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27 'Searching' stories June 2011 - July 2014

How-to: Use Spotlight and Smart Folders to search for anything on your Mac

Jul 27 2014 - 3:30 am PT

In OS X, Spotlight is an effective way to search your entire hard drive for a file or folder, email, or any other file. There are many other things Spotlight can do, and searching for files is just one of them. Spotlight is also capable of looking up dictionary definitions, launching apps, performing calculations, previewing audio, video, documents, and other files. This article will outline some of the benefits of using Spotlight and how to use Smart Folders, which allow you to search for a file even if you don’t know its name.

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Google tells the SEC it could soon be serving ads on thermostats and other devices (Update: Google says no ad-based Nest)

Ben Lovejoy May 21 2014 - 5:56 am PT

22 Comments

Those who expressed concern about Google’s acquisition of Nest may have have been right: the company has told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it may choose to serve ads on “refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google made the statement in support of its contention that it shouldn’t have to break out ad revenue from mobile devices.

Google argued that it doesn’t make sense to break out mobile revenue since the definition of mobile will “continue to evolve” as more “smart” devices roll out.

“Our expectation is that users will be using our services and viewing our ads on an increasingly wide diversity of devices in the future,” the company said in the filing.

While the statement is purely a defensive one – the company not wanting to share more data than it has to with competitors – the specific thermostat example seems unlikely to have been chosen completely randomly.

Google added the Nest smart thermostat to Google Play three months after purchasing the company. Nest remains on sale in Apple stores, both retail and online.

Nest was created by former Apple engineer Tony Fadell, the man dubbed ‘father of the iPod.’ Fadell sought to allay concerns about Google’s acquisition of the company soon after it was announced, promising that all data collected by Nest was used only to improve the product, and that any changes to that policy would be opt-in. Nothing was said about serving non-personalized ads, however.

Update: Google gave the following statement to Engadget…

“We are in contact with the SEC to clarify the language in this 2013 filing, which does not reflect Google’s product roadmap. Nest, which we acquired after this filing was made, does not have an ads-based model and has never had any such plans.”

Google Play Music iPad app hidden inside iPhone version, public release likely soon

Dom Esposito May 11 2014 - 6:17 pm PT

8 Comments

We’re hearing that Google Play Music for iPad is getting close to release and a tipster has sent in a few videos showcasing what he/she claims is a pre-release of the new app. We’ve heard independently that Play Music for iPad was getting close to delivery and our tipster says this is a development build (see update below). The app will function similarly to the iPhone version, but redesigned for iPad.

We are still somewhat skeptical of the screenshots below, but the app’s functionality (shown in the videos) seems to be very similar to the iPhone version and it would make sense for Google to release it for iPad. Though we’re still unsure if the update will arrive as a universal build or if Google will have separate versions available in the App Store.

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Google Music for iOS launch reportedly is ‘imminent’

Mark Gurman Nov 14 2013 - 6:14 am PT

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All the way back in May, Google announced that its new Google Music “All Access” service will be arriving on iOS in the coming “weeks.” However, months have gone by and nothing has launched for iOS. A report last month indicated that the app would arrive at the end of October, and @evleaks has now claimed that the launch is “imminent.” If the app does indeed arrive soon, you can expect full coverage on 9to5.

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Google’s Sparrow mail app updated for the first time in months with new icon, iOS 7 fixes

Benjamin Mayo Oct 15 2013 - 8:11 am PT

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Despite being bought out by Google, the replacement mail app Sparrow has now been updated for iOS 7. Whilst the developers behind Sparrow never said that work on the app had ceased, this was the implied meaning of Sparrow’s thank you letter still visible on the Sparrow website. Until today, the app had not been updated since December 2012, nearly a year ago.

This update brings compatibility bug fixes for iOS 7 as well as a new flatter icon, shown above. Even so, work on Sparrow is obviously not a priority for the team. Apart from a new icon, the point-fix update brings no new visual appearance to the app’s interface or any new features for users.

Oops – watch those ‘Incognito Mode’ web searches, Chrome’s latest iOS upgrade no longer forgets

Ben Lovejoy Oct 3 2013 - 6:09 am PT

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61SzHpGGFRs

If you’ve been carrying out any dodgy searches in Incognito Mode in the iOS 7 version of Google Chrome, you may want to wander casually into settings to delete the search history (looking toward the sky and whistling helps): it appears that Incognito Mode currently isn’t. All searches performed in the private browsing mode are available in search history once you return to normal browsing.

The above video is rather swift, and has no commentary, but what it shows is erasing history to start with a clean slate, entering Incognito Mode, visiting a website, returning to normal browsing and then viewing search history at Google – where the supposed private web session shows up.

Note that you do need to visit Google to see the history: it doesn’t show up when simply using the combined URL/search bar.

Google updated the app last month. The company has not yet made any statement on the bug.

Thanks, Robin

Apple iPhone 2013 Event Liveblog, iPhone 5S and 5C on tap

Sep 10 2013 - 8:59 am PT

11 Comments

We’ll be live-blogging Apple’s media event today below, and we’ll be providing text and photo updates from before, during, and after the show. Simultaneously, we’ll be holding a Google Hangout. You can read our expectations for the event, and check back for the start at 1 PM Eastern/ 10 AM Pacific. Live blog starts below:

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Join us for a live Hangout during today’s keynote

Scott Buscemi Sep 10 2013 - 8:52 am PT

19 Comments

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T14HAvdtX8A]

Despite our best hopes and wishes, it appears Apple won’t be providing a livestream for today’s event. While you’re keeping tabs right here for our liveblog and tweets, we’ll also be hosting a live Google Hangout starting about 15 minutes before the 10 am PST event and extending through the duration of the keynote.

Check it out here.
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Google brings unified account sign-in to YouTube & AdSense iOS apps

Jordan Kahn Aug 21 2013 - 1:00 pm PT

1 Comment

Following an update to version 2.0 for the YouTube iOS app yesterday, users have noticed that Google appears to have turned on shared account logins for at least YouTube and the recently released AdSense app. That means logging into one app will automatically log you into the other without having to re-enter your account and password. Although the majority of Google’s iOS apps require users to sign into a single Google account used across its services, up until now each app required users to enter their account info when when launching for the first time.

Google didn’t list the new feature when it updated the YouTube app or in the release notes for the new AdSense app, but the support page for YouTube does note, “If you’ve signed in with another Google app on your iOS device, you may see this account listed.” Removing an account in either the AdSense or YouTube app will also remove it from the other app if installed on your device, but Google doesn’t offer users any control over the feature as of yet. Google doesn’t mention support for any specific apps, but we’d imagine this is likely a feature that will make its way to other Google iOS apps in the near future.

Reminder: Google I/O coverage today at 9to5Google

Seth Weintraub May 15 2013 - 4:59 am PT

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