Make the most of the last weeks of summer

A couple of weeks ago, I took a summer trip with friends. I found myself using plenty of Google tools while we were on vacation: from finding the best flight there and a last-minute hostel reservation, to discovering hidden gems in each city we visited, even I was surprised by how much Google made everything easier and smoother.

With that inspiration, we’ve created a one stop shop at g.co/summer with tips to help you also make the most of these last few weeks of summer.

Here are a few tips you might find useful too:

• The Google Search app was always handy, and I used voice search to ask simple questions like “Show me things to do in Split, Croatia” or for more pressing needs like “Translate ‘Where can I find a local beer?’ in Croatian.”
• Google+ Auto Backup gave me peace of mind that I wouldn’t lose my photos and memories, even if I lost my phone. Plus, I was able to share albums right from my phone with my family back home.
• My travel buddies were grateful for my Google Play All Access playlists, which kept us dancing the whole trip.

Meanwhile, my mom back home in New York found some great local activities and museum exhibits, like the MOMA Rain Room, using Google Now in her Google Search app. She even tried some Google+ MakerCamp classes, which inspired her to create her own DIY projects at home.

Post about your summer using hashtag #SummerTimes, and see what other folks are up to.

Happy summer!

Posted by Liz Wessel, Marketing Manager and Summer Traveler

Starbucks’ WiFi goes Google

Coffee shop + Internet—it’s a pairing that many of us have come to rely on. WiFi access makes work time, downtime, travel time and lots of in-between times more enjoyable and productive. That’s why we’re teaming up with Starbucks to bring faster, free WiFi connections to all 7,000 company-operated Starbucks stores in the United States over the next 18 months. When your local Starbucks WiFi network goes Google, you’ll be able to surf the web at speeds up to 10x faster than before. If you’re in a Google Fiber city, we’re hoping to get you a connection that’s up to 100x faster.

Google has long invested in helping the Internet grow stronger, including projects to make Internet access speedier, more affordable, and more widely available. The free Internet connection at Starbucks has become an important part of many communities over the years, such as in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, or for students without Internet at home who do their homework at Starbucks.

We’ll start rolling out the new networks this August. We appreciate your patience if it’s still a little while before we get to your favorite Starbucks—you’ll know your new network is ready to go when you can log in to the “Google Starbucks” SSID.

Posted by Kevin Lo, General Manager, Google Access

Lazy Bear from Overclock.net builds a stunning custom PC, check it out!

I often come across guys on forums building custom PCs and it always impresses me to see such great dedication to their hobby to spend countless hours (and $) planning and building works of art to say the least.

Here is another wonderful example of a custom watercooled PC built by an Overclock.net member Lazy Bear called “Project Green”. He’s sporting what looks to be the GIGABYTE Assassin2 motherboard in a sea of green. I love it!

Source

Full screen option in the new Gmail compose experience

A full screen option has now been enabled in the new Gmail compose experience for Rapid release domains. Scheduled release domains will have this feature on August 6th, 2013. To try it out:

1. Click Compose.
2. Click the double-arrow icon at the top right of the compose window.
3. Enjoy a larger composition mode that displays all of the formatting options by default.

If you want to make this option your default view, click into the options menu at the bottom right corner of compose and choose “Default to full-screen.” The next time you click Compose, you’ll be sent to this mode. Both types of compose can be minimized by clicking the black bar at the top.

Editions included: 
Google Apps for Business, Education, and Government

For more information:
https://plus.google.com/+Gmail/posts/8mDFJMRrSTy

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Google's New Navigation Interface in a Google+ Screenshot

Remember the new navigation interface tested by Google a few months ago? It replaces the black bar with a new menu similar to Chrome's app launcher.

A screenshot from a Google+ "learn more" page shows a new Google+ interface that uses the app launcher, an updated share button and a new search box without a search button. The screenshot shows the old Google+ notification button, not the Mr. Jingles bell.

{ via Google Plus Daily, spotted by Gabriel Komarnicki. }

Google Maps Views

There's a new community site for Google Maps and it's called Views. It's a place where you can upload panoramic images created using the Photo Sphere feature, which is limited to Android 4.2 and Nexus devices.

