Kaley Cuoco has been on television for a long time, which means fans were with her as a teenager and when she was just starting out on The Big Bang Theory in her early twenties. We spent 12 seasons with her and her ever-changing jean fashions on the show, and we stayed with her as she transitioned into dramatic roles and met her now-partner Tommy Pelphrey. Which means most of us were there when she was going through her thirst trap phase, and now that she’s over 40, she says there’s only one problem with y’all still Googling her bikini pics.

Kaley Cuoco is definitely interested in the internet and how it impacts her career, and she revealed in a recent interview that she knows “bikini pics” is something that comes up in the autofill category when you Google her on the Internet. She does have a three-word message that she will repeat to hit home for those of you still looking on the interwebs for her Big Bang era bod.

Speaking with Not Skinny But Not Fat, Kaley Cuoco got real about how her prime days of fame came about when she was just 21 on CBS’ now-infamous Chuck Lorre series. She didn’t hold back about her looks at the time, telling host Amanda Hirsch “I was hot” and agreeing she was a heartthrob in the early to mid Noughties, though she still likes who she is now that she’s hit the big 4-0.

She went on in the podcast to talk about how quickly time passes, and how she could recall her mom speaking out being friends with women for 20 years when she herself was younger. At the time, that number seemed insurmountable, but here she is 20 years after landing the CBS gig that changed her life, still friends with a lot of people she met during that era.

For example, she and Simon Helberg were loosely connected during her 8 Simple Rules days, and she’s maintained friendships with some of her other Bang co-stars, including Jim Parsons, in the years since the show ended in 2019.

They’ve seen her through thirst traps and genre changes on TV, from being young and single in Hollywood, through several divorces, and eventually becoming a mom to little Matilda. It’s not something Kaley Cuoco saw for herself when she was making her way through Hollywood, but it sounds like she’s on the path she wants to be on now.

Just remember, when you are Googling her bikini pics, it was a lifetime ago.

Some people this weekend will watch the Super Bowl to enjoy the game, but many others will turn it on to see the best TV commercials that an ad agency can come up with for the time in between the plays. It’s become standard practice these days for most commercials to debut online before the big game, which is probably good news for Google since their ad was wrong.

With AI being a hot-button topic of the day, we can bet that like NFTs and crypto before it, a number of Super Bowl ads will be dedicated to promoting it. Such is the case with Google, who last week released a commercial about its Gemini AI tool that showed the owner of a cheese shop in Wisconsin using it. In the ad, the shop owner uses AI to write descriptions for different cheeses for his e-commerce site. Unfortunately, in relying on AI, he seems to have gotten some information wrong.

An eagle-eyed viewer of the ad on X (formerly Twitter) spotted Gemini’s AI “hallucination” which claimed that gouda made up “50 to 60 percent of the world’s cheese consumption." That would make it the most used cheese in the world, which is quite a claim.

Google initially defended the ad, as X users pointed out, claiming that multiple sites used the stat, which may be true but doesn’t change the fact that the stat is wrong.

Google has now quietly changed the commercial and no longer uses incorrect information, as you can see below. Interestingly, the video hasn’t been reuploaded, simply changed, with the same date stamp, causing some online to cry foul.

Not everybody is a fan of AI. Not everybody is a fan of the “art’ created by AI. It can certainly create accurate images if you tell it to make The Boys characters in the style of Pixar or the X-Men as Disney heroes. However, a big criticism of the technology is the fact that despite its name, it does not know everything, and does not give accurate information all the time. Therefore, mistakes like what happened in this Google ad can happen.

While most AI tools, including Gemini, include disclaimers that state that the information provided may not be accurate, it's not a good look when the information is wrong.

There will probably be a lot of ads for AI when the Super Bowl airs on the 2025 TV schedule this Sunday. It wouldn't shock me if right now they're being reviewed to ensure their accuracy. Now, it will be interesting to see how this discourse continues when the big game happens and if any other ads for AI contain errors like this one that's now fixed.

Shaquille O’Neal is best known for his work on the basketball court but, in recent years, he’s drawn notice for his business endeavors. He currently has deals in place with massive corporations like 24 Hour Fitness, Papa John’s Pizza, Krispy Kreme and more. Back in the ‘90s, he also made a very shrewd business decision that has seemingly benefitted him. O’Neal accidentally invested in a little company called Google way back when and, just recently, he revealed one regret he has about that.

The four-time NBA champion was among several business bigwigs who was interviewed for Zack O'Malley Greenburg’s book, A-List Angels: How a Band of Actors, Artists, and Athletes Hacked Silicon Valley. Greenburg’s publication examines the various ways in which major stars invested in tech start-ups. When the author spoke with Shaq, he learned that the former center “got into Google by accident.” The athlete explained (via Business Insider) that he was at a restaurant playing with some kids, whose dad was a major investor.

Ultimately, Shaq had the sharp sense to take the man’s advice when it came to investing in the eventual Internet giant. There is one thing the beloved former Los Angeles Laker would’ve done differently, and I can understand why:

All in all, the three-time NBA Finals MVP does deserve credit for having the foresight to invest in any capacity. Still, he possibly left a considerable amount of money on the table by not buying up more shares. Alas, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. We also have to be fair in acknowledging that it’s honestly hard to predict whether something will take off, regardless of how well it’s pitched to us.

Shaq’s history with money has been interesting, to say the least. He mostly seems to manage his cash effectively today (aside from that Mike Tyson fight bet). Despite that, he’s admitted to past financial faux pas over the years. For example, as a young player, he managed to spend $1 million in a single day (and it’s a wild story). The beloved sports figure also admitted to having spent $70K in a Walmart years ago, which seems wild. I’d say he’s come a long way in regard to fiscal responsibility.

In addition to Google and his other ventures, Shaquille O’Neal also owns shares of Apple and Ring. What I love most about the sportscaster’s spending tendencies is that he uses his cash to be generous. Whether that be by paying a bill for an entire restaurant or buying a pair of shoes for a kid, he doesn’t hesitate to shell out some cash. Given that he can afford to do that, I’d say O’Neal is doing quite well, even without those additional shares he wishes he’d bought back in the day.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has taken hold of the world, people have been stuck in their homes for months. So it’s no surprise that streaming services saw a major surge in viewership over the past year. And as expected, streaming giant Netflix dominated television with its content, as evidenced by its domination in Google's list of the top 10 trending television shows of 2020.

Over the past year, many Netflix originals have dominated the conversation – both online and in-person. Much of this is due to social media such as Facebook and Twitter driving the chatter, with shows’ hashtags trending for days. Another factor is many of these series tackled sensitive issues and topics during a challenging time. With that said, here is Google’s list of the top trending television series for 2020:

1. Tiger King

2. Cobra Kai

3. Ozark

4. The Umbrella Academy

5. The Queen's Gambit

6. Little Fires Everywhere

7. Outer Banks

8. Ratched

9. All American

10. The Last Dance

Based on the list, the number one spot goes to the cultural phenomenon known as Tiger King. The docuseries dominated much of early 2020, with its outrageous personalities and even more outrageous feud between Joe Exotic and Carole Baskins. Netflix dominates the top five with YouTube transplant Cobra Kai, money-laundering drama Ozark, superhero dark comedy The Umbrella Academy and the much-talked-about The Queen’s Gambit.

The streaming giant takes the number seven and eight spots in the list with teen drama Outer Banks and the Sarah Paulson-led Ratched, respectively. The CW sports drama All American, ESPN docuseries The Last Dance and Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere break up the Netflix monopoly. But even All American and The Last Dance have received help from the streamer, as both increased in popularity due to being streamed on Netflix.

But Netflix has been gaining dominance over traditional television for years, as more people tend to prefer either binge-watching or recording their favorite shows to watch later. The streaming giant has given the world landmark shows such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and The Defenders franchise. I don’t see Netflix's reign ending anytime soon, with series such as Stranger Things, Selena: The Series, On My Block and Grand Army always trending on social media. Although some would argue that the streamer hands out its fair share of cancellations, it still maintains a heavy stable of content.

Given the social media reception of Fate: The Winx Saga and Bridgerton trailers, Netflix should continue to dominate in 2021. This trend may stick if our current circumstances remain well into the new year.

You can check out and stream the shows named on Google’s list over on Netflix, except for Little Fire Everywhere, which is on Hulu.

For years now, Google has touted daily celebrations that honor key historical figures, dates in history, quirky holidays and more. Usually, the praise comes in the form of the Google doodle on the main search page, with either an animated segment or a small game to play, but the company decided to do something a bit more organic when paying tribute to the legendary Jeopardy! frontman Alex Trebek, who passed away a month ago after years of battling pancreatic cancer. Only the best for such an icon.

Whenever fans attempt to plainly search for Alex Trebek's name, not only does Google supply users with the applicable links that are being sought out, but the company also added one of its signature "Did you mean..." suggestions, and in a way that speaks directly to the heart of Jeopardy! fans everywhere. Below is a screenshot of what one would see, but feel free to try it yourself, of course.

That's right. Before any links about Alex's death pop up, before his Wikipedia page is visible, and before Jeopardy!'s Twitter page gets any mentions, Google is able to give fans a winking reference to the instantly familiar way that Jeopardy contestants are required to correctly answer clue on the show. Clearly that suggestion isn't trying to imply that people don't actually know who Alex Trebek is. Surely, I search for people all the time were I don't yet know who they are, but that's not the case at all with Alex Trebek, who's been a TV icon for nearly as long as I've been alive.

While it's obviously not a massive retrospective video that highlights a plethora of memorable moments from Alex Trebek's career, Google's suggestion joke is the simplest form of perfection in this sense. And it only helps to maintain its quaintness that many fans might not even realize that "who is Alex Trebek" is a cheeky Jeopardy! nod and not just Google being big, dumb technology.

Alex Trebek's friends, family and fans all needed a boost like this, since the host's November death was such a blow to the Jeopardy! community, given how positive and forward-minded Trebek was for nearly the entire time since he was first diagnosed.

Fans got a nice surprise ahead of Thanksgiving, when Jeopardy! revealed that Alex Trebek had actually pre-recorded a peaceful message wishing everyone a lovely and safe holiday. It's possible he did the same for the Christmas holiday, since it's believed that Christmas Day will be the time when Trebek's final Jeopardy! episode will air.

With ratings having risen after Alex Trebek's death, Jeopardy! airs daily in syndication, with Alex Trebek's final episodes still airing for another few weeks. While waiting to see how the show will move on in a post-Trebek world, head to our Fall 2020 TV premiere schedule and our Winter and Spring 2021 TV schedule to see what else is on the way.

Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Rick and Morty episode "Never Ricking Morty." Read at your own risk!

Following an extended midseason break, Rick and Morty returned to Adult Swim with the back half of Season 4, and as usual, the world felt the impact. This latest hullaballoo wasn't quite a szechuan sauce type of incident, but it did get the fandom curious about a term that doesn't come up often in everyday conversations. The NSFW terms that wormed its way through Rick and Morty viewers' brains, for those who aren't already aware, is "cum gutters." Lovely, no?

