ie8 fix

google +

Drive on Android scans receipts, adds Cards

Google Now is such a big deal that its interface sensibilities are spilling over into other Google services. The latest recipient of a healthy dose of Now is Google Drive (download), which updated its Android app on Wednesday with several new features.

A new Scan feature lets you back up and track important receipts, business cards, and documents by using existing optical character recognition (OCR) tech already in Drive. Choose Scan from the "Add New" menu, take a photo of the document, and Drive will automatically turn it into a searchable PDF.

The new interface leverages the Card … Read more

Now for sale on Craigslist: Google Glass

A Craigslist ad is perhaps not the most subtle of ways to go about doing things, and that includes selling your Google Glass.

One Craigslister, based in San Francisco's East Bay according to the ad, is selling his or her pair of Google Glass Explorer Edition, something that's expressly forbidden by the Glass Terms of Sale.

Violating a product's sale terms is practically a rite of passage, from ripping the safety tag off a mattress to ripping CDs and DVDs. What makes this case unusual is that the Craigslister is clearly trying to make a buck: this … Read more

HP CEO talks Android, not Windows 8

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman had a lot more to say about the company's new Android products than she did about Windows 8 during HP's second-quarter earnings conference call.

Whitman's remarks hinted at HP's newfound affinity for new operating systems, which includes Android of course.

"Using multiple operating systems, multiple architectures, and multiple form factors, we are moving quickly to product the devices that customers want," she said.

Then she proceeded to talk about new Android devices, with no mention of Windows 8.

"Following the launch of our first Chromebook in February, we launched … Read more

Google talks back in new voice search

CNET Update wants answers:

In this episode of Update:

- Get chatty with Google's new voice search on the Chrome browser. But Google's still working out the kinks, so don't expect it to be flawless at first search.

- Give your home the right touch with a Kwikset Kevo door lock that opens with a finger tap.

- Hear what a Walmart executive has to say about the future of shopping with apps.

- Plan to give your future GM car some apps to call its own.

- Share your e-mail to advertisers with the click of a tweet. … Read more

Finding faces in Google Maps terrain

Something our human eyes seem to do, without any prompting, is to pick out shapes and structures that resemble other shapes and structures. Called pareidolia, it's a form of pattern recognition -- and a good example is the way we often see a human face where only a random collection of shapes or shadows exists. This, it is now known, is the reason for the infamous face on Mars.

Our own Earth, as folded and rippled as it is, is also prone to this phenomenon when viewed from above: the Badlands Guardian, discovered on Google Earth in 2006, for example. But we're sure there are many more human-esque faces lurking in strange corners of the Earth.

That is the premise behind Google Faces, a project by Berlin design studio Onformative: can pareidolia be imitated by a machine? Using OpenFrameworks, the studio has created an application that crawls Google Maps, using facial recognition algorithms to seek out areas that look like faces. … Read more

Better search finds its way into Android Chrome

Google made searching in Chrome for Android a bit easier with an update Wednesday to the browser.

The latest stable version of Google Chrome 27 for Android (download) now displays search queries in the location bar's Omnibox. The change obfuscates the URL display during searches, to show more results and make it easier to tweak the search terms, according to the Google blog announcing the update.

Another tweak hides the location bar entirely once you start scrolling, so that you can view a Web page in fullscreen. History viewing has finally made it to the tablet version of Android … Read more

Google Top Charts show world's searches for whiskey, more

Google's top dog for last month was, once again, the pitbull. Having taken the title for most-searched breed away from the bulldog in January, the pit has stayed in the top spot for the past four months, but the German Shepherd is looking to make a move after overtaking the Siberian Husky to advance to the No. 4 position.

At least, this is what I was able to learn from my first five minutes using the just-launched Top Charts feature of Google Trends. An expansion of Google's annual Zeitgeist report of most-searched topics, Top Charts has monthly search data and rankings for dozens of categories from actors (Selena Gomez took No. 1 for April) to businesspeople (Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are both gaining on Oprah) and even whiskeys (Jack Daniel's dominates).… Read more

How to enable the new Hangouts in Gmail

Google released Hangouts last week as a standalone app for iOS, Android, and the desktop via a Chrome extension. In addition to the apps, you can also use Hangouts from within Gmail, just like the old Google Talk.

To enable Hangouts in Gmail, click on your profile photo from the Google Talk chat list, then select Try the new Hangouts. Hangouts will immediately replace Talk, then walk you through a very brief introduction to Hangouts.

Keep in mind that it may not have rolled out to you yet, so if you don't have the Hangouts option in your Gmail … Read more

Google's conversational search arrives with new Chrome

Google is enabling a more naturally spoken question-and-answer interface to its search service for people with a new version of Chrome.

Google demonstrated conversational search at Google I/O a week ago, a style of search designed to be more like natural human speech than the technically constructed search queries that people often use today to retrieve information from a search engine.

It's all part of the gradual arrival of Google's vision to build a Star Trek-style search engine, in which the computer grasps what people want and answers them. Eventually, expect Google to let people initiate a … Read more

Vint Cerf weighs in on Google Glass

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- One of the fathers of the Internet, Vint Cerf has got Glass and he isn't taking it off.

Cerf was attending the Future in Review conference here, where he stood out from the crowd in his signature three-piece suit and Google Glass. He said that he has been a regular Glass wearer for the last two weeks.

"Glass doesn't interfere with my normal vision, and I found it conveniently available," he said. "It's an extension of the mobile phone and less overt -- you don't have to pull out … Read more