Google Now

29 'Google Now' stories December 2012 - May 2013

Google denies reports of Google Now battery drain issues on iOS

Jordan Kahn May 2 2013 - 1:03 pm PT

In the days following the launch of Google’s predictive ‘Now’ feature now baked into its Google Search iOS app, some users complained of experiencing noticeable battery drain due the app’s process of accessing location data. Today, Google has weighed in with an official response to LifeHacker calling reports of battery drain “incorrect”:

Reports that Google Now drains battery life are incorrect. We understand people’s concern about seeing the Location Services icon stay on when they use Google Now. Many apps that keep the icon on actually do drain the phone’s battery because they require very accurate location. (For example a navigation app has to run your GPS all the time to keep you from missing your turn.)

Google explained that Now is “built very differently” than other apps that utilize Location Services by using “cell towers and wifi hot spots for much lower battery impact.”

Google’s response continues by noting it didn’t receive any reports of battery drain during its extensive month of testing the feature on iOS and encouraged users to contact them if they continue to see a problem:
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How to enable Google Now on iOS for Google Apps accounts

Jordan Kahn Apr 29 2013 - 3:16 pm PT

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From 9to5Google:

Earlier today Google officially pushed out an update to its existing Google Search app for iPhone enabling the Google Now service with weather and traffic conditions, updates on breaking news and sports, and more. Some users logging into Google Search through a Google Apps account might have noticed that using the features would prompt an error that “your administrator hasn’t enabled Google Now for your domain.” Hanselman.com shares instructions on enabling the feature which aren’t exactly obvious since the setting is buried in “Android settings”.

Google Apps for Business, Education, and Government: Google Now needs to be turned on by an administrator before it can be used.

If you are an administrator, you can enable Google Now for users in your organization by following these steps:

Sign in to your Google Apps control panel.
Go to Settings > Mobile > Org Settings > Android settings.
Click the checkbox next to Enable Google Now to turn on Google Now.
Click Save.

Google acquires natural language engine Wavii for over $30M

Zac Hall Apr 23 2013 - 1:22 pm PT

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Google has purchased natural language processing engine Wavii for more than $30 million, according to TechCrunch.

Read the full story on 9to5Google.

Google’s Eric Schmidt says Google Now for iOS approval is in Apple’s court

Jordan Kahn Mar 21 2013 - 7:47 am PT

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Update: Apple responds.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt spoke at the company’s Big Tent Summit in India this morning, and, on top of claiming there are no immediate plans to merge Chrome and Android, the executive discussed the possibility of Google Now coming to iOS devices. It appears Google is in a similar situation to when it launched a standalone Google Maps app, as Schmidt claimed it’s up to Apple to approve or reject Google Now for the App Store. TechCrunch pointed us to the comment from the Google executive at around 17 minutes into the interview:

You’ll need to discuss that with Apple” (at around 17:50). “Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted into its store, and some of them they approve and some of them they don’t,” he went on to say.

A video that appeared to be an ad for the debut of Google Now on iPhone and iPad landed on YouTube last week before quickly being removed. The video (above) showed that Google could implement Google Now functionality—currently only available as a Siri-like voice and contextual assistant app on Android devices—into the Google Search app.

Google already updated its Google Search app with voice recognition and Google Now-like features last October, and a number of comparison videos have since appeared online and show Siri has some serious competition with even the scaled back voice search features. Bringing the contextual assistant features that Google Now implements on Android to the Google Search app would give iOS users yet another reason to use it rather than Siri for a large number of tasks.
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Latest Chrome developer build hints at Google Now integration

Jake Smith Dec 8 2012 - 10:47 am PT

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Apple is set to get another taste of Google Now—the Siri competitor out of Mountain View. This time, in Chrome for Mac. Google Plus user François Beaufort discovered (via CNET) references to Google Now in the latest Chromium build yesterday that said “creating a skeleton for Google Now for Chrome implementation.” It’s not clear how long it will take for the new feature to roll out, but the code hints to Google Now’s features appearing in Google Chrome’s notification cards.

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