Chris Velazco | Cheryl Waller

Google Folds Wallet Support Into Gmail So You Can Send Money As Attachments

May 15, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

Phew. Google just spent three hours or so showing off new developer tools, APIs, service overhauls, and the occasional gadget, but not everything the search giant rolled out today got a turn under the spotlights at the Moscone Center. Case in point: according to a post on the official Google Commerce blog, Google Wallet support has been baked into Gmail, so users will soon be able to send each other money by simply shooting each other emails.

In the coming weeks and months, a dollar sign will start popping in Gmail accounts of people who already use Google Wallet, and a quick click lets users define the recipient and the amount they’d like to send along as an attachment. Since all of these transactions run through Google Wallet, the usual caveats are in place — sending funds from a connected bank account is totally gratis, but those who prefer to pay with credit or debit cards are subject to an additional 2.9 percent fee tacked on. You also need to be over 18 to take part in the funding fun, though.

Google is far from the first company to tackle the concept of sending money via email — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo rolled out a method of transferring funds to people if you had their cell phone number or email address two years ago, but the setup process involved could be more than a little tedious if the recipient wasn’t a member of the same bank. At this point, it’s too early to pass judgment on Google’s approach, but the company seems intent on making the process much easier on all the parties involved, even if the person receiving the money isn’t a Gmail user.

More importantly, it’s possible that folding a level of Wallet support into Gmail could see adoption of the payment platform tick upward. After all, Google said around this time last year that Gmail played home to 425 million users, and a considerable chunk of them will eventually find themselves able to transfer money without many headaches involved. Google’s announcement of its Instant Buy APIto streamline the process of buying things from within an Android app could certainly play a role in expanding Wallet’s prominence. These developments may not seem as downright prominent a push as, say, a Google-branded Wallet card that would solidify the service’s presence in meatspace, but former Wallet chief Osama Bedler is out, and that ship has sailed.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Gmail, Google, google wallet, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, TC

Google Maps Said To Be Getting A Facelift That Could Appear At Google I/O

May 8, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

Google’s bound to pull back the curtain on some goodies at its annual I/O conference next week (though it’s being characteristically quiet about the whole thing), but could a redesigned version of Google Maps be one of them? That’s what the folks at the (completely unofficial) Google Operating System blog hint at — they’ve come into possession of a pair of screenshots that supposedly depict Google’s new approach to mapping, and if true they point to some serious modifications.

If true, then Google is ditching he traditional sidebar altogether. Instead, the company may be putting greater emphasis on the map itself and shifting pertinent information — think location data, photos, and Zagat reviews — to a series of cards that hover in the top left corner of the screen.

Oh, and the yellow streets are gone too. I’m just as bummed as you are.

As always, I’d recommend firmly grasping a grain of salt as you pore over the images, but they the visual advances seen in them seem just measured enough to give them some credence. The images depict a version of Google Maps that falls in line with some of the other design choices the folks at Mountain View have been running with lately.

Google’s been pushing those cards quite a bit lately — Google Now was the first service to run with the card metaphor, and the search giant recently revamped its Google Play Store Android app to put individual app and song listings into cards as well. We haven’t really seen those cards invade the desktop yet (unless you count those right-aligned boxes that Google’s Knowledge Graph results live in), but persistent rumors and leaks point to a desktop web version of Google Now that could go live any day now. Hell, even Google Glass uses what the company refers to as timeline cards to encapsulate and display information from Glass apps. All that said, it would hardly be a shock to see Google turning to Maps as the next service to get a card-centric facelift.

And hey, it’s not like Google has been all that great at keeping its secrets behind closed doors lately. Who could forget the completely unexpected Chromebook Pixel reveal that had journos and pundits scratching their heads back in February, not to mention the early Google Play Store redesign leak and the prematurely released video that touted Google Now for iOS that appeared just weeks later. This latest batch of screenshots may leave you with more questions than answers, but I suspect that all will be revealed before long.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Google, Google Maps, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, TC

Google Maps Said To Be Getting A Facelift That Could Appear At Google I/O

May 8, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

Oh, and the yellow streets are gone too. I’m just as bummed as you are.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Google, Google Maps, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, TC

Google Maps Said To Be Getting A Facelift That Could Appear At Google I/O

May 8, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

Oh, and the yellow streets are gone too. I’m just as bummed as you are.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Google, Google Maps, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, TC

Google Maps Said To Be Getting A Facelift That Could Appear At Google I/O

May 8, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

Oh, and the yellow streets are gone too. I’m just as bummed as you are.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Google, Google Maps, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, TC

More Google Glass Specs Revealed As Android Tinkerers Look For Ways To Root It

April 26, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

Google felt it appropriate to highlight some of Glass’ specs earlier this week, but there’s much more to the company’s wearable display than just the 5 megapixel camera and its 16GB of internal storage. In case you were hankering for a taste of what else makes Google Glass tick, Android developer (and Glass Explorer) Jay Lee spent some time tinkering with his preview unit and managed to figure out what kind of hardware it has under the hood.

