Early View: Google Music vs Spotify
On Wednesday at Google IO, the Android maker and search king unveiled Google Music All Access. Priced at $9.99 a month, it gives users unlimited streaming access to millions of tracks on Android smartphones and computers.
While Google Music was previously just a competitor to Apple's iTunes and Amazon's music store, All Access makes it more akin to Spotify and Rdio. These are streaming services that charge a monthly fee for unlimited music access. Think of them like Netflix Instant, only with music, not "Arrested Development" and Steven Seagal movies.
With over 24 million users around the world, Spotify is the current leader in the streaming music race. Google Music All Access may be entering late, but its competitive pricing and already large library make it a capable challenger.
So which should you buy into? Should you make the switch from Spotify to Google Music? Or wait until Apple gets its own streaming service into gear?
Honestly, right now All Access and Spotify feel so similar it's a bit like comparing an apple to…another apple. Both versions offer a strong search function, suggestions based on your ratings of tunes, and the ability to generate radio stations based on your preferences and behavior.
In the coming months both will likely do a lot to distinguish their services, but until then, here are a few points to mull over.
Google Music vs Spotify: price
The simple version is that both services are $9.99, though there are some differences to discuss. Spotify has three tiers of service: a free version with ads, a $4.99 a month version with no ads that plays only on the computer, and the premium $9.99 subscription that's ad free on computers and smartphones.
Google Music All Access has no free version. However, if you sign up for a free trial before June 30, you'll get an early adopter price of $7.99.
Both services have a 30-day free trial to let users browse the selection and fall in love with the service.
Google Music vs Spotify: music selection
At the Google IO announcement on Wednesday representatives claimed it has "millions" of tracks already available on Google Music. It's been reported that Google has negotiated access to music from Sony, Universal and Warner.Spotify is also well established in this area, offering over 20 million tracks.
Exploring the two services, the selection seems extremely comparable. We're personally big Spotify users, and searching Google Music, it had all of our most frequently streamed albums.
Ultimately, this will become one of, if not the most, important points of comparison for the two services. Remember when Apple broke ground by getting The Beatles on iTunes? Expect a lot of bragging about specific artists from both services.
Google Music vs Spotify: platforms
Google Music can be played from a browser on a PC or Mac, and on an Android based smartphone. Current iPhone users can only access it through the browser, due to lack of a dedicated app.
Spotify also works in browsers, and offers a dedicated app on PC, Mac, Windows Phone 8, Android and iOS 6.
It seems like Spotify has an early lead in this category. Like Amazon's Kindle service, it plays neutral third party in the mobile OS wars.
Google Music vs Spotify: availability
While Google Music is available in many countries, All Access will start off in just the US, before expanding to the UK and the rest of the globe.Spotify, on the other hand, began in Europe, and came more recently to the US.
Google Music vs Spotify: quality
Currently, Google Music outputs at a maximum of 320kbps. This quite good for the earbud crowd, but audiophiles that shell out thousands on their home stereo setups aren't getting their money's worth.Same goes for Spotify, which also plays at a quality of up to 320kbps. Both services let you use your phone's equalizer to tweak settings.
Obviously, high quality sound output over a streaming connection is difficult, and also threatens to eat up a user's data plan. However, the option to download tracks for offline listening gives the opportunity to increase quality substantially. It'll be interesting to see if either service chooses to one-up the other in this category.
Google Music vs Spotify: offline play
Google Music allows subscribers to download - or "keep," as they put it – up to 20,000 songs for offline play. It's well done on the Play Music smartphone app, but rather convoluted on the computer. In fact, we haven't even been able to get it to work. We'll chalk that one up to day one bugs.Spotify lets premium subscribers download tracks up to 3,333 across three registered devices.
Both options allow users to enjoy music without having to rely on network quality, or eat up their mobile data plans.
Google Music vs Spotify: social
Surprisingly, Google Music lacks social integration, at least to the degree that Spotify does it. It is possible to share an album to Google Plus, but you can't follow your friends and see what they're listening to.Spotify works hand in hand with Facebook, allowing users to follow each other and see they're listening to. You can also have it broadcast your current tracks on Facebook.
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Blip: We did it! Well, someone out there hit 50 billion App Store downloads
We thought we heard bells and whistles over the din of Google IO, and it turns out it wasn't just the result of an Android overdose: Apple's App Store surpassed its 50 billion download mark this afternoon.
"We just hit 50 million app downloads," the official App Store Twitter account announced. "Thank you. It couldn't have happened without you #50BillionApps."
A little somber, but you're welcome nonetheless, Apple. No word yet on who the lucky winner(s) of $10,000 (around £6,400/AU$9,740) App Store gift card is yet, though none of our friends have posted on Facebook about it.