"The photo sphere camera mode on your Android phone makes it easy to capture a series of photos and automatically turn them into a seamless 360º experience. You can also turn your DSLR camera panoramas into photo spheres," explains Google. This page has more information about the photo sphere mode and about creating panoramic images manually.

Google Maps Views has a camera button that lets you add photos from Google+. You can also use Android's share feature and share a photo from the gallery with Google Maps, so that it's quickly uploaded. Google creates a page like this one with all your photo spheres.

Google Maps Views showcases popular photo spheres and some special Street View collections, including landmarks (Eiffel Tower), natural wonders (Grand Canyon), museums, arenas, restaurants and small businesses. You can also use the search box and find a list of popular photos and top photographers for that location.

Photos spheres don't replace Street View, they only complement Street View with a fun, fresh and personal perspective that captures the the world around you.

Win a AMD FX-9590 gaming featuring the GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD7

Of all the high-end rigs you could ever possibly dream of winning, this one must surely have your saliva glands pulsing. AMD has partnered with the Gaming Tribe and Luminosity to give away an AMD 9590-based Battlefield 4 gaming rig from MAINGEAR.

OF course this is a super high-end rig and as such features our top-o-the-line AM3+ motherboard, the GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD7. Of course the other major spec is the 5GHz AMD-FX 9590 Bulldozer CPU from AMD, but hell, check the rest of the rig… our UD7 board is gonna feel quite at home.

Components

• Chassis: Corsair Obsidian Series 900D Super Tower (Black)
• Processor: AMD FX-9590 Eight-Core Black Edition 5.0GHz Turbo Unlocked
• Liquid Cooling: Hydro Series H100i Extreme Performance CPU Cooler
• Graphics Cards: Two (2) PowerColor Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI
• Express 3.0 x16 HDCP in CrossFireX
• Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD7 AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
• Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz
• Power Supply: Corsair AX1200i Digital ATX 1200 Watt 80 PLUS Platinum PSU
• Drive 1: Corsair Neutron Series GTX 240GB SATA 3 6Gb/s SSD
• Drive 2: WD Velociraptor WD1000DHTZ 1TB 10,000 RPM 64MB Cache HDD
• External Drive: Corsair Voyager Air 1TB Wireless Mobile Storage
• Optical Drive: 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD-R/RW + CD-R/RW Drive
• OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

Peripherals

• Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K95 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (Cherry Red)
• Mouse: Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser FPS Gaming Mouse
• Mat: Corsair Vengeance MM200 Gaming Mouse Mat
• Headset: Corsair Vengeance 2000 Wireless 7.1 Gaming Headset

MSRP: $4,500

Check out details about how to win this beast of beasts here.

More info on the 9990FXA-UD7 board.

Keyboard Shortcut for Google Voice Search

If you use Chrome, you've probably noticed the small microphone icon from Google's search box. It lets you search Google using your voice and it's now just as good as the voice search feature from Google's mobile apps.

There's even a keyboard shortcut for this feature: Ctrl+Shift+. (or ⌘-Shift-. for Mac). Yes, that's a dot, full stop or period.

"Say your question and hear an answer back on your desktop Chrome browser. All you will need is a built-in or attached microphone. Also, be sure to have the volume up on your computer to hear your answer loud and clear. Please note Voice Search with spoken answers back is available for US English only," informs Google.

"Open the Chrome browser and go to http://www.google.com/. You'll see a small gray microphone on the right-hand side of the search box. Click the microphone or press Ctrl+Shift+Period (Mac: ⌘-Shift-Period) with your cursor in the search box to start voice search. When the large red microphone icon appears, begin speaking. You can press ESC or click the red button to cancel. As you speak, Google will interpret your voice input. Afterwards, your results show up just as if you had typed the search term," mentions a help center article.

{ via Mike Downes }

Blunty3000 shows off goodies at GIGABYTE PAXAU booth on YouTube

You guys should check out this awesome video from PAX Australia with GIGABYTE booth having all sorts of crazy things going on including a liquid nitrogen show, watercooled gaming rigs and a lot of awesome gaming laptops about to be released. The liquid nitrogen rig got some sweet camera work but I loved the dramatic introduction to this video, hahah. It’s awesome!

