Google enters the transportation industry with Google Pay, announcing news on Monday (March 19) that consumers can now pay for tickets for a ride on the Las Vegas Monorail from their mobile devices. In a blog post , Group Product Manager, Google Pay, Prakash Hariramani said the Las Vegas Monorail is already powered by NXP’s MIFARE contactless technology, enabling it to accept digital payments for tickets. MORE

French retailer Carrefour has announced a strategic partnership with Google that will enable new distribution models and commerce experiences for shoppers in France. More than 1,000 employees of Carrefour will be trained with the support of Google Cloud in six months, and Google Cloud’s G Suite productivity and collaboration solutions (Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Hangouts, Docs, etc.) MORE

Google announced Wednesday (Feb. In a blog post , Antony Passemard, product management lead for the Google Cloud platform, said that the acquisition will complement Google Cloud’s effort to provide a fully managed IoT service that can connect easily and securely. The executive noted that with Xively as part of Google’s cloud offering, it will be able to help customers create turnkey IoT products and solutions in a fast manner. MORE

Google Tez, the India-based payment application that runs on the United Payments Interface, has added a chat feature to its digital payment platform. According to a report in The Economic Times citing a Google spokesperson, Google is aiming to take on WhatsApp with the chat feature, which it’s piloting with some users in India. Google Tez lets consumers send money to each other and now have a conversation around the payment. “We’ve MORE

Just in time for Black Friday, Google Data released its consumer trends report and predictions for the upcoming holiday shopping season. Retail Black Friday Cyber Monday Featured News Google Google Data holiday shopping MORE

In addition, the Google Calendar mobile app now integrates with QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Online Accountant. According to news from eInvoicing Platform , prior to the integration, SMBs had to manually enter each activity from their Google Calendar into QuickBooks — wasting time and increasing the chance of human error. This new integration allows business owners to schedule client work and appointments with Google Calendar. MORE

For the first time in years, Google had an official stand-alone booth at CES – a sign to buyers that it is ready to collaborate with both top brands and startups in the race for voice assistant dominance. Google’s presence at CES is equally designed to reach not only consumers, but also developer ecosystems as well,” said research analyst Werner Goertz, as reported by The Washington Post. Google Alexa Amazon CES Google Home News siri smart speakers voice assistants What's Hot MORE

Google and Intuit are pairing up to help Australian small businesses (SMBs) get a better grip on cash management. 13) said Google and Intuit Australia announced news of their partnership at the Google Cloud Summit, which was held in Sydney. The Google Calendar App also integrates with QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Online Accountant, the companies said. “I’m MORE

Just in time for the holiday season, Google is expanding its mobile shopping experience, including showing buying guides for broad categories and adding more information for specific product searches. When you search for a specific product, Google.com now shows you other helpful information, like related items, and allows you to compare reviews, prices and other specs, side by side,” wrote Google product management director for Google Shopping, Jennifer Liu, on Google’s The Keyword blog. MORE

The big news from Google this week was obviously the hardware event on Oct. From sky to sea, Google hardware could soon be all around us — and it could start in Puerto Rico. Alphabet (Google’s parent company) has been working on Project Loon since 2013. The self-driving car market must be oversaturated already, because Google has moved on. The Google homepage has added two new tenants to its sparse real estate: “About” and “Store.” MORE

Always on the cutting edge, fashion retail giant H&M has teamed up with Google for its next clothing design launch. Its digital fashion house, Ivyrevel, has formed a partnership with Google for a new development project called “Coded Couture.”. Launched just last year at Google’s I/O developer conference, this technology enables applications to learn a person’s daily activities, locations, nearby shops and weather patterns for the area. MORE

To that end, Google said Monday that online checkout is going to get a bit speedier. The concept, rather simply, is: Google as mobile wallet. Users transact using credentials linked to their Google accounts spanning Gmail, Google Play, YouTube and Chrome. MORE

The News Minute reports that Google is getting ready to launch its own eCommerce initiative in the country, with a few corporate actions under its belt. Additionally, it has rebranded its Google Tez digital platform into Google Pay. Another entrant, especially if it is Google, “could spoil the party a bit.” The News Minute notes that Google seems to be undertaking a multi-pronged effort. The lending initiative was noted by Google earlier this month. MORE

PayPal said Thursday (May 24) that it has expanded its partnership with Google Pay, with a focus on the United States, where users can pay for Google services directly using PayPal. who add PayPal to any one of Google’s services will be able to pay across the Google ecosystem, anywhere that PayPal is offered as a payment method, with only minimal setup.”. users can also choose PayPal as an option where peer-to-peer payments are offered by Google. MORE

Today in the hopper, Google will be rolling out all of its best and brightest. The bigger news is expected to come from the update on artificial intelligence (AI) coming out of Google soon, as the firm has spent much of the last 18 months talking up the power of AI to guide the company’s future. Google Assistant is also expected to get some updates, though new features to be added seem up in the air going into the I/O developer conference. MORE