Believe it or not, "cum gutters" wasn't Googled very often in the days immediately leading up to Rick and Morty's spring premiere. In fact, the term's score on Google Trends ranked less than 1.0, where users' interest is set on a scale of 100. That distinction definitely changed when the Adult Swim series returned with "Never Ricking Morty," which premiered at around 11:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. By midnight of that night, the search interest in "cum gutters" had skyrocketed all the way up to 100, and its has been consistently getting searched for ever since.

For those unaware of what cum gutters are, that's probably a question best answered with episodic context. Here's the scene in question, which featured Morty grossing out Rick with his knowledge of such a disgusting and visually arresting slang term.

Morty was referring to the spots on Tickets Please Guy's body that lead from the hip toward the groin. For men with exceptionally good physiques, that area is notably concave in a manner that would resemble a gutter on each side. I'm sure at this point I don't need to invoke any bodily fluids to explain the rest, but just use your imagination and it's probably correct.

For a bit of fun additional info on this joke, there may be an online "paper trail" of Rick and Morty's creative team discussing this gag in particular. The term "cum gutters" was referenced in Dan Harmon's now concluded podcast Harmontown back in May of 2019, with a specific reference to Jesus having them. Whether it was a coincidence or not, Jesus also made a cameo in "Never Ricking Morty," and yes, he was just as impressively cut as Taking Please Guy.

Rick and Morty broke continuity and destroyed their own marketability, as it were, by praying to Jesus, which helped them escape the Story Train and inevitably showed the audience what was actually happening with the characters. In reality, the sentience-filled train was a toy that Morty purchased for Rick at the Citadel of Ricks, though it became unclear if the Rick and Morty in the train were the same Rick and Morty later shown in the living room. It was bizarre, but hey, that's what makes this show so great and keeps it out the gutter, and I mean any kind of gutter.

Rick and Morty airs on Adult Swim on Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. ET. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on the series, and for the latest movie and television news happening in 2020 and beyond.

To say that 2019 was a big year for television is to say that Baby Yoda is mildly adorable. From gigantic shows reaching their final seasons to mega-debuts that took the world by storm, the small screen stood up to the silver screen in huge ways throughout, bringing a close to the second decade of the Aughts. Understandably, audiences flocked to the Internet to dig up all the information they could find about a lot of 2019's most popular TV shows, and Google has unveiled the series that brought in the most search traffic.

Below, we've rounded up those Top 10 most popular TV shows according to Google's search volume. Expect to be surprised, too, since quite a few of the most-watched shows were intriguingly missing from the bunch. Let's kick things off with one of the most gloriously brutal television debuts in recent memory.

10. The Boys (Amazon)

Amazon's The Boys was adapted from the Garth Ennis comic book series, which is all a comic book fan needed to assume the TV show would be violent mayhem. Supernatural creator Eric Kripke, along with EPs Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, delivered just such a chaotic bloodbath, eschewing traditional cape-and-cowl storytelling to unveil the seedy and illicit corruption behind corporate-funded superheroes. The Boys enjoyed a stellar word-of-mouth build on Amazon, with more and more people hitting up the Internet to sing its praises. And also to look up the talented cast, the too-naughty-for-Amazon scenes, and to see when Season 2 will arrive. (Answer: Spring 2020.)

9. Surviving R. Kelly (Lifetime)

While many #MeToo-related controversies happened largely through news article accusations and social media, Lifetime produced a multi-episode docu-series shining a spotlight on a wide variety of different women laying out damning claims about R&B superstar R. Kelly. The grammy-winning musician has spent quite a few years dodging some pretty icky allegations, but seeing so many of them in a capsulized form via Surviving R. Kelly gave rise to aa new wave of Google-searchers who hadn't looked too deeply into R. Kelly's personal life before. And one can only assume that R. Kelly's infamous interview with Gayle King also helped boost Surviving R. Kelly's stats.

8. Dead To Me (Netflix)

One might not expect a show about deep friendship and grief to pull in more Google searches than 99% of TV's other entries, but Netflix's Dead To Me vaulted to popularity right out the gate. Liz Feldman created a show that is equal parts moving, mysterious, hilarious and thought-provoking, and it's led by the stellar duo of Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini. (Applegate even earned an Emmy nomination for her work.) Fans likely hit up Google to see whether or not Jen and Judy's story would continue anew with a second season, which is likely coming in 2020.

7. Euphoria (HBO)

Euphoria is pure HBO content, from its sexualized nudity to its rampant drug use to its intensely fucked up storylines. The fact that it centered on high school teenagers made it nearly required viewing for younger generations whose reactions are best expressed through shocked emoji faces on Twitter. All the behind-the-scenes stories that came out of Euphoria played a part in developing its Google power, and it also didn't hurt that former Disney star (and current Spider-Man star) Zendaya secured a lead role in this hyper-mature content.

6. The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)

Of all the comic book adaptations that hit TV in 2019, The Umbrella Academy managed to earn the most Google searches, beating out everything in the Arrow-verse, on DC Universe, and in all the places where Marvel set up shows. It's easy to think that a large chunk of its search traffic came from people who saw it pop up on Netflix and had no idea what the hell it was even about. (The presence of Ellen Page and a talking monkey likely only made things more search-worthy.) Of course, The Umbrella Academy's complex narrative, dark humor and impending second season fueled their own shares of Google's searches.

5. The Mandalorian (Disney+)

Despite only making its grand debut on Disney+ in early November, The Mandalorian was the fifth most-searched-for TV show of the year, and for good reason. As the first live-action Star Wars TV show to ever grace the small screen, The Mandalorian had a millions-strong audience already built in and ready to embrace distant galaxies, and it also helped a ton that the Jon Favreau creation was used as a launch series for Disney+. And if its popularity wasn't massive enough, the premiere's introduction of Baby Yoda truly broke the Internet's collective mind.

4. Chernobyl (HBO)

It's been 33 years since the tragic disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, but interest in the event went sky-high in 2019 thanks to the superbly crafted HBO miniseries Chernobyl. Though stars Jared Harris, Emily Watson, and Stellan Skarsgård aren't necessarily the most marquee names in Hollywood, Chernobyl still managed to become one of the most popular and critically acclaimed series of 2019 or any other year. Creator Craig Mazen crafted five spectacular episodes that had fans seeking answers about how factual everything depicted actually was. Just don't expect to get a Season 2.

3. When They See Us (Netflix)

Ava DuVernay's When They See Us had all the right ingredients to become a huge draw in Google search traffic. The controversial incident that When They See Us is based on – the Central Park jogger jogger rape and assault in 1989 – had unquantifiable resonance in 2019, given the spotlights on racial tension between black Americans and police officers, among other factors. Viewers did lots of searching for the real men who went through the horrors, along with all the other real-world authorities involved. The post-release issues and lawsuit talks also likely played into how many people hit up Google for When They See Us.

2. Stranger Things (Netflix)

After releasing two extremely popular seasons, Netflix's Stranger Things took a year off in 2018 to make sure Season 3 was as top-notch as possible. While certain fans might not believe the Duffer brothers were successful in upping the ante in 2019, Stranger Things had more than enough people screaming its praises to cement its place as one of the most Google-searched TV shows of the year. The series has maintained a strong search presence thanks to fans always wanting to know what's coming next in the twist-driven horror-drama, as well as wanting to understand what actually did happen in the show. In Eleven and Hopper, we trust.

1. Game of Thones (HBO)

Anyone surprised by this entry clearly wasn't paying attention to TV or the Internet in the past year or so, since Game of Thrones' final season was arguably the most argued-over slice of entertainment in 2019. (And before, but that's for another time.) From the truncated episodes to the monumental Battle of Winterfell to that realism-shattering coffee cup, Game of Thrones Season 8 inspired endless conversations throughout the year, as well as endless Googling. The fact that the season was so polarizing likely only helped its popularity online, with haters seeking out fellow haters, and faithful adorers also seeking out like-minded fans.

Did this list match up with what you guys searched for all throughout 2019? What were the biggest surprises in the above list? Let us know in the comments below, and get ready for a new year full of awesome TV.

Game streaming has been a dream goal for many publishers for many years. Initially, it was OnLive and Gaikai that got the ball rolling, hoping to bring gamers an opportunity to stream their favorite games without the requirement of having expensive console hardware. Things didn't quite work out for OnLive due to infrastructure issues on the consumer end, and Gaikai was later bought out by Sony and turned into PlayStation Now, which has had its ups and downs in trying to gain a foothold in the streaming space. Well, as the old saying goes, competition breeds progress and Google is looking to get competitive in the game-streaming space. Both Google and Ubisoft have teamed up to offer gamers an opportunity to play Assassin's Creed: Odyssey without actually needing a high-end PC or home console to do so. Yes, you'll be able to play the game right from the comfort of your browser, with low-end specs to boot.

In a Google blog post, the company revealed that streaming tech has moved far enough along that now that music and video programming is easily accessible through just about any device, it was time to take a crack at video games... again. The company has been working with the tech that powers Project Stream in order to overcome the technical hurdles that waylaid previous efforts to make game streaming a possibility. This includes testing the new tech with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, which will be playable through Project Stream, for free, starting on October 5th within the Google Chrome browser.

The game will be streamed at the top-end of 1080p at 60 frames per second. As some of you know, such streaming settings for playing a game can be quite taxing, and you even need a pretty decent rig to utilize the game-streaming through the Xbox app on Windows 10 in order to stream Xbox One games to your gaming rig. However, as pointed out in the blog post, the tech Google is working with is aimed at reducing latency down to microseconds and ensuring that there's no buffer between the user input and the data-reads.

Additionally, the idea is to produce streaming output for the end-user that has no "graphic degradation". Some of you might notice that when playing games through PlayStation Now or streaming games through the Xbox app on Windows 10, sometimes in order to maintain consistent refresh rates you'll see the bit-rate lower briefly (or consistently) to compensate for any potential loss of frames or to prevent players from losing stability in play. Google hopes to overcome these issues with Project Stream so that gamers will be able to retain the indulgence of high-end graphics and gameplay provided by some AAA experiences, such as Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. Ubisoft is also using a similar method to bring the game to the Nintendo Switch, but it's only going to be available in Japan.

Of course, you will need a rather fast internet connection that supports at least 25 megabits per second, and if you want to participate in the free test starting October 5th, you will need to be at least 18 years of age or older. You can sign-up to be a beta participant over on the Project Stream website.

If you're accepted into the program, you can look to play-test Assassin's Creed: Odyssey later this week.

Back in the day it seemed like there were a lot of little hidden gems and Easter eggs tucked away in games, even games built on ridiculously stringent deadlines. It was usually a way for the programmer to poke a little fun at the project during any minuscule amounts of downtime, and give those eager to find something beyond the software itself things to uncover. Well, it turns out that some of the programmers at Google seem fond of the idea of tucking classic Easter eggs into the software, which included a hidden, old-school, text-typing adventure game that was found inside of the Google Chrome browser when you navigate to the main Google web page.