A new Zagat for finding the very best places

Today we’re launching a new Zagat website and mobile app for Android and iPhone that puts the very best restaurants and nightspots right at your fingertips. And for the first time, our trusted Zagat ratings and reviews are available for free with no registration required.

The new Zagat features the latest news and video content from our expert local editors, curated lists (think “10 Hidden Restaurant Gardens Around DC”), powerful search and map-based browsing to help you find the local gems.

These days, the challenge in deciding where to go is not about about a lack of information or user reviews, but finding accurate information and trusted opinions so you can quickly make informed decisions. Through our digital products—and the Google products you use every day like the new Google Maps for Mobile—you can rely on Zagat’s curated lists and summary reviews to cut through the clutter so you can find the perfect spot.



The new Zagat covers restaurants and nightlife in nine cities, and over the coming months we plan to expand to 50 U.S. and international destinations and cover shopping, hotels and other places of interest. We know that many of you are eager to have continued access to our content in these markets, so in advance of this expansion, we'll soon make our existing ratings and reviews available on Zagat.com.

For more than 34 years we’ve been surveying passionate locals about the places that matter to them most. This is the foundation on which Zagat was built—and we hope that through our featured surveys on Zagat.com, you’ll continue to share your opinions with us as you rate and review the places you visit.

Posted by Gannon Hall, Group Product Manager and Head of Zagat

Google Image Search Collections

Google works on a new image search feature that lets you create collections, add image search results to your collections and annotate them. The source code includes multiple references to "collections", "notes", "folios", "clips", "groups" and the feature could integrate with Google Profiles.

For some reason, this looks like a standalone feature and notes aren't added to Google Keep.

Bing Image Search used to have a scratchpad, where users could save their images.

Google also had Notebook, a product that worked well for saving image search results. "Google Notebook is a simple way for users to save and organize their thoughts when conducting research online. This personal browser tool permits users to clip text, images, and links from the pages they're browsing, save them to an online notebook that is accessible from any computer, and share them with others," explained Google back in 2006.

{ Thanks, Florian K. }

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Chromecast

You don't need a teardown to notice that Chromecast's model number is H2G2-42. From iFixit:

"Wasn't 42 the answer to life, the universe, and everything in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? And H2G2 is an abbreviation given to the book, as well as the name of a website dedicated to making a guide to life, the universe, and everything."

If you check YouTube.com's source code, you'll find some references to "hitchhiker".

One of YouTube's sprites has "hitchhiker" in the filename.

Google Play Easter Egg: Dancing Robot

Here's a nice Easter Egg from the old Google Play interface. You can still find it in Google Cache: scroll to the bottom of the page, click the colorful bar next to the footer and you'll see the Android mascot. Click the robot and it will start dancing.

I uploaded a video that shows this Easter Egg:

Music: Teddybears - Cole (Zero Gravity Reveal Mix). The song was also used in the Google Music tour and it's available for free here.

{ Thanks, observant tipster. }

YouTube's Geek Week Easter Egg

YouTube has a new Easter Egg: search for [/ geekweek] and the interface changes to look more like a command-line Linux app.

What's Geek Week? "On August 4-10 we'll celebrate this content with a special programming event: our first-ever YouTube Geek Week at YouTube.com/GeekWeek," informs YouTube. "Produced in conjunction with geek powerhouse Nerdist in the U.S. and Channel Flip in the U.K., Geek Week will showcase more than 100 channels that fans love, unveiling new videos, series premieres and creative collaborations, as well as highlighting some of the best geek videos and shows already on YouTube." Sci-fi, fantasy, animation, superheroes, supernatural, video games - an entire week for geeks. "For our 3l33t geeks out there, keep your eyes out for Easter eggs all week, and you'll also be able to collect badges from the eggs and select #geekweek videos when logged in and visiting YouTube.com/GeekWeek."

Update: As Enrico Altavilla noticed, the Easter Egg works for any query that starts with "/ ":

{ via TechRadar. Thanks, Mati. }

Cool Time Lapse Video: GIGABYTE Z87X-D3H built into $1500 gaming rig

Our buddy Elric at Tech of Tomorrow assembled and (with the aim of giving away) a $1,500 gaming rig. Among the components used to for the rig he selected a GIGABYTE Z87X-D3H motherboard – an excellent choice sir. Check the Tech of Tomorrow site to find how you can win the beast.