Oh well...we can try for the 1 trillion mark.
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LG Google TVs to be updated to Android 4.2.2 in Q3 2013
LG will update its Google TV line of HDTVs with Android 4.2.2: Jelly Bean in the third quarter of 2013, the company announced during the Google IO conference today.
Currently, the Google TV-equipped sets like the LG Electronics 47GA6400 and 55GA6400 ar running Android 3.0 Honeycomb.
With this new update, LG TV owners will have the ability to download new apps that require the newest version of the Jelly Bean software, as well as experience a slicker user interface.
Controlling LG Google TV sets will be easier in a few months, as the South Korean manufacturer plans to release a free remote control app to turn Android smartphones and tablets into a remote.
The LG remote app will also act as a two-handed, touch-sensitive game controller for apps, which the company claims is ideal for more complex games.
Broadcasting better TV app compatibility
The LG TV update to Android 4.2.2 will also be a boon for game developers who are looking to make their apps compatible with the Google TV software.LG, showcasing its televisions with the newest Android operating system at Google IO, said that this latest version of Jelly Bean supports the Android-based Native Development Kit (NDK).
"Smartphone apps designed using the NDK will run on Google TV with little to no modifications," said the company in a press release.
"With NDK compatibility, users can now play more games on a bigger LG Google TV screen. This level of compatibility makes it easier for developers to enter the burgeoning Smart TV app market."
Don't throw away that LG-produced Magic Remote Qwerty just yet. The new Jelly Bean update won't be ready for its over-the-air broadcast until the third quarter.
Just as the operating system download comes to the U.S., LG plans to introduce its first Google TV-equipped televisions outside of the states with a debut in LG's home market, Korea.
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Google IO: Google's Galaxy S4: what you need to know
Google was rather busy during the first day of its annual Google IO conference, announcing not just new music and game services for Google Play, but also shocking everyone with the reveal of a brand new Samsung Galaxy S4.
Though Samsung has been rather pivotal in making Android the most successful and widely adopted operating system in use around the world, the version available on smartphones like the Galaxy S4 isn't as pure as that found on Google's own devices like the Nexus 4.
That's something Google is hoping to rectify with this new version of Samsung's flagship phone, which will be completely unlocked running a stock version of Android 4.2: Jelly Bean.
Google takes Android back
While we certainly sang a lot of praises for the Galaxy S4 in our review, we found the additional features added to the core Android experience by Samsung "flawed or overly complex."Google is attempting to alleviate that issue by providing a more pure Android experience along the lines of its Nexus devices.
Gone will be the added Air Gestures and Smart Scroll and Samsung's TouchWiz interface, all of which will be replaced with the core Nexus experience as delivered by Android 4.2.
Additionally, the Google Galaxy S4 will include a fully unlocked bootloader, which bodes well for Android modders or developers keen to customize as much of the experience as they possibly can.
Even more important, with the core version of Android, users will be able to upgrade to each new version with ease.
That should come in handy considering it's widely expected Android 4.3 will make its debut during this week's Google IO (though this morning's keynote would have been prime time to roll it out).
Mirror Galaxy
Based on what we know from Google's presentation, the foundation of the Galaxy S4's hardware will remain intact and unchanged.The Google Galaxy S4 should still get a massive 5-inch Super AMOLED HD display, backed by the 1.9Ghz quad-core Qualcomm 600 processor.
The 13MP rear camera doesn't appear to be going anywhere either, and the same can be said for the phone's 16GB of internal storage.
That said, the standard version of the Galaxy S4 loses a lot of that storage space to all the extra features included by Samsung.
With Google stripping the smartphone of all the non-essential bells and whistles, it would appear its version of the Galaxy S4 will start off with much more than 9GB of free space out of the package.
Google's version of the Galaxy S4 will also still support 4G LTE, as well as NFC, Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi, and will still include the solid 2600mAh battery.
You've got to pay to Play
The Play Store will be the only place you can purchase the new Galaxy S4, though the phone will be completely unlocked, and usable at both AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S.Sadly, Verizon subscribers will be left in the cold when it comes to Google's own phones, even though the carrier is getting the Galaxy S4 later this May.
Unlike the Nexus 4, which also came completely unlocked, the Galaxy S4 will unfortunately not be quite as affordable.
Beginning on June 26, Americans will be able to get their hands on the exclusive phone for $649 with no contract, which is $10 more than AT&T and $20 more than T-Mobile is charging for the Galaxy S4 outright. The price converts to AU$657 and UK£426.
Part of what made the Nexus 4 so appealing, despite its lack of 4G, was the $299 (UK£239, AU$499) price tag, which without a contract, made it rather comparable to most competitor phones purchased through a specific carrier on contract.
