I’m not joking when I say that I’ve written more posts about Google shutting things down this year than I have about it spinning projects up. It’s a sad state of affairs, but it is the way the company operates. As you’re probably already aware, the tech giant’s in-house incubator called Area 120, which has […]
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Google downsizes Area 120, cutting its projects and jobs in half in the process
Google’s recent talks of becoming 20% more efficient are already starting to take form. The first victim of these tight, new restrictions is Area 120, the company’s in-house incubator which has produced many forward-thinking and innovative projects. These have gone on to influence and directly shape Google’s core products, and without them, I don’t believe […]
Continue ReadingCombined AR and VR efforts along with Area 120 incubator form new “Google Labs”
Google Labs has produced some of the greatest innovations for the tech giant including Maps, Reader, Trends, Alerts, Sheets, and Groups among others. Back in 2011, it shuttered the brand, under the notion that it was prioritizing its product efforts, according to Bill Coughran, the senior vice president of research and systems infrastructure at that […]
Continue ReadingStack by Area 120 likely hints at the organized AI future of Google Drive’s document scanning
Can I just say this upfront? Google’s in-house incubator – Area 120 – is absolutely genius. Everything they come up with makes me think “Yep, I totally thought of that or should have, and now they brought it to life”. From our dearly beloved Rivet – the children’s reading app, which was absorbed into Nest […]
Continue ReadingThreadIt by Area 120 could be hinting at Google Meet’s asynchronous future
How would you like to attend video meetings without actually having to attend video meetings? Today, remote learning and remote work rely largely on individuals scheduling a time when they can all meet ‘face to face’, so to speak, and then they all sit in front of the computer screen and perform tasks and synchronize […]
Continue ReadingChromeOS 120 arrives with great new features we’ve been waiting on [VIDEO]
ChromeOS 120 is official and rolling out to the vast majority of Chromebooks and other ChromeOS devices right now. Apart from only a couple devices on the list over at cros.tech, it seems everyone should be getting this latest version of the OS right on time. And there are a few fun, useful new features […]
Continue ReadingMediaTek makes bold performance claims about their upcoming Kompanio 800 and 1200 SoCs
This week, MediaTek is holding their annual Executive Summit in California and as part of the presentation, they spent some solid time today outlining their upcoming Kompanio 800 and 1000 series SoCs and explained a bit more about what we should all expect when Chromebooks with these new chips inside begin to arrive in the […]
Continue Reading[Updated] How to write a novel using your Chromebook for National Novel Writing Month
Contents Update: October 27, 2023 at 11:15 AM – With National Novel Writing Month just around the corner for the new year, I’ve gone ahead and added some new resources to this massive and ever-growing list! I hope you enjoy. Be sure to drop a comment with your favorite tools and resources that I may […]
Continue ReadingGoogle is cutting a bunch of jobs at Waze as it continues its efforts to merge with Maps
In a new report from CNBC, which was also confirmed by Google, Waze is laying off a number of employees as the company closes its advertising branch. In its place, Waze will start using the same ads system as Google Maps – just another instance of the tech giant attempting to merge the 140 million […]
Continue ReadingYour kids may soon no longer be able to play games on the Google Nest Hub
Back in 2020, Google shut down the popular kid’s reading app Rivet from the tech giant’s mistreated and underappreciated Area 120 in-house incubator. At the time, I wrote that it was a good thing since many of those experiences were headed to Google Play Books and Nest Hub. For the latter, they would take the […]
Continue ReadingGoogle is shutting down its popular Grasshopper coding application in June
Google just announced that it will be shutting down its mobile coding application Grasshopper on June 15, 2023. The Android app, which has over 1.6 million installs to date after being launched in 2017, was designed to help people learn to code on their mobile devices. In addition to the mobile app, the web app […]
Continue ReadingGoogle Maps and Waze teams merge as Google continues its cost-cutting measures
We gathered that changes would be happening internally at Google ever since CEO Sundar Pichai uttered the phrase “Don’t equate fun with money” as a response when fielding questions from concerned employees regarding the cost-saving measures that the company was taking. Some of these measures included tightening travel and other budgets, but more importantly, potential […]
Continue ReadingLuna may become the next Google Stadia thanks to Amazon’s 10,000-person job cut rampage
I don’t need to remind you of the travesty that befell Google’s Stadia cloud gaming platform this year. While it’s still available for the time being, we’re coming up on the literal “deadline” for its shutdown, and cloud gaming as a whole is taking a massive blow. Many people never took it seriously as a […]
Continue ReadingThe Chrome Cast 192: What’s next after Pixelbook for Chromebooks
In what is a bit of a sad episode, we spend most of our time this week discussing the recent news that Google has chosen to shut down the team responsible for the Pixelbook. It seems there was one on the way, but Google has done what Google does and changed trajectory a bit in […]
Continue ReadingThis Google-owned semantic experiment lets you “talk to books” to find what you need
Google literally has too many plates spinning for me to keep track of them. Right when I feel I’ve explored all it has to offer, I stumble upon something new yet again. Take, for example, its in-house incubator Area 120 that’s produced several unique projects like Tables. It’s not something they really advertise, but these […]
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