Cool, no? Well what’s even cooler is that when they had engineer Anthony Reynolds assemble the machine, they installed a time lapse camera above. What you end up with this is a pretty nifty birds-eye view of how a real pro PC builder goes about his job. And having built maybe a hundred or so systems myself, I’d have to say that this guy really knows what he’s doing.

Check out the video below.

 

Learn more about the GIGABYTE Z87X-UD3H here.

Tech of Tomorrow

Google Cast: Cloud AirPlay

AirPlay is one of the greatest iOS features. It lets you wirelessly stream music, videos, send photos and even mirror your device's display on your TV. It's simple to use, it's supported by many apps and devices, but the most important thing is that it just works. Sure, you'll need to buy an Apple TV or an Airport Express and AirPlay is mostly limited to Apple devices and accessories that license AirPlay from Apple. AirPlay works because it's a native feature, has a consistent interface and it's very easy to understand.

Android OEMs tried to solve the problem of sending content to a TV by adding HDMI ports, supporting MHL and adding software for DLNA. It's obvious that people don't like cables and a mobile device shouldn't be restricted by a cable. DLNA has a lot of compatibility issues and doesn't work well for streaming online content. Last year, HTC and Samsung added an AirPlay-like feature to their flagship phones and started to sell companion devices. The issue was that the features were limited to a few apps. This should've been an Android feature, not two different APIs limited to a few HTC and Samsung devices.

Google started to address this issue when it added support for watching YouTube videos on a TV using the mobile YouTube apps. Pair your mobile phone with your TV and you can easily send the video you're currently watching to the TV. You can also your phone as a remote control and pause the video, change the volume or switch to a different video.

YouTube's "send to TV" is the backbone of Google Cast, a feature that can finally compete with AirPlay. Developers can use "the Google Cast SDK to enable mobile and web apps to cast content to the TV". Google Cast is not limited to Android, it works on Google's favorite platforms: Android, iOS and Chrome. There are already a few apps that support Google Cast: YouTube, Google Play Music, Google Play Movies & TV, Netflix. To use this feature, you need to buy Chromecast, a very cheap device that connects to your TV's HDMI port and runs a simplified version of Chrome OS Google TV. It only costs $35 and it's a lot smaller than an Apple TV. You can buy it from Google Play, Amazon and Best Buy, but only if you're in the US.

Google Cast is only the cloud version of AirPlay: it only works with content that's stored online, so you can't send a song that's stored on your tablet or a video you've just recorded. Just like for AirPlay, the mobile device controls what's playing on your TV, but the content is streamed directly to the Chromecast. There are a few differences: Google Cast works on Android, iOS and Chrome and the Chromecast functionality will be integrated in other devices, including Google TV devices. Another difference is that any mobile device from the same network can control an existing Google Cast stream, so you can have multiple remotes.

Here's the Google Cast icon: it's not displayed when there's no device available.

"While content is playing on TV, a user can multitask on their device. For example, a user can search for a video on their phone's YouTube application and then send it to their TV via a Google Cast device. They are able to play, pause, seek, and control volume using their phone and still be able to check their email while the content keeps playing on the TV," according to the developer documentation.

There's also support for mirroring. "In addition to apps like Netflix, you can use Chromecast to bring a broad range of content available on the web to your big screen, thanks to a new feature in the Chrome browser that allows you to project any browser tab to your TV. From sharing your family photos to enjoying a video clip from your favorite news site, it's as simple as pressing a button. This feature is launching in beta, but we're excited for people to try it out and give us their feedback," explains Google.

Here's a video that shows this feature in action:

To use Google Cast, you first need a Chromecast. It's a low-cost device that connects to one of your TV's HDMI ports and uses USB for power. For only $35, you get a lot: the Chromecast dongle (only 34 grams), a USB cable and power adapter and an HDMI extender. To setup the device, you need to visit google.com/chromecast/setup and install an app. It's interesting to notice that Chromecast only supports 2.4GHz WiFi networks and the only Chromebook you can use to setup Chromecast is Chromebook Pixel.