Google has yet to announce any possible international availability, but we've reached out to see if there are any global release plans for the unlocked device in its natural state.
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Google IO: Sending payments through Gmail redefines the moneygram
Now you'll definitely always "accidentally forget" to send attachments, as Google announced that users will be able to send money through Gmail.
"Google Wallet is now integrated with Gmail," the company announced via a blog post as part of its Google IO conference in San Francisco today.
"You can quickly and securely send money to friends and family directly within Gmail - even if they don't have a Gmail address."
All it takes to send money through Gmail is a bank account linked to Google Wallet, the mobile payments service that Android users have been able to use since 2011.
The best mobile payments in life are free
The best part about sending friends and family money through Gmail is that it will be free when using a bank account linked to Google Wallet or your Google Wallet balance.Sending money through linked credit or debit cards will incur low fees, according to Google, which currently charges a 2.9 percent transaction fee (minimum $0.30).
The company noted that receiving money is always free regardless of the funding source the sender chooses.
Just like file size limits on Gmail attachments, Google Wallet has a transaction limited on $10,000 (UK£6,577, AU$10,134) per 5 day period. This applies to all transactions.
Gmail money attachment release date
Google Wallet's 2.9 percent transaction fee puts it in direct competition with PayPal and Square, which both charge higher fees for manually-entered transactions.One advantage the other services have, however, is the ability to send money across various devices including iPhone.
Currently, sending money through Gmail is limited to the desktop, and Google Wallet is only available on eight Android phones and tablets.
This may change, of course, as the new Gmail feature is only now beginning to roll out to users.
"We're rolling out this feature over the coming months to all U.S. Gmail users over 18 years old," said Google.
When that happens, a user will see a "INSERT:CONTENT:ENDquot; icon appear in the attachment options of their Gmail account, or they can just beg someone else using the feature to send them money for earlier access.
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Google IO: No 'Nexus Edition' HTC One in the cards, phone maker reveals
Google has taken its Nexus wand and waved it over Samsung's flagship phone, creating a stock Android 4.2 Galaxy S4 device it plans to sell unlocked for $649 on U.S. carriers T-Mobile and AT&T.
The question is: Will Google do the same to other Android devices?
One manufacturer has already answered the question for us.
"HTC is not currently planning a 'Nexus Edition' of the HTC One," Jeff Gordon, senior global online communications manager at the phone maker told TechRadar.
Only one
The Nexus 4-influenced Galaxy S4 was the lone hardware announcement to come out of this year's Google IO keynote, and it looks like it will be the lone phone to strip the manufacturer's skin in favor of Google's Nexus.We can't imagine the S4 will be charting this territory alone for long, however, and will keep our ears open for phones that jump into the Nexus-ized S4's waters.
Check out the latest from Google's developer conference through our comprehensive hub page.
John McCann contributed to this report
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BB Live: BlackBerry rules out full HD smartphone in 2013
We've heard rumours that BlackBerry might be planning a super sized handset complete with full HD screen for later this year, but TechRadar has found out that this may not be the case.
TechRadar spoke to Marty Mallick, VP of Global Alliances at BlackBerry during the firm's annual conference in Orlando who explained the firm is looking to keep resolutions consistent to encourage developers to build native BlackBerry 10 apps without having to worry about a range of resolutions.
Mallick said: "We announced last fall that for at least the next year our plan is to stay with the same resolutions on our two form factors, all touch and QWERTY touch, to give developers the confidence and consistency to leverage their investments.
What you looking at?
"The screen resolutions are 1280 x 720 and 720 x 720 - these are the two we're focussed on for this year."This doesn't mean BlackBerry will never consider full HD displays, but if reports suggesting we'll see another three handsets from the Canadian firm this year turn out to be true, you can probably expect more of the same in the screen department.
BlackBerry hasn't commented on any future devices so far, but if this resolution promise to developers holds out until the end of the year it could risk falling further behind the likes of Samsung, Apple and HTC.
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Samsung Galaxy Mega reportedly delayed until July. Waiting for bigger jeans pockets?
When Samsung announced its massive Galaxy Mega 6.3 smartphone back in April it pledged a May launch in the UK, but by all accounts that isn't on the cards anymore.
As reported by The Inquirer, the massive smartphone has turned up on Carphone Warehouse's coming soon page, which quotes a July release date.
What's caused the apparent delay isn't known, but it may be that Samsung has ploughed its efforts into meeting the demand for the flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone rather making than this mid-range effort.
The Carphone Warehouse page doesn't give an exact date, neither does it quote pricing or network availability, but it seems certain that the retailer will offer contracts with all of the top carriers.