The Washington Post reports that, amid a number of other controversies and regulatory actions and examinations fixated on Google, the Trump administration is, in the words of economic adviser Larry Kudlow, “taking a look” at the prospect of regulating Google and its eponymous search engine. The economic adviser’s statement also comes Tuesday after a series of tweets from President Trump that stated Google’s search results showed only “the viewing/reporting of Fake New [sic] Media.” MORE

Google expands the market for its voice-activated smart speakers by rolling out its Google Home devices in India. According to news from BGR , the Google Assistant-powered Google Home will sell for 9,999 rupees, while the Home Mini will go for 4,499 rupees. It understands Indian accents and will respond to users with uniquely Indian contexts,” Google VP of Product Management and General Manager of Home Products Rishi Chandra said at a press conference covered by BGR. MORE

The lines are blurring between competition and collaboration as Google reaches across enemy lines to partner with Apple. The search engine giant extended not one, but three olive branches to the luxury tech-maker this week, but could it all be part of a grander plan on Google’s part to take the tech giant’s place? So, users can leverage all the same functions on their headphones that they could have gotten by asking their phones or Google Homes — what’s the big deal? MORE

JPMorgan Chase has hired a senior executive from Google as its new head of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning services. According to a memo obtained exclusively by CNBC , Apoorv Saxena, Google’s head of product management for cloud-based artificial intelligence, will be joining JPMorgan on Aug. Personnel AI technology artificial intelligence banking technology Google hiring jpmorgan machine learning News personnel What's Hot MORE

Google Pay is getting an overhaul with a new user design being launched on Monday (July 9), reported BGR. According to BGR, Google Pay is the new name for Android Pay, Google’s digital payment service. With the new interface, users of Google will be able to check out a Hub page to see the latest announcements and trending games on its Play Games app. Google Pay, Bhat said, is different. MORE

Alphabet’s Google released on Thursday (July 26) its Android P Developer Beta 5, as the company moves closer to rolling out the release of its mobile operating system, reported BGR. According to the report, in addition to working on the Android release, Google is also updating Wear OS, its operating system for wearable devices. While BGR said the updates aren’t anything major, they do show that Google is still on board with the Wear OS, despite it losing a lot of its luster. MORE

Google Pay is rolling out new features that, among other things, let users send and request money, through the merging of the Google Pay and Google Pay Send apps. In a blog post on Tuesday (July 10), Product Management Director Gerardo Capiel said that a slew of updates, which have just started rolling out, allow users in the United States to send and request money using the Google Pay app, a feature that will soon debut in the United Kingdom. MORE

The Infatuation, the restaurant discovery platform, announced Monday (March 5) it is acquiring the restaurant review brand Zagat from Google , nearly seven years after it paid $151 million for it. After all, it doesn’t get more tech-focused than Google, who is selling the business. Zagat has helped us provide useful and relevant dining results for users across our various products,” said Jen Fitzpatrick, VP of product and engineering for Google. MORE

In between stories last week about Jack Dorsey saying that bitcoin will be the world’s single digital currency in about 10 years and Facebook’s meltdown over its latest data scandal , you might have missed Google’s announcement of Shopping Actions. Shopping Actions is Google’s big shot across Amazon’s bow, giving consumers access to a universal shopping cart to fill and then buy the things they find when searching the web. MORE

Google has updated its events feature to include personalized suggestions and a new design that puts more event information in the search results. Last year, Google announced updates to its app and mobile web search that enable people to use them to find things to do. ” The move was a way for Google to better compete with Facebook , which said last fall that 100 million people were using Facebook Events on a daily basis, and 650 million were using it across the network. MORE

Google has added a new partner to its Google Home voice ordering portfolio. 7) it is the newest retailer to team up with Google as it looks to expand its digital sales horizon. Home Depot has confirmed it will now begin selling products on Google Home devices as well as via the Google Express commerce portal online and on mobile. At present, Google Home owns about 24 percent of the voice-activated market and is working hard to close the gap. MORE

Google has rolled out a new feature in which flight, hotel and car rental bookings are now part of Google Assistant ‘s settings. According to a report in Android Police , when users access their travel reservations via the Google app or the Home app, they will see a new Reservations item under account settings. According to Google, the upgrades were focused on making it easier for users to toggle between flights and hotels with a new tabbed layout. MORE

Google is hopping in the driver’s seat in a direct race against Uber and Lyft with a carpool idea. Very quietly, Google and Alphabet have launched the Waze ridesharing service in the San Francisco radius, proving that the company is interested in this money-making ridesharing economy. Users can download the Waze Rider app and request rides using Google’s popular Waze navigation app. Since it’s been popular, Google is expanding on this app. MORE

