Google today announced the Project Tango development kit — an Android tablet with some unique sensors and features — for a whopping $1024. The tablet is out and out made for developers as evident from the bunch of sensors it packs including motion-tracking cameras, depth sensors, a 120-degree wide-angle front-facing camera and more.
Google is rolling out a new YouTube update that will finally allow Android users to pick playback quality. It’s a feature iOS users have been enjoying since the official YouTube app arrived in the App Store — but until now, those on Android could only choose between standard- and high-definition streams.
One year on from the Edward Snowden NSA leaks, a group backed by tech companies including Google and Apple, called Reform Government Surveillance, is publishing a letter demanding that the Senate strengthen its NSA reform bill as recently passed through the House.
In addition to Google and Apple, CEOs who signed the letter include the heads of AOL, Dropbox, Yahoo, Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook and LinkedIn. The letter, which will be published tomorrow, notes that the upper chamber of Congress has the “opportunity to demonstrate leadership and pass a version of the USA Freedom Act that would help restore the confidence of Internet users.”
Google is in the midst of pushing out a much-anticipated compatibility update for it’s official Hangouts application via the Google Play Store. In terms of added functionality, this upgrade brings support for ‘hidden contacts’ and new notification settings, in addition to a handful of bug fixes, stability improvements and speed optimizations.
With iOS 8, Apple is bringing a multitude of exciting new features to iPhone and iPad. In some cases, Cupertino is playing catch-up as it tries to match what’s currently available in KitKat; in others, Apple’s next-generation mobile operating system is about to blast past the latest version of Android.
Android and iOS will secure a staggering 95 percent of smartphone market share between them in 2014, according to the latest research from IDC. While it’s strictly a two-horse race, Google’s platform is currently far out in front when it comes to number of users, with Android’s market share expected to reach 80.2 percent by the end of the year.
Google has a new Android update up its sleeve that will be announced this summer, but while Apple posts impressive upgrade percentages, Android fragmentation typically slows deployment of Google’s latest, greatest mobile OS.
