Google appears to have taken a step toward integrating Android's Google Now notification feature into Chrome.

French programmer Francis Beaufort revealed Thursday that he spotted a new notification center in the latest Windows Chromium build that includes rich templated notifications.

This addition to the open source project for Chrome could become a hub for customizable Google Now cards that include information about user preferences and upcoming events, he speculated.

Google Now is an Android feature that pushes information to Android device users based on contextual data from the device -- such as time of day, the user's current location and location history -- as well as information from other Google products and third-party products.

Such information could include traffic updates, sports scores, flight monitoring or appointment reminders.

A Bit About Google Now

Google Now includes voice search functionality similar to Apple's Siri. It also lets Android users access detailed weather reports, trip reminders, email, events, news and other information through customizable cards.

The feature also looks for user behavior patterns to fine-tune the relevance of the information it offers.

Google Now was formally introduced in the Jelly Bean version of the Android OS.

The Possible Impact of Rich Templated Notifications

Beaufort's discovery has sparked speculation that Google's Chromium browser will include Google Now for desktops.

That possibility first emerged in December, when the Chromium website featured a blog post on creating a skeleton for Google Now for Chrome implementation.

Google might offer Google Now in the latest Chromium version to "build on its differentiation from Apple for developers," Kernochan guessed. "Google now, with its emphasis on effective search rather than Siri's 'humanness' is a case in point."

The inclusion of Google Now on desktops running Google Chrome and on Chromebooks is "an incremental step in making wider arrays of apps with notification of a wider range of information at one go available to Google users," Kernochan said. "This was previously more of a manual task for app developers, which meant that most didn't approximate this kind of notification, as far as I know."

Such a development could "presumably make Chromebooks richer and the overall platform more sticky," said Al Hilwa, a research program director at IDC.

Possible Issues for Google

Google has typically tried to ensure that Chrome is a relatively pure HTML5 platform.

The search giant so far has positioned Chromebooks as pure Web engines.

"Adding richness beyond the standard will, over time, increase the surface area for security issues and such," Hilwa said.

Playing Catch-up

The incorporation of Google Now into the Chrome browser will see Google's and Apple's operating systems mirror each other even more closely.

"Certainly they appear to be converging over the last year or so," Kernochan said. "Note, however, that Apple appears to be coming out with a major change in the industry less often, which allows Google to do this. Certainly this type of mirroring is more in Google's DNA than Apple's."

Both Apple's iOS and Mac OS X operating systems already have push-notification systems, and iOS puts all its notifications into its Notification Center. The Notification Center became available to Mac users as part of OS X Mountain Lion last year. That brings up the question of whether Google is perhaps playing catch-up.

"Google may have done it later, but Google is also different in the types of rich information it emphasizes," Kernochan pointed out. "On the other hand, differentiation may matter less in the future if developers view both sides as more or less equivalent, which would probably be a good thing for Google.

It seems that Google is working on a new wireless network at its Mountain View campus, although the entire exercise is shrouded in secrecy, leading the natural curiosity in man to start questioning just what kind of antics are the Internet search giant up to. There is every possibility that this project will represent the tip of a very large iceberg that will involve its fair share of big names within the communications industry, or at least that is what was suggested by ABI Research analyst Joe Hoffman.

Google recently filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to introduce a new or modified radio station for an experimental radio service apart from broadcast purposes. The first base station will be deployed on Google’s campus in Mountain View, California, and it does seem to point towards the construction of a dense, hyperspeed wireless network.
This wireless network will comprise anywhere from 5 to 10 base stations that are then mounted on ceilings or walls located 6 to 8 meters above the ground. A trio of the base stations will rely on dual-slant, two-way multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) directional antennae with a maximum gain of 17 dBi, and said antennae will remain mounted on walls, facing Mordor – I’m kidding, they will be directed towards the buildings’ interiors.

Could this signal a future where Google works hand in hand with Clearwire to deploy superior indoor coverage without having to cross paths with current existing cellular networks?

Google is working on small devices — including one designed as a ring — that people would need to log onto all of their online accounts, Wired reported. Such devices could add a layer of security to online email, banking and other accounts, but they could also add another necessity for people to carry around in their purses or wallets.

Google's security team are experimenting with extra log-in hardware because they thought passwords aren't enough to deter hackers anymore, Wired reported. Because of the increasing sophistication of hacks, everything that is now password-protected might in the future require some kind of personal key, too, the Google researchers thought.

Google has experimented with YubiKey, a small card that plugs into computers' USB ports. They also imagined that tomorrow's Internet keys could be built into rings or smartphones, which would eliminate the need to carry around an extra device. The jewelry and smartphone-based keys could work with a tap.

One of the major challenges now is to convince other websites to agree to a unified log-in system.

Google's ideas for increasing the security of online accounts are alternatives to another popular idea, adding biometrics such as iris or fingerprint scans to people's personal devices.

The much-vaunted Motorola X Phone will pioneer the Android Key Lime Pie OS and arrive at Google I/O in May, if rumours this weekend are to be believed.