To cast from your computer, you need to install the Google Cast extension for Chrome. There are only 2 Cast-optimized sites: YouTube and Netflix. For all the other sites, you can cast a tab and mirror it on your TV. Unfortunately, casting a tab requires a powerful computer even for standard streaming: at least a Core i3 PC, a Macbook Pro 2010, a Macbook Air 2011 or a Chromebook Pixel. You need a Core i5 PC, a Macbook Pro 2011, a Macbook Air 2012 or a Chromebook Pixel for high-quality streaming. Casting a tab is limited to 720p streaming, so you won't get 1080p mirroring.

For Android devices, you can use a few apps: YouTube, Google Play Music, Google Play Movies & TV and Netflix. "To cast to your TV from your smartphone, tablet or laptop, simply open up a Cast supported app, press the the Cast button and the Cast button will turn blue, letting you know you're connected. Once you are connected, you can Cast videos, movies and TV shows directly to your TV," explains Google. For now, the only iOS apps that support Google Cast are Netflix and YouTube.

I haven't tried Google Cast, so I don't know how well it performs, but these are the early days. Once more apps add support for Google Cast and more devices include Chromecast's functionality, it will be a lot more useful. Chromecast is a Chrome device, so it will constantly improve and add new features.

Android 4.3: Jelly Bean Improvements

After a long wait, Google finally released Android 4.3 yesterday. It's a minor update that has more new APIs and improvements for the existing features than exciting new features.

The third and final Jelly Bean installment brings support for virtual surround sound, OpenGL ES 3.0, wireless display, Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth Low-Energy), Bluetooth AVRCP 1.3 (displays song metadata), restricted profiles, WiFi location detection even when WiFi is disabled. There's also a new tab for disabled apps in the settings and the phone app suggests numbers and names when you enable "Dial pad autocomplete".

"Restricted profiles enable parental controls, so certain family members are prevented from accessing mature content. Likewise, retail stores can use tablets to show off product information, and shops can use tablets as point of sale systems," explains Google. Restricted profiles let you limit access to apps and content.

Many Android devices already support Bluetooth 4.0, but now there's native Android support. Bluetooth 4.0 is great for low-power devices. "Android-powered Bluetooth Smart Ready devices running the latest OS will be compatible with virtually any Bluetooth enabled product — from the keyboards or headphones they already own, to the latest generation of power-efficient Bluetooth Smart appcessories (accessories + companion apps) like Fitbit or the Pebble watch," informs Bluetooth.com. More smart accessories will be able to connect to Android devices, Google Glass will have a better battery life when it will be released, smart watches will have to be recharged less often and there's a long list of medical and fitness devices that become smarter: thermometers, heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitors, pedometers, weight scales and more.

OpenGL ES 3.0 is the latest version of the popular 3D graphics API that enhances the rendering pipeline to accelerate more advanced visual effects, has better support for textures and texture compression. The specs were published last year and Qualcomm's latest Adreno GPUs already support it. You can find them in devices like HTC One, Galaxy S4, Nexus 4 and the latest Nexus 7. ARM's Mali T604 also supports it and you can find it in Nexus 10. The native OpenGL ES 3.0 will mean that you'll be able to play the latest games and see all the enhancements.

The first device that ships with Android 4.3 is the new Nexus 7. All the Nexus devices that were updated to Android 4.2 will be updated to Android 4.3: Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, the original Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. You'll probably wait for the OTA updates, but Google also provides the firmware here. Galaxy Nexus is the first Nexus device that gets 3 significant Android updates.

Find Auto Awesome Google+ Images

Google+ has a feature called Auto Awesome, which automatically creates new photos that use the photos you've uploaded. For example, when you upload similar images at different exposures, Google+ will add an image that simulates HDR. When you upload a series of photos in succession, Google+ will create an animated image. "If you've taken a series of photos with overlapping landscape views, Auto Awesome will stitch these photos together into a panoramic image."

Unfortunately, it's not always easy to find these images. Here's a way to find the animated images created by Google: go to Google+ Photos and search for [motion.gif]. This works because all the animated GIFs created by Google+ include "motion" in the filename. You may also find other images that include "motion" in the filename or caption, but they weren't created by Google+. The nice thing is that Google's thumbnails are also animated GIFs, so it's easy to spot Auto Awesome images.

