The New Year is almost here, and that means it’s time for the bi-annual Google Tracker, our round up all of Google’s news, rumors, and acquisitions. Hopefully it paints a clearer picture of what will happen with the company in the future. We’re not really predicting launch dates or guaranteeing that everything in this article will launch in 2015, we’re outlining a list of projects and initiatives currently underway at Google HQ. Think of it as a big “to-do” list for Google—things can be delayed, moved around, or canceled, but to the best of our knowledge, this is a good synopsis of the company’s current goals. The 2013-2014 version of the Ars Google Tracker worked out pretty well: Android Wear, Google Play Games, Android One, the Nexus Player, YouTube Music Key, and many features of Lollipop were all represented. So if you play close attention to Google news, this post should be a good refresher. And if you’re just a casual Google observer, it’s time to catch up on all you’ve been missing. Table of Contents Nest: Google’s Home Automation Division Android M and Google’s feature experiments OS-wide fingerprint support Selectable app permissions Split-screen apps Google Hangouts, your personal IM assistant Copresence—cross-platform, ultrasonic pairing of nearby devices Person-based reminders Android Apps as a universal binary Android turns into a real car infotainment OS Material Design hits the Web WhatsApp competition, but not Google Hangouts Chromecast 2—new hardware that supports “second screen” interactions Virtual reality with a piece of cardboard Google X Life Sciences—Basically the “Google Healthcare” division Smart contact lenses Baseline Study Continuous monitoring via disease-detecting nanoparticles Liftware, a stabilized spoon for tremor sufferers Calico Google X Self-driving cars Google Glass 2—powered by Intel The Google X Display Division Project Ara—Will the modular phone concept finally become a real product? The Google graveyard Other stuff The world’s most ambitious tech company Nest: Google’s Home Automation Division Nest The Nest Thermostat, Nest’s first consumer product. It lets you control your thermostat remotely and learns your schedule. 4 more images in gallery Home automation was a major expansion point for Google in 2014, and the market feels like the company’s next big ecosystem. At the very beginning of 2014, Google bought Nest Labs , the makers of the Nest Thermostat, for $3.2 billion. Shortly after the acquisition, news came out that Tony Fadell—Nest’s founder and “one of the fathers of the iPod”—was a direct report to Google CEO Larry Page. Only a handful of Google employees deal directly with Page, and they’re usually heads of divisions at Google. So at the time, we posited that Fadell would be running Google’s “smart home” division . Read 118 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Google Tracker 2015: Everything we know Google is working on for the new year