Eurogamer is reporting that the Easter egg was discovered by a Reddit user over on the r/Google sub-reddit. The user informs those on the discussion page that if they want to play the "crazy" Easter egg, they simply have to open up the developer console and search "text adventure". The description seems to leave out some key details on how to actually get to the text adventure or some of the caveats involved, but the general gist seems to have made it through to the Reddit audience, which promptly gave the suggestion a hardy test and reported back that it does indeed work.

Essentially, if you go to the main Google web page, and then press CTRL + Shift + I to open up the developer console, you'll then need to click on the "Console" tab, which is next to "Elements" at the top of the console. You'll automatically enter on the "Elements" tab, and you can search for "text game" and then click on the "Console" and it will give you a "Warning!" message and tell you not to copy and paste anything into the console. It then asks you if you would like to play a game, at which point you can type "Yes" or "No".

If you type "Yes" you'll get a scrolling text adventure within the confines of the console, outlining your character's disposition and that they're in search of their friends. The text adventure is pretty simple, and uses the old ASCII setup from the classic days when Zork and MUDs were popular.

The control scheme is pretty limited, and you can only use the commands issued to you within the console. Navigation is done by typing in the directions outlined within the text, usually featuring north, south, west, and east. You can access items in your inventory by typing the name of the item, and you can make choices when presented to you by the text.

Given that this is all textually descriptive, it means that you can't rely on the kind of visuals present in Sierra Interactive's point-and-click games that were popular during the late 1980s and 1990s. It may require multiple read-overs to finally get the point, especially when taking a look at the rather crude map you're given.

For fans who long for a return to classic gaming, you'll probably appreciate Google's throwback to the old text-and-type adventure game genre. Unlike other retro genres such as the 8-bit and 16-bit resurgence we've seen in the indie sector, text games never really made their comeback, unless of course you count the niche visual novel sector.

Even still, if you want to give it a go you can do so right now. However, there's no telling if Google will keep the text adventure around for long.

When it comes to mobile gaming there's a lot of money at stake. Big studios pump a lot of money into trying to lure about a billion people who are eye-deep in their handset's touchscreen. However, just because you toss out a mobile app for iOS or Android devices doesn't mean that it's going to be free of issues. Recently, Epic Games and Google have been clashing over the mobile version of Fortnite. More specifically, the companies are going at it over the issue of a perceived vulnerability within the mobile app.

Ars Technica is reporting that Google has supposedly identified a "Man-in-the-disk" or MITD vulnerability within the installer for Fortnite. This is despite the fact that Fortnite is not available on Google Play's distribution store. Why? Well, Epic Games decided to bypass the Google Play store because CEO Tim Sweeney believed that the studio and the game was big enough to do without a distribution platform like Google Play. Gamers are well enough aware of Fortnite that Epic could afford to distribute it directly from their own website instead of going through other third-party distribution outlets.

Forfeiting going through third-party conduits means that Epic Games does not have to pay a 30% distributors fee to sell its game through Google Play. It's the same as Epic avoiding having Fortnite on Steam, wherein the company would have to pay a 30% distributors fee to Valve. Instead, Epic has refrained from these distribution pipelines in order to connect directly with users.

However, Google has hounded the Fortnite client to check for security vulnerabilities. The company noted that the vulnerability wasn't picked up by the Samsung security API, and that this could lead to security problems. Specifically, it was a bug that could be exploited in the APK when installing the program, and it was brought to the attention of Epic via a filing on August 15th.

The next day Epic took note of the vulnerability and issued a hotfix to address the issue in the Fortnite installer for mobile devices.

Things got a little hairy between the two because Epic requested that Google not share the bug report with the public until 90 days later, which would give gamers enough time to update the installer. Google, however, decided to publish the report findings seven days after Epic fixed the bug for the Battle Royale game. And while the bug is fixed, making the vulnerability public means that some nefarious individual could technically use that as a means to compromise installers that have not been updated.

Epic Games' Tim Sweeney told the media that Google publishing the findings so soon after the bug was fixed was "irresponsible."

Essentially there's a moral quandary at play here between Epic not finding what could have been a potentially dangerous Fortnite vulnerability for mobile users, and Google publicly sharing the information before the patched installer was thoroughly saturated.

Some are arguing that Google did this as a way to nudge Epic to put Fortnite on the Google Play store so that the installer could regularly be checked for updates through Google's distribution platform, while others argue that Epic not wanting to pay the distribution fee has potentially put mobile users of Fortnite at risk. It's a tricky scenario, no doubt.

Here's a scenario for you. You're not a big Star Wars fan; you like the movies well enough but you don't rush out to see every new movie or follow the news or get too deep into canon. You decided to skip Solo: A Star Wars Story this year (you weren't the only one) thinking you already knew about Han Solo. But now you're sitting around and you get curious and decide to Google "Solo" only to discover that this isn't the movie you thought-- not according to Google. The search engine has accidentally mixed up the Star Wars movie film with another Solo, with the current description for Solo: A Star Wars Story reading as follows:

We thought that Han might have fought rebels in a past life, but we had no idea he was android killing machine. Also having Mario Van Peebles play young Han Solo is a bold choice on the part of Lucasfilm. Clearly someone at Google is quite amused with themselves at the moment, either that or the algorithm is flawed. Google has accidentally mixed up this year's film with the 1996 sci-fi action film Solo, starring Mario Van Peebles. This is the description that pops up when you throw "Solo" into the search engine. Maybe the algorithm just likes the idea of a self-aware android, making its own decisions and killing folks and has similar aspirations. What's especially funny about it is that it isn't just the description that's mixed up.

The poster is for Solo: A Star Wars Story but the description is from Solo. The Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb scores, which are not good, are from Solo, while the Metacritic score is from the Disney film. We all know that Solo: A Star Wars Story underperformed at the box office, but it looks especially bad with Google listing its box office at $5.108 million. The search engine shows that Solo: A Star Wars Story is the sixth-most expensive film ever made, with a ludicrous budget of $19 million. The Google result also adds another bit of humorous confusion to the question we've had for a while, who directed Solo? Well, according to this Google listing, Solo: A Star Wars Story is the work of Ron Howard and Solo 1996 director Norberto Barba.

It's unclear how an action sci-fi movie from over twenty years ago gets mixed up with one of this year's biggest blockbusters on a platform like Google, but maybe now people will discover a new film they might like. Then they can check out some of Mario Van Peebles' other roles in front of and behind the camera in movies like New Jack City, Baadasssss! and Ali.

You can plan your Solo double feature when Solo: A Star Wars Story is released on digital on September 14th and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on September 25th.

It looks like Google is looking to step into the gaming arena with its very own streaming service. It's called Yeti, and it looks to go toe-to-toe with similar services offered by Sony and Microsoft.

Based on a report from The Information, Google was actually primed to launch its Yeti service at the end of 2017 but, due to unknown circumstances, the multimedia giant decided to push the project back.

Word from sources familiar with the project is that Yeti is planned to work both as a streaming service provided through Chromecast, as well as a potential piece of hardware developed by Google. This isn't exactly new territory for gaming, but it's certainly a big move for Google to break into it. More importantly, they have the resources to possibly pull it off even better than the competition.

For those unfamiliar with game streaming, it allows a player to buy a game through the service and then, as the name implies, stream it to their gaming device. On consoles such as the PlayStation 4, services like PlayStation Now are seen as a way to give players access to an ever-growing library of titles without having to purchase physical games or download the increasingly huge files. On PC, game streaming allows you to play games that your rig might not otherwise be able to run. As an example, so long as you have a solid internet connection, your several-years-old computer would be able to run cutting-edge games even though you don't have the latest graphics card and whatnot.

So, streaming games through Chromecast seems like an obvious move for Google to make, but a separate Yeti box would likely be more attractive to typical console gamers. The hardware running in such a box would probably cost much less than an Xbox One or PS4, yet you'd still be able to play games like Call of Duty or Madden NFL without needing a physical copy or 50 GB of space to download the game. Again, you wouldn't even need the hardware to actually run the game, as the box would basically be a glorified streaming receptor with a controller.

Details are scarce at this point, but we don't think it's a fair comparison to stack the Yeti up against previous failed streaming devices like the Ouya. Again, Google has the resources to make the hardware work, and the streaming side of things has come quite a long way these past few years.

The question we're left with is whether or not there's a market for this type of service. Are there enough people out there who just want to stream their games without worrying about owning a decent PC or established consoles and their exclusive titles? We'll definitely be interested in finding that out whenever the Yeti service finally arrives.

Two of the biggest companies in the tech industry are supposedly at war, and the latest drama involves YouTube. Things have escalated between Google and Amazon to the point that Google is yanking YouTube, the world's second top visited website, off of Amazon's Echo Show and Fire TV devices. The move is the latest in an ongoing feud that only feels like it will continue to grow even bigger than it has already.

Those with an Echo Show can expect to lose YouTube access beginning today, and Fire TV owners will see the service suspend January 1st. Officially, Google has stated Amazon has forced its hand as the company currently refuses to stock Google products such as Chromecast, Nest, or Google Home in its online store. Additionally, Google Cast users have been unable to access Amazon Prime Video for quite some time, so it would appear that pulling the YouTube app is just a bit of fair play until Amazon decides to play ball.

While none of the following was mentioned in Google's official statement, Engadget reports a source who says the company is also unhappy with how Amazon implemented its YouTube app to begin with. The YouTube app that is currently used on Echo Show and Fire TV devices was constructed in-house at Amazon and leaves out features Google has implemented on its official app as well as likely hampering its ability to collect ad-revenue on said devices. If Amazon and Google resolve their differences, it appears one of the compromises will be allowing Google's team to design an app for Amazon products to use going forward.

Amazon's stance on not selling competitors products that are similar to its own products isn't exactly new, and Google isn't the only company to have its products excluded by the online service. Apple TV, for example, is currently not available in the Amazon store, so saying yes to Google in exchange for getting YouTube back could complicate things with other companies. Amazon issued a response to Google's actions which stated the move was unfair and that the company is restricting devices to what is essentially an open website. Amazon ended by saying it wishes to resolve this issue with Google as quickly as possible.

Some experts are assuming Amazon and Google will eventually reach an agreement, but, until then, Echo Show users don't have YouTube and Fire TV viewers will lose it January 1st. For those who just lost YouTube and need something to watch on their Amazon device in the meantime, head on over to our fall premiere guide and see if there's anything there that can be purchased on Amazon. For a look at some shows to be on the lookout for in 2018, our midseason premiere guide is a great source for information. For a list of shows that got canceled in 2017, head here.

It looks like Google is getting really interested in the virtual reality scene, recently acquiring one of the most successful developers in the business.

