Google may not have unveiled any new gadgets at this year’s I/O, but what the Big G did announce was more revealing: a bid to become the nexus of your technological existence, whatever hardware you choose.
LOGIN TO EVERYTHING
Google is adding good reasons to sign into its services: its overhauled Maps will give you rich data based on people in your Circles, bringing together social networks and the real world in a way Facebook can’t match. Gmail will let you use Google Wallet to send money as a Gmail attachment, which PayPal can’t do. And that’s just the start…
TALKING
In a challenge to Microsoft’s Skype, you can now make Google Voice calls from Google+. Google’s superb voice search can also now be used in a web browser, without even pressing a button – in Chrome, you just say, “OK Google”, and your search is launched. Which admittedly could confuse optimistic people saying, “It’s OK, Google is bound to start paying its taxes soon.”
MUSIC
Google’s YouTube is already the biggest music streaming service, but it would rather you paid for your tunes. Its Play Music All Access combines the unlimited library of Spotify with the musicdiscovering endless radio of Last.fm, and Rdio’s free trials. Time will tell how it fares against Spotify (only 25% of whose users pay), and iTunes, which is pricier but lets you keep your downloads.
ROBOBRAINS
In one of its most futuristic schemes, Google and NASA are forming something called the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab. The plan is to develop a new type of AI that will live in a quantum computer built by D-Wave Systems. This unimaginably powerful machine intelligence will have enslaved all humanity by 2025. Then you’ll really have to use Google+.
PHOTOS
As if it wasn’t enough for Google to take down Skype, PayPal, Facebook, Spotify and the rest, the web giant has now also set its sights on creative software house Adobe (and possibly Nokia). Google+ Photos now includes the chest-bumping Auto Awesome mode, which automatically combines pictures to make new shots, motion GIFs or panoramas. So long, Photoshop.
GAMING
The most significant indication of Google’s cross-platform ambitions is its Play Game Services. It’s a set of tools for building social features into games – cloud saves, achievements and real-time multiplayer are now supported. Crucially, though, they’re not limited to Android; they’re supported on iOS and the web, too, allowing Google to quietly insert its tentacle into whatever you’re gaming on.