Lee managed to confirm that Glass runs Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich (CEO Larry Page noted during Google’s most recent earnings call that Glass “obviously” runs on Android), and also determined that it has a Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 chipset. In case you haven’t been keeping abreast of developments in the mobile chipset market, the OMAP 4430 was used in devices like the original Motorola Droid RAZR and Samsung’s 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2.0 — solid devices during their prime, but the chipset that powered them is far from new.

Sadly, some of the particulars are still shrouded in mystery — Lee wasn’t able to figure out the processor’s clock speed (the 4430 CPU can be clocked between 1 and 1.2 GHz), and the device only reports that it has 682MB of RAM, but Lee suspects the total is actually 1GB. Still, that’s not too shabby a spec sheet for a device that essentially lives on your face, and some recent reports reveal that the ambitious headset may be surprisingly too simple to root to. Liam McLoughin, an intern for Google’s Chrome team, recently tweeted to note that gaining root access to the search giant’s curious head-mounted display seemed simple in theory, a development that prompted Lee to go digging in the first place.

Meanwhile, Cydia founder and administrator Jay Freeman revealed on Twitter that he too had made progress in gaining access to the device, and even posted a picture to show off how far he’d managed to go. At this point we’ve already seen some companies embrace the Glass platform (Path and the New York Times immediately spring to mind) and others like Evernote are known to be crafting experiences for Glass, but some moderately powerful hardware and seemingly easy rootability could make Glass an even bigger hit for Android tinkerers.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Gadgets, Google, google glass, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, TC

The New York Times Releases Its Headline-Reading Google Glass App

April 25, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

Google’s ambitious Glass display is still a ways off from its public release, but it looks like those newly minted Glass Explorers now have something else to do besides taking first-person photos. The New York Times just pulled back the curtain on its own Glass-friendly app today, which makes it the first installable third-party app available for the ambitious headset (Path was technically the first third-party app, but it’s preloaded on early versions of the device).

It’s no surprise to see the Grey Lady embrace Glass so enthusiastically — Google developer advocate Timothy Jordan first showed off an early version of the New York Times Glass app at SXSW 2013 in Austin (you can see his full talk here), which pipes new news and headlines to the head-mounted display at regular intervals. Navigating through that stream of news seemed easy enough: a quick tilt of the head would allow the user to sift through photos and full articles, as well.

Setting up the app is a simple process — clicking on the link above asks for access to your Google account:

Once that’s all done, Glass can occasionally chime in by reading headlines in your ear, but the app is also capable of reading off brief article summaries too. All told it seems like a very neat, (if strangely intrusive way) to consume your daily dose of news, and other companies have already pledged to craft their own Glass experiences — Path and the New York Times are a given, but Evernote and supposedly even Twitter are working on apps for Google’s daring device.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Gadgets, Google, google glass, mobile, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, TC

Google Reports Mixed Q1 2013 Earnings: Revenue Up 31 Percent To $14B, Net Income Of $3.35B, Beats EPS Estimates

April 18, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

Google’s last two earnings releases were made even more notable than usual because of the unexpected events that preceded them, but today’s release of the company’s fiscal Q1 2013 financials was as almost as straightforward as it used to be.

For this past quarter, the search giant reported revenues of $14 billion (that’s up 31% from Q1 2012), non-GAAP earnings of $11.58 per share, and net income of $3.35 billion.

That means that this quarter, while mostly strong, was a mixed bag in terms of beating expectations. According to the slew of analysts polled by Bloomberg Businessweek, Google was expected to report earnings of $10.70 per share on $14.3 billion in revenues — Google handily came out ahead on earnings, but didn’t quite meet the Street’s revenue forecasts.

In the days and hours leading up to the earnings release, many a pundit implored shareholders to keep tabs on Google’s cost-per-click (simply put, the amount advertisers shell out every time a Google user clicks on an ad), with some noting that one metric would determine whether or not Google’s stock price would rebound from a week that saw its share of dips. Last time Google released its earnings, it pointed out a 6% year-over-year dip in its average cost-per-click — this time though, Google reported that average CPC dipped 4% from its position both in the year-ago quarter and back in Q4 2012. That’s not to say it’s all bad news on the ad front, as Google’s paid clicks grew some 20% year-over-year, or 3% over the last quarter.

Meanwhile, there hasn’t been much additional light shed on the Motorola Mobility which Google moved to acquire for $12.5 billion in August 2012. Back in Q4 the pricey hardware company generated $1.51 billion in revenue (accounting for about 11% of Google’s consolidated revenues), and that number has sunk from there. This time, Motorola Mobility only managed to rake in $1.02 billion in revenue, though that isn’t much of a surprise considering that it’s mobile phone output has been noticeably low these past few months.