If you can't find Auto Awesome animated GIFs, click "From your circles" below the search box and you'll certainly find some GIFs if you follow the right people.

This post should have an included an animated screenshot, but I decided to add a YouTube video:

If you'd like to find panoramic images, search for pano.jpg. For HDR images, search for hdr.jpg, but you'll probably get a lot of false positives.

To find Auto Awesome images shared by other Google+ users, you can search for #autoawesome in Google+ and restrict the results to photos. There's also a community for Auto Awesome images.

You can also use Google Image Search and search for [site:plus.google.com inurl:motion.gif] for animated images and [site:plus.google.com inurl:pano.jpg inurl:googleusercontent.com] for panoramas.

{ via Jeremy Milo }

Google+ Photos App: Not Just For Chromebooks

Remember the Google+ Photos app for Chromebooks? It was originally launched as a Chromebook Pixel exclusive, but it worked well on my Samsung Series 5 Chromebook.

The app is available in the Chrome Web Store. If you switch to French (or any language other than English), the app's description changes and it reveals something interesting:

Google+ Photos will currently instantly upload all .jpg files from the default pictures folder on your computer every time it is run. These directories include:

Windows XP: C:\Users\yourname\Pictures
Windows 7: C:\My Documents\yourname\My Pictures
Linux: /home/yourname/Pictures
Mac: /Users/yourname/Pictures

This means that the app will also work in Windows, Linux and Mac OS, not just in Chrome OS. Right now, when you install the app in Chrome for Windows, you get this error message:

{ Thanks, Jonathan. }

From TVs to tablets: Everything you love, across all your screens

When I was growing up, my family had a single screen we huddled around every day: the television set in the living room. Nowadays, we “huddle” around multiple screens—laptops, smartphones and tablets—using them almost interchangeably as we navigate through our day. In a world of ubiquitous computing, life would be a lot simpler if we didn’t have to learn new behaviors and interfaces each time we switched screens—if we could have one consistent, intuitive experience no matter where we are or what we’re doing. Today, with the launch of Chromecast and the new Nexus 7 tablet, it’s even more effortless to enjoy content you care about—whether it’s video, music, movies, games—wherever you are, across your devices.

Introducing Chromecast
To help make it easy to bring your favorite online entertainment to the biggest screen in your house—the TV—we’re introducing Chromecast. Chromecast is a small and affordable ($35) device that you simply plug in to your high-definition (HD) TV and it allows you to use your phone, tablet or laptop to "cast" online content to your TV screen. It works with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, and Google Play Music, with more apps like Pandora coming soon. With Chromecast, we wanted to create an easy solution that works for everyone, for every TV in the house.

Remote-free
Once your Chromecast is set up, you can use your phone, tablet or laptop to browse and cast content to your TV, play and pause, control the volume, and more. But unlike other streaming solutions, you can still multitask—send emails or surf the web—while enjoying what’s on the TV screen. It works across platforms—Android tablets and smartphones, iPhones, iPads, Chrome for Mac and Windows (more to come), so your personal device is also now your remote control.

Cast the web to your TV
In addition to apps like Netflix, you can use Chromecast to bring a broad range of content available on the web to your big screen, thanks to a new feature in the Chrome browser that allows you to project any browser tab to your TV. From sharing your family photos to enjoying a video clip from your favorite news site, it’s as simple as pressing a button. This feature is launching in beta, but we’re excited for people to try it out and give us their feedback.

Google Cast SDK preview for developers
To ensure a great Chromecast experience over time, we've built Google Cast, a technology that enables developers to build consistent, intuitive multi-screen experiences across mobile devices and TVs. Today, we’re launching a preview version of Google Cast with more information for developers on our Google Developers blog. A handful of early developers are already working on enabling Google Cast technology in their apps, so more supported apps are coming soon. And while the Chromecast device is the first instantiation of Google Cast, we expect the technology to be embedded in a range of hardware from our partners in the future.