The team over at Owlchemy Labs recently announced that they have been acquired by Google. They dished all of the details over on the company blog recently and, from the sounds of things, they're as pleased as punch by the whole thing. The mood of the update is extremely positive, with the post making it sound like Google is going to let the developers do their thing while providing additional support. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it; but maybe go ahead and buy it because it's rad and likely to keep making cool games that lots of people will want to play. That's how that saying goes, right?

Of course, Owlchemy didn't get their start in the VR space. They released a handful of smaller games like Snuggle Truck, Jack Lumber and Dyscourse, which earned the studio a loyal following. The roof got blown off the place once VR dropped, though, as they were pretty much first on the scene with one of the platform's biggest hits: Job Simulator.

As the post explains, Owlchemy has since moved their entire focus over to VR. The studio started with just four members and has since ballooned to 23. According to their brief history lesson, the team became enamored with VR as soon as they got their hands on the new tech and immediately started working on what would become Job Simulator. They polished the hell out of the game and had it ready for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR at launch. The secret to their success was not just that they were available on all of those platforms from day one, but that they had built a fully realized, fun game.

Job Simulator has since been followed by Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-Ality, which is another hit amongst fans and critics alike.

In other words, it's no surprise they caught the eye of Google. And if you're going to invest in a developer for a new platform, you might as well back the one that's creating the most waves courtesy of quality games.

While no numbers were thrown around concerning the acquisition, the team at Owlchemy are very upbeat about the shift, saying that, with Google on their team, their "plan to build awesome things will continue forward stronger than ever."

If Google really is letting Owlchemy Labs do what they do best, then this could mean great things for VR. I mean, what could be better than a group of talented game designers suddenly having a behemouth like Google at their back? We look forward to seeing what they come up with next.

2016 is coming to an end, and the time is now to look back at the best and worst that TV had to offer. It was a year filled with huge plot twists, heartbreaking deaths, and killer cliffhangers that drove viewers everywhere crazy...and to their Internet browsers. Google Play has released its ranking of the 5 most downloaded shows of this past year, and there are a couple that may come as surprises. Prepare yourself for some blasts from the super-recent past of 2016, and check out the list of Google's top 5 shows!

5. The Flash

The Flash is the biggest hit on The CW, but The CW is by far the smallest of the American broadcast networks. Still, something about the adventures of the Scarlet Speedster Barry Allen and his pals has struck a chord with viewers. I'm guessing that the big Flashpoint cliffhanger at the end of Season 2 probably had something to do with all the downloads. We had a long summer of waiting for news of what could possibly come next, and the plot hasn't gotten any less twisty in Season 3, so hopefully The CW considers its online popularity in considering the show's future.

4. Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot is another show airing on a smaller network that doesn't tend to break ratings record, but limited reach hasn't stopped it from widespread critical acclaim. The USA hacker drama took home two top prizes in 2016 for Best Television Drama and Best Supporting Actor at the 73rd Golden Globes, and Rami Malek won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama at the 68th Emmy Awards. I wouldn't be surprised if some of those downloads came from people checking out just what all the buzz was about on those awards nights.

3. The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory had a very big year in 2016. Sheldon and Amy were more entertaining than ever after they finally slept together. Penny and Leonard were working out the kinks of married life, and the reveal that Bernadette is pregnant was a game-changer. Throw in the humorous cliffhanger in the Season 9 finale, and Season 10 was bound to continue to be must-see TV. Who could have guessed that a sitcom could still generate so much interest this late in the game? Though CBS skews on the higher end of the key age demographics, there's no worry about losing the more tech-friendly generations.

2. The Walking Dead

It's no surprise that The Walking Dead made the list of Google Play's top shows of 2016. The year kicked off witha major comic book moment, moved on to introduce a new gang of threats, and then ended Season 6 with a gigantic cliffhanger that still has people talking even months later. Add on the fact that Negan's actions in the Season 7 premiere pushed the show into a whole new era of uncertainty for the characters, and The Walking Dead has been kind of a big deal over the past year.

1. Game of Thrones

HBO's Game of Thrones is Google Play's most popular show in 2016, and I can't say that I'm shocked. Ratings were higher than ever as viewers checked out to see where Dany flew off to, what royal drama was going on in King's Landing, and whether or not Jon Snow was actually really dead for good. Now that the show has officially passed the source material when it comes to plot, even book readers have to be on the edges of their seats in waiting to see what happens next, whether it's on a TV screen or a mobile device.

Check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what shows will hit the airwaves and WiFi signals in the near future.

Google rolled out the complete launch line-up, release date and regional pricing for their new VR headset, the Daydream View. It's a cheaply priced piece of tech designed to compete against Samsung's Gear VR, and now you'll know exactly when and where to buy it.

Over on the official Google blog, they announced that the Daydream View will launch in the United States next week on November 10th for $79.99 at Verizon and Best Buy. The headset will also be made available in Canada for $99.99 at Bell, Rogers, Telus and Best Buy, and in the U.K., for £69, in Germany for €69, and in Australia for $119.

The launch line-up is steep. I'm sort of impressed with how many original programs and games they have prepped and ready for the November 10th roll-out, including edutainment such as Star Chart VR, which allows you to explore the solar system and examine real-time space simulation. There's the Wall Street Journal VR app that allows you to interact with 360-degree videos and illustrations based on WSJ content. The New York Times in VR will also feature three docu-dramas for the Daydream View, and Google Street View will round out the productivity and edutainment apps.

If you're interested in watching movies or television, there's the YouTube VR and Hulu VR apps that will allow you to actually watch some of your favorite films and TV shows in VR. I'm a little surprised they didn't try to nab Netflix for the launch of the Daydream View, because that would have been a big thing for them.

They also have a series of video games available for launch as well, including simple games like Home Run Derby MLB, and diorama puzzle games like Mekorama, where you help a robot through 50 different mechanical puzzles.

They have a fantasy mini-golf game in the form of Wonderglade, and interactive movies like Invasion!, set to launch for the VR headset. I know the common thought is that these are all small fanfare with nothing really enticing to offer VR enthusiasts, but Google does have a few hard-hitting games in their line-up right out of the launch gate.

J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them will be made available on November 10th and will offer gamers a way to explore the fictional world within the realm of VR. There's also a sequel to GunJack, another VR game that released last year for Samsung's Gear VR. How fitting is it that the sequel will be available on Google's Daydream View?

GunJack is a first-person, arcade space shooter set within CCP's EVE Online universe. So there's at least something there for the more hardcore gamer.

And speaking of hardcore gaming... there's also The Need For Speed: No Limits. The game is a VR port of the mobile game that came out a while ago. EA didn't really put much effort into marketing Need For Speed: No Limits, and it was mostly relegated to being talked about strictly within the mobile sphere.

One game that kind of stands out from the herd is Hunter's Gate, which is a new IP centered around hunters being tasked with defending their homeland from a demon invasion. All of these titles and the Google Daydream View will be available next week on November 10th.

J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is making the leap from the big screen to the mobile screen thanks to Google's new Daydream View VR headset. The app was announced by Google in collaboration with Warner Bros.

Venturebeat did a quick write-up on the new tag-team between the two media giants for the Harry Potter spin-off from the famed author, noting that the app will be available for the Daydream View headset and will work with Google's new Pixel line of smartphones.

There isn't a whole of lot info on the game but we do know that players will be able to examine parchments, look at fantastic beasts and exercise a bit of magic using a floating wand. It appears to be very similar to other interactive scene apps for VR devices, a little like the upcoming Rocksteady game for the PlayStation VR, Batman: Arkham VR. In the case of Rocksteady's title, you don't actually move around but instead, you can interact with various scenes using the PlayStation Move controllers. The headset allows you full rotational views of a scene but you can't actually walk around.

Based on the short clips we see of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, it appears as if it's going to utilize the same scene-to-scene method of interaction, where players will be in a room where they fiddle with things and exercise a bit of magic, but there isn't going to be actual movement within the space.

A lot of VR apps seem to be avoiding momentum based movement and any sort of acceleration or deceleration to avoid people from getting motion sickness. It's been an issue that a lot of developers are trying desperately to stay away from, especially after a lot of journalists apparently got sick after playing Resident Evil 7 for the PlayStation VR at this past year's E3. Part of that was due to unoptimized frame-rate issues, so it wasn't entirely just the fault of VR in itself.

Many developers are attempting to play it safe by focusing most of their apps on stationary experiences where travel is conducted through teleportation or screen transitions instead of actual movement. This limits the issues that some people had with motion sickness and likely prevents any potential lawsuits.

In the case of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them the game is likely aiming for a younger audience, and the last thing any parent needs is their kid slapping on the Google Daydream View headset and then having to vomit 10 or 15 minutes later.

Graphically, though, the game actually looks a lot better than what I was expecting for a mobile app. The visuals aren't put on display for very long but it's enough to see that the lighting is fairly high quality (although this could be due to the scenarios being pre-baked instead of rendering real-time shadows and light sources) and the one beast that we briefly get to see looks pretty good. It's nothing spectacular but it's also not too far off from how PlayStation VR titles look.

Unfortunately we don't get a lot of details on the actual gameplay for Fantastic Beasts, and they don't announce an actual release date, but it's likely set to arrive around the time of the launch of the Daydream View, which is due to debut on the market for $79.99 starting this November, just in time for the holiday rush.

Google's Daydream View is their latest endeavor to tackle the VR market in addition to the low-cost Cardboard. The Daydream was announced earlier this year but now they have a release window and a price for the new VR headset, which is said to be lighter and more efficient than current market offerings.

Polygon did a write-up on the Daydream View, revealing that the new headset is due for release in November next month. Google also revealed that the Daydream View headset will definitely cost a lot more than the Google Cardboard, but won't be anywhere near as expensive as rivals such as the Gear VR, PlayStation VR, the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive.

You'll be able to get the Daydream View for only $79.99, which is one of the cheapest forms of a quality VR headset on the market. Samsung's Gear VR is $99.99 and works with Android-based devices, so Google is undercutting Samsung by $20. That may not seem like much, but if people are looking to dip their toes into VR, the cheaper $79.99 option would likely take precedence over the $99.99 set.

Both the Daydream View and Gear VR are quite similar in how they operate, with the Daydream View being able to connect to mobile devices via wireless setup. While the Gear VR connects to Samsung Galaxy smart devices, the Daydream View is compatible only with devices running Google's Daydream API and will also work with Google's new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones.

The new VR headset will also come packaged with a wireless two-button controller. The controller uses a touchpad for navigation, and the touchpad itself also works as a button since it can be depressed. There are motion sensors within the controller for allowing certain swinging and pointing gestures, but they don't detail the accuracy of the device, or the range of applications that one can expect to use it with.

The outer fabric is made of a microfiber material and the internal face mask can supposedly be removed, allowing users to hand-wash it in case it gets dirty from all the intense use of experiencing VR in real-time.

