Items tagged with Google
If going by the calendar, Black Friday is about a week and a half away. The deals have already started to trickle out, and we suspect as Thursday, November 28 gets even closer in view, more bargains will make early debuts. In the meantime, companies have started previewing upcoming Black Friday discounts, including Google, which will be offering a range of gadgets on sale. One of the highlights is a $200 discount on unlocked Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL models. The slashed pricing will actually go into effect on Sunday, November 24, bringing the cost of entry down from $799 to $599 for the Pixel 4, and from $899 to $699 for the Pixel 4 XL. This presumably will apply to all three color options, those...
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Oh, the joys of marketing. Here we are just a day away from the launch of Stadia, Google's highly anticipated cloud gaming service, and we have just learned it will debut with nearly double the number of games from what was original announced. This addresses one of the points of initial criticism, and there's little doubt in my mind that the sudden uptick in day-one titles is a strategic announcement. That's to say, I have a hard time believing there was anything technical behind this announcement, which might have made possible a greater number of games suddenly being available. Not that it matters—when Stadia launches tomorrow, it will have 22 games available to play, 10 more than previously...
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Flagship smartphones have nudged themselves into four-digit pricing territory, with some of the top models commanding a grand, or more. Fortunately, you don't have to go nuts spending a premium on a high-end smartphone to get a capable handset. Google's Pixel 3a is a mid-range phone with plenty of spunk, and it's on sale right. You can find Google's Pixel 3a for $299.00 on Amazon with free shipping. That's 25 percent (save $100) below its list price. It's a fantastic deal, and might just be the bargain to beat in the smartphone category once the wave of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals arrive later this month (we'll be keeping an eye out for bargains, so be sure check back often). The Pixel...
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The most flexible controller option for Google's upcoming Stadia cloud gaming service is the company's own Stadia Controller, which is available in Clearly White, Just Black, and Wasabit color options (each one is priced at $69). As Stadia's launch day fast approaches, Google has posted a comprehensive guide on how to use the controller. Google also posted a guide on setting up the Stadia Controller. To do that, you need to have the Stadia app installed on your mobile device. The app uses Location access, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth to find and configure the controller, and if any of those are turned off when setting it up, you will be asked to turn them on. How To Set Up Google's Stadia Controller...
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According to a new report that was published today, there are some big concerns surrounding Google's efforts to further expand its reach into the healthcare sector. The report, which comes to us via The Washington Post, says that Google was on the verge of making over 100,000 chest X-rays of patients public before having to back down over serious privacy concerns. Back in 2017, Google partnered with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to analyze 112,000 chest X-rays from over 30,000 patients. According to the Post, many of these patients were afflicted with some form of lung disease. Google's aim was to host these images publicly, then use TensorFlow machine learning to identify...
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After beta testing an experimental feature in Chrome for several months without any major issues, Google decided to flip the switch in its main Stable release, and chaos ensued for hundreds of organizations and thousands of machines. Apparently the experimental feature was not quite ready for prime time, as IT admins suddenly had to contend with a mysteriously broken browser. For those affected, it was not immediately clear what exactly caused all the ruckus. All they really knew was that tabs were suddenly crashing and showing up as blank. This is referred to as a white screen of death (WSOD) error. The issue manifested itself on Chrome browsers running on Windows Server terminal setups and...
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Google has announced that it has begun the rollout of its new SMS text messaging app with features powered by RCS (Rich Communication Services). Google says that some people had the chat features in their Android Messaging already, but the rollout is now going to everyone in the States. The traditional SMS text messaging features that Google has offered to Android users are getting new chat features, including the ability to chat over WiFi or using mobile data. Users will be able to send and receive high-resolution photos and videos, and see if people have received your latest messages. Google says that the update brings better group chats with the ability to name groups and add or remove people...
