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Google Ditches Motorola
 Google Ditches Motorola 
Jan 30, 2014 7:54 AM CST

Google Ditches Motorola

Smartphone unit sold to Lenovo for $2.91B

(Newser) - Google is selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 billion, the companies announced yesterday, ending what Bloomberg/Businessweek is calling "a rare misadventure" for the big G. Google will retain the "vast majority" of Motorola's patents—which were cited as a major reason for the acquisition in...

US, Internet Giants Cut Deal on Data Disclosure

Companies can say how often they give up your information

(Newser) - The government and leading Internet companies today announced a compromise that will allow those companies to reveal more information about how often they are ordered to turn over customer information to the government in national security investigations. The Justice Department reached agreements with Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, and LinkedIn that...

Google Unveils &#39;Smart Contact Lens&#39; for Diabetics
 Google Making Contact Lenses 
Jan 17, 2014 4:21 AM CST

Google Making Contact Lenses

Tiny chip, sensor can monitor diabetics' glucose level in tears

(Newser) - After an acquisition that brings it deep into people's homes , Google is getting up close and personal with people's bodies. The latest project from the firm's secretive Google X facility is a "smart" contact lens that monitors the glucose levels of diabetics with a tiny wireless...

Great, Google Is Taking Over Our Homes, Too
Great, Google Is Taking Over Our Homes, Too
OPINION
Jan 15, 2014 1:46 PM CST

Great, Google Is Taking Over Our Homes, Too

Acquisition of Nest is more like an 'annexation,' writes Dan Hon

(Newser) - So Google just dropped $3.2 billion to acquire Nest , a maker of "smart" home thermostats and smoke alarms. Another ho-hum business acquisition? Far from it, writes Dan Hon at Wired . In fact, don't think of it as an acquisition, he suggests. Think "annexation." As in,...

Google Drops $3.2B on 'Smart Thermostat' Maker

Firm pays $3.2B for Nest

(Newser) - The Google empire is extending its reach into the heart of people's homes with its acquisition of Nest, a maker of Internet-connected fire alarms and thermostats. Google, which coughed up $3.2 billion in cash for the start-up, says Nest will continue to operate independently, though co-founder Matt Rogers...

$500K? Not Enough to Woo Google Programmer

Startup founder's offer comes up about $2.5M short

(Newser) - Business Insider has a tale from Silicon Valley that might be educational for tech entrepreneurs looking to build a staff or college freshmen trying to figure out a major: The founder of a successful startup wooed a Google programmer with a seemingly generous salary offer of $500,000, only...

Google to Let 'Plus' Users Contact Any Gmail User

You could get email from someone who doesn't have your address

(Newser) - Watch out, Gmail users: You may soon see messages in your inbox from people you don't know. Google is rolling out a feature over the next few days that will allow any Google+ user to send an email to any Gmail user who is also on Google+, even if...

Google Robot Wins Pentagon Competition

Completes Fukushima-inspired obstacle course

(Newser) - One of Google's recent robotics acquisitions cruised to victory in a Pentagon obstacle course meant to simulate a robot rescue. The Schaft robot, by a Japanese firm Google recently bought, was the top scorer in the eight-task event, held Friday and Saturday, the BBC reports. Coming in second was...

12 Key Tech Products of the Past 2 Decades

Walt Mossberg lists most important devices, software

(Newser) - Walt Mossberg has been reviewing consumer technology for the Wall Street Journal for 22 years, and now he's signing off—but not before reflecting on the most important gadgets and software in his time with the paper. And a very fruitful period it has been. A timeline of the...

Google's Latest Buy: Military Robot Firm

Boston Dynamics contraption is world's fastest robot runner

(Newser) - Google has purchased its eighth robotics company of the year, and its latest acquisition makes the fastest-running robot on the planet. Boston Dynamics, inventor of the Cheetah, gets US military funding to make mobile robots, the BBC reports. Along with the Cheetah—which can run 29mph—company projects include BigDog,...

Government Ruined My Life Over Auto-Complete: Suit

Man alleges that inadvertent search led to death threats, harassment

(Newser) - Jeffrey Kantor says the federal government mercilessly harassed him and got him fired over an accidental Google search. In a lawsuit spotted by Courthouse News , the Virginia man explains that he was trying to search for "How do I build a radio-controlled airplane?" But when he got as far...

Government Gave Google Execs Deal on Jet Fuel

But report from NASA's IG says it was an accident

(Newser) - Private jet fuel is expensive, people. Luckily, Google's top execs were able to get a nice fat discount on it—via Uncle Sam. The latest government oops amounts to an unintentional $3.3 million to $5.3 million in savings over six years, per a new review by NASA'...

NSA Tracking Tool: Google Cookies

Spies exploited advertising tools

(Newser) - The latest revelations about NSA snooping will probably have some online privacy advocates itching to say "I told you so." The agency has "piggybacked" on the tools that advertisers use to track consumers, using cookies to single out targets for hacking, reports the Washington Post . A Google-specific...

Tech Rivals Unite to Nag World About Spying

Google, Microsoft lead charge

(Newser) - What's big enough to bring together such competitors as Google and Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple, Facebook and Twitter, plus AOL and LinkedIn for good measure? The NSA spying drama. Those companies are publicly asking the world's governments to limit such spying, and have detailed their ideas on a...

Hackers Post 2M Facebook, Google, Yahoo Passwords

Most common one? '123456'

(Newser) - Some 2 million user credentials for Facebook and other top services have appeared on a Russian-language website, likely thanks to malware installed on users' computers, experts tell the BBC . They believe a crime ring was probably behind the dump, which claimed to include 318,121 Facebook usernames and passwords, along...

Google's Next Big Investment: Robots

Company turns to Android guru Andy Rubin

(Newser) - Amazon isn't the only big Internet firm in the robotics game : Google is at work on some literal androids. As part of the effort, it has quietly bought up seven US and Japanese tech companies in the past half-year, the New York Times reports. The company is hoping to...

Google: We'll Remove Image of Murdered Teen From Maps

It's a rare move from tech giant

(Newser) - Kevin Barrera, 14, was murdered four years ago—and his family just discovered Friday that his body can be viewed on Google Maps. Barrera was shot on a footpath crossing railroad tracks in Northern California; the crime remains unsolved. A Google Maps satellite image of the murder scene shows a...

Pedos Who Google Kid Porn Now Get Warnings, Not Pics

Google, Microsoft partner to target 100K search terms

(Newser) - Google and Microsoft are working closely together to make it harder for pedophiles to find images of child abuse online. Google says it has targeted 100,000 search terms associated with child sexual abuse and the terms will now deliver warnings instead of illegal results, the BBC reports. Over the...

Court: Sorry Authors, Google Can Scan Your Books

Snippets fall under fair use, court decides

(Newser) - Google has prevailed in a much-watched lawsuit filed by the Authors Guild, which argued that the search giant had violated writers' copyrights by scanning their books into its database without asking permission. US Circuit Judge Denny Chin agreed with Google's argument that its scans were covered under fair use,...

Apple Maps: Less of a Disaster Than You Think

Has taken 23 million users from Google, despite problems

(Newser) - Remember when Apple launched its own maps app on the iPhone and iPad, a program so error-ridden the CEO apologized , the project leader was fired , it became the butt of jokes for months, and everyone celebrated when Google finally relaunched its much-loved maps app? Turns out, it hasn't been...

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