According to Google, the Daydream View will be 30% lighter than the Samsung Gear VR, as Google is aiming to be efficient, light and stylish with a cost-effective price.

Based on the Polygon report it doesn't sound as if just any app from any VR platform will work with the Daydream View. Given that the Daydream itself is a software platform, it does sound as if apps will have to be made specifically for the device. They mention a sequel to CCP's Gunjack being in the works for Google's new headset, along with edutainment software and entertainment apps such as Netflix, Hulu and HBO having apps being made for the Daydream platform.

Google will also supposedly have their own line-up of movies, maps and photo apps that will be compatible with the headset, and separate from current productivity apps available on VR platforms.

The company is hoping to leverage the spread of the new virtual reality device by giving the Daydream View away for free to anyone who pre-orders the Pixel or Pixel XL smartphones in the U.S.

VR really is all the rage these days, even if it still hasn't proven to be commercially viable in the long-term on the consumer market. Regardless of the stats and the perpetually declining revenue forecasts, companies like Google want to a piece of the pie and they're taking steps to get in on the VR action.

Engadget is reporting that during an I/O 2016 conference, Google revealed a number of interesting projects on the horizon, some set to go live in the near future while others are set to go live a lot sooner than you think.

The “sooner than you think” project involves opening up a VR section on the Google Play store. This will allow users to easily and conveniently find and interact with apps that suit their VR desires.

The Google Play VR section will feature content from the standard Google services, including YouTube and photos, but it will also feature content from a lot of well recognized names, including but not limited to Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, HBO, Major League Baseball, the NBA and other sports and news related organizations. Google even has ties with USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times when it comes to news feeds and editorials. I don't specifically know how the news stuff will make VR more appealing, but I guess they just want to cover every demographic base no matter who is using the headset.

And speaking of headsets... you no longer have to attach Google with just the Cardboard. That lo-fi method for VR viewing will soon have a more upgraded alternative later in the year. Endgadget reported that the Google Daydream will be launching as a head-mounted display and an accompanying wireless controller, which they will detail sometime later in 2016 during the fall.

The Daydream's wireless remote has been likened to the Nintendo Wii-mote, giving its motion-based capabilities and small white design.

The Daydream is still an Android-based VR system, so it's competing with as opposed to replacing something like the Samsung Gear VR, which is another Android-based VR headset.

Google's foray into virtual reality will likely aim at the lower-end of the market for users who can't afford things like the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive, both of which have been classified as enthusiast VR models.

The one headset that a lot of people are expecting to go mainstream is the PlayStation VR, since it has some of the HD capabilities of the Rift and Vive but at a mere fraction of the cost. It's definitely a higher tier headset than the Gear VR or Google's Cardboard.

Given that Google seems intent on focusing on mobile apps and software for their latest VR endeavors, don't expect the Daydream to rock high-end specs, it appears to be a lot more focused on a small design for casual VR experiences.

Then again, given that Gear VR's smart phone-focused efforts have enabled Samsung to move more than 300,000 units of their headset in Europe, according to Gamasutra, it's not surprising that Google would try to focus their VR efforts on large casual audiences in the mobile market via the Google Play store, as opposed to trying to target the enthusiasts running high-end gaming rigs.

It’s not often that famous animated characters are used to advertise things that aren’t specifically directed at children, but then not everybody does things as well as Homer Simpson. I mean, Homer does a lot of stuff wrong, but I think we can all agree that his Mr. Plow business was great (without that bastard Plow King involved). And Mr. Plow is so great that it was revived for a pretty genius ad for small business promotion on YouTube. Check it out below!

Guys! Don’t go off to YouTube to try and advertise your small business yet! There’s still more story to be read!

The video was put together in association with Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox, and you’ll only be able to see it online, where you would likely already be if you were thinking of ways to get your small business out there in the world. And while there’s nothing necessarily wrong with making a promo with cool graphics and generic people offering up personal testimonies (that may or may not be verifiable), getting something as universally recognizable and beloved as The Simpsons for a spokes-entity is probably the best move possible. It doesn’t matter that Mr. Plow wasn’t actually helped out by YouTube ads, it had jokes!

There aren’t a lot of ways to make business promotion seem like a fun venture, but you have to give it up to them for using “Radius Targeting” as a way to sneak in a Springfield joke. I’d be lying if I said my Radius Targeting material was anything but absolutely absent. There was a missed opportunity to work a sweet Ralph gag in there, as him using a laptop appropriately just doesn’t seem like it’s real, though it was “snow” problem in the end. Get it? Jokes!

Oddly enough, the video comes from a Google business blog, where it’s also stated that other small businesses like the baby-geared Cosatto and the boozy Ole Smoky Moonshine have also used YouTube to connect with customers. Other tips and stats for going this promotional route are listed, but without any licensed characters to make it better.

And now I’m going to have that theme song playing in my head all night. “That name again is Mr. Plow. That name again is Mr. Plow. That name again is Mr. Plow.” YouTube and beer, save me!

With less than a month until Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally brings the beloved franchise back to the silver screen, it’s safe to say that Star Wars fever has a firm Force chokehold on the entire world. From gigantic house decorations to fan edits of the original films, people have done anything and everything to express their love for the iconic sci-fi saga. Now it seems even Internet giant Google is getting in on the action.

IFL Science! has revealed that Google has hidden some pretty awesome Easter eggs within some of the basic programs of their site. One such Easter egg simply requires users to type the iconic words "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" into the Google search bar. Doing this will cause the Google search page to turn into the legendary yellow and black opening exposition crawl that precedes the events of every Star Wars movie.

It has also been revealed that Google has created Google.com/StarWars. This page allows users to choose either the light side or the dark side, and this decision will alter their Google experience. Everyday apps such as Gmail, Google Maps, and others will reflect the moral decision that users made – giving off a Jedi or Sith theme. Google Maps Street View will also put users into the cockpit of an X-Wing if they opt to choose the morally righteous light side of the force. Check out the home page for Google.com/StarWars below.

It seems worth noting that while the dark side is obviously represented by the villainous Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the site uses Rey (Daisey Ridley) to represent the light, possibly indicating that she will be the pure moral compass among the film’s protagonists. Basically, if you’re trying to make sure that every single thing in your digital life is themed after Star Wars, then Google seemingly has you covered. We’re just glad that nobody at Google decided to add a function that would take an assessment of a user’s midichlorian count – because just no.

If you’re anything like the rest of us, then the wait for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is tearing you apart. To get your fix on the galaxy far, far away through the next month, definitely check out some of these Google Star Wars Easter eggs. Star Wars: The Force Awakens will blast into theaters on December 18 – but we would venture to guess that you already knew that.

The biggest battle waged this summer was not the one between Ultron (James Spader) and the Avengers, nor was it the war between Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the Syndicate. Instead, there has been a legal fight going on behind the scenes between the MPAA, the major Hollywood studios and a syndicate of online pirates operating under the umbrellas of the MovieTube banner… and it continues to take several unexpected turns.

In July, according to THR, the Motion Picture Association of America and its members – which includes Paramount, Warner Bros., Fox, Columbia Pictures, Universal and Disney – filed a legal complaint against the mysterious and anonymous operators of the MovieTube websites, trying to prevent them from providing stream-worthy, pirated copies of Hollywood movies like Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron. On a Facebook page associated with the MovieTube sites, the defendants in the suit claimed that they are not a U.S. operation, and therefore are not accountable to U.S. laws.

The MPAA appealing for legal assistance in shutting down the services of Internet pirates sounds like a no brainer. Of course major Hollywood studios would want to block sites from violating copyright laws and illegally streaming films, especially those still in theaters. Except, almost immediately, there was pushback from important corners of the Web. First, according to THR, lawmakers stopped short of fully embracing the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, because of how it might affect other websites that weren’t engaged in pirating content. Then recently, major pushback by Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Twitter triggered the MPAA to withdraw its injunction demand asking the court to force search engines and Internet Service Providers from even listing MovieTube. Instead, they claimed a moral victory, of sorts.  

MPAA representatives explained to MYCE.com that they no longer felt the need to pursue legal action at this time, for a specific reason:

The violating sites reportedly were taken down voluntarily, but the basic concern from Google, Yahoo and other powerhouses still lingers. SOPA and even this injunction to block MovieTube would have created a dangerous legal precedent and a slippery slope of what can and can’t be blocked from the Internet. Because, if the MPAA’s demands were met, references to anything related to MovieTube were to be removed from search engines, social media, and more. And if a policy like this cold be enforced over MovieTube and its network, who’s to say that it couldn’t be enforced over something else deemed controversial next.

You can be sure that this will be an ongoing debate, and we’ll continue to track the progress of this complicated issue as it unfolds.

There are several different schools of thought on how spoilers should be handled on the Internet. There are some who think that no one should ever spoil any TV show or movie ever (which is damned near impossible), some who hold a statute of limitations, and some who just don’t care at all. Well if Google has anything to say about it, you’ll never have to worry about social media spoilers again, thanks to a new system they’re possibly putting together.

Google was awarded a United States patent recently that they want to use to identify and block potential spoilers for net surfers who may not be familiar with the information being shared. How are they going to do something like that? By keeping track of where subjects are in their TV viewing (or other forms of entertainment), presumably through social media itself. Here’s one of the clearest informative sections in the patent, using books as the example.

For instance, if you’re watching a TV show on Netflix – or reading a book on Goodreads, if you insist on adhering to the above passage – and have it linked up with your Facebook account, then Google Spoiler Annihilator (or whatever) will keep a close eye on your progress and will block out any posts on your timeline that contain information about episodes that you haven’t seen yet. So if you’re waiting for The Walking Dead Season 5 to hit Netflix, then you won’t have to worry about reading your friends talking about that time Rick did that thing, unless you privately ask them.

Does this all seem like the most invasive way necessary to avoid spoiling things for yourself? Absolutely. Especially when there’s already an app called Spoiler Shield that allows users to specify which shows, movies, and sporting events that they want to keep hidden from view. There’s nothing to say that Google is definitely bringing this patent to fruition, though. It was first filed in October 2012, and you can bet they’ve been working on it in the meantime; but for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

So, if you still haven’t finished watching Breaking Bad yet, and are saving it for your 80th birthday for some reason, you may soon be able to read about the show without finding out that the entire series was just a daydream Walter White was having while in the teacher’s lounge. Oops.

Google is gearing up to give the folks at Twitch a run for their money. According to an industry insider, plans to relaunch YouTube's livestreaming service have already been set in motion.

The Daily Dot is reporting that YouTube Live, a service that was practically discarded last year, will be dusted off and given a fresh focus: video games. In an interview with The Daily Dot, an unnamed source indicated that Google wants a piece of the eSports pie.

Here's what the insider revealed:

YouTube's live streaming aspirations aren't a secret. The company has been trying to elbow its way into the market since 2010 but never found a widespread audience. Currently, most of the livestreamed events are aimed at niche markets like Indian Premier League Cricket and foreign language newscasts.