The new Nexus 7—the sharpest 7” tablet screen ever
Together with ASUS, we took what you loved about the original Nexus 7 and made it even better. The first thing you’ll notice is the sharpness of the screen: the 323 pixels packed into every inch of the screen makes it the world's highest-resolution 7-inch tablet. It’s lighter than ever, with more than nine hours of HD video playback and 10 hours of web browsing or reading. Nexus 7 now features stereo speakers and virtual surround sound from Fraunhofer (the inventors of the MP3 format), giving you rich and immersive audio.

Android 4.3—a sweeter Jelly Bean
Nexus 7 is the first device to ship with Android 4.3, the newest version of Android. Tablets are perfect for sharing with others, so in Android 4.3, we're introducing restricted profiles, which let you limit access to apps and content. For example, restricted profiles enable parental controls, so certain family members are prevented from accessing mature content. Likewise, retail stores can use tablets to show off product information, and shops can use tablets as point of sale systems. Android 4.3 also now supports Bluetooth Smart technology, opening the door to mobile apps that connect to new devices like fitness sensors. Android 4.3 is rolling out to Nexus devices starting today.

Ready to Play
The new Google Play Games app brings your friends together with the games you love, where you can invite a friend and start challenging gamers around the world, compete for top achievements, and race to the top of the leaderboard. You can also enjoy the world’s largest collection of eBooks, listen to millions of music tracks and immerse yourself in thousands of movies, TV shows, magazines and apps on Google Play. Plus, Nexus 7 comes loaded with your favorite Google apps, like Chrome, Maps, YouTube, Gmail and Google Now.

How to get Chromecast and the new Nexus 7
Starting today, the Chromecast device is available for $35 on Google Play, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com. It will be available in Best Buy stores across the U.S. starting July 28. For a limited time, you also get three months of Netflix included. More info available in Google Play.

Nexus 7 starts at $229, and is available in the U.S. beginning July 30 (with more countries coming soon!). Buy Nexus 7 online on Google Play, or check it out at Best Buy, Gamestop, Walmart, Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Amazon, Home Shopping Network, Radio Shack, J&R and B&H Photo. Nexus 7 (LTE) is coming soon with support for T-Mobile and Verizon in the coming weeks. Learn more on our Nexus site.

Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Android, Chrome & Apps

GIGABYTE Z87X-UD3H claims Gold Award at TechPorn

Once again we’re very happy to see one of our new 8 series motherboards picking up the plaudits with a Gold Award from tech reviewers TechPorn. Here’s a taste of what reviewer Leo Bien Durana had to say about the GIGABYTE Z87X-UD3H.

  “…the GIGABYTE Z87X-UD3H is certainly not a cheap motherboard, but is competitively priced enough against its rivals, with well rounded features that caters not only the mainstream but also the higher end users. It’s a motherboard that doesn’t rely on sheer performance alone. Instead, GIGABYTE had the Z87X-UD3H rely on a carefully picked set of features that should leave everyone wanting it. Impressive.”

Admittedly the gadget and technology review site TechPorn.ph is new on my radar. As the name implies, the site aims to give readers a real eye-full of the very best looking tech out there – as I’m sure you’ll agree. They really do know how to take some tantalizing photos. Here’s a bunch more to get your pulses racing.

  

 

You can more info about the Z87X-UD3H motherboard on our website here.

Find the full review with more pics, benchmarks and data here.

GIGABYTE Question Time on Facebook: Question 1 - Form Factors

Our GIGABYTE Motherboard Facebook page has grown a lot since we first kicked it off several years ago, with almost 30,000 fans and followers at this point. That’s a lot of people for a relatively niche technology product like a DIY PC motherboard. In theory it means that we have access to a broad group of people who know about technology, DIY PC building, PC gaming and overclocking etc. That’s right…I’m talking about you!

From our perspective, you guys represent a pretty interesting group of people to have access to. At times however we’ve kind of scratched our heads about how try to leverage you all as a group? What can we learn from you all? And how do we do it?

Yesterday, I installed a ‘Poll’ app on our Facebook page. It offers an easy way to ask questions and conduct relatively simple polls and questionnaires. Seems like a reasonably simple way to interact with our fans, ask you all a question and give you the chance to educate us about specific technologies, products and platforms. Today we’re kicking off with a very simple question:

Question 1 - Which form factor motherboard are you currently using?

