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Google I/O 2013 developer blitz: Something for everyone

If Google is going to lead, if not dominate, the technology industry's transformation in the era of mobile computing, it's going to need partners. Lots of them.

With that subtext in mind, the company put on quite the show Wednesday morning, with an impressive pitch for the hearts and minds of developers on the first day of its I/O 2013 conference in San Francisco. This was a hybrid of class lecture, sneak peek tease, and big vision bloviation-fest as Google strutted its stuff for almost three hours. The lengthy laundry list of announcements was impressive, with a … Read more

YouTube by the numbers at Google I/O

SAN FRANCISCO -- Everybody knows that YouTube is growing, but Google revealed on Wednesday just how big it's gotten.

Matt Frost, senior business product manager for the Chrome Web Media Team, listed these statistics at the Google I/O show for developers:

• More than 1 billion monthly users;

• More than 4 billion video views per day;

• More than 6 billion hours of video watched per month;

• More than 72 hours of video uploaded each minute

• And 25 percent of consumption is with mobile devices.

In addition, Frost said that HD video is "becoming dominant."

That's obviously … Read more

Larry Page disses Microsoft for 'milking' Google for its own benefit

Larry Page thinks the tech industry should work together. In his remarks at Google I/O, he said "us versus them" industry competition creates negativity that impedes overall progress in the industry. "Every story I read about Google is us versus some other company or some stupid thing," he said. "Being negative is not how we make progress. The most important things are not zero sum. There is a lot of opportunity out there."

Page singled out Microsoft for criticism, noting that the company recently gave its Outlook.com users the ability to log … Read more

How the voice-controlled future will change education forever

Last week, my son lost all the research he had done for his first science fair project. (Topic: Can Fossils Form in Igneous Rock?) Extreme drama ensued, and ultimately, I ended up typing his dictation for him as he Googled frantically to meet his deadline.

If you've ever worked with a nine-year-old on a big project, you know that unless your child is a prodigy, the process often dissolves into tears of frustration.

As a parent or adviser, you need to teach a child to think critically, understand basic concepts of measurement (Should we measure the temperature at which … Read more

Get started with the new Google Hangouts app for iOS, Android

Google, on Wednesday, unveiled some new and some enhanced products that Android, Chrome, Maps, and Web users are sure to love. One of the new products announced was Hangouts. Now, I know what you're thinking: Google+ has had Hangouts for a while, and you're right. But Google has taken Hangouts out of Google+ and built it into a standalone instant messaging app for mobile devices.

The app, available on iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android devices allows users to keep a unified chat experience in sync across not only the devices listed above, but also within Chrome, Google+ … Read more

Larry Page's festival of disses at Google I/O

Larry Page may have officially just assumed the title of bizarro Steve Jobs.

Page wrapped up the kick-off address at Google I/O Wednesday not with a slick sales pitch or "one more thing," but with some pretty inspiring talk about the role of technology in creating a better world, mixed with a laundry list of companies and institutions that make him sad.

Speaking softly due to a medical condition that Page revealed earlier has afflicted him for many years, the Google CEO ended the three-hour-plus keynote not quite with a bang, but with an unprecedented question-and-answer session punctuated with many a jab.

Here then, are the highlights of what might be Larry Page's first annual festival of disses:… Read more

Seven LG Google TVs shipping now, Jelly Bean update coming later

LG is the only TV maker building TVs with Google TV built-in, and its 2013 lineup of Google TVs is bigger than ever, with seven new models spread across two series.

First announced prior to CES, the GA7900 (55-inch, 47-inch) and the GA6400 (60-inch, 55-inch, 50-inch, 47-inch and 42-inch) series are both available now, in prices currently ranging from $900 to $2,100.

Most Google TV devices, including these LG TVs, now use a version of Honeycomb 3.2, which enables users to use tablet and smartphone apps on their TV. Here's an in-depth look at how it performs … Read more

LG's Google TVs to get Jelly Bean update in Q3

Google TV, the ambitious living room operating system often maligned as slow to update, difficult to use, and less focused than alternatives like Roku or standard Smart TV suites, will finally get a major operating system upgrade later this year.

LG announced today at Google I/O that its Google TVs will get the update to Android version 4.2.2, aka Jelly Bean, in the third quarter. LG is the only manufacturer still selling actual televisions with Google TV built-in, although a few set-top boxes are available, too. LG's models, including the 2013 GA7900 and GA6400 and the … Read more

Google's Page wants a tech Burning Man

Google CEO Larry Page wants a tech version of the Burning Man temporary community and art event.

Page, speaking Wednesday at the Google I/O developers conference, said that societal laws and regulations aren't changing enough to keep up with advancements in technology, and there aren't mechanisms that allow for experimentation. Because of that, he would like a small part of the world outside of normal society where people can experiment and try new things.

"There are many, many exciting and important things we can do but we can't do because they're illegal or not … Read more