Note-lite
The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 was unveiled alongside the Galaxy Mega 5.8 in mid-April as lower-spec alternatives to the best-selling Galaxy Note 2 device.Samsung immediately confirmed that Europe would only be getting the 6.3-inch device, which rocks a 1.7GHz dual-core processor and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
The device also brings an 8-megapixel camera on the rear, 4G LTE support and a large 3,200mAh battery.
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Google IO: YouTube announces 'we'll do it live' with more live streaming channels
YouTube live streaming is coming to the average web video producer that has at least a respectable following, Mountain View's favorite resident announced as part of its Google IO conference today.
"YouTube is expanding live streaming access to all channels in good standing with more than a thousand subscribers," said the company in a statement.
The year-old live streaming service has previously been available to select YouTube partners, which will now see competition from the eager video producers who make up the majority of Google's target group.
Live streaming should come to even more accounts in the future, as the company promises to "expand availability to more channels and add more features to YouTube Live over time."
How to live stream on YouTube
Gaining access to YouTube's live streaming capabilities requires account holders in good standing to apply for an invite first.To verify if your account with one thousand subscribers is eligible, log into the Account Features page of YouTube and look for an "Enable" button. This will trigger the required sign-up function.
The ability to live stream might not be present right away, as Google has stated that you'll be able to broadcast to the world from your channel "in the following weeks."
YouTube live streaming API
On top of expanding YouTube Live, Google has expanded the YouTube live stream API, which lets users create, update and manage live events.Specifically, the API will allow everyone on the video hosting website to schedule event broadcasts and associate them with video streams.
YouTube Live partners who had a year-long headstart were able to create "Emmy-winning sports events, amazing music, immersive gaming, [and] engaging talk shows," noted Google.
With more than one billion unique users visiting YouTube each month, Google has the power to immediately challenge other live video sharing websites like Ustream.tv, Justin.tv and Live Stream, which are now buffering in their boots.
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Google IO: Larry Page: I wouldn't grade the industry well in terms of where we've gotten
Google CEO Larry Page staged the final act of the marathon Google IO keynote today, a 3-plus hour barrage of music, the Galaxy S4 with a Nexus twist and Maps news.
While he stayed fairly high level in discussing how humans should use (and not have to think) about the technology in their lives during his prepared remarks, it was after an audience question that he threw barbs at the industry for not progressing as quickly as it should by focusing on "negative and zero-sum games."
One culprit in particular: Microsoft.
"I've been quite sad at the industry's behavior around [open web standards]," he said.
"If you take something as simple as instant messaging, we've had an offer forever that we'll interoperate on instant messaging.
"Just this week, Microsoft took advantage of that by interoperating with us, but not doing the reverse, which is really sad. We need interoperation, not just people milking off one company for their own benefit. Google has always stood for that."
Sad Larry
Page was referring to Microsoft's move earlier this week of adding Google Talk to Outlook.com via the latter's APIs. We've asked Microsoft for its response to Page's comments, and will update this story when we hear back.The CEO, who yesterday revealed he's endured vocal chord paralysis for the past 14 years, admitted that while Google tried to stay "on the right side of things," the company is practical in terms of not "shooting ourselves and our users in the foot."
"I'm sad that the web is probably not advancing as fast as it should be," he continued in his response to the query which was posed by a Mozilla employee.
"We've certainly struggled with people like Microsoft. We've had a great relationship with Mozilla I think, and value that deeply. I'd like to see more open standards and [companies] get behind things that just work."
Devs shouldn't have to choose
Even though Android has seen a surge in adoption, Page said he doesn't think developers should have to decide which system they will create software for."In the long term, developers shouldn't have to think about, 'Am I developing for this platform or another,'" he said. "I think you should be able to work at a much higher level. The software you write should be able to run everywhere easily."
Page's comments were perhaps the most rousing part of an otherwise anti-climatic keynote. Though developers are sure to jump on services like Android Studio, the lack of major hardware announcements and demonstrations that have defined conferences' past left a rather empty aftertaste from an end-user perspective.
Granted, this is the foundation for the groundbreaking announcement's of next year's (or the year after's) IO. Perhaps if Page's hope for a free-experimentation, Burning Man-type safe spots - a wish he expressed during the unorthodox Q&A - will bring out such earth shaking developments.
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BB Live: Has BlackBerry finally turned its back on PlayBook?
BlackBerry may have finally drawn a line under the embarrassment which is its PlayBook tablet, as the firm was unwilling to discuss plans it may have for the slate.
At BlackBerry's annual conference last year the firm appeared bullish about the PlayBook, happily confirming that it would bring the new BlackBerry 10 platform to the tablet sometime in 2013.
