found in Samsung devices.
“Samsung is excited to offer developers a single place to learn how to develop, market, and monetize applications and services that may span smartphones, tablets, and televisions,” said Dr. WonPyo Hong, President of the Samsung Media Solution Center. “As convergence of user experiences and as consumers utilize more devices, even at the same time, the opportunity for developers to be innovative has never been better.”
Technical sessions and presentations from industry thought-leaders will cover key topics, including:
* First-look at new Samsung SDKs and tools including S Pen and new features
* Deep dive into Samsung Service Platform and services APIs including ChatON, Group Play,
Samsung AdHub, Context Aware and much more
* Best practices for developing Smart TV application in multi-screen environments spanning,
mobile, tablet and TV
* Cross-platform development case including HTML5, Web app and more
* Special sessions for B2B developers which cover the Samsung mobile partnership program,
building certified applications, KNOX, Enterprise SDK, and more
* Development opportunities in emerging categories such as gaming and much more
Tickets to the Samsung Developer Conference cost $299 and include access to keynotes, working sessions and an exclusive developer event on the evening of Monday, October 28. Additional information about the conference, including details on how to register, can be found at www.samsungdevcon.com.
According to a report from AllThingsD, Google’s investment arm, Google Ventures, just invested around $250 million into Uber, the private car delivery service that lets users order vehicles through mobile apps. The investment comes as Uber raises $360 million at a valuation of around $3.5B:
Though pricey, the latest scramble to be in the Uber funding round was apparently very competitive. Sources said Google won the investment because of direct intervention by CEO Larry Page, who met with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.
While it would be a bit stretch to guess what plans Google might have for Uber down the road, there are a few Google services in development that could benefit. Some have speculated that Uber could help power a future driverless car service from Google, but perhaps more realistic for the short term would be deliveries. Since last year Google has been testing a same-day delivery service in and around San Francisco, and it reportedly planned to use driverless cars to do so.
Last month Samsung announced that it would be hosting its first ever Samsung Developers Conference this year in San Francisco, following in the footsteps of Apple and Google who host similar events in the city each year. Today the company is contacting those who signed up to find out more to announce that registration for the event will officially open next week on Friday, August 16 at 6 AM PT/ 9 AM ET.
We haven’t heard any specifics on whether or not the event might include a keynote like address similar to what Apple and Google have done in the past, but Samsung is planning on showing off the latest for developers across all of its product lines during the two day event scheduled for October 27-29. You’ll be able to register through the SamsungDevCon website next Friday.
Samsung has just announced that it will be hosting its first developer conference later this year in San Francisco. While we assume that the event would include typical developer sessions for Samsung’s Android/TouchWiz devices, it looks like we’ll also be getting a look at the latest from across the company’s other product lines as well. Samsung isn’t saying much, but it is teasing “what’s next” for developers, hinting that we’ll be seeing at least some new developments with its SDK and developer tools.
The event is scheduled to take place at Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco from October 27-29. Registration isn’t yet open, and no specific details on what we’ll be seeing at the event, but you can sign up on Samsung’s website now to get notified when more information becomes available.
After sending a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google, and others questioning if the companies could be doing more to prevent increasing thefts of smartphones, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has now scheduled a face to face meeting with the companies to discuss the issue.
NYDailyNews reports Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon will meet with representatives from Apple, Google, Motorola, Samsung and Microsoft at a June 13 “smartphone summit” in New York.
Schneiderman wants the same thing that San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón has been pushing device makers on in recent months– a ‘kill switch’ that would render a device inoperable and discourage thefts of devices:
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Google has been hiring a group of individuals on one year contracts to help the Glass explorers with their upcoming Glasswear we’ve learned. The employees would be based in New York or San Francisco but travel to events throughout the US and eventually overseas. These people will also be manning the retail presence that Google hopes to have in New York, San Francisco and possibly LA by the end of the year.
Glass explorer editions are to begin shipping next month after an initial run of a few thousand.
Google just announced Google I/O 2013 would kick off in 162 days from May 15 to May 17 at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco. Google is not accepting registrations yet, but it will announce more details in February.
It might only be December, but Google I/O 2013 is set and is just 162 days away! We’ll be returning to Moscone Center West in San Francisco on May 15-17, 2013, and sharing the experience beyond via Google Developers Live and I/O Extended viewing parties. We’ll announce registration details in February 2013.
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Google is sponsoring an upcoming hackathon by Hattery Labs that is awarding two grand prizes to innovators using Google Maps API.
The “Reroute/sf” hackathon runs from Oct. 19 to Oct. 21 at The Hattery, according to its Facebook page, and it aims to “improve transportation in San Francisco with technological innovation, and work with the City to make it real.” The three-day event essentially invites engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs to “make San Francisco a better place.”
