According to Bloomberg sources, Google is looking to throw in a $ 1 billion bid for Waze, possibly portending a bidding war between the search giant and Facebook, which is also rumored to be eyeing an acquisition of the social mapping service.
Yesterday TUAW showed you how voice search on Chrome for Mac has improved, now providing eerily Siri-like functionality in Google Search. According to a post yesterday on the Google Chrome Blog, the next target for voice search is iOS — and we should see the update in just a few days.
The update won’t require users to point Chrome at the Google home page. Instead, whenever you tap on the omnibox (the combination address/search field), a microphone appears. Tap it, speak your search query, and your results appear in a flash. As with the Chrome for Mac update yesterday, some of the results come back in the form of both a screenful of information and a spoken response.
The Googlers say that the update will also enable “faster reloading of web pages by using the cache more efficiently when the network is slow,” perfect for when you’re using Chrome on the road. Other iOS apps will also be able to give you the option to open links in Chrome and then return to the app with one tap.
We’ll update this post as soon as the update is available.
Popular as Apple’s iOS mobile platform is, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There’s also Google’s Android—a widely used mobile OS in its own right. Last week, Google held its I/O developers conference in San Francisco. And more than a few announcements coming out of that event should be of interest to iOS device owners—for how it may or may not influence what Apple does with its own mobile platform, if nothing else.
I’m joined by senior editor Dan Moren and senior writer Lex Friedman to talk Google I/O. Specifically, we look at where Android is playing catch-up to iOS and where Apple is lagging behind what Google has to offer. (Here’s a hint: It rhymes with “maps.”) We also briefly discuss subscription music services, like the one Google just unveiled as well as Google CEO Larry Page’s unusual Q&A session.
We recently asked if Apple’s ongoing legal battles with Samsung were worth the effort for the computer giant. As if to answer our question, this week Apple amended their infringement claims with a new motion filed in the second California patent case targeting five patents that the Galaxy S 4 infringes on. But the motion contained a new component; the targeting of Google Now’s search app.
Foss Patents has a thorough run down of Apple’s claims, including the specific five patents Apple says Samsung is in violation of. The main point of contention that the Android Quick Search Box and Google Now infringe upon several of their patients covering their own voice search program Siri.
In a footnote found in their motion Apple sums up their claim thusly:
Apple determined that the Galaxy S 4 product practices many of the same claims already asserted by Apple, and that the Galaxy S 4 practices those claims in the same way as the already-accused Samsung devices.”
It will be interesting to see how the courts rule on this motion. Head over to Foss Patents to read the complete motion and find an explanation of the patents Apple says are currently being violated. We will keep you updated as this case continues to develop.
With Google Reader fading into the sunset in July more and more users are looking to replace its functionality. Zite for iOS (free) has some solutions that should please many news hounds. The app was originally born out of a desire to replace Google Reader with something that learned your interests and had a more compelling display. In a new release, released today, Zite is trying to go further to embrace what’s good in Google Reader and add some bells and whistles.
First, Zite has increased the prominence of sources. Those sources now appear in a topic drawer after you mark an article that you like. Another welcome feature is that articles grey out ofter you read them. One of the best additions is the ability to highlight sources that are obscure. Google Reader always had a bit of a signal to noise problem because the volume of feeds could overwhelm some of the smaller sources. Zite fixes that and will aggressively display more obscure content that you like.
Zite has also made setting up the app easier for new users. There are on-screen guides and built-in tips that explains how Zite works and what you can expect.
There are some subtle interface changes as well this time around, and some new sponsored sources have been added.
I’ve found Zite a frequent and preferred stop for my news browsing on iOS. What I’d really like to see is a Mac app that gets me the same content so I’m covered on my desktop and laptop. I’m told this is under consideration and I hope to see it sooner rather than later.
Zite is a universal app and requires iOS 6 or later.
Last week Apple told the U.S. District Court in California that it planned to add the Samsung Galaxy S4 to its patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung. As promised, Apple today filed a motion (via Foss Patents) that details five different patents that the S4 allegedly infringes on.
The filing includes two Siri-related patents violated by Google Now, Google’s robust voice activated search assistant. Patents ’604 and ’959 cover a “universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.”
The other three patents in the filing cover a “graphical user interface using historical lists with field classes (’502),” a “system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data (‘647).” and “asynchronous data synchronization amongst devices (‘414).” According to Apple, these are all claims that other Samsung devices already violate.
Apple determined that the Galaxy S4 product practices many of the same claims already asserted by Apple, and that the Galaxy S4 practices those claims in the same way as the already-accused Samsung devices.
Samsung and Apple were ordered to narrow the scope of their ongoing legal battle earlier this year and as a result, Apple has stated that it will remove one of the other 22 infringing devices from the lawsuit if it is permitted to add the Galaxy S4.
There will be a hearing to discuss Apple’s newly filed motion on June 25 in San Jose and the lawsuit, which covers newly released devices that were not a part of the original dispute, is expected to go to trial in March of 2014.
Last week Apple told the U.S. District Court in California that it planned to add the Samsung Galaxy S4 to its patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung. As promised, Apple today filed a motion (via Foss Patents) that details five different patents that the S4 allegedly infringes on.
The filing includes two Siri-related patents violated by Google Now, Google’s robust voice activated search assistant. Patents ’604 and ’959 cover a “universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.”
The other three patents in the filing cover a “graphical user interface using historical lists with field classes (’502),” a “system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data (‘647).” and “asynchronous data synchronization amongst devices (‘414).” According to Apple, these are all claims that other Samsung devices already violate.
Apple determined that the Galaxy S4 product practices many of the same claims already asserted by Apple, and that the Galaxy S4 practices those claims in the same way as the already-accused Samsung devices.
Samsung and Apple were ordered to narrow the scope of their ongoing legal battle earlier this year and as a result, Apple has stated that it will remove one of the other 22 infringing devices from the lawsuit if it is permitted to add the Galaxy S4.
There will be a hearing to discuss Apple’s newly filed motion on June 25 in San Jose and the lawsuit, which covers newly released devices that were not a part of the original dispute, is expected to go to trial in March of 2014.
In its ongoing litigation against Samsung, Apple has added five new patents to its claims, targeting both the company’s new flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone, as well as the Google Now service for Android.
Those of us who use Google’s Chrome browser for OS X are familiar with how Chrome web apps can be installed and launched from within the browser. Now it appears that Google is working on a way to bring those Chrome apps even closer to the heart of your Mac by creating a Chrome apps launcher for OS X.
After performing that magic, launch Chromium and click its Dock icon to display a grid of your Chrome apps, ready to launch (see image above). Put this on your MacBook Air and it’s almost like having a Chromebook! Note that this software is not quite ready for prime time, but for Chrome fans it may be worth the effort to give it a try.
This week’s Google I/O saw no announcements of any new versions of the company’s mobile operating system, Android, and that may be because the team that is building the system is working to address the platform’s biggest problem: fragmentation.
Last week Apple told the U.S. District Court in California that it planned to add the Samsung Galaxy S4 to its patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung. As 