Roll forward 12 months to now and the picture isn't as clear cut, with BlackBerry not revealing its BB 10 plans for the PlayBook - or even confirming if it's still going ahead.
Tablet assessment
TechRadar spoke to Vivek Bhardwaj, Head of Software Portfolio at BlackBerry Live in Orlando about the possible update and he said: "I can't provide any further information on that at this point."We are still assessing what we want to do with regards to tablet as a strategy as a whole.
"Our vision is still very much centred on mobile computing and we believe that the smartphone is the end point and you'll want to connect it to other things."
However there was a glimmer of hope for anyone still hoping to get BB10 on their PlayBook with Bhardwaj rounding off his comment by saying: "Stay tuned, there will be [news] updates I'm sure, but not at this point in time."
Peripherals > tablets?
BlackBerry is keen to drive home the fact that it's completely focussed on mobile, as today's smartphones have all the power you need.Bhardwaj explained: "For us other hardware are just other end points. If you look at what you've got on your smartphone the processing power and capabilities of them are pretty much on par with your laptop.
"The only thing really missing is a larger display and perhaps a larger keyboard, so it's not completely out of the question to look at how we can take what we have on our smartphones and extend it to a wider environment.
"When Thorsten [Heins] talks about the smartphone being that one device to share across everything it's genuinely because we've got to that point now where the smartphone has the power.
"You don't need to have five or six other devices with the same spec all at different sizes, you just need peripherals."
Although Bhardwaj wouldn't be drawn on commenting on future products it could mean that BlackBerry is possibly looking at tablet and monitor docks to accompany its smartphone range, in a similar vein to the Asus Padfone and Motorola Atrix.
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Google IO: Google Maps 'photo sphere' adds tours via user-generated pictures
Photo sphere actually has a relevant use now that Google announced at the IO conference that its Maps service will use the 360 degree images app for tours.
The new Google Maps enables impressive user-generated tours of landmarks via photo sphere, with pictures showing up at the bottom of the redesigned Maps.
An outside 3D model of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was demoed off using "Google Earth in the browser" capabilities with no plug-ins and no downloads necessary.
3D photo tour examples
The beauty of St. Peter's Basilica is on the inside, noted Jonah Jones, lead designer of Google Maps.
Jones transitioned to an indoor panoramic of the Vatican City church, giving the Google IO conference audience an interactive look at an almost-360-degree tour interior.
"This is a 3D photo tour that is automatically generated from user photos," said Jones, who added that over time "it will only get better and better."
Like 'user-generated Street View'
A little closer to home, Jones brought the Google Maps photo sphere demo back to the Google IO conference in the Moscone Center.First, he gave everyone the outside perspective from the perspective of skydivers, a nod to last year's more exciting Google Glass keynote opening.
Jones then revealed that he had taken a photo sphere image of this year's audience while giving his stage demo and had already uploaded it to the new Google Map.
"This is what you guys look like from up here," he said while showing off the recently captured photo sphere.
"It's like a user-generated Street View," Jones said to applause.
Google said that users won't want to wait for this, so it's rolling the photo sphere-filled Google Maps feature to users via invites starting tomorrow at maps.google.com/preview.
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Google IO: Google tells the future of Maps during IO keynote
The new Google Maps for Android and iOS made its debut today at Google's IO conference with a new 5-star ratings system for businesses, Zagat listing integration, improved UI features, a dedicated tablet experience, and yes, more.
Google Maps Director Daniel Graf introduced the new mobile Google Maps today during the IO keynote in San Francisco.
"Maps are also about exploring and discovering places," Graf said. The new Google Maps for iOS and Android will also feature Google Offers from business that will rival similar features from social map apps like Foursquare.
Graf even took a dig at Apple's unfortunate maps app by reminding viewers that Google Maps is actually accurate.
Improved navigation
Graf also detailed changes to directions in Google Maps for mobile devices.New dynamic features will alert drivers to incidents on the road and reroute them in real time. Real time traffic view has been improved as well.
The new Google Maps experience will arrive on mobile devices this summer, and it will be optimized for iPad and Android tablets.
The future of Google Maps
Google Maps Lead Designer Jonah Jones then took the stage to introduce the future of Google Maps on the desktop, which he said was rebuilt from the ground up.It's "a map built for you," Jones said. Each user will see a custom map that displays locations that are important to them. Highlighting a landmark will even label every little street around it, so you won't be left wondering what the 1 inch, unnamed strip of white is on your map and whether or not it's the alleyway you're supposed to turn left on any more.
The new experience will feature "cards" that summarize everything about a place, and the future of Google Maps will focus on the maps and add rich, beautiful textures, Jonah said. It will learn from users and improve over time.