The hackathon will host three challenges, i.e., “Collect the right data,” “Plan a trip anywhere – on-time,” “See what’s broken and watch it get fixed,” while senior representatives from the City of San Francisco and the technology community will determine who wins the following four prizes:
Aside from Google, the Hattery, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Waze, Google Maps, and the General Assembly sponsor the hackathon. The Hattery is a collection of experts ranging from designers and engineers to investors and brand marketers, and some of their most notable collaborative work under Hattery Labs includes giving people clean water and helping Haitians rebuild schools through WellDone and Haiti School Project, respectively.
Registration details below.
Product Marketing Manager Megan Stevenson revealed on her Google+ profile yesterday that Google is beginning to downplay the Zagat rating system on Google+ Local and other Google products in favor of a more simplified, standard metric.
“Today it’s easier than ever to write accurate, useful reviews on Google+ Local, thanks to the updated rating scale we rolled out,” explained Stevenson. “If you want to rate the food at a restaurant, or the quality of a mechanic, just choose “poor – fair,” “good,” “very good,” or “excellent”. Behind the scenes, we will convert your ratings into numbers and factor them into the business’ precise 30-point score that shows up in Google+, Search and Maps. ”
SearchEngineLand’s Matt McGee said the change is “a good thing,” because “no one understands” Zagat scores. I beg to differ. The Zagat Survey once included over 70 cities, with roughly 250,000 reviewers since it began in 1979. In Manhattan, for example, practically every restaurant, nightclub, and business features a Zagat rating sticker out front next to its required health-grade notice. They primarily act as a guide-to-life for metro-dwellers, so I had mixed emotions when Google plucked up the revered company in 2011.
McGee said Google took “a big risk when it converted its entire local search/review system to a largely unfamiliar 30-point rating scale,” as “consumers are familiar with five-point (or five-star) rating scales.” I will agree the five-point scale is more common; however, I do not think McGee should write off the entire world when he claims nobody understands the Zagat scoring system.
With that said, Google’s use of phrases—like “Very Good” or “Excellent”—to describe a business is very fool-proof. It requires less thinking and gets to the point rather quickly. So, while I do not wish to see Google ditch Zagat scores all together, I will concede that the new direction seems like a more user-friendly approach.
A widespread network outage on Sprint’s network started at 7:30 a.m. PST today and hit Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tacoma Wash., Minneapolis, Minn., and San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif. Sprint just confirmed it is working diligently to fix the issue.
Sprint’s statement to 9to5Mac:
“Earlier this morning, an accidental dual fibercut occurred on Sprint’s network causing a disruption in data and voice services for some Sprint customers in parts of Portland, Oregon; Seattle and Tacoma Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and San Francisco and Sacramento, California. Sprint network technicians are working aggressively to resolve this issue and we hope to have service restored soon.”
We first reported in July about an upcoming movie called “The Internship,” starring Hollywood actors Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as two 40-something Google interns attempting to find success.
BetaBeat (via AllThingsD) noted today that the film posted casting calls recently for extras and a stand-in for Wilson. According to Casting Networks, the stand-in gig calls for a 25- to 45-year-old Wilson look-a-like in the San Francisco area, and whoever lands the gig, whether SAG or non-union, will get $160.
OnLocationVacation further reported that the flick is filming at Stanford University today, while the final weeks of shooting wrap up in San Francisco.
According to IMDb, as seen in the image atop, Vaughn wrote the movie’s screenplay. Director Shawn Levy is also signed-on, while Vaughn, Wilson, and Rose Byrne take up the top three roles. Oh, and 21 Laps Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, and Wild West Picture Show Productions are just a few of the production houses on board.
“The Internship” is currently slated for a June 2013 premiere.
Google’s map offerings build in the human intelligence on the front end, and that’s what allows its computers to tell you the best route from San Francisco to Boston.
In an exclusive story by the Senior Editor at The Atlantic, Alexis C. Madrigal, Google for the first time gives us a look at “Ground Truth”. It is a project described by Madrigal as a secretive, complex internal map that contains data, such as “no-left-turns and freeway on-ramps, speed limits and traffic conditions,” necessary to help users navigate through Google Maps:
I was slated to meet with Gupta and the engineering ringleader on his team, former NASA engineer Michael Weiss-Malik, who’d spent his 20 percent time working on Google Mars, and Nick Volmar, an “operator” who actually massages map data.
“So you want to make a map,” Weiss-Malik tells me as we sit down in front of a massive monitor. “There are a couple of steps. You acquire data through partners. You do a bunch of engineering on that data to get it into the right format and conflate it with other sources of data, and then you do a bunch of operations, which is what this tool is about, to hand massage the data. And out the other end pops something that is higher quality than the sum of its parts.”