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Google's ambitious cloud gaming platform called Stadia is only a few days away from launching to the public, and there are still many questions that have yet to be answered. That said, Google did answer some of them during an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit yesterday. One of them was in regards to which controllers will work with Stadia. Following the AMA session, Google updated its support pages to list exactly which controllers will (and will not) work with Stadia. Sony's DualShock 4 is one of them, as is Microsoft's Xbox One controller, both of which support USB and Bluetooth connectivity with Stadia on the desktop and through Pixel devices. Here's a look at the official list... Source:...
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Google is set to make a big push in the consumer banking market with a project code-named Cache. The project will see the search giant offer checking accounts to consumers in the U.S. in conjunction with Citigroup and the Stanford Federal Credit Union. A Google spokesman says that the search giant is exploring how to partner with banks and credit unions in the States. The smart checking accounts would be offered via Google Pay, and customers at the partner banks would be able to benefit from useful checking insights and budgeting tools. By partnering with the banks, the account holders would be able to keep their money in an FDIC or NCUA-insured account. The Google spokesman noted that the company...
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If you're a school that makes use of Chromebooks in the classroom instead of iPads, Apple's Phil Schiller would like a word with you. Apple's iPad were once the "darling" of classrooms around the United States as kids could use the tablets for interactive lessons and as digital textbooks. However, in recent years, Chromebooks have begun to flood classrooms due to their cheaper pricing and built-in keyboard/touchpad threatening Apple’s long stronghold on the education market. With Chromebooks being the go-to choice for many school districts, Schiller slammed the initiative as not being beneficial to students or their learning. In an interview with CNET that focused primarily on...
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If you are still rocking a Nexus 6P handset, good news, the shutdown issues some users had complained about are now officially fixed. A Google engineer says so, having finally marked the related issue tracker as "fixed" a little over four years after the phone launched. Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL owners who may be experiencing similar problems, on the other hand, are not so lucky. It is a bit of a curious situation. The Nexus 6P, while a fantastic phone in its day (see our review for a refresher), is somewhat underwhelming by today's standards, at least in terms of cutting edge hardware and features. That tends to happen when a phone turns four years old. The Nexus 6P was also not with its issues....
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ASUS and Google have partnered on a mini PC project. The two companies are collaborating on Tinker Board single board computers (SBCs), which like the Raspberry Pi are credit card sized systems that can be used for a variety of projects. What makes this partnership somewhat unique, however, is the focus on edge AI computing. There are two "Tinker Edge" models—Tinker Edge T and Tinker Edge R. The Tinker Edge T (shown above) pairs an NXP i.MX8M ARM processor with an Edge TPU to accelerate local inference workloads using TensorFlow Lite. It also features a USB Type-C port, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, a GbE LAN port, and an HDMI port. ASUS Tinker Board R The Tinker Board R, meanwhile, is powered...
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Google Stadia will launch soon, and ahead of that launch, we have the full game lineup that gamers can enjoy. There are 12 titles, and all except one are titles that you can get on other platforms already. The single exclusive game is an indie title called Gylt from developer Tequila Works. The upside is that all 12 of the games will be free to play for all Stadia Pro subscribers, which includes everyone at launch. All other titles that come to the Stadia service will be available for purchase. There are some cool games available for players at launch; the full launch list is below: Assassin's Creed Odyssey Destiny 2: The Collection Gylt Just Dance 2020 Kine Mortal Kombat 11 Red Dead Redemption...
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Google has long been fascinated with the healthcare industry, and in a move that some may find unsettling, it has been mining patient data in collaboration with Ascension, a non-profit Catholic healthcare organization with more than 2,600 hospitals and facilities. Naturally, Google and Ascension are pitching this joint effort as a good thing, one that will help the latter "optimize the health and wellness of individuals and communities." "As the healthcare environment continues to rapidly evolve, we must transform to better meet the needs and expectations of those we serve as well as our own caregivers and healthcare providers. Doing that will require the programmatic integration of new care...
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