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New Google Docs toolkit can automate tasks
Are you tired of having to wade through Google Docs files, or make countless changes to templates every time you want to use them? Google might soon bring relief. It's officially launching a Google Docs programming interface that lets developers automate many common tasks, whether it's inserting text, changing the formatting or managing lists. If you're producing invoices, for example, an app could automatically fill out product info and numbers.
Flickr postpones photo deletions for free users to March 12th
Don't panic if you missed the February 5th deadline before the new owners at SmugMug (previously Engadget's parent Verizon) started deleting Flickr photos beyond the 1,000-image limit for free accounts. SmugMug has postponed the deletion period to March 12th in the wake of feedback and "complications" with photo downloads. While it wasn't specific about what those issues were, USA Today reported "unresponsive" downloads and sluggish deletions, with requests for archives going unanswered days later.
Microsoft's Build developer conference starts May 6th
Early May is going to be particularly busy in the tech world. Microsoft has announced that the 2019 edition of its Build developer conference will take place in Seattle between May 6th and May 8th. In other words, it starts just one day before Google I/O -- you're going to get a lot of news in a very short space of time.
GoPro Plus now offers unlimited uncompressed video storage
When GoPro launched Plus -- it's subscription service for cloud storage -- it was a modest offering. For $5 a month, you could store a bunch of your photos and videos online, access a library of music to use in your edits, and a get a 20 percent discount on accessories. Early last year, the company added a new benefit -- a no questions asked camera replacement scheme and bumped photo storage to unlimited. Today, the company extends that unlimited feature to video, and importantly at native resolution (i.e. 4K videos won't be compressed at all).
Volkswagen buys Volvo's connected car service
Volkswagen has made clear its ambition for unified internet services for its vehicles -- earlier this year it announced its partnership with Microsoft to build the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud. Now, it's pushing its agenda further, having acquired a controlling stake in Volvo's WirelessCar service.
Apple and Microsoft are fixing a serious iCloud bug in Windows 10
The return of Windows 10's October update wasn't welcome news for everyone. Microsoft says it's "working with Apple" to solve an iCloud for Windows bug that creates problems updating or syncing shared photo albums when using the latest Windows release. Suffice it to say that's a serious problem if you're interested in seamless access to your photos across your devices.
Dropbox text recognition makes it easier to find images and PDFs
There's nothing worse than having to pore over a pile of PDFs containing documents scanned as images when you quickly have to find a specific file. Dropbox is making it easier to do that by introducing automatic image recognition, which extracts texts from photos and PDFs and makes them searchable. According to the cloud storage provider, there are 20 billion image and PDF files stored on Dropbox. Around 10 to 20 percent of those are photos of documents, so the new feature can be very, very useful.
Google sits out $10 billion Pentagon cloud contest over AI principles
Google has dropped out of a competition that could've won the company a $10 billion contract with the Pentagon. The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud (JEDI) contest's purpose is to find a solution for the military to transfer massive amounts of data and processing power to the cloud. It believes that by doing so, it can give military officials quick access to data wherever they are, allowing them to make quicker and better decisions while on the battlefield. A spokesperson told Bloomberg that it's no longer bidding on the JEDI contract, because the tech giant couldn't be assured that its terms would align with its AI Principles.
Microsoft deal with Grab brings its AI, cloud tech to ride-hailing
Earlier this year Uber sold off its ride-hailing business in southeast Asia to a competitor, Grab, which is now raising $3 billion to further expand operations. Today Microsoft announced it's making a "strategic investment" in Grab, as the two launch a "broad partnership" to use Microsoft's machine learning and AI tech. The first step is adopting Microsoft's Azure servers as the cloud platform backing Grab's ride-hailing and digital wallet. After that the plans get bigger, as it anticipates using machine learning and image recognition to let passengers share their location with a driver by taking a picture of their surroundings that the system recognizes and converts into an address. Otherwise it could handle recommendations, improve fraud detection, improve its maps or power facial recognition to identify drivers and passengers. There are also non-AI powered parts of the arrangement, like in-car entertainment systems, linked rewards programs and integration with Outlook. Like Uber, Grab is building a platform to do a lot more than have a stranger come pick you up in their car, while for Microsoft, all of this seems similar to its efforts to compete with Amazon in building more-connected grocery and retail stores and dominate developing back-end technology to control everything. Microsoft didn't say how much it's investing in Grab, but Japan's Softbank is reportedly investing $500 million, while Toyota already announced it's in for $1 billion.
Microsoft plans 2019 beta for its game streaming service
We've known that Microsoft is working on a cloud streaming service that will allow users to play high-quality video games on phones and tablets. Today, the company introduced Project xCloud, which is game-streaming tech that "will offer you the freedom to play on the device you want without being locked to a particular device," according to a blog post.