Last August, Google and Amazon were reportedly in a bidding war over Twitch, but Google didn't emerge victorious. Amazon's $970 million cash offer was too good to pass up, which meant that Google was forced to shelve its livestreaming plans.

Also, did you catch that? Amazon paid in cash.

According to another Daily Dot source, YouTube believes that now is the perfect time to bring livestreaming back into the forefront:

There aren't many companies that could step up to the plate and actually compete with Twitch, but Google is definitely one of them. Realistically speaking, YouTube is the only name in video sharing, so a livestreaming component would partner quite well. But it's not going to be easy.

Google will need to find a reason to convince gamers to make YouTube their go-to livestreaming service, and established streamers probably aren't going to be interested--unless Google has some wicked tricks up its sleeve.

Plus, Google hasn't been making a lot of friends in the gaming community. For the last couple of years, the company has been cracking down on copyright claims, which is strangling content creators. It wouldn't be a problem if these claims were entirely legitimate. But filing a complaint is ridiculously easy, and many videos are taken down immediately. Channel owners can appeal the takedown, but it's a lengthy process, and the law isn't entirely clear about what should be legal.

So, Google might have some fence mending to do before gamers make the switch. But stranger things have happened.

However, nothing is set in stone right now. Google will reportedly make an official announcement during E3 this summer. So, for the foreseeable future, Twitch will remain king of the hill.

Google's new research project dubbed DeepMind is being used for a variety of things that they can't talk about, but one of the things that they can talk about is DeepMind's affinity for doing exceptionally well at playing video games... even better than humans.

New Scientist has an interesting article up about the news-making phenomenon about an artificial intelligence called DeepMind that can play video games by learning how they operate and then responding accordingly in order to get high scores. So far, the technology has only been successfully used for Atari 2600 games like Breakout, Asteroids and other simplified, pixel-based games from the yesteryears of gaming.

In fact, after 600 games of Breakout, DeepMind finally learned how to “tunnel”, which is to use the ball to break the corners of the stage and have the ball break all the blocks from behind the stage. You can see an example in the video demonstration below.

That's very impressive for an A.I., but it takes humans a lot less than 600 games to pick up on the back-wall trick.

DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis was impressed with the technique nonetheless, saying...

Instantaneously the idea that the A.I., “figured out” how to play Breakout and how to achieve optimal success – in spite of taking 600 games to achieve that success – people began comparing DeepMind to Skynet. Because why not?

In some regards those fears do have some warranted basis, especially considering that DeepMind isn't just designed for games. According to Hassabis...

I imagine DeepMind would have a long way to go before pulling off a Terminator-sized “Judgment Day” event given that it's still taking a while just learn simple, single-plane Atari 2600 titles. Yes, there are a lot of complexities involved with an A.I., to learn to play a game without being taught, but there's a very limited scope of success in many 2D titles, especially the ones on the old Atari.

I'll be impressed when DeepMind graduates to the NES and can beat something like Double Dragon II or Ninja or Rad Racer. I'll elevate that admiration when they can get DeepMind to start playing SNES and Sega Genesis titles – mastering and learning how to organically play Super Mario World, Sonic The Hedgehog or Final Fantasy V. And beyond that, I'll start showing signs of fear and trepidation when DeepMind can master Super Mario 64, Gran Turismo and Katamari Damacy. Once DeepMind can conquer Gran Theft Auto V without dying, I'll be truly terrified.

Goldsmiths' Michael Cook from the University of London is excited about the possibilities of the technology, stating...

I tend to doubt that something as complex and sophisticated as DeepMind would be designed for the sole purpose of playing video games with no monetization in sight, but I'm sure thinking that it's nothing more than a harmless Atari 2600 addict might help some people sleep easier at night.

Racing games like The Crew and Forza Horizon 2 let players explore miles and miles of open road. However, their massive open-world maps pale in comparison to the scope of a new driving simulator that pulls data straight from Google Maps.

The 2D Driving Simulator by Japan-based developer Frame Synthesis lets you drive (nearly) anywhere in the world. After punching in the address, you can start exploring the area from a top-down perspective. The map is created from satellite photos stitched together by Google.

The developers included a few bizarre options to color your experience. For example, you can swap out your car for a bus. If you want to obey traffic laws, you can use turn signals or hazard lights.

The actual driving is really bare-bones, though. Your vehicle picks up speed over time but there's next to no friction, so you slip and slide around like you're playing Watch Dogs. Furthermore, the "world" of the simulator is just a giant flat image. It doesn't differentiate between streets, parks, or even oceans so you can literally drive anywhere. Here's me parked in the middle of Fenway Park:

And here's my reliving my Oregon Trail days by fording the Snake River:

And fighting Noise in Shibuya:

Another flaw is that Google Map's data isn't complete. Some areas of the Earth have vague or nonexistent maps. If you're hoping to do donuts in Antarctica with this simulator, you're bound to be disappointed.

Still, this simulator is a fun diversion for a slow afternoon in spite of its limits. It's a good way to learn your new neighborhood or revisit your hometown.

Still, this simulator is a fun diversion for a slow afternoon in spite of its limits. It's a good way to learn your new neighborhood or revisit your hometown.

This isn't the first time that a developer has used satellite photos for a driving game. Real World Racing generates tracks from across the world using aerial photography. RWR has much more sophisticated mechanics, as it's an actual racing game rather than a driving app. However, the trade-off is that it has a smaller amount of environments for players to explore. I'm hopeful, though, that some day we'll see a full-fledged racing game that spans multiple continents.

Though it was only released last week, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's The Interview actually did manage to make it on to a Top 10 list in 2014 thanks to it's financial success. It turns out that a spokesperson from Google has announced that the comedy was the company's best selling film of the year on their Google Play and YouTube platforms.

While we sadly don't have the numbers for the movie that wound up being placed second on Google's list, Variety notes that The Interview has been performing exceptionally well for a On Demand released film. As we reported this past Sunday, the movie made $15 million from online sales in its first four days, and was purchased or rented an impressive 2 million-plus times. The film is still currently rated the top film on YouTube, though it has fallen behind Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy over on Google Play.

Because big movies being released on VOD is still a rather new concept, it's a bit hard to contextualize exactly what The Interview's ranking means- but it helps to compare the movie's success to some other films that have done well on the platform. In their write-up, Variety notes three other films that also have found success in the online market, including the 2012 Richard Gere-led thriller Arbitrage (which managed to make $14 million); the 2012 Kristen Dunst-led dark comedy Bachelorette (which pulled in $8.2 million) and this year's Chris Evans-starring post-apocalyptic drama Snowpiercer (which has made $7 million).

The VOD numbers may just keep growing also. This past Sunday, a deal was reached with Apple that now sees The Interview available in the iTunes store, which obviously only extends the movie's reach. What remains unclear are the details of the negotiations that Sony made with its online distributors, but the recent trade report says that the percentages of gross are likely very much in the studio's favor (this is apparently a regular thing, rather than being a special situation). It's also worth noting that the controversial comedy has been doing rather well in limited theatrical release as well. Adding to the $15 million total brought in from On Demand sales, the 331 theaters nationwide and showing the film added $2.8 million to the gross.

In The Interview, James Franco and Seth Rogen star as Dave Skylark and Aaron Rapaport, an idiot celebrity journalist and his producer, who get the chance of a lifetime thrown at them when they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) is a big fan of their show. Aaron is able to work out a deal that will see him and Dave travel to the Asian nation for an interview with the fascist leader - but the game changes a bit when the CIA gets word of the situation. The movie is in theaters and On Demand now.

As the most-used website on the internet, Google has a ton of access to information about our society, and by analyzing their numbers can come up with lists of the biggest trends during a certain amount of time. Today they have revealed the top 10 searches when it comes to movies in 2014 – and the results they came up with are pretty surprising.

Posted along with Top 10s in all kinds of other categories – from actors to books to workouts to gifs – the Google trending Top 10 for movies has a good number of titles that make a lot of sense and would understandably generate a lot of searches, but also a ton of picks that come right out of left field. Take a look at the list below!

Is anyone surprised by this? It may not have been released in 2014, but the Frozen phenomenon just won’t quit. It’s all but guaranteed that someone somewhere out there right now is still trying to hit the high notes in "Let It Go."

Christopher Nolan’s big space adventure Interstellar captured a lot of attention throughout the year simply due to its incredibly mysterious nature, and then folks appreciated it heavily as it arrived in theaters this past November.

While Divergent didn’t exactly land with as big a splash as The Hunger Games when it was released earlier this year, you may notice that Mockingjay – Part 1 isn’t on this list. People are definitely curious about this new young-adult franchise, and it’s a good thing considering the sequel, Insurgent, is right around the corner.

David Fincher’s latest had a nice edge thanks to the fact that it was based on a very popular, well-reviewed book that people we’re Googling long before the movie, but it certainly didn’t hurt that Gone Girl wound up being one of the best of the year.

Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor is another movie that was actually officially released in 2013, and while its $149 million global take isn’t incredibly impressive, apparently it got a lot of people heading to Google and doing searches for it.

If you’ll pardon the pun, Godzilla was a monster hit when it was released back in May, and was able to pull in huge numbers despite the fact that it was released during a rather crowded season. Folks are definitely interested in Godzilla, which is good considering the sequel is just a few years away.

Apparently not that many people were Googling about The LEGO Movie - despite the fact that it is one of the year’s biggest hits, but directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller weren’t left totally out in the cold. 22 Jump Street, was not only one of the funniest and most successful comedies of the summer, but one that apparently a lot of people did searches about online.

Apparently it wasn’t enough for Walt Disney Animation to have just the top spot where Google search trends in 2014 are concerned. Big Hero 6 has also proven to be a huge buzz-earner – and that’s despite the fact that we weren’t hearing much about it at all in the first half of the year.

When it came to the box office this October, Annabelle was definitely the Halloween champ, ultimately making a shocking $252 million worldwide on a tiny $6.5 million budget. Apparently these ticket sales led to a good number of Google searches, as it was enough to get the horror film the ninth place spot.

It’s fair to say that Disney won the Google trends award, right? It’s very peculiar that Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t wind up on this list, but Maleficent with Angelina Jolie is the studio’s third ranking title. Disney definitely knows how to drive people to the search bar.

What do you think is the biggest surprise on this list? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Google won't be purchasing Twitch, contrary to rumors. Retail giant Amazon announced today that they've purchased the videogame streaming site for $970 million.

In a letter on Twitch's website, CEO Emmett Shear explained why they decided to become an Amazon subsidiary.

"We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster," Shear said. "We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazon’s support we’ll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch."

Reports earlier this summer said that Google was planning to buy Twitch for $1 billion. There were reportedly several other suitors as well, including Microsoft. However, Shear's letter suggests that Amazon's willingness to let Twitch remain autonomous was a deciding factor.