The new full Google Maps experience will also also you to search for directions by clicking around on the map, and will compare public transit and driving routes directly on the map, making things much more convenient.
Public transit directions will also include schedules built right into the new Google Maps.
The demonstration concluded with an impressive look at the Earth from space that showed clouds on the day side and lights on the night side of the planet in what appeared to be real time.
Google is taking invite requests to preview the new Maps now via a dedicated page.
The history of Maps
Brian McClendon, vice president of Google Maps, also took the stage to reveal that over 1 million websites, visited by over 1 billion people a week, currently use Google Maps.McClendon discussed the past of Google maps since it launched in 2005, explaining the various changes to the service over the years in great detail.
The new Google Maps leaked last night, giving an early look at some of the features shown today.
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Google IO: Google Search app not neglected, adds reminders and recommendations
Starting today, Google Search and its Google Now personal assistant are getting a series of updates designed to make gathering new information about the world around users even easier.
Users will be able to set voice reminders ("buy milk"), get real time public transit updates (in select cities) and get recommendations for upcoming books, music, TV shows and video games any individual may like.
During an onstage demo, Google highlighted Now's ability to pull up handy, need-it-now information about particular places and things - how tall someone has to be to ride a roller coaster, dinner reservation information, etc.
Google has also introduced a voice-only approach to search on Chrome and Chrome OS. The feature rids the need to push a button and allows users to simply say, "OK Google," to prompt Google to pull up answers to any and all burning questions.
Important note: The new features are designed for Android 4.1 and up.
Developing...
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Google IO: Google announces 'the end of search as we know it'
Google announced the rather stark "end of search as we know it" at its annual Google IO conference today.
Really, the search engine giant is looking to change the way users go about finding information through its various Google services.
This is done with the expansion of Google Now across all Chrome devices, with Answer, Converse and Anticipate experiences.
Answer expands Google's knowledge graph that we so heavily rely on for basic information, including the release dates of movies like Star Trek: Into Darkness and the population of countries like India, for example.
That information will be broadened and include relevant graphics like population graphics thanks to Google contextual Answers.
Google anticipates answers
Anticipate takes the information gathering a step further, predicting what your next question will be based on what other users are often searching for next."Starting today, we will be anticipating your next question, which may very well be how does [India's population] compare to the population of other countries?"
The comparison behind him showed a graph with the U.S. and China's populations on either side of the line that represented the 1.21 billion people in India.
There have been a total of nine languages that use Google's knowledge graph, and the company announced that the handy search tool will come to people who search in Polish, Turkish, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese starting today.
Google talks back
The final new addition to the new Google Search experience is Converse.This feature, already available for Google Android and Apple iOS devices, is indeed making its way to desktops and laptops via Google Chrome, it was announced at Google IO.
Ht great part about this is that Google asking a question by starting with "Okay, Google" will enable the voice-controlled search function and a computer-generated voice will speak back the answer.
Developing...
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B&O BeoLab 14 is the £2,495 surround sound system your living room dreams of
High end electronics maker to the rich and famous Bang & Olufsen has unveiled its first surround sound speaker system.
Designed to work alongside TVs made by B&O and others, the BeoLab 14 consists of a vase-ike subwoofer and four or five flower-inspired speaker units depending on your televisual set up.
If you're the kind of person who has invested in a B&O TV, you may well be in the market for a matching surround sound system and the good news is that your television can act as the centre channel - that takes your system up to a 5.1 set up.
One for all
But if you've only invested in something like a Samsung (heathen!) then you can still put the BeoLab 14 to good use, you'll just have to shell out for that fifth channel speaker.That's new thinking for B&O - usually, it likes to keep things closed to outsiders, but while it sells 30,000 of its own TVs a year, it quite fancies a slice of the 200 million sets sold globally as well.
The stem-mounted speakers are rocking a flower-inspired design, although they look a little like vanity mirrors. Happily they can be stood on the floor with a long stem, a shelf with a short one or wall-mounted if you don't fancy either.
B&O says it fought a hard battle between design and audio performance and shot for the best of both, with each speaker made from a single piece of aluminium with no seams or screws visible.
Sadly it's not a wireless system - B&O says that it considered doing away with the wires but the fact that each unit would then need a power system (the subwoofer takes care of all that now) as well as its own temperature regulating tech meant that each would become larger and, crucially, unsightly.
The BeoLab 14 surround sound system is available from today for the princely sum of £2,495.
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BB Live: BlackBerry promises to be relentless in quest to become top dog
There certainly seems to be a lot of fire in the BlackBerry belly as the Canadian firm looks to become a dominant force in the mobile market once again.
The company starting to branch out in an attempt to control a bigger chunk of the market with the news that BBM will be available on iOS and Android devices from this summer, plus the fact that the BES 10.1 backend system will allow companies to control iOS and Android devices on top of BlackBerry handsets.
