Google's Nexus 5 Is Now Real And Ships Today At $349 For 16GB, $399 For 32GB

At long last, Google has officially announced what has been perhaps their worst kept secret in a while: the Nexus 5. The Nexus 5 had seen more than its fair share of early outs, with everything from fleeting, "accidental" appearances in the hands of Google employees in quickly-deleted promo videos to full-blown product pages going up on the Google Play store ahead of time. The Nexus 5 will be the first device to ship with Android 4.4 (codenamed "KitKat" through a suprising collaboration with Nestlé and Hershey), which they first announced back in early September. Other devices, like the Nexus 4, 7, and 10, will be getting 4.4 in “the coming weeks”. The new Nexus comes with two color variants: one black, one white. The 16GB LTE model will cost you $349, while the 32GB LTE model will set you back $399. Both devices are unlocked, and will go up for sale later today. While Google's Nexus line mainly exists to provide people a direct route to an unlocked, higher-end device, the Nexus 5 will have a few features that'll be exclusive at first. It'll be the first device with Google's "HDR+" mode, their company's new in-house approach to HDR, which takes multiple shots in rapid succession and combines the best parts of each into one photo. It'll also be the first with Google's new homescreen launcher, which brings Google Search to every page of your homescreen and allows you to trigger a search at any time by saying "Ok, Google". Here's what we know so far about the innards: Display: 4.95" 1920×1080 HD Display (445 ppi) CPU: 2.26 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Front Camera: 1.3MP Rear Camera: 8.0MP with Optical Image Stabilization (read: a gyroscope built into the lens that tries to counteract any shaking) Storage: 16 GB or 32 GB internal storage GPU: Adreno 330 running at 450 Mhz RAM: 2GB WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Battery: 2300mAh (w/ an estimated talk time of around 17 hours, or 8.5 hours of WiFi usage) We're just about to run off and spend some time with the device, so check back in just a bit for our hands-on pics and early impressions!

Google's Search Results Can Deep-Link To Your Android Apps

It should be clear by now that there's much more at play in Android 4.4 KitKat than some early reports alluded to, and one of the more interesting (to me, anyway) tidbits managed to escape the early leak treatment. Tucked away toward the tail-end of Google's Nexus 5/KitKat presentation was a mention of a feature called App Indexing that should get companies (and the Android app developers that work for them) a little worked up. That's because Google has developed a way to deep-link to the contents of an app from within a user's Google search results with a feature it calls App Indexing. Here's how it works. Say you're using the Google Search app to dig up some dirt on that Ender's Game movie that doesn't look very good. If you happen to have the IMDb app installed on your device while you search, you'll be treated to an info card in that results stream that includes an “Open in app” button. Give it a quick tap and the IMDb app will spring to life and immediately direct you to its Ender's Game listing. Naturally, the feature isn't just limited to showing off movie details - so far the full list of supporters includes Allthecooks, AllTrails, Beautylish, Etsy, Expedia, Flixster, Healthtap, IMDb, Moviefone, Newegg (yes!), OpenTable, and Trulia. The way Google sees it, the move is all about providing these companies with a choice. If they think their mobile interfaces are enough to keep users engaged, they can simple go about their business. But if they already have an Android app (or are in the process of building one) that can do a better job of engaging with its users, a little extra work to implement those deep links may be well worth it. It's not hard to look at this as a move to bolster Android app development, either. There's little doubting that Android is a global force - which may be only compounded by the fact that Android 4.4 KitKat may drive device sales in developing markets by bringing a more advanced feature set to cheap hardware - and in many cases the Google Search app is going along for the ride. That means that with any luck, huge swaths of the global Android community will be searching for stuff using the Google search app and seeing those deep-linked “Open in app” buttons when they've got the right apps installed. Tell me that's not a compelling reason for a company to develop an Android app if they haven't already. Despite the buy-in from all those app partners, it'll be some time before users like me will actually start getting those results in the wild. Google is testing the feature with those previously listed partners, but the updated cards that will display that information won't actually roll out until some time in November.

Keen On… Social Media: The First 2,000 Years

How old is social media? Maybe we can date it from the birth of Facebook in February 2004. Or perhaps we can go back to 2002, to when Friendster was founded. Or even way, way, way back to digital antiquity – back to 1997, when Reid Hoffman founded the first social media website, SocialNet. No, social media is actually older, 2,000 years older, than Facebook, Friendster or SocialNet. That's the view at least of Tom Standage, the digital editor of the Economist, whose new book Writing In The Wall: Social Media – The First 2,000 Years makes the intriguing argument that social media has actually been around since the Romans. It's the industrial top-down media of the last 150 years, Standage told me, that is the historical anomaly. Social media, he explains, “scratches a prehistorical itch” for personalized news, opinion and gossip. So rather than a waste of time or a distraction, he insists, Facebook and Twitter are actually something that satisfies us as human-beings. Standage is too good a historian to argue that nothing about social media is new. He acknowledges, for example, that the globalized, instantaneous and searchable nature of social networks are truly new. Yet Standage's comparisons of contemporary social media with Roman papyrus letters or hand-printed tracts of the Reformation really do suggest that social media goes a lot further back than 1997. “The only surprising things about social media,” Standage dryly concludes, “is that we are surprised by it.”

