Google hasn’t been known as a hardware vendor in the past. That may soon change thanks to the company’s pending acquisition of Motorola, and recent reports suggest Google is already working on a self-branded home entertainment system and HUD glasses. Through a recent FCC filing, it has now been discovered that Google is also planning a “next generation personal communication device.” Details surrounding the mystery device are few and far between, although the filing does confirm bo...

Google is preparing to launch a new cloud storage service that will compete directly with popular start up Dropbox and similar services. The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday evening reported that Google is almost ready to announce the new service, which will be called Google Drive. Similar to Dropbox, which creates a virtual drive containing files that are mirrored on a user’s local hard drive and on cloud servers, Google Drive will allow users to store photos, videos, documents and other files in the c...

The security experts at zVelo have discovered a vulnerability in Google Wallet that allows them to “easily reveal” users’ PINs. If a Google Nexus is rooted, Google Wallet’s PIN verification system can be cracked using a brute force attack. zVelo said on Wednesday that it immediately reported its findings to Google, and the company “agreed to work quickly to resolve it,” although the researchers said Google “ran into obstacles.” To fix the problem, the PIN verificati...

A public interest group asked a federal judge on Wednesday to block Google from changing its privacy policy, reports Reuters. The lawsuit comes from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which claims the search giant is in violation of a consent agreement made with U.S. regulator last March. The group is asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against Google in the hopes that the Federal Trade Commission will enforce the consent agreement. “The Cou...

Google is developing a home-entertainment system to stream music wirelessly throughout a users’ houses, The Wall Street Journal reports. The device will be Google-branded, marking a first for the search giant which historically develops software it then licenses to outside vendors. The system will most likely be Android-powered and will allow users to download music and stream it to Google-made speakers or other Web-connected devices in a home or office. The system may also be able to stream other digi...

Google’s bid to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion is set to gain regulatory approval as soon as next week, multiple reports claim. Google announced last summer that it intended to purchase the struggling smartphone and set-top box maker for $40 per share, and CEO Larry Page explained that Motorola’s patent portfolio was a key draw for the company. Google’s Android partners had fallen under attack from patent predators such as Apple and Microsoft, and the ability to spread Motorola&...

Apple has edged out IBM to become the top brand of 2011, according to an annual list from marketing strategy firm Davis Brand Capital. The Cupertino-based company ousted IBM, which topped the list in 2009 and 2010. Apple was previously ranked No.12 in 2009 and No.7 in 2010. Davis evaluates the top 25 brands annually using five categories that go beyond traditional marketing functions. “The annual 2011 Davis Brand Capital 25 ranking evaluates companies’ abilities to manage and balance the five key ...

Google on Tuesday announced the first beta release of its Chrome Web browser for Android-powered smartphones and tablets. The firm’s native Web browser is certainly among the better mobile Web browsers on the market, but with Chrome, Google is focused on aligning its mobile browsing experience more closely with its desktop browser. “Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized ...

Google has hired Apple’s former senior director of product integrity for a new secret project, according to a report from VentureBeat. The man in question is Simon Prakash, who worked at Apple for more than eight years. Prakash was responsible for the quality control at Apple, a company that has a long-standing reputation for quality. He will now reportedly be working in Google’s “X lab” on a secret project headed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. It is speculated that the project coul...

Google has reportedly been hard at work developing glasses with a built-in heads-up display (HUD) on one lens. The glasses reportedly look very similar to Oakley’s Thump sunglasses, which allowed users to load songs onto a small flash drive and listen to tunes through integrated ear buds. According to 9to5Google, the glasses will be equipped with “hardware near the equivalent of a generation-old Android smartphone,” which means we’ll likely see a 1GHz processor and internal storage in ...

The record sales managed by both Apple and Samsung during the holiday quarter last year sent smartphone market growth soaring in late 2011. Market research firm IDC on Monday released data from a new report that suggests smartphone shipments grew 54.7% in the fourth quarter last year. Driven by Apple’s iPhone 4S and Samsung’s Galaxy S II handsets, vendors shipped 157.8 million smartphones globally last quarter according to IDC. ”By the end of the quarter, one out of every three mobiles phon...

Google unveiled its new “Solve for X” website early Monday morning, and it looks as if the Mountain View-based company is planning a TED-like think tank to encourage problem solving and teamwork. “Solve for X is a place where the curious can go to hear and discuss radical technology ideas for solving global problems,” reads the Solve for X website. “Radical in the sense that the solutions could help billions of people. Radical in the sense that the audaciousness of the proposa...

Though Hewlett-Packard was unable to produce webOS devices that consumers were interested in buying — at a positive margin, at least — CEO Meg Whitman still thinks the beleaguered platform has legs. After unsuccessfully trying to sell or license webOS, HP decided late last year to donate its $1.2 billion platform to the open source community. The firm still plans to launch new webOS devices in the future, however, and Meg Whitman explained HP’s position while speaking with CRN. Read on for more. ...

Regulators with the European Union have asked Google to stop rolling out new privacy changes that the company originally introduced earlier this month. “Given the wide range of services you offer, and the popularity of these services, changes in your privacy policy may affect many citizens in most or all of the EU member states,” the European wrote in a letter to Google’s CEO Larry Page. “We wish to check the possible consequences for the protection of the personal data of these citize...