Google just announced a range of updates to Google+ video hangouts, declaring its intention to move social networking "beyond the status update." Any conversation on Google+ can now "go live," with a "Hangout" button underneath every post. Clicking 'Hangout' starts a video chat with everyone involved in the thread. This feature will work through Google+ Messenger in upcoming versions of the native Android and iPhone apps.
The On Air hangouts that have allowed public figures like the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu to broadcast live to the world are becoming available to more celebrities and G+ users with large followings, and it's becoming a self-service feature, instead of one managed by Google. It's also being integrated into YouTube, so a recorded version gets uploaded to the broadcaster's YouTube account.
When it comes to HTML5 implementation, Android has historically lagged behind most of the other major mobile platforms. iOS is considered the crown jewel of HTML5 performance and even Windows Phone has faired better than Android. That may all be about to change.
In Sencha's latest HTML5 benchmark, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich was put through the paces. The newest flagship Android device acquitted itself well. As Sencha puts it; "The Galaxy Nexus is a big step forward for developers looking to leverage HTML5 on Android." See the details below.
Google announced a major redesign of Google Map Maker today. This is the tool that allows anyone to propose edits to the live Google map, so that locals can offer more detail than Google's own teams can provide. The new tools offer simple ways to add and edit places, roads and paths, as well as reviewing the edits of others.
That peer review element is key to Google Maps' new direction. In September, Google rearranged the Map Maker review process, deputizing regional expert reviewers to expand its capacity to handle crowd-sourced edits. Today's new tools take that a step further, allowing anyone to review proposed edits before they're incorporated into the live map.
Google just released the latest stable version of its Chrome browser, which adds support for multiple personal profiles. Chrome already has syncing of bookmarks, extensions, passwords and settings for one user, but today's release allows multiple accounts.
For shared computers, each user can save have his or her own settings, as well as switch between two different profiles, such as a work account and a personal account. This allows for a synced experience using Chrome on any device. All you have to do is log in, and all your browser settings appear.
Google announced today that the free phone calls through Gmail added in 2010 have been extended for another year. Domestic calls in the U.S. and Canada are free, and international calls have a low fee schedule starting at $0.02 per minute. Users can also choose to link this to a free Google Voice account to receive inbound calls.
It's no surprise that Google has extended this service, since it just added it to Google+ Hangouts two weeks ago. Google has made several changes to Gmail chat to unify it with Google+, and this voice calling extends the reach of Gmail and Google+ to vastly more users.
Blogger has announced "the first of many Google+ features" today, launching an automatic +snippet sharing box after you publish a blog post. It only saves a few clicks, but this makes it as easy as humanly possible to share Blogger posts to your Google+ circles.
In order to turn on this sharing option, Blogger users must link their Blogger and Google+ profiles. Blogger users got the option to replace their user profiles with their G+ profiles in October. Users can disable this feature in their sharing settings, and they can always share individual posts using the 'share' link in the post list.
Android malware continues to evolve. The latest batch takes a two-pronged attack at users susceptible to downloading free games and can end costing victims a lot of money. Lookout Mobile Security reports that these apps, dubbed RuFraud, are pirated clones or add-ons of popular games and other apps designed to send premium SMS messages without users consent.
This is not the first time we have seen pirated apps deliver Android malware. Nor is it the first time that the tactic of sending premium SMS messages has been used by malicious coders.
When you really boil it down, which apps that you've downloaded from the Android Market do you actually use? According to new numbers from Nielsen, outside of the Market itself, Facebook is the next used app across age groups on Android. Four out of every five people use Facebook for Android, outdistancing Google's own apps and just about every other app on the platform.
That comes as no surprise. Facebook is the most popular app of all time, with 350 million people accessing the social network from mobile devices. Across the age demographics surveyed by Nielsen, Google properties took the next four spots. After that, the list gets interesting, with media apps more popular for younger segments and productivity apps prevalent for older Android users.
YouTube has launched a new initiative called YouTube for Schools, which will enable educators to open up classrooms to the wide world of educational content on YouTube without all the junk. Open Internet access in schools is tricky, with all the distractions and time-wasters out there, so Google is taking this step to make educators' lives easier.
Network administrators can turn on YouTube for Schools to give school computers access to the vast library of YouTube EDU content from partners such as the Smithsonian and TED. The content is organized into topical and grade-level playlists. You can view the lists at youtube.com/teachers.
In a potential abuse of YouTube's system for reporting copyright infringement, Universal Music succeeded yesterday in having a pro-file-sharing song removed from the site. The kicker? Universal evidently does not have any legal claim to the rights of the song or any of its contents.
The track was commissioned by file-sharing site Megaupload as part of a campaign to generate support for the controversial service. It features several mainstream artists, including Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and P Diddy, praising the service, which happens to be one of many thorns in the sides of major music executives everywhere.