Oracle, Red Hat, And Google Employees Pitch In To Fix Beleaguered Healthcare.gov, Reports Indicate

Workers from tech giants Google, Red Hat, and Oracle and other companies have reportedly joined with the government to help fix the notoriously broken Healthcare.gov website that is a key portion of the Affordable Care Act. According to a tweet from CNBC, “experts” from the firms have been dispatched. It is not clear yet in what quantity or what their role will be. The government needs the help, and it is good to see the technology community step up. After all, this is our domain. In a piece by Alex Wayne on BusinessWeek, Google is parting with Michael Dickerson, a “site reliability engineer.” Also according to Wayne, Greg Gershman of mobile company Mobomo is said to be taking part as well. When the Affordable Care Act went live recently, its website, which was supposed to provide a central exchange, failed: It lagged, dropped users, and fed wrong information to insurance companies. It was a tectonically embarrassing moment for the government and the president. Later, a “tech surge” was called for. It appears that this is part of that effort. The government has promised that the website will be functional by the end of November. That gives the Silicon Valley cavalry just a single month to get the beast back in the pen. Also unclear at the moment is why these three firms have stepped up and not others. Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, and Twitter are other firms that could spare an engineer or two. Private tech employees helping the public government untangle a website built in part by Canadian contractors? The leaks from this saga are going to be amazing. This is a developing story, and this post will be updated as new information becomes available.

Google Adds Support For Native MySQL Connections

Google Cloud SQL now supports native MySQL connections, a move that is intended to make it easier to integrate third-party applications. With the support, native MySQL apps can be plugged into Cloud SQL, allowing the customer to leave system administration and management for Google. Through MySQL Wire Protocol, the standard connection protocol for MySQL databases, Google maintains that CloudSQL allows for low latency connections from applications running on Google Compute Engine and Google App Engine. Customers can use popular tools such as MySQL Workbench, Toad and the MySQL command-line tool to manage Cloud SQL instances. It also supports standard drivers, such as Connector/J, Connector/ODBC, and Connector/NET. The native connectivity also means that data can be replicated with control over managing and deploying cloud databases. For example, Google notes in its post that data can be replicated between Cloud SQL and on-premise databases - including Oracle, SQL Server, and DB2. The support demonstrates how connectors like MySQL Wire Protocol will help create transparency between cloud services and any on-premise application. It's a service that should attract those looking for the level of managed services that Google provides. Google is starting to offer features that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has had for a few years. While Google launched the core of its CloudSQL service in June, AWS launched its MySQL service in 2009 and in 2012 began offering support for Oracle Database. Then there is the pricing. According to the InfoQ blog, AWS RDS is “cheaper than corresponding Google Cloud SQL pay-per-hour options, but one needs to consider other costs such as data storage and transfer fees, etc.”

SoundTracking Launches Updated App With New ‘Discover' Section For Trending Music

Music-focused social network SoundTracking released a new version of its smartphone app today, one that co-founder and CEO Steve Jang said will make the app useful beyond “hardcore music lovers.” We're also hearing that SoundTracking has reached an agreement with Sprint, with SoundTracking being preloaded or featured on certain Sprint Android phones starting next spring. However, Jang declined to comment on any potential partnership, so hopefully we'll know more about that soon. Anyway, back to the updated app. There's a new design with features like larger photos and brighter colors, but the most interesting addition is probably a Discover section, which is basically a new take on finding music through Soundtracking. Previously, people discover music based on what was shared by the users they followed. With the new section, you can find music in a way that's not subject to the randomness of who you follow and when you checked your newsfeed. There's a song of the day chosen by the SoundTracking team (something the company was already experimenting with via email, and which got a positive response), hashtag-based search, and charts of general trending music and music nearby. Jang said he plans to go further in this direction with more charts focusing on different types of music. The obvious comparison seems to be Twitter #Music, an app that recommends music based on what people are tweeting. Jang suggested that social networks in general have moved toward personalized recommendations that less reliant on timelines and on who you follow. On the other hand, a recent report suggested that usage of the #Music app has declined and that Twitter may shut it down. The problem in that case, Jang suggested, is that people wanted that experience in Twitter itself, not in a separate app. Jang added that 14 million tweets, Facebook status updates, Instagram pictures, Foursquare check ins, emails, and SMS messages are sent each day from SoundTracking. Users have created a total of 40 million music moments, which have been shared more than 6 billion times and viewed 530 million times within the company's mobile and web apps. “The stats reflect that we continue to create a product that's' really great for expression, sharing, and outbound messaging,” he said. “I think our work on the Discover section and charts and personalized is really going to address the other side. … Now we need to help people who love music that are little bit more passive, more of viewing and listening type.” ” So we can expect more “lean back” type experiences to come in the future.

Twitter’s IPO ‘Oversubscribed’ Despite Accelerating Losses And Growth Concerns

Today, Bloomberg’s Sarah Frier and Serena Saitto report that Twitter’s highly anticipated initial public offering is oversubscribed, indicating booming interest for its shares as the firm looks to become a public company. Notably, Twitter had priced the shares well below expectations, all but guaranteeing an oversubscribed IPO. The report says that the IPO had enough interest to be oversubscribed before bank involvement. When Twitter filed its documents to go public, it was criticized by some for its extensive, and widening losses. And currently, all signs are pointing to Twitter’s revenue in calendar 2013 has expanded quickly as well. The company will raise around $1 billion in the IPO, valuing the firm at around $11 billion. Twitter plans to offer 70 million shares at $17-$20 per share. Early indications are that Twitter would price on November 6th and begin trading the day after. At this point, Twitter now has options available to it including floating more shares or hitting above the higher end of the range when it prices next week. Losses aside, Twitter will be the hottest IPO of the year. Strap in.