ios

As I sat through the last half hour of a nearly 4-hour keynote, sweat pouring through my shirt, my attention waned. It did for most people. Where were the gadgets? Last year, Google seemed like the hottest (or, most conversation-starting) hardware company around. This year, the only hardware mentioned was the 3-month-old Chromebook Pixel. I wanted new, weird products: watches, new evolutions of Glass, crazy convertible tablets. I wanted to see what Google's next products are.

Yet, you can see the message. In the people wearing Glass -- of which I was one, sheepish, awkward. In the customized, personalized … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- A month and a half ago, Google began using its WebP image format in its Google+ app for Android, and now it's saving tremendous amounts of network usage as a result.

"We're saving many terabytes of bandwidth a day, and because of the cost factor, we're saving our users money," said Stephen Konig, a Google product manager, in a well-attended WebP Google I/O talk Friday.

Users' cost savings come because they're less likely to run into data usage caps or incur onerous roaming fees outside their home countries.

But of … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google's mapping service relies on mammoth data centers, vast quantities of satellite imagery, and a fleet of Street View cars. But it also relies on you.

At the Google I/O developer show here on Friday, Google engineers described how they've overhauled Google Maps, and two areas in which information from Google users is key to that.

First, using anonymous data collected from people using Google Maps on mobile phones, it picks the best navigation routes. Second, using photos people upload to its Panoramio and Picasa photo services, it generates immersive tours that swoop around … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Google Glass currently comes in five colors and has a pop-in sunglass visor, but no version of the Explorer Edition comes with prescription lenses. For glasses-wearers like me, that means getting contacts or jamming them over my frames. Next year, that may change.

You had to look closely on the Google I/O show floor, but a few Google employees were wearing Glass prototypes with actual prescription glasses attached. Designed in-house at Google, they actually look good: crisp modern lines, but not exactly for the Ray-Ban set. Mark Shandy, seen above, was kind enough to show them off … Read more

The next major update of Apple's iOS software is almost upon us! But which features does Apple's grid-based operating system desperately need to add, and which ones will Tim Cook and pals probably ignore completely?

That's what we're asking in this video, so hit play on the clip above as we rattle through the apps and tweaks that we want to see in iOS 7, as well as the things we probably won't. A fresh, "flat" redesign? How about some kind of "kids" mode' to stop pesky kids spending your cash … Read more

Hot off the presses of Google IO 2013, Google Music is back with a new name, look, and service. Formerly known as Google Music, Google has now opted to brand their player as part of the Google Play Service. And though the name doesn't exactly flow very well, Google Play Music is now much more than just the cloud-powered player that comes with Android.

In an effort to compete with the likes of iTunes, Spotify, and Pandora, Google has come out full force with new label partnerships that include Universal and Sony. The result is a completely overhauled app … Read more

Low Latency is a weekly comic on CNET's Crave blog written by CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Friday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here's every Low Latency comic so far.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google long has been a firm believer that JavaScript, the programming language used to build Web apps such as Google Maps and Gmail, could shoulder a much heavier computing load.

But even as the company continues to push JavaScript's abilities with Chrome's V8 engine, some at the company believe JavaScript is pushing up against its limits. For that reason, Google developed its Dart programming language, and at the Google I/O developer show here, the company made the case for Dart.

"The ultimate goal is to get Dart into Chrome. I hope you all … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Engineers on the Google Android team say they are still working hard to ensure that Android updates are rolled out to new devices in a timely fashion.

During a fireside chat at the Google I/O developer conference here Thursday, 11 members of the Android development team fielded questions from the audience of developers. Android team members acknowledged the continuing issue of fragmentation within the Android ecosystem. But they also said they planned to continue a rapid pace of innovation.

"This is something we think about a lot," said Dave Burke, engineering director for the … Read more