BlackBerry realises that a lot of its customers aren't aware of everything the firm can offer, and a degree of education needs to happen in order to increase awareness of the brand and its services.
Don't stop me now
Rob Orr, BlackBerry's UK Managing Director told TechRadar: "people need to understand that BlackBerry is able to, and the best in class at providing a secure VPN on an iPad."That's something that's probably not at the forefront of people's minds, so we're getting out there to tell people what we're doing and why we're doing it."
Talking about what's next for BlackBerry Orr said: "We're just going to keep going. We're going to be relentless, listen to our customers, engage with them and build the true reality of our mobile computing platform."
This sentiment echoed what BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said during his keynote presentation at BlackBerry Live in Orlando, explaining that the firm is "committed to making BB 10 the platform which will take the mobile industry to the next level."
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Google IO: Google Chrome 'races' to bridge the gap between mobile devices
Android and Chrome OS aren't coming together just yet, but the Google IO conference proved that the gap between Google-powered mobile devices and hardware with Google Chrome has been unified.
"It's something tremendously exciting," said Linus Upson, vice president of of engineering for Google Chrome about where mobile web is headed.
"We want this elegant UI framework that works across all form factors, all devices."
Proving that vision is already getting started, Upson invited some volunteers play a game called "Racer: A Chrome Experience."
Google Chrome slot car game demo
The slot-car racing game had primitive overheard graphics, but it was running across five different devices using Google Computer Engine.Web sockets kept all five of the devices in sync and web audio sound transitions kept the sound effects transitions on point.
So, even though the track was broken up across multiple tablets and smartphones, the racing game action was fluid and seamless.
The most amazing part was that this included an Apple iOS device thanks to a volunteer manning an iPhone as part of the racing game.
Unified Google platform in the works
"It's still early and not ready for consumption by regular developers," caution Upson at the Google IO conference.However, he urged interested developers in the audience to participate in the "Web components and action session" at Google IO on Thursday.
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Google IO: Google brings Hangouts messaging application to life
Google wants people to talk to one another no matter where they are or what platform they're using thanks to its new Hangouts messaging system for Google+.
Hangouts, announced at Google IO, was the replacement name floated around for "Babel" and now it looks very real. And speaking of replacements, Google plans for Hangouts to take over Google Talk, Google+ Messenger and Google+ Hangout video chat, in its original form.
App users will be able to start live group video conversations with up to 10 friends as well.
Users can take a conversation from device to device, and those messages will appear in a list format. All convos will be stored in the cloud, with users able to plug into conversations anytime, with or without a connection.
Hangouts will be available starting today for Android, iOS and Chrome.
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Google IO: Google Play for Education brings Android to the classroom at Google IO
Android engineering director Chris Yerga returned to the stage during the Google IO keynote today to unveil Google Play for Education.
The new Google Play service was "built from the ground up" for educators and provides tools for them to practically engage students using Android technology.
Google Play for Education is a specialized app store with content designed for students and teachers. Educators will be able to easily send apps to all their students at once, purchasing bulk licenses on schools' dimes.
Google Play for Education will launch in the fall, but developer can begin submitting education apps immediately at developer.android.com/edu.
Encroaching on Apple's turf
Classrooms have typically been the domain of Apple, but Google is no doubt hoping to take a bite with Google Play for Education.Google aims to put Android tablets in the hands of students and teachers, and the custom, curated app selection in Google Play for Education could prove a huge draw for tech-savvy schools.
Google starts the party right
Google today kicked off its three-day Google IO conference in San Francisco with several key announcements.Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra took the stage to kick things off at the sixth annual Google I/O conference. He revealed that over one million were watching the keynote live on Youtube alone.
Google also announced its new subscription music service Google Play Music All Access, its own version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Google Play game services, and more.
Stay tuned to TechRadar over the coming days for more Google IO coverage.
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Google IO: Google rolling out 41 Google+ features, redesigned stream starting today
Google is laying lots of love on its social platform today with the announcement of 41 new features across three major areas that will start rolling out today for Google+.
Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra made his return to the Google IO keynote stage to talk about the burgeoning social network.
The stream will see a new designed chopped up into columns, moving away from the "flat" design of the previous layout.
There will be a new Hangouts app as well plus new photo features.
Put a smile on your face
Specifically, every Google+ user will now have access to 15GB of free photo storage. In addition the Google social network will automatically choose your best images for you using a new feature called Highlights.Highlights will not include images that are duplicates, blurry, or poorly shot. Its algorithms can, however, recognize landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and smiling faces.
It will also give greater prominence to photos of people it detects are important to you.