A post on the DroidForums website said the device will be the first handset to ship with the Android 5.0 update and will tout a virtually bezel-less, edge-to-edge, 5-inch display.

The post adds that, although an announcement may be made at the Google I/O conference, the Motorola X Phone will not be classed as a Nexus device, per se, but as an entirely new sub-brand.

Instead, according to the rumour, a Nexus-like UI will sit on top of the Android OS. The post said: "Supposedly, Motorola has been working hard to create a UI that both compliments & enhances the Android experience, and is intended to be Nexus-like."

Interesting, the rumour claimed that the new UI will integrate a host of new features to rival Samsung's S-Beam, S-Voice and the like.

Too soon?

Just last month, Google CEO Larry Page claimed it was too soon for a Motorola Nexus phone although the launch of the X Phone at Google I/O would be the fruit to be bourne of the big Motorola buyout of 2011.

The company has been relatively quiet since the takeover, with no new, top-level handsets of note, but first dibs on Key Lime Pie would certainly put Moto back on the map

The post does advise that the rumour be taken with "a grain of salt," but it's certainly an interesting tidbit and seems entirely plausible to us. Roll on, Google I/O.

Via DroidForums (Thank You)

For the first two months Windows 8 was on the market, the news alternated between success and disaster. One report said it was selling, another said it was a stiff.

After two months, Microsoft is clearing up the picture, and it's not a best case scenario. Tami Reller, chief marketing officer and chief financial officer for the Windows product group at Microsoft, said at the J.P. Morgan tech forum at CES 2013 that Windows 8 has sold 60 million licenses to date.

That would seem to hint at a slow-down. In December, Microsoft announced it had sold 40 million licenses in the first month of general availability. Reller's figures mean it took the company more than one month to sell half as many licenses, and during the usually lucrative Christmas season to boot.

Microsoft expanded a little on a blog post announcing Reller's comments, stating there are now more than 1,700 certified systems for Windows 8 and Windows RT. A lot were announced at CES, too.

Today in international tech news: Google denies that a Street View expedition killed a donkey, despite its own images that appear incriminating. Also, a one-man outsourcing scheme is busted, the EC might force companies that lose data to report it publicly and Australian authorities investigate the nation's online fake ID market.

Google seems to have had a dustup with a donkey -- literally.

Images plucked from Google Street View have raised questions about whether a Google Street View car ran over a donkey in the African nation of Botswana.

Images culled from Street View show a donkey lying in the road. One of the images also shows dust hovering over the donkey, possibly suggestive of a recent tumble.

News.com.au reports that "the company allege that the Google Street View car approached the donkey which was already lying down," at which point the donkey got up and walked away. However, based on the images it received from Google the donkey then have had to walk backwards, news.com.au said.

Google denies that the donkey was injured.

One-Man Outsourcing Scheme Busted

A software developer for Verizon has been busted for paying someone in China to log in to his work computer and do his work for him, according to PCMag.com.

As the story goes, the man physically shipped his RSA token, a security authentication mechanism, to China, where a contractor used it to log in under the man's credentials during U.S. working hours.

The worker's scheme was reported in a since-removed (but cached) blog post by J. Andrew Valentine, who was part of a forensic and investigative response team within Verizon. The employee in question was not named, but was described in the post as a programmer who was "inoffensive and quiet."

Valentine's post says that the man, who made six figures with Verizon, is thought to have had "the same scam going across multiple companies," according to Valentine's post.
EC Considering Mandatory Data Reports

The European Commission is considering a plan that would force companies that store data on the Web to disclose the loss or theft of personal information, according to The New York Times.

Details of the plan, which would affect companies such as Google, Apple, IBM and Microsoft, are expected to be presented Friday. The proposal, which would supplant the EU's current array of national laws, would impose the first-ever "EU-wide reporting requirements" for companies operating large databases used for Internet searches, social networks, cloud services and e-commerce, according to The Times.

The plan is designed to thwart cybercrime, which is a growing problem in the EU. Numerous "high-profile attacks" have hit businesses and governments, including 821 in Britain in 2011 alone.
Aussie Police Investigate Fake ID Sites

I wish it were this easy to get fake IDs when I was in high school.

Australian police and government authorities are investigation Web-based "fake ID stores," according to Australian outlet The Age.

The IDs are reportedly used to buy booze and get into bars and clubs (duh).

One popular site, fakies.com.au, has promoted itself on Facebook to the tune of nearly 12,000 "likes." The IDs cost about US$60 a pop. The company's notice that its products are "strictly for novelty use" is likely lost on buyers.
Surprise Phone Bills Irk Brits

A spike in consumer complaints to British regulator PhonepayPlus suggests that enormous -- and unexpected -- phone bills are becoming more of a problem for the UK.

PhoneplayPlus reported a 300 percent surge in complaints, according to the BBC. The main culprits, according to the regulator, are apps that are downloaded for free but that then start pestering users to buy things, as well as apps that contain malware and trick people into running up bills.