Twitch has experienced meteoric growth since it was founded in 2011. The website has over 43 million viewers per month as of last year. In February 2014, it became the fourth largest source of peak traffic in the United States behind Netflix, Google and Apple. Twitch has facilitated the service's expansion with streaming apps for iOS, Android, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PS4.

Being part of a larger company will help Twitch continue to grow. The site has struggled in the past with satisfy all the demand for their service, resulting in lag or outages. However, with Amazon's backing have the infrastructure and resources to handle the growing volume of viewers and broadcasters.

Added Shear: "Thank you for putting your faith in us. Thank you for sticking with us through growing pains and stumbles."

There was considerable anxiety about Google purchasing Twitch. Some were worried that the copyright restrictions of Google subsidiary YouTube would be applied to Twitch. Perhaps these concerns were part of the reason that talks ultimately broke down between Google and Twitch.

Amazon's interest in Twitch might surprise some. It shouldn't, though. The company's been making serious forays into the gaming industry in the past few years. They own a network of game studios, including Killer Instinct developer Double Helix. The company also launched the micro-console Fire TV earlier this year.

What do they want with Twitch? Well, it gives the retailer access to millions of dedicated gamers. These gamers are potential customers for the hardware and software offered through Amazon.com. Amazon could use Twitch to directly market their products to these viewers.

Amazon's specific plans for Twitch are unclear, though. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos didn't provide any insight into their plans for Twitch today, instead opting to praise the current state of the company.

"Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month — from The International, to breaking the world record for Mario, to gaming conferences like E3. And, amazingly, Twitch is only three years old,” said Bezos. “Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community.”

What happens when you give a set of old timers the latest and greatest piece of 21st century innovation? The answer may be surprising when you watch this video of baby boomers trying out the new Google Glass. If you are expecting hijinx, old person confusion, and a hint of senility, this is the video for you. I was legitimately surprised at how quickly they adapted though!

While there is the initial goofiness of the elderly not quite knowing how to put on the glasses, they all were able to recognize what it was fairly quickly! My guess is there was a Dateline special on it a couple weeks ago or something. TheFineBros do a decent job of guiding them along the path, but still making them work to get the reactions they were hoping for. Before you know it they’re navigating Google Glass like pros, at least apart from the one who guy "accidentally" went to a porn site.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised with the quickness the elderly in this video adapted to new tech because my grandmas both are pros at Facebook after only a year. I remember the first week one of my grandmas was on the site she wrote a three paragraph post to her sister and then published it as her status! In the time since, though, they've both taken to the technology and started to get the hang of it.

In their lifetime they witnessed a boom of technological innovation where televisions, computers, and phones developed at a rapid rate. My grandma used to tell me about how her house had an extra long phone line that stretched well into the next room for more private conversations, and now she just uses a cell phone as her primary line! So cut an old person some slack because stuff changes rather quickly.

Tech jobs are probably some of the most interesting and the folks who work on and with computers blow my mind with their skills. My girlfriend went to college for both game design and computer repair, and she has even written and created some awesome programs. Unfortunately, she is in a minority in the tech world as girls just don't seem to be able to break into the field. One major company is hoping to change that in the near future.

According to Time, Google has launched an initiative aimed at teaching girls computer coding. The $50 million dollar program hopes to give young ladies the tools to get a job in technology in the future. The search engine giant announced not too long ago that only 17% of their employees are women. It's thought that by 2020, just six years from now, there will be a shortage of one million workers for computing. And unfortunately only 12% of all computer science degrees go to girls.

The program, named Made With Code, has a website where girls can log on and participate in coding projects. Coding is basically how you make a computer or program do what you want it to. The site also features inspirational stories from ladies already breaking ground in the technology field. Google VP Megan Smith stresses that coding will become critical in the future for just about everything and girls need skills to be competitive.

Google also put money into researching why girls don't pursue degrees in computer science in the first place. They learned that most young women decide before leaving high school whether or not they want a computer science degree .They learned that social encouragement plays a huge role in girls choosing degrees in computing. The Made With Code project gives ladies a place to not only learn but feel encouraged and supported to pursue their dreams and talents. I think a lot of the time girls feel scared that they can't do something that seems like it's for boys. With a little bit of encouragement the stigma might disappear and give more ladies a chance. The program also exposes them to things they may have once perceived as boring. Parents can also learn about programs in their area to give their daughters a chance to get even more exposure and build their abilities beyond the website.

The website also lets girls read about successful women in computer science and the tech world. Seeing women doing great things in a field that seems harder for women to break into is definitely a huge motivator. I wish there was a program like this when I was younger so I could have gotten into making games or even creating programs for computers. Hopefully this project and putting coding into classrooms can help girls get educated, have fun and get jobs. I would love to see more women rocking the technology industry and become great innovators. There's no limit to what a girl can do.

Videogame streaming company Twitch may soon become part of the Google family. New reports suggest that Google subsidiary YouTube is about to spend $1 billion on purchasing the upstart company.

Variety, who first broke news of the deal, notes it would be the most significant acquisition in YouTube's history. An official announcement of the purchase is expected soon.

Twitch, also known as Twitch.tv, allows users to broadcast their gaming sessions online. Viewers can leave text comments during the stream that are visible to the broadcasters. Platforms that support streaming include the PC, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox One.

Since launching in 2011, Twitch has grown tremendously. The company says that there are now 45 million unique viewers per month on the site. Twitch is also said to be fourth in peak time traffic in the U.S., behind Google, Netflix, and Apple. In sum, it's an attractive company to own.

While YouTube may have entered an agreement with Twitch to purchase the company, that doesn't mean it's a done deal. Variety notes that U.S. regulators will still have to approve the acquisition. They may feel that the purchase will make YouTube too big and hurt the competitiveness of the online video industry.

The Verge says that YouTube wasn't the only suitor for Twitch. The company was apparently pursued by Microsoft and other unnamed companies. Twitch decided that YouTube would be the best partner to help them deal with their rapid growth. One of the Verge's sources says that Twitch probably would have rejected $1 billion offers from any other suitors.

Some details of the deal haven't been finalized yet. It's unclear how it's going to affect Twitch exactly. Will it remain an independent brand? Or will it be completely absorbed by YouTube?

One big concern is YouTube's enforcement of copyright. Late last year, many YouTube producers' videos were taken down due to tightened restrictions. Twitch users have a right to be concerned that the automated, draconian systems in place at YouTube could be used on their streams as well. If so, we could see some broadcasters bolting to rival video services.

On the plus side, YouTube would be able to help build up Twitch's infrastructure. Twitch has struggled at times to keep up with the growing number of broadcasters and viewers. The service is said to be especially laggy in Europe. YouTube's resources could help ease those growing pains.

Debating the pros and cons might be premature, though. It's worth reiterating that the deal hasn't been finalized or announced yet.

So you’ve been Googling things for a long while now, and you’re sort of wondering what Google thinks of you. Well, thanks to the comic minds at College Humor, a video of Google as a real guy exists. Following up the previous video, the newest “If Google Was Still A Guy” video shows how creepy all of us are.

It’s also hilarious to watch the subtle moment when the father’s using Google after the daughter and autofill finishes his question for him, thus alerting him to the issue at hand. Sometimes the convenience of autofill comes back to haunt you. There was a nice dig at Bing in this second video, although truthfully Bing is doing just fine. It may not have attained status as a common use verb, but Microsoft’s search engine does power Siri’s internet search function on iOS7.

Apparently Google also thinks Google Glass is silly, and wants you to take its doodles seriously. I mean, we’re celebrating the art of Jackson Pollack here! Also, if you were wondering if Google thought your varied porn interests were weird, he does. And, they are. Then again, the internet is for porn. I’m not certain it’s for hentai, but however you get your swerve on I guess. The internet is also for the NSA to spy on U.S. citizens with, everyone take a moment to leave a comment below saying “hey, how are ya?” to our spy overlords.

Check out the original video below for more search engine hilarity.

Google continued its run towards world domination this weekend when it announced its latest acquisition, DeepMind Technologies, an artificial intelligence company. According to the company’s website, DeepMind “combine[s] the best techniques from machine learning and systems neuroscience to build general purpose learning algorithms.” Translation: They are attempting to make robots that think like humans. Good god, haven’t you people seen “Terminator”?

However, to allay any fears of T-1000s one day stalking the planet, destroying everything in their path, Google has set up an ethics board to prevent any malicious intent. According to The Information, the purchase cost Google somewhere in the $500 million range, though the company wouldn’t confirm that number. It reportedly won the deal over Facebook. The acquisition comes only a month after the company bought Boston Dynamics, a start-up that “makes robots that can run faster than Usain Bolt” (sorry for another “Terminator” reference but it’s now impossible to get the image of a Usain Bolt-like robot running after my car while Linda Hamilton shrieks from the passenger seat).

Despite the ethics board, DeepMind’s website is only a placeholder with a few sentences of information, making this whole acquisition less reassuring. Until more information is available, we will have to put our trust in Google that its robotics division––second only to the Pentagon for the biggest names in robots––that these technologies won’t be used for nefarious means. Granted, we’ve already done that, haven’t we?

For a good round-up (plus insight) into Google’s latest acquisition, head here.

Within the last month three huge technology companies have released inspirational ads. Not just tug at the heartstring affairs, either. These are about how technology has affected our world, and our personal lives. There’s nothing new about the idea, as companies often try to get us to believe we need to have whatever gadget or gizmo they’re selling. But it’s refreshing to watch with the realization that while I’m being manipulated, there’s truth to the ideas inherent in each commercial. They do a fine job of letting you know that it’s OK to use technology, and it’s OK to be a connected person.

I understand what these ads are doing with their pandering nature, but what’s so fantastic about each one is how they showcase the world we live in and the way technology is incorporated into life. We live in a time when we’re connected wherever we go, and it’s not the end of civilization. This is the beginning of a new era of increased closeness with our fellow man. The idea that the internet is walling us off from one another is ludicrous. Unless when you were a child - of let’s say the 80s or early 90s - you were talking, connecting, and interacting with thousands of people from every continent face to face, then the only conclusion is that we are better off with the technology that drives our basic human need to be included. To be loved. To share our heart, our verse, and our bravery.

Apple’s 'Your Verse Anthem' iPad Air Ad

Apple’s advertising has always been remarkable. From the revolutionary 1984 Super Bowl ad, to the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC,” they have made a statement. Of course, the company has also been accused of borrowing, and in some cases outright stealing creative ideas, for their advertisements. This latest iPad Air spot takes a new approach to the idea of using Apple products. Let’s take them with us, get out of the home, and make the world we want to live in.

The message of “Your Verse Anthem” is that there is an incredible world out there, and you should enjoy it. In fact, you should enjoy it so much that it’s worth documenting and augmenting utilizing the highly portable iPad Air. The ad is inspirational, and hits on all the right notes. And like many modern ads, it doesn’t necessarily make you think to go out and buy the product. However, you do find yourself appreciating how useful the iPad Air might be as you contemplate what your verse will be in this collective we call humanity.