That said, Google executive chairman did we he could to cheerlead for Motorola earlier this week when he revealed at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference that its next line of phones were “phenomenal.” Surely a little more detail wouldn’t have hurt (especially ahead of earnings time), but for now Google and Motorola’s hardware plans remain shrouded in secrecy. CFO Patrick Pichette noted in the last earnings call that Motorola Mobility still has 12 to 18 months of products in the pipeline that need to be worked through, though that revelation has done little to dampen rumors of an incoming Motorola X Phone.

As always, Google’s brass will weigh in on the company’s quarterly financials during an earnings call that will kick off at 4:30 PM Eastern/1:30 PM Pacific. Here’s hoping that everyone is feeling chatty, as this release has inspired more than a few questions.

This is a developing story, please refresh for updates.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Google, googq113, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, TC

Couldn’t Make It To SXSW? Now You Can Learn About Google Glass And The Mirror API On YouTube

April 5, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

I’d wager that most of you reading this didn’t make it out to Austin for SXSW, and even fewer of you still have ever gotten some hands-on time with Google’s ambitious Glass project. On the off chance that you’ve been spending these past few weeks agonizing over all the juicy Glass tidbits you missed out on by not being there, you can rest easy — Google has posted the full video of its 50 minute Glass session on YouTube.

The talk — titled “Building New Experiences with Glass” featured Senior Developer Advocate Timothy Jordan giving attendees (and now you) a brief rundown on what it’s actually like using Google Glass. We’ve seen these sorts of hands-on impressions in the past, but Jordan’s session managed to give attendees a clearer idea of what the Glass interface actually looks like while he’s rubbing away at the side-mounted trackpad or checking out updates from his Google+ pals.

More importantly, Jordan’s session provided those on-site developers a glimpse at what it actually takes to build services for the head-mounted display. In it, he made multiple references to how simple the development process actually was (it’s “not complex,” as he puts it), but there’s more than enough meat here to give potential Glass developers a taste of what they’re in for. In the end though, Jordan was bullish on what Glass means for how we as users interact with our gadgetry — he didn’t go as far as saying traditional touchscreens were “emasculating” like a certain other Google employee, but he pointed out that current modes of interaction tend to separate us from the events and experiences of our lives.

“It feels like tech is often getting in the way more than it needs to,” Jordan remarked. “And that’s what we’re addressing with Project Glass — it’s so that you can still have access to the technology you love, but it doesn’t take you out of the moment.”

Jordan and his employers at Google may think we’ll love Glass, but the real jury has yet to weigh in. While Google is prepping Glass for a widespread consumer release at the end of this year, it has also reached out to thousands of would-be Glass Explorers about claiming their own $1,500 tester units. So far the search giant has been exceedingly careful about who has gotten to play with its vision of the future, but that’s all about to change in short order.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Gadgets, Google, google glass, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, sxsw, TC

Questionable Entries Prompt Google To Retract Some Glass Explorer Invitations

March 27, 2013 by Chris Velazco Leave a Comment

Google made plenty of nerds happy earlier this week when it began reaching out to the 8,000 people that would have the privilege of spending $1,500 on the company’s head-mounted Glass display, but that thrill wound up being short-lived for some.

About seven hours after announcing that the outreach to would-be Glass Explorers began, the Glass team once again took to the project’s Google Plus page to admit they needed to rescind some of those invitations.

After noting that the #ifihadglass program yielded applicants from all walks of life, a representative noted that “it’s become clear that a few applications that don’t comply with our terms have slipped through the cracks” and that those applications would have to be disqualified.

It’s not clear exactly how many people ultimately got the boot from the Explorer program, but a quick Twitter search yields two viewable tweets breaking the bad news directly from the Glass account. In both of those cases the applicants (hopefully jokingly) said they would engage in some ill-advised behavior while wearing Glass — the more extreme of the two applicants said “#ifihadglass I’d cut a bitch!” which definitely flies in the face of the Explorer program’s terms and conditions. The other was mild in comparison, but still pretty pointless:

#IfIHadGlass, I'd throw it at your face. ._.
—
Le Queen. (@wutabril) February 20, 2013

Of course, there’s still the question of how those people got selected in the first place — it doesn’t seem like whoever was at the helm was being very selective in the first place. According to the terms of the Explorer program, entries were “evaluated and scored by a panel of independent content moderators” who aren’t employed by either Google or its promotional partner, a New York-based marketing firm called Anomaly. Either someone on that jury found those, erm, colorful entries funny and gave them a pass, or the jury just wasn’t paying attention at all. Either way, Google was left to deal with the aftermath publicly.

It’s also unclear how many more applications (if any) will wind up getting the boot as well. Entries like this were earnest and potentially very cool, while others who were chosen seemed to have their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks when tweeting their original applications.

[via The Next Web]