Please take a moment to click the ‘Poll’ link’ and then select one of four answers – E-ATX, ATX, Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX. It should be quite interesting for us to see the results, which we plan to share with you all after one week.

Click here to tell us which motherboard form factor you are using. Cheers!!

Chrome's App Launcher, Ready for Windows

Google has yet to officially launch the Chrome app launcher, but there's a simple way to get the launcher right now if you use Windows: go to this page and click "Get the launcher" (the link only works in Chrome for Windows). If you're not signed in to Chrome, you'll need to do that. Probably Google uses Chrome's sync feature to enable the launcher.

Chrome adds a new icon to the taskbar and a new desktop shortcut, at least in Windows. The launcher shows all the apps that are also displayed in Chrome's new tab page. It also shows a search box that lets you quickly launch an app.

Engadget reports that the app launcher has been automatically added for some users. "On our own PCs, the installation placed the launcher app on the start page, taskbar and desktop for Windows 8 and in Windows 7's menu bar."

Chrome's launcher is connected to the new-style Chrome apps. Google wants to move from the old apps that were mostly bookmarks to some new apps that work offline, use powerful APIs that integrate with web services and devices like USB drives and Bluetooth speakers.

Some examples of new-style Chrome apps: Google Keep and Google+ Photos. Both apps work offline, while Google+ Photos automatically uploads the photos from an SD card. More examples here.

It's interesting that Chrome's Web Store is now all about apps. Extensions and themes are still available, but you need to explicitly click "extensions" or "themes" to find them. They're no longer promoted on the homepage and search results show the apps first.

{ via Engadget. Thanks, Florian K. }

Try the New Google Maps (No Invitation Required)

You can now use the new Google Maps interface without requesting an invite. That's a great news, even though invitations weren't hard to get.

You first need to go to maps.google.com/preview and click "Try Now". Google explains that "the new Google Maps draws you a tailored map for every search and click you make. So whatever you're trying to find or wherever you're trying to go, you'll always have a map highlighting the things that matter most."

So what happens after clicking "Try Now"? You see this message: "Sign in with your Google Account to try the new Google Maps."

While search results are better if you are signed in and you also use Google+, it's strange to see that you need to sign in. After all, the mobile apps for Google Maps work even when you're not signed in.

After signing in, Google shows another message: "Almost there... During this preview, we may email you with product updates or to request your feedback. Please let us know what you think!"

Then you can finally use the new Google Maps.

You can sign out and Google Maps will continue to work.

I hope that the new Google Maps won't require a Google Account (or Google+) when it will replace the existing interface. Just like Google Search, Google Maps works well even when it doesn't return personalized results. Google found a way to personalize search results when you're not logged in, maybe Google Maps will do the same.

Full-screen Gmail Compose Box

There are plenty of shortcuts for opening Gmail's compose box in a new tab or a new window. Not many people use keyboard shortcuts and opening the box in a new page is awkward, so Google decided to add an inline full-screen option.

It's not exactly full-screen, it's more like a maximized box that still lets you see your labels and your chat contacts. You can manually enable the "full-screen" mode every time you want to use it or set is as the default option.

"When this option is enabled, the compose window is centered in your inbox and expands to fit on your screen. In addition, the formatting toolbar is on by default. You can click on the expand button in the top right to switch to full-screen or set full-screen as the default by selecting Default to full-screen in the more options menu in the bottom right," informs Google.

There's a help center article that provides more information:

"Compose messages in a window that's right for you. The default is a small compose window that's great for checking other emails as you type and getting things done quickly. If you prefer a larger window, you can switch to full-screen when you need it, or set full-screen as default."

It turns out that the new expand button for the full-screen mode replaces the pop-out button, which opened the compose box in a new window. To open the box in a new window, you now need to shift-click the expand button.

The full-screen mode also works when you reply to a message, but it's more cumbersome to use. "To compose in a larger window, click the Recipient arrow next to the recipient's name and select Pop out reply. Once you've popped out the reply, click the expand icon expand to compose in full-screen."

As usual, this feature is gradually rolling out to all Gmail accounts, so check back later if you don't see it right away. Obviously, this only works in the new compose interface.