Describing Ground Truth to be an elaborate internal Map Maker of sorts, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the story is just how much human input goes into making the Google Maps experience accurate. In the story, Madrigal noted the Ground Truth Geo team aims to address most of the fixable problems reported by users (thousands daily) within minutes:
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Verizon Wireless plans to expand its 4G LTE coverage tomorrow to 33 new U.S. markets. The carrier will then boast 337 LTE markets, which places it ahead of competitors by a wide margin, and it hopes to reach 400 total by the end of 2012. Verizon also announced it is broadening coverage in 32 existing markets.
Check out the list below (via Verizon Wireless):
- The 33 new markets: El Dorado/Magnolia and Russellville, Ark.; New London County, Conn.; Fort Pierce/Vero Beach and Melbourne/Titusville, Fla.; Columbus and Rome, Ga.; Burley, Idaho; Mattoon, Ill.; Anderson and Muncie, Ind.; Manhattan/Junction City and McPherson, Kan.; Lafayette/New Iberia, La.; St. Joseph, Mo.; Bozeman/Livingston, Kalispell and Missoula, Mont.; Goldsboro/Kinston, Roanoke Rapids and Rocky Mount/Wilson, N.C.; Zanesville, Ohio; Meadville and Punxsutawney/DuBois/Clearfield, Pa.; Orangeburg, S.C.; Sherman/Denison, Texas; Cedar City and Logan, Utah; Rutland/Bennington, Vt.; Lynchburg and Winchester, Va.; Bellingham, Wash.; and Beckley, W.Va.
- The 32 expanded markets: Mobile, Ala.; Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, Calif.; Washington, D.C.; Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Sarasota/Bradenton, Fla.; Hilo, Honolulu and Kahului/Wailuku/Maui County, Hawaii; Blackfoot/Idaho Falls/Rexburg, Idaho; Peoria, Ill.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Wichita, Kan.; Baton Rouge, La.; Baltimore, Md.; Kansas City and Springfield, Mo.; Akron, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, Ohio; Allentown/Bethlehem, Harrisburg and Scranton/Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Columbia and Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C.; Provo/Orem and Salt Lake City/Ogden, Utah; Fredericksburg, Va.; and Seattle, Wash.
“With more markets than all other U.S. wireless providers combined, our customers are the first to learn of the great advantages of the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network for streaming video, downloading files, uploading pictures and so much more, at consistently reliable fast data speeds,” said Verizon Wireless’ Chief Technical Officer Nicola Palmer.
This article is cross-posted on 9to5Mac.
Google is once-again touting support for the LGBT community by participating in worldwide Pride events and expanding company-wide benefits.
According to “Gaygler” Randy Reyes on the official Google blog:
We encourage people to bring their whole selves to work. And this month Googlers, Gayglers (gay Googlers), and their families and friends took this spirit to the streets in Pride parades and celebrations around the globe. In Sao Paulo, a group of 50 marched as a Google contingent for the first time ever. In San Francisco, more than 1,000 Googlers and allies marched (nearly doubling the number of people we had in 2011!). In New York, more than 700 of our friends and colleagues took over 5th Avenue marching alongside our double-decker Pride bus. And this weekend in Singapore, we’re sponsoring the Pink Dot celebration for the second consecutive year.
Reyes further revealed action-based plans to celebrate World Pride in London this year. The Mountain View, Calif.-based Company will host a “Legalise Love” Conference at Google London, with hopes to “eliminate homophobia” and “decriminalize homosexuality.”
Google also significantly increased coverage of transgender health care for its U.S. employees. Transgender-inclusive benefits, such as “transitioning procedures and treatment in accordance with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care,” now receive a lifetime maximum coverage of $75,000.
“Next month we’ll carry the energy of Pride into our fourth annual company Diversity & Inclusion celebration, the Sum of Google. The Sum is an opportunity to celebrate and engage in a discussion about diversity and inclusion across our offices around the world,” Reyes concluded.
A picture gallery is below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuC0i4xTyrI]
You already saw a replay of the skydiving stunt if you watched today, but here is the rest.
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Google’s Chris Yerga is on-stage now to announce Google Play numbers: The marketplace boasts over 600,000 apps and games, roughly 1.5 billion installs every month, and 20 billion total app installs to date.
The executive also said magazine subscriptions and television rental options are coming to Google Play. The magazine-reading experience is premium, Yerga touted, while explaining new interactive aspects to magazine thumbing on the newly unveiled Nexus 7. Television viewing is also exceptional due to download options for offline access. A few of the big television partnerships, Yerga said, include Disney, ABC, Sony, and Paramount.
The 2012 Google I/O Developers Conference starts today at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif., with events continuing until June 29 at 4:30 p.m. PST.
A picture gallery is below.
The above leaked image is of the widely rumored Nexus 7.
Reports about the Google tablet have circulated for months, but now we have solid evidence of its existence through a first look on Google’s Play Store servers. The live image surfaced just ahead of Google I/O this morning, and it only begs more questions to be answered.