VW and Microsoft team up on cloud services for connected cars
VW's strategy for smarter cars extends beyond creating a single OS for its cars. It wants unified internet services, too. To that end, it's teaming up with Microsoft to build the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud and provide internet features that are consistent across models -- including when you're outside your car. While the two companies haven't delved into the exact features (it's still early going), they envision a scenario where you could resume listening to music when you enter your car, or hop on a conference call while you're commuting to the office. You could also expect tight connections to VW's We services, like car sharing.
Switch Online cloud saves last six months after your subscription ends
When Nintendo launched Switch Online, it raised more than a few alarm bells over its attitude toward cloud saves. Based on the FAQ, your saved games would vanish from the internet the moment your membership expired. Not much of a safety net, is it? Thankfully, that's not quite how it works. In a statement to IGN, Nintendo said that the cloud saves remain for up to 180 days (about six months) after a subscription lapses. That doesn't mean you can use those saves, but you can get them back even if you wait months to resubscribe.
Nintendo Switch Online lands today, complete with strange cloud saves
Welcome to 2018, Nintendo. After 38 years in the gaming-hardware business and 15 years after the launch of Xbox Live, Nintendo is finally offering an online subscription service in its latest console, the Switch. Nintendo Switch Online goes live on the evening of Tuesday, September 18th, allowing players to access multiplayer, cloud saves and a collection of 20 classic NES games for $20 a year. However, there are a handful of caveats. Nintendo operates outside of the standards established by Xbox and PlayStation, its two main rivals in the console market. Both Xbox and PlayStation have offered online subscription plans for well over 10 years, with Xbox Live launching in 2002 and PlayStation Network in 2006. Nintendo has offered barebones connection options for a handful of games in the past, but Switch Online is its first attempt at a subscription scheme. And, like many of Nintendo's grand plans, it's wrapped in red tape.
Microsoft OneDrive will use AI to make searchable video transcripts
You've probably had that moment where you wanted to track down an important piece of information from a video, but weren't sure when it was said. If so, Microsoft wants to come to your aid -- it's introducing media searching in OneDrive (and SharePoint, for that matter) that uses AI to transcribe audio and video. The feature will show you timestamped quotes alongside the media viewer itself, with a handy search box helping you track down that elusive phrase.
Google Drive's expanded One plans are available to anyone in the US
You no longer have to be a paying Google Drive personal customer to use the expanded One plans. As of today, Google One is available to anyone in the US willing to pay for cloud storage. As before, it's about considerably more than offering more storage for the money. You now have access to a $3 per month 200GB plan and a more accessible $10 per month 2TB plan, but the main allure for many could be family sharing. A total of six people can access the same storage under a single bill. If you'd rather not pay for separate accounts (or just want a shared account), One makes better financial sense.
OneDrive makes it easier to backup your desktop clutter
Microsoft rolled out a new OneDrive folder protection feature to its business users in June -- now it's available to regular users, too. The feature lets you choose which folders you want to automatically back up to Microsoft's cloud service -- desktop, pictures or documents -- and it'll keep this activity in sync across multiple Windows 10 PCs, which is handy if you're a fan of downloading files to your desktop.
India may tell companies to store cloud data inside the country
India might be the next country to insist that internet companies store users' data inside its borders. Reuters has learned that a government cloud policy panel wants locally-generated data (including info about Indians) to be stored on servers within the country. The move would ostensibly make it easier for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access data in the midst of investigations. "Data sovereignty" was important in light of "cross-border data flows," according to a draft report recommending the move.
Watch the Google Cloud Next keynote in under 13 minutes
With the Google Next 2018 conference -- the I/O for cloud computing -- now underway in San Francisco, the company spent some time Tuesday morning crowing over its most recent cloud-based accomplishments and explaining where the platform will be expanding in the future. Diane Greene, CEO of Google Cloud, took the stage to announce that this year's conference is the "biggest Google event ever" with more than 20,000 registered attendees.
Microsoft's strong quarter was powered by the cloud, Surface and Xbox
It's honestly getting a bit tough to write about Microsoft's quarterly earnings without sounding like a broken record. For years, its booming cloud business has pushed revenues higher, and the same is true for the past fourth quarter. The company reports that its revenue is up 17 percent from last year, reaching $30.1 billion compared to just $25.6 billion. Mostly, that's due to the continued strength of its cloud segment, which is up 23 percent ($9.6 billion) compared to last year. Additionally, its More Personal Computing group, which includes Windows, Surface and Xbox, increased by 17 percent ($10.8 billion). Drilling down a bit, the Surface line continued to have a strong year with 25 percent revenue growth, while gaming revenues increased by a surprising 39 percent. The company points to third-party titles as a big reason for the growth. But really, it's probably all about Fortnite.
Microsoft employees criticize ICE contract amid recent reports
Add Microsoft to the list of companies whose government deals are provoking outrage both inside and outside their offices. The Redmond firm sparked a wave of criticism on social networks after users discovered a January blog post noting that the company's Azure cloud service team was "proud to support" US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has come under fire for policies that include separating children from parents. Microsoft briefly took down the post on June 18th in response, but the company has since described it as "a mistake" and replaced the content.
