Hasta La Gadget!

Well, it looks like the spectre of Buzz will be looming large over Google for some time to come — the company has just reached an agreement with the FTC that will see it receive independent privacy audits every two years for the next twenty years following a ruling that found Google violated its own privacy policy with the service. In a blog post today, Google also says that it will now “ask users to give us affirmative consent” before it makes any changes in how it shares their personal information, and it adds that it would like to “apologize again for the mistakes we made with Buzz.” As for the FTC, chairman Jon Leibowitz describes the settlement as a “tough” one, and says simply that “when companies make privacy pledges, they need to honor them.”

Google to receive regular privacy audits following FTC ruling on Buzz originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like not even mighty Google itself is able to resist the charms of a bit of widespread internet shorthand. +1, whether used to uprank an Engadget comment or in freehand writing to signify one’s support / approval of something, is making its way into Google search results. You’ll soon be able to throw a single thumb up on links or ads you find useful, which will then be used to inform your buddies about the value of that site. Recommendations are filtered using a typically complex algorithm intended to make them as relevant as possible, with people within your social circle (i.e. Gtalk buddies and Gmail contacts) getting a higher priority. The new +1 button will start off with English Google search and ads soon, to be followed by more products in Google’s portfolio and potentially more social linkups, such as via Twitter. The usual explanatory video follows after the break.

Continue reading Google adding a +1 button to search results, hopes you Like it

Google adding a +1 button to search results, hopes you Like it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The vagabonds of Google’s Street View team have struck again, this time conquering classical French and Italian landmarks for their mothership’s immense pictorial collection. As of today, you’re able to drop your little yellow avatar in Google Maps right atop such famous locales as the Colosseum of Rome or Florence’s Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, whereupon you’ll be transported right to it (or, in the case of the Colosseum, inside it) in the same way as if they were any old street addresses. This follows, of course, Google’s introduction of an intriguing indoor version of Street View for some of the world’s most prestigious museums recently and continues the company’s trend of bringing the arts, in this case classical architecture, to a wider audience. We just wonder what reason said audience will have to ever step outside with all this splendor at its fingertips indoors.

Google Street View invades historic landmarks, makes it unnecessary for you to ever leave the house originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google's flagship NFC phone, the Nexus S.

Google wants to do away with your wallet.

The Mountain View, California, company is working on a partnership with credit industry giants MasterCard and Citigroup that would allow you to make real-world purchases at stores using your smartphone, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

If the partnership materializes, buying groceries may require little more than a wave of your smartphone across an installed card reader at the checkout counter.

The partnership would allow for cardholders to pay for retail items after activating an app on Android NFC-enabled smartphones. The phones could then be swiped liked credit cards across card readers enabled with near field communication, or NFC, at participating retailers.

As Wired’s Epicenter blog reported earlier Monday morning, Google will begin testing the mobile payments service in key markets — New York and San Francisco — within the next four months. Other test markets include Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington D.C., according to a report from Bloomberg.

Google would pay for the installation of thousands of NFC terminals in the major cities. The terminals will be built by VeriFone Systems, a manufacturer of point-of-sale electronic payment technologies.

As with many other Google experiments, the push into mobile payments would serve as a loss-leader for the company’s advertising business, sources told the Journal.

Google would be able to offer retailers more data about customers and purchasing habits, while tailoring its ad targeting and promotional offerings to smartphone users. The company isn’t expected to take a cut of the transactions.

The mobile payments initiative faces some challenges. Currently, only one NFC-enabled smartphone is on the market — Google’s Nexus S (above). Samsung’s successor to its popular Galaxy S smartphone, the Galaxy S II, boasts NFC capability, but isn’t slated for release until the summer of 2011.

Also, it’s been difficult to imagine a major disruption of a massive industry like that of the credit industry that’s already established. One big reason: companies like Visa rely on trunks — shared lines that provide network access to a series of endpoints rather than providing them individually — and leased lines to provide retailers with reliable credit card terminal service.

One attractive option to companies like Google and other mobile-payment startups would be to cut out the credit card companies completely. Instead of using the card companies’ private networks, mobile payment could be made over a given smartphone carrier network.

But any attempt to circumvent the credit card companies’ private networks over 3G or 4G access runs into the problem of network reliability. A wealth of frustrated customers unable to pay for a meal because of spotty network service is less than ideal for any mobile-payment initiative.

That’s most likely the reason why Google is teaming up with the major credit card companies, instead of trying to bypass them. And Google isn’t alone in doing so. Joint mobile payment venture ISIS — which finds AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile partnering up with Discover Financial Services — is Google’s main competition in the mobile payments arena. ISIS is reported to begin testing its payments network this year, according to Bloomberg.

Google did not respond to our requests for comment.

See Also:

• Report: Google to Test Mobile Payments This Spring in NY, SF …
• Visa Seeks to Extend Retail Dominance With Pay-With-iPhone Service …
• Paying by Phone Slowly Coming to the U.S.
• Will the iPhone Become Your iWallet?
• Why Your Phone Can’t Really Replace Your Credit Card

Korean electronics manufacturer LG may be working on a Google-branded "Nexus" tablet.

Google is preparing its own hardware entry into the Android tablet market in collaboration with device manufacturer LG, according to a report circulating Monday morning.

The device will be an LG-made “Nexus” tablet, Google’s signature product name for its collaborations with independent hardware manufacturers, the report says.

The tablet could be complete by mid-summer to early autumn, according to speculation from tech site Mobile Review. The site did not disclose any further details or hardware specifications on the speculated device. One caveat: the LG-produced device could just be a prototype used internally by Google for development, as noted by The Boy Genius Report.

Google did not respond to our request for comment on the matter.

If a Google-branded tablet hits market, this wouldn’t be Google’s first entry into branding devices from outside manufacturers. Google’s previous Nexus devices include the HTC-manufactured Nexus One smartphone, which was widely regarded as a failure after lackluster sales and a lukewarm reception from the general public. The Samsung-produced Nexus S followed in late 2010, a phone that garnered much hype upon its initial release, but has been passed over by the myriad 2011 smartphone releases, which boast beefier hardware profiles and heftier ad campaigns.

A Google-branded Nexus tablet may have a better chance at success than its smartphone Nexus predecessors, however. Among other reasons, the Nexus One’s difficulties lay in AT&T’s and Verizon’s unwillingness to subsidize the handset — only T-Mobile (the carrier in last place in the U.S. in terms of adoption) backed the release.

While carrier subsidies can help sales, a new tablet’s popularity isn’t necessarily contingent on whether or not the major carriers are willing to play ball. Wi-Fi only versions of tablets like Apple’s iPad and the Motorola Xoom are sold at significantly lower prices than their 3G network-enabled counterparts, which means more potential sales without the headache of carrier choosing for customers.

But any new entry into the already crowded tablet market must take into account other factors, including a healthy media ecosystem and competitive pricing. Currently, the Android Market hosts over 200,000 apps for download, with many more available on independent, unofficial markets. Apple’s app store is home to double that amount at over 400,000. Recent improvements to Android’s payment system such as the launch of its web-based Android Market in February, however, could give Google more traction in developing its app environment.

LG is already producing its own Android-based tablet in collaboration with Google, the brevity-lacking “T-Mobile G-Slate with Google by LG.” The G-Slate will run Android version 3.0 (Honeycomb), and will be capable of playing and recording 3D and full HD video content.

See Also:

• LG Promises Two New Android Phones, Tablet
• LG’s Glasses-Free 3-D Phone is Pretty Impressive
• Gingerbread