The 2012 Google I/O Developers Conference starts today at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif., with events continuing until June 29 at 4:30 p.m. PST. We should have some more information about the Nexus 7 within the next hour during the event’s opening keynote.
The Asus-branded Nexus 7 tablet might run Jelly Bean, which is the latest version of Android expected to unveil at some point today. The user-interface in the leak resembles a tweaked Ice Cream Sandwich layout. The dock looks familiar, but notice it houses six apps now instead of four.
[tweet https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/217751034037141505]
Twitter is abuzz with folks spotting Sergey Brin donning a pair of Google Glasses at Google I/O this morning. There are no pictures of the Google co-founder with the headset yet—but stay tuned.
The 2012 Google I/O Developers Conference starts today at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif., with events continuing until June 29 at 4:30 p.m. PST.
Google just revealed a backpack-like Street View capture device called “Trekker” that snaps images in areas impossible to navigate by vehicle (above).
“It’s 40 pounds and includes two batteries that’ll last you all day. It’s Android-powered…. We intend to take it to National Parks, the Grand Canyon, castles, etc.,”explained Google’s Engineering Director of Street View Luc Vincent at the “Next Dimension” Google Maps event in San Francisco.
The director further said street level data “could be” useful for users, and then he showed off an original Street View van (below). It is a Chevy Astro and definitely does not compare to newer Street View cars.
It is worth mentioning that Google announced it drove over 5 million unique miles to collect 20 petabytes of imagery for Street View.
More information about today’s event as at the Official Google Blog.
Google sought consumer feedback on its highly anticipated Google Glasses product today while set up in a street fair booth in the San Francisco area.
According to GottaBeMobile’s Xavier Lanier, who also posted the picture above, the Google Research booth on Union Street screened “qualified” passerbys with an insights survey:
I found the Google booth to be out of place amongst the other booths, most of which were selling handicrafts and food. I asked a Google employee what the booth was all about and she said they had something to show people that hadn’t been released yet. I asked to see it, but was told I couldn’t see it unless I “qualified.”
Outside the booth is a table where research candidates are screened with a survey. The Google Docs survey, which can be completed on either a Google-supplied MacBook Pro or Vizio Android tablet, is designed to identify physically active smartphone users that are parents and at least somewhat interested in new technology products. The survey is also used to screen for those who actively use social media.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cxY9q_4mmIY#!]
In the video above, you are seeing the Tizen operating system. It is an open source project backed by Intel and Samsung, which runs Android apps thanks to a little help from OpenMobile. The video above comes from The Handheld Blog (via GigaOM). Tizen, which Samsung now plans to merge with its Bada platform, just launched version 1.0 this month and it recently received support from Sprint. In the demo video below, we see what might be our first look at the Tizen platform running on an Android device; although, the integration with OpenMobile to run Android apps is not an official feature of the OS yet.
GigaOM suggested Samsung could buy OpenMobile outright to integrate the technology and enable the roughly 400,000 existing Android apps to run on the up-and-coming platform. Go past the break for a the video of Tizen running on a Samsung Galaxy SII HD from the recent Tizen Developer Conference in San Francisco (via Engadget).
According to a report from Foss Patents (and confirmed by Reuters), Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Samsung Chief Executive Officer Gee-Sung Choi will meet within the next 90 days for settlement talks over ongoing patent disputes. Judge Lucy Koh, who is presiding over the two cases in California, initiated the meeting after ordering the companies to submit their CEOs and legal counsels to an Alternative Dispute Resolution.
“As directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both willing to participate in a Magistrate Judge Settlement Conference with Judge Spero as mediator. At Apple, the chief executive officer and general counsel are the appropriate decision-makers, and they will represent Apple during the upcoming settlement discussions. At Samsung, the chief executive officer and general counsel are also the appropriate decision-makers, and they will represent Samsung during these settlement discussions.”
The report called the talks “semi-voluntary,” because the companies did not have to submit to the Alternative Dispute Resolution. However, as pointed out by Foss Patents, “if only one of them had made the CEO available, the other one would have appeared to be less than constructive.” Apple and Samsung executives will meet in San Francisco with U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero sometime over the next three months:
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Photographer Scott Kelby is gathering 15 world-renowned photographers together for an unofficial Google+ Photographer’s Conference.
“On May 22-23, fifteen of the biggest photographers, instructors, and social media magnates on Google+ are gathering in San Francisco for the first-ever Google+ Photographer’s Conference at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (in San Francisco), “announced the Google+ Photographer’s Conference page.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NcX9V86JB4Y]
The official Google+ page later reposted the conference’s announcement, but the social network clarified: “This is not an official Google event, but we are excited to see this launch! Hope you can attend.”
Registration information is below.