Google+'s new photo enhancing algorithms will also "take into account human taste" to automatically tweak noise reduction, white balance, tonal distribution, and more, and "make images perfect," Gundotra said.
Auto Awesome
Another new Google+ photo feature is Auto Awesome, which creates new images based on images you've uploaded.Auto Awesome images can include collages, panoramas, and choppy moving GIFs that Google will construct automatically and "gift" to users on Google+.
Auto Awesome will debut on Google+ this afternoon, according to Gundotra.
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Google IO: Google IO brings developers new location, messaging API tools
Google Maps Android API v2 was unveiled at the Google IO conference today with new tools for developers that build maps directly into their Android apps.
The first of the three new location APIs is fused location provider, which is a rewritten alogrthm for all of a device's sensors.
"Location is going is now faster to acquire, more accurate and we're also adding a new low-power location mode that uses less than 1 percent of power," to Hugo Barra, Google vice president of product management to applause.
The second new location-based API is geofencing that lets developers define up to 100 simultaneous goefencing locations per app.
Activity recognition, the third location API tool, will be able to tell whether a user is walking, cycling or riding in a car.
Google Cloud Messaging
Google Cloud Messaging, unveiled last year, is now delivering more than 17 billion messages to Android users per day.Now, Google Cloud Messaging is part of Google Play Services with persistent connections. This will enable users to send a large number of messages to many devices very quickly.
Second, Google's messaging service adds upstream messaging, which allows developers to send messages from their apps to services just as seamlessly.
Third, Google Cloud Messaging via Google Pay Services will make it so that users only have to dismiss a message on one device if they own multiple Android smartphones and tablets.
Bara said that all of these services are rolling out progressively and that developers can start signing up for them today.
"We really want you to thrive," said he to developers on stage at the Google IO conference.
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Google IO: Google announces a Nexus-ized version of the Samsung Galaxy S4
Google today announced its very own take on the Samsung Galaxy S4 during the Google IO developers conference.
The device runs stock Android 4.2 with the same software that runs on the Nexus 4 - meaning it's essentially an S4 without the TouchWiz touch.
It will cost $649 unlocked (with an unlocked bootloader) on both AT&T and T-Mobile and house 16GB of storage. Users can pick it up starting Jun 26 via the Google Play Store.
"It's Google's take on Android," Huge Barra of Google said.
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Google IO: Google Play Music All Access hits crescendo during IO keynote
Android engineering director Chris Yerga stood up at the Google IO keynote this morning in San Francisco to introduce Google Play Music All Access, Google's new subscription music service.
"So you guys want to hear about music?" Yerga asked.
He called Google Play Music All Access "a uniquely Google approach to a subscription music service."
He said Google Play Music All Access will help guide users through a world of music without any hassle. The service will include music recommendations made by automatic algorithms as well as specially curated recommendations and playlists.
Radio without rules
It's "a music service that's about music, and the technology fades to the background," he said.The service will make it easy to view upcoming tracks and "swipe away" unwanted tracks, which will help it compete against more restrictive services like Pandora and Spotify. Yerga called it "radio without rules."
Google Play Music All Access includes library, radio, and "listen now" features and is available for $9.99 per month today in the U.S. Google will also offer 30-day free trials, and those who start a trial before June 30 will pay only $7.99 per month.
Google Play Music All Access will be available in more countries soon, Yerga promised.
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Streaming services now account for 40 per cent of European traffic
Real-time entertainment services like Netflix, Spotify, BBC iPlayer and YouTube account for an average of 40.5 per cent of all peak downstream data across Europe, new research has claimed.
The Sandvine Global Intenet Phenomena Report claimed that in countries with more access to legal streaming services, the proportion of illegal download traffic dropped significantly.
The moral of the story appears to be that illegal downloading is a problem caused as much by lack of availability of content rather than a blatant desire to avoid paying for TV shows, movies, music and more.
Sandvine wrote: "Countries with access to paid services like Netflix or BBC iPlayer typically had real-time entertainment as a higher share of traffic. In Europe, countries with lower real-time entertainment share typically have higher filesharing traffic, which leads us to believe that subscribers are likely using applications like BitTorrent to procure audio and video content not available in their region," said Sandvine.
YouTube > BitTorrent
Topping the bill for legal content is YouTube, naturally. Google's video-sharing site accounted for a massive 24.25 per cent of all downstream traffic across the region.Significantly, that's more than double the 12 per cent of traffic that can be attributed to BitTorrent sites.
Facebook was responsible for 3.97 per cent of all traffic, which is not bad considering there isn't that much data being downloaded through general Facebook browser.
Skype voice calls, video calls and instant messaging accounted for 1.97 per cent of downstream traffic.
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