How could Google benefit from acquiring smartphone maker HTC? Is Google Home safe from hackers? This and everything else you may have missed in this week’s Google tracker. Taiwanese news outlet Commercial Times reported Google has nearly completed an acquisition of HTC, the smartphone maker that builds the Google Pixel. After the European Commission slapped Google with an antitrust fine of $2.73 MORE

Google is hoping to answer one of the longest-running consumer questions in travel booking (Am I really getting the best deal?) The new Google Flights feature lets users see their prices stacked up against others and on a gradient: low, typical, and high. MORE

That’s the milestone that Google’s self-driving car program is celebrating, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Unlike some of their competitors, Google’s cars have been traveling frequently in cities and other populated areas. MORE

Google seems to want a slice of everybody else’s pie this week. OK Google, Challenge Amazon. Not content to let Amazon wear the eCommerce crown, Google has teamed up with Walmart to introduce voice shopping through the Google Assistant, similar to what Amazon customers can do with Alexa on the company’s Echo devices. It will be interesting to see how the eCommerce giant responds when Google Assistant shopping rolls out in late September. MORE

The latest iteration of Google Maps is slated to launch this summer, TechCrunch reported, with a slew of new features that tie into exploring surroundings, rather than just focusing on getting from here to there. Beyond that, Senior Product Manager for Google Maps Sophia Lin, said, “About a year ago, when we started to talk to users, one of the things we asked them was: how can we really help you? What else do you want Google Maps to do? MORE

Google is hiring staff to work on an early-stage research project called Medical Digital Assist, which will use voice recognition to help physicians take notes. This is the latest project for Google Brain , which focuses on healthcare. ” Google is certainly not the only company working on this kind of technology. Google AI artificial intelligence Google Brain healthcare technology News voice assistant voice recognition What's Hot MORE

While America was busy watching the solar eclipse (hopefully with the appropriate protective eyewear), Google rolled out its new Android OS and created the world’s first crowdsourced “Eclipse Megamovie” using footage from across the U.S. Following its longstanding tradition of naming its mobile operating systems after desserts, Google announced Monday that the new Android OS, version 8.0, It rolls out first to the Google Pixel and Nexus 5X and 6P devices. MORE

Google has made talking to Google Assistant easier with the launch of Continued Conversation. For the Google Assistant to have a natural conversation, it should be able to understand when it’s being spoken to and should be capable of responding to several requests during an interaction,” wrote Jaclyn Konzelmann, Product Manager of Google Assistant. “We’re The feature became available on Thursday (June 21) on Google Home, Google Home Mini and Google Home Max. MORE

Google has inked a pact with China’s multinational investment holding conglomerate Tencent Holdings in a deal that cross-licenses a number of patents. On the Tencent side, the work with Google would follow a number of investments made over the past several months, including funds for both Tesla and Spotify, among others. The agreement with Tencent comes on the heels of other news for Google in China. MORE

Google has announced that Google Assistant can now be used to pay people back with Google Pay. When the weekend’s over, chances are someone owes you (or you owe someone) money for something – Friday night’s concert tickets, Saturday afternoon’s barbecue supplies, or Sunday’s matinee at the movies,” wrote Sam Kansara, product manager, Google Pay, in a blog post. Google Google Assistant Google Pay money transfer News P2P payments voice assistant What's Hot MORE

To speed up shopping trips for its customers, 7-Eleven now takes Google Pay and Apple Pay at most of its U.S. Retail Apple Pay C-Store convenience store digital payments Google Pay mobile pay Mobile Payments mobile wallet News Payment Methodslocations. The new options are in addition to other mobile payment choices the chain offers, such as Samsung Pay, Chain Store Age reported. Frictionless experiences are the future, and digital payments are key to such experiences. MORE

Google announced last week it is overhauling its privacy and security settings service — dubbed Google Account — to make it more secure and easier to use. Billions of people have now visited their Google Account, and over 20 million people do so every day. We’ve added new features in your Google Account to make it even easier to review and control this data. Google Google account News privacy security & fraud What's Hot MORE

As much as Google would like users to believe there’s no device like Home, the smart speaker is not exactly delivering an over-the-rainbow experience for some. Music fans are frustrated with the Home after a recent update, purported to let them play songs they had purchased from or uploaded to Google Play Music, has failed to give them consistent access to their music library. Google is reportedly working on fixes for these issues. Google AI Alphabet Inc. MORE

Google is hoping to answer one of the longest running consumer questions in travel booking – am I really getting the best deal – by making it clear to consumers what the average price of their ticket based on historical pricing information on ticket pricing so far that year. MORE

Recognizing that, Google launched Google Trips on Monday (Sept. Citing a study from GoodThink that found 74 percent of travelers feel the most stressful part of traveling is figuring out the details, Google said it is reducing some of that hassle to “help travelers enjoy their hard-earned vacations.”. According to Google’s blog post, Google Trips is “a personalized tour guide in your pocket. Mobile Applications apps Google Google Trips News What's Hot MORE