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Forums - Gaming - Google I/O 2013-- now with videos!!!! (games, maps, music, money!)

I will try to delve into the new stuff coming out of Google I/O today. Starting of course with how it relates to games. (btw, this stuff is out now)

NEW GAMING NETWORK (cross platform!)

  • Leaderboards
  • Achievements
  • Cloud saving
  • Match-making for multiplayer
  • All this +sync across platform (Android and iOS)

NEW SUBSCRIPTION BASED MUSIC SERVICE

  • $9.99 / mo
  • Full access to entire Play store music library 
  • Used on android devices, PCs, etc... anything with access to Google Music.
  • 30-day free trial
  • Sign up before June 30th and its only $7.99 /mo
  • Seems similar to features found in paid variants of pandora & spotify.

NEW HANGOUTS (cross messaging service)

  • Combines amazing video service now, with text based messaging/chatting for all potential Android chatting services.
  • Adds emoticons and other enhancements typical in these full services
  • Works with voice only as well.

NEW PHOTO ENHANCING FEATURES OF GOOGLE+

  • Auto fixes pictures you've added to G+. (for those that don't know, you can make G+ an infinite storage for all your pic/video)
  • Amazing before/after pics to be added to this OP soon.

NEW GALAXY S4 "GOOGLE NEXUS EXPERIENCE"

  • Take the current amazing Galaxy S4 and remove all the Samsung crap.
  • You're left with a Nexus device with great hardware.
  • $649 from Play store now.
  • Existing Nexus4 still there at $349 as well.

NEW GOOGLE VOICE SEARCH NOW IN CHROME AND CHROME-OS

  • Google's voice search in Android is great already. Natural voice search and far better feedback than other competitors.
  • This now added to Google.com when using Chrome. Simply say "Google, ...." and it will search.

NEW FEATURS FOR GOOGLE MAPS (most features there today and others coming this summer)

  • Enhanced 3D buildings / landscape / indoor mapping (stores/malls/inside restaurants/etc)
  • Improved UI - easier to use -- updated experience for tablets as well
  • Better search within for relevance and includes more personal reviews from friends, Zagat, etc
  • Integrated with Google Offers to see discounts in your search with the map location as always etc
  • Navigation further enhanced with bike, walking, and public transport
  • Live traffic notifications and dynamic rerouting to accommodate it
  • Personalized mapping based on history and +1's etc
  • Integrating enhanced features from Google Earth... real-time clouds/stars/night-time sky as seen from space/etc

SEND MONEY VIA EMAIL!!

  • Does not require gmail to receive
  • Sync to bank account
  • Send and receive money similar to attachments.

GALLERY



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I just read an updated article of the conference and nothing is for me so far. I'm not into Google+ and I have no reason for a music subscription. Nothing they're talking about interests me.



ok updated intial outlines....



kowenicki said:
superchunk said:
ok updated intial outlines....


why does it blow away spotify?

Content.... will go into more later. I'm mostly going off of i/o brief. I will update this OP with full details as I dive into more stuff througout the day.



Google stocks are at the highest they've ever been. It's crazy how successful Google is.



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The "Google Nexus Experience" sounds great. The one thing I hate about my Samsung smartphone is that it doesn't use a stock Android. If Google provided a stock Android for my phone too, that would be awesome!



More info on new Google Music...

We're live in San Francisco for the Google I/O keynote presentation, where the search giant unveiled its new music subscription service, Google Play Music All Access. All Access includes such features as Listen Now, which uses Google's data to create a "never-ending" list of music based on your tastes. Demonstrating All Access on-stage at the keynote, Google's Chris Yerga showed the app's music discovery features, including a re-orderable queue of music and music discovery based on your existing library. Yerga described the service as "radio without rules."

Google Play Music All Access will become available today in the U.S., with additional countries following in the future. The price is $9.99 per month, with 30-day trials available. Even better, if you start a trial by June 30, you'll only pay $7.99 per month.

...

The Google Play Music Android app has been updated to reflect the All Access subscription service, but also provides an entire UI overhaul that is very slick. It's simplified and much easier to navigate, in my opinion. There is a navigation pane to the left that allows you to select between Listen now, My Library, Playlists, Radio and Explore. You can quickly swipe it away to view your choice, which will be taken over by larger album art.

The update is available via the Google Play Store. If you don't see it just yet, sit tight, you'll see it soon. Follow our Google Play links for the update.

....

Here is the full changelog:

  • Brand new user interface for phone, tablet, and TV
  • Support for All Access subscription service in the US
  • Key All Access features: Explore section to discover new music, Radio with unlimited skips, Add albums to My Library, Share and subscribe to playlists
  • New Listen Now page that makes it easy to find something to play
  • Swipe to remove from playlist or queue
  • Swipe to switch songs on the now playing screen or now playing bar
  • Go to album or artist from any song


kowenicki said:

so its worse than spotify then.

How?



so they announced... nothing major.

got it. thanks.



Imagine not having GamePass on your console...

kowenicki said:


There is no free version for a start... thats fairly significant.  (Spotify has 25m subscribers - only 6 or 7m pay (I'm one of them) people dont like paying for music sreaming services)

For me, its a non starter as it wont work with home streaming devices such as Sonos (i have that) or some AV receivers (Onkyo etc) that work with Spotify and Napster for instance.

Thast how it is worse.

Now how is it better?

I doubt the interface is better than Spotify and it seems to have all the same features, song suggestions, radio etc.

30day trial to see if the larger content select is worth your $8 or $10 a month.

Android already connects and streams to just about any device you want via a multitude of devices plus all you really need is to connect to Google Music from any browser based item. No need for item to be specifically designed to work with GM... just have a HDMI or Mic in connnection or web access from your many smart enabled devices.

Ability to sync your owned collection with this all access... combines best features of pandora and spotify and personal collections all in one.

Then... I'm willing to bet content selection, sound quality, and UI will be a bigger difference. But that will have to wait for on-hand comparisons that are sure to come.