New rumors point to an all-glass Samsung Galaxy S6

[MUSIC] What's up? Brian Tong here and welcome to Googlicious, for everything Google that we can pack inside of a show. Now we're back after the long Holiday and CES break, and there's plenty to catch you up on, but let's talk the latest in Google's world, or you know, I guess we might be able to start saying Universe. That's because Tech Crunch confirms that Google and Fidelity have invested $1 billion in Elan Musk's SpaceX. Now Musk was one of PayPal's cofounders and the current CEO of Tesla motors. And the investment in SpaceX. Would be strategic for both companies. You see, both Google and Space Tech are looking to blanket the world with an internet connection and that's also big business. Space Tech is exploring new ways to get people connected by using satellites to beam low cost internet around the world. Their big pie in the sky goal is to one day establish a city on Mars. You know, like Total Recall, but in real life. We've shown you Google's Project Loon several times, which is their network of balloons designed to deliver internet service in hard-to-reach areas of the world, since two-thirds of the world still has no access at all. Now Musk believes it will take at least 5 years and $10 billion to build the satellite network. But these are big idea goals these two giants will be working on together moving forward. All right. Now in some Google News to catch you up on that you might have missed. Google's Glass Explore program has officially ended, and the glass team, along with chief Ivy Ross, will be officially moving from the experimental Google X group to it's own standalone unit under the leadership of Tony Fadell, the head of Nest Labs, who will now oversee the direction and strategy of Glass moving forward, according to the Wall Street Journal. Now instead of offering public tests of prototypes and improvements over time, the development will happen in secret much like Apple and Nest have done. And you guys have to remember, Fadell is the former Apple employee known as the father of the iPod. Google says the new and final version of Glass will be released sometime this year when it's ready to go. It won't be sold to early testers. And it will be cheaper with a longer battery life, improved sound quality and a better display. Google plans to also tackle its privacy concerns and it biggest thing in social stigma by combining it with more familiar types of eye wear. And the second developer conference for Google. Project RR wrapped up last week, and they showed off the second iteration of their modular phone called Spiral Two. The conference revealed the hardware for the prototype is complete, but the firmware still needs work. Now the reference device will come with a 1280 by 720 display, a WiFi and Bluetooth module. A five megapixel camera module, 3D cellular module, a 2 x 2 battery module, and the option of either going with a Tegra K1, or Marvel PXA 1928 processor module. Again, these things can all be swapped out with the goal being for the consumer to build the phone they want based on their needs. Now Spiral Three will launch sometime in the second quarter of this year, and will bring the next batch of improvements across the board for hardware and software. And Google announced that they plan to launch the device in Puerto Rico. For it's first market pilot, with the hopes of then moving to an official launch after gathering the information they need. Okay, more Samsung Galaxy S6 rumors. You know, they keep floating around. The latest from the highly credible SamMobile reports. That the next gen S6 will have a touch based fingerprint scanner for improved usage instead of their current swipe-based fingerprint scanner that were very inconsistent and frustrating at times. No new software features with the scanner have been planned, but it will function like Apple's touch ID and it will also be able to detect. a user's fingerprint at different angles. Now we also continue to hear about how Samsung is ditching their turned Galaxy plastic body to a design that will be an all metal one, but a new report from Korea, which you can choose to believe or not, now claims that Samsung is looking to make the Essex all out of glass on the front and back sides with metal sides or a rim. Similar to, you know, another phone you might of heard called the iPhone. Now they also say the Korean Giant will be ditching the user removable battery, one of it's staples, in favor of a smoother, more consistent design. So, we'll see what happens. This could all be a bogus fantasy and we expect to hear a whole lot more at Mobile World Congress in March. All right, that's gonna do it for this week's show. We're back to our regular weekly schedule. And it's great to see y'all in 2015. You can always email us at googlicious@cnet.com or tweet me @briantong. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you all next time for more of that Googlicious. Googlicious.