Google updates Firebase with new personalization features, security tools and more

At its I/O developer conference, Google today announced a slew of updates to its Firebase developer platform, which, as the company also announced, now powers over 3 million apps. There’s a number of major updates here, most of which center around improving existing tools like Firebase Remote

Google Cloud launches Vertex AI, a new managed machine learning platform

At Google I/O today Google Cloud announced Vertex AI, a new managed machine learning platform that is meant to make it easier for developers to deploy and maintain their AI models. It’s a bit of an odd announcement at I/O, which tends to focus on mobe and web developers and doesn’t trad

Google adds foldable-focused Android developer updates

Things have been a bit quiet on the foldables front of late, but plenty of parties are still bullish about the form factor's future. Ahead of today's big I/O kickoff, Samsung (undoubtedly the most bullish of the bunch) posted a bunch of metrics this morning, noting: The global outlook is ju

Google updates its cross-platform Flutter UI toolkit

Flutter, Google’s cross-platform UI toolkit for building mobile and desktop apps, is getting a small but important update at the company’s I/O conference today. Google also announced that Flutter now powers 200,000 apps in the Play Store alone, including popular apps from companies like

Google launches the first beta of Android Studio Arctic Fox

At its I/O developer conference, Google today announced the first beta of the next version of its Android Studio IDE, Arctic Fox. For the most part, the idea here is to bring more of the tooling around building Android apps directly into the IDE. While there is a lot that’s new in Arctic Fox,

Google is making a 3D, life-size video calling booth

Google is working on a video calling booth that uses 3D imagery on a 3D display to create a lifelike image of the people on both sides. While it’s still experimental, “Project Starline” builds on years of research and acquisitions, and could be the core of a more personal-feeling

May Mobility’s Edwin Olson and Nina Grooms Lee and Toyota AI Ventures’ Jim Adler on validating your startup idea

When a founder has a work history that includes the name of the parent company of one of their key investors, you probably assume that was one of the first deals to come together. Not so with May Mobility and Toyota AI Ventures, which connected for the company’s second seed round, after May w

Google partners with Shopify on online shopping expansion

Google today announced it’s partnering with Shopify, giving the e-commerce platform’s more than 1.7 million merchants the ability to reach consumers through Google Search and its other services. The integration will allow merchants to sign up in just a few clicks to have their products

With Android 12, Google will turn your smartphone into a car key

Google is working with BMW and other automakers to develop a digital key that will let car owners lock, unlock and start a vehicle from their Android smartphone, the company announced Tuesday during its 2021 Google I/O developer event. The digital key is one of many new features coming to Android 1

Google and Samsung are teaming up to take on Apple's watchOS

With a long-standing history of working together on the mobile side, it's always been a bit of a surprise that Samsung hasn't had much patience for Google's wearables play. The hardware giant had flirted with Android Wear in the past, but for the last several years, it's been invest

Android now powers 3B devices

Google’s Android operating system is now running on 3 billion active devices, Google announced at its (virtual) I/O developer conference today. In a briefing before today’s event, the company also noted that there were 250 million active tablets running Android last year, which is likel

Beta Technologies adds $368 million in Series A funding for its electric aviation ecosystem

Electric aviation startup Beta Technologies closed a $368 million Series A funding round on Tuesday, with investments from Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund. The new capital is the second round of funding announced by the company this year, after the company raised $143 million in private capital in

Commission-free trading app Stake secures $30M from Tiger Global to expand into Europe

Commission-free trading app Stake, which is available in the U.K., Brazil and New Zealand, has raised $30 million from Tiger Global and partners of London-based DST Global to expand into Europe. Matt Leibowitz, founder and CEO of Stake said: “We're really excited to get to this point but it&#

Google Photos update adds new Memories and a Locked Folder, previews Cinematic moments

Google announced a series of upgrades to its Google Photos service, used by more than a billion users, at today’s Google I/O developer event, which was virtually streamed this year due to COVID. The company is rolling out Locked Folders, new types of photo “Memories” for reminisci