Microsoft’s Celebrating The Heroic Women Of 2013 Bing Ad

It’s odd that while Apple tends to be accused of creative thievery, when Microsoft tries to be a little more creative than the typical utilitarian ad, they’re panned even more. I myself have been an Apple user for around 5 or more years, and can find no real reason to fault the latest Bing ad. The latest offering from Microsoft, featuring Sara Bareilles’ song “Brave,” shows a mishmash of women and their accomplishments in 2013.

The ad is a bit pandering, but it celebrates women. I’m not totally certain if I’d put Malala Yousafzai and Margaret Thatcher in the same category, unless that category were “People Who Have Lady Parts.” And since airing a lot of online journalists have ripped the ad apart, many claiming they have an issue because it's irrelevant to the product. Yeah, because that perfume/cologne Jean Paul Gaultier ad with the model sailor in an old timey uniform that inexplicably sails up to an emaciated looking woman’s window makes any kind of sense at all. It’s artsy for pretentiousness’ sake, and the Bing ad is pandering inspiration. Why? Because ads are, by their nature, pandering.

Google’s Play Your Heart Out Google Play Ad

Very much like the Apple commercial mentioned prior, Google’s latest ad inspires you to live with the technology. To use it and make it a part of your life. This is the oldest of the ads on this list, having come out in late December, and at the moment people are up in arms with Google’s purchase of Nest Labs. The internet does not currently turn a favorable countenance upon the search engine giant.

Look, we’ve gone over the pandering thing already. This Google Play ad is no different than the others. It tugs at your emotions, it makes you think how special being a Google user is, and it makes you realize that holy shit you can use Google anywhere. At a concert, although probably not a Queen concert headed by Freddie Mercury, you can share the experience with the friend who missed a chance to get tickets. At the movies you can let everyone know that you’re about to endure The Hobbit. You can interact and you can be a part of the world at any time. It’s schlocky, and when you think about what Google’s trying to pull you might groan. The important thing is that the message comes through.

The iPhone is already quite the popular thing around the world. The phone helps to move massive amounts of mobile apps every single month from nearly every corner of the world. Something you may not have known, though, is that Japanese gamers actually spend more money on iPhone apps than American gamers.

According to data from NewZoo, as revealed by CEO and co-founder Peter Warman, the breakdown on market share growth across the app sector took everyone by surprise when it was revealed that Japan has surpassed America in spending money on iPhone game apps.

According to the article...

Interestingly enough, Koreans seem to prefer Google's Android over Apple's iPhone, as more Koreans spend more money on Google's OS and their games from the Google Play Store than they do on Apple's iPhone. Germany and Spain also share Korea's passion for all things Android, as those two countries also show a slant in market share with app spending on Google Play items over iOS apps.

Apple also secures a comfortable lead over its Android rivals thanks to support from China, which has been a key target market for the iPhone brand over the past two years – so much so that they decided to do a simultaneous release of the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in China, as opposed to waiting several months later like they did with the original iPhone 5.

The stats regarding mobile market growth shouldn't be too surprising given that analysts have estimated that mobile gaming has helped move gaming as a pastime into the mainstream arena (though I guess they ignore stuff like The Sims, Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty).

Additional reports also point to mobile apps reaching more than 160 billion app downloads by 2017 and majority of that stake will encroach upon the dedicated portable gaming sector, with analysts estimating that more revenue and gamers will be dedicated to casual mobile devices over portables such as the Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita by the time 2016 rolls around.

Sony's president of studios, Shuhei Yoshida, lamented the incline of mobile app spending overshadowing the presence of dedicated handhelds. PlayStation Lifestyle reported on an interview the gaming guru had with US Gamer, where the question of how badly mobile devices have hurt the dedicated portable gaming arena arose, and Shuhei responded saying...

Given that the Japanese gaming market is all-in on the iPhone, with other territories jumping in on the market share bandwagon, I imagine mobile devices could look like a scary thing for companies still working on proprietary portable hardware. This news rings especially hard considering how strong the Japanese consumer market is when it comes to handheld gaming, and how they're now shifting to mobile gaming.

On the upside for a company like Nintendo, they at least have exclusive software for the 3DS and 2DS to continue to force people to buy the hardware in order to play the software.

(Main image courtesy of Wired)

Ironically, the week that The Internship comes out, a study breaks saying that Google has cracked a code that can measure analytics and predict a film’s opening-weekend box office number with 94% accuracy. The follow up question asked by THR, which has the story, should have been, “Why didn’t you warn Will Smith about After Earth?”

Google has revealed its study, “Quantifying Movie Magic with Google Search,” on a blog post. In the piece the tech company says that they begin studying data four weeks out from a release date, measuring search data regarding the film’s title, trailers, marketing assets, franchise popularity and the season in which the movie is opening. They use all of this to come up with a ballpark opening-weekend figure. Said Andrea Chen, Google’s principal industry analyst for media and entertainment,

Google says that it reached the basics of this formula by analyzing the top 99 movies of 2012. They say that they do not plan to sell the information they gather on upcoming movies, but they are not opposed to sharing the information with studios if it can help them better market their products. If you believe that Google won’t try to make money off of this study and the results it can generate, you are crazy.

Box office predictions aren’t science, which is why most who play the game are right only half of the time. But Google, having its “finger” on the pulse of the Internet, certainly seems like it would have enough data in its system to make feasible guesses on the success or failure rate of a given movie. I really want to know what their data tells them about The Internship, but we’ll know soon enough whether audiences think it’s a two-hour commercial for the tech giant, or a welcome reunion for Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.

“Hold on, hold on,” Tweets IndieWire’s Matt Singer. “There was Google product placement in The Internship? Totally missed that.”

It’s a funny joke, and one being made often lately at the expense of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson’s latest collaboration, The Internship. Mike Ryan of The Huffington Post went so far as to call the film “a two-hour commercial for Google,” summarizing late in his semi-review: “If I pay for a movie, it shouldn't be a two-hour piece of propaganda for a corporation, no matter how ‘neat’ that corporation may be.”

Ryan references blatant product placement in past movies, from Pepsi and Mountain Dew being shoehorned into Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future. But I think what’s happening in The Internship is completely different, and doesn’t deserve the beating it’s getting by select writers turned off by perceived product placement.

The Internship isn’t solely an ad campaign for a popular tech company, but rather an occasionally comical and frequently poignant look at career salesmen who are being told that their professions are outdated, that the world rapidly passed them by simply because they chose a career track that – thanks to advancements in technology – no longer exists. Vaughn and Wilson’s characters sold watches. No one wears a watch today, unless it’s to be ironic. But they aren’t retirement-age guys. These are dudes in their mid-40s who must find something else to do now that the thing they did is done.

That’s a terrifying reality too many people have faced or currently face in our ever-shifting economy. So Vaughn -- who receives both a “Story By” and a co-screenwriting credit on The Internship -- comes up with a high-concept idea, sending two past-their-prime workers to the hub of cutting-edge tech thinking in hopes of landing competitive jobs. And he happened to land Google as a partner on the movie, which from every angle make perfect sense.

"This is not a two-hour commercial for Google. We didn't pay for anything, and we didn't charge for anything," a Google spokesperson told Australia’s Courier Mail. "About two years ago, Vince Vaughn actually came to Google with this idea for a film. They toured the campus, had lunch with 10 people or so, just talking about what it was like to work at Google. [Vaughn] wanted to capture the essence of what Google culture looks like. It was very important for him to get that right."

The authenticity achieved by filming at Google or using their likeness adds another layer to The Internship that would have been comically pathetic if they pretended to get jobs at a company that blatantly was supposed to be Google but wasn’t because they didn’t get the rights. Part of the fun of watching the film is eyeballing the backgrounds of Shawn Levy’s shots to see what kind of creative activity is happening in the Google sequences. Mind you, some of the film was shot in Atlanta on sets that replicated Google’s campus, but the tone of Google’s workplace was conveyed by Vaughn and Levy in a way that benefits the company and the story.

How exactly is Google portrayed in The Internship? Probably exactly as you might have imagined. The campus is a bustling hive of activity, where employees ride colorful bikes, consistently brainstorm on new apps or products, enjoy free food and compete in exaggerated intramural activities. There are lines weaved into the screenplay about Google’s “mission” to make the world a better place … and yes, Vaughn likely added those as a “Thank you” to the corporate giant for helping out on various levels.

Is it product placement, though, if an entire story is set at an actual location? And what product is The Internship supposed to be shilling? Unlike Pepsi, which is referenced in the aforementioned Back to the Future, Gmail and the subsequent Google tools talked about in the comedy are free options. Should Vaughn have turned Google down in an effort to protect his artistic integrity? I think that would have been crazy. I think the ability to use Google helps the story being told in The Internship, because these guys are supposed to compete against the cream-of-the-crop of college graduates looking to break into the tech sect. And where are those kids going to go?

Locations are key in certain comedies. When a filmmaker is able to shoot in them to achieve authenticity, I don’t think it’s product placement – more of a happy marriage between a recognizable brand and a storyteller who needs their assistance to lend credence to the vision. The FBI cooperates with Clint Eastwood when he films J. Edgar. Levy works with the Smithsonian museums while filming scenes for his Night at the Museum sequel. The Miami Dolphins loan Jim Carrey Dan Marino for the first Ace Ventura movie. They are components of the story being told, and different from product placement. Do you agree? Check out The Internship, and decide for yourself.

People like to talk about how technology has left society more disconnected and emotionally unavailable than ever. In some ways, that might be true, but in other ways, technology has actually brought all of us together. Every single day, millions and millions of people look for common ground, advice, clothes, videos, highlights, knowledge and everything else under the sun in Google’s search bar, which gave YouTube user Marius B. a great idea. He decided to plug in the phrase “I’m ____ and” to see how people’s fears, perceptions and dreams change as they age.

He put together the footage into the snappy video embedded above, and not surprisingly, it has raced around the Internet at an incredible rate among people who, judging by the comments, are either touched by some of the issues many of us fret over or freaked out by how worried about pregnancy both middle school girls and sixty-year-old women are. I would definitely put myself in the former camp, especially since I now know everyone else my age is also worried about thinning hair.

The experiment was done on a computer without any cookies. Still, depending on what part of the world one lives in, the search results could be slightly different. Google might not be open about sharing their formulas, but we do know different things are targeted based on location.

People tend to fixate on all the problems with a large company, but there’s something great about the whole world being on the same page. Plus, we could do far worse than a company that gives us doodles.

Coming straight to you from the “Wait, what, really!?” department, Big Blue Bubble has announced the launch of Old School Defense, a tower defense game based on the 2003 Paramount movie starring Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn. You’re my boy, Blue!

According to Big Blue Bubble, this project would not have been possible without the support of their contributors from AppBackr, a crowdfunding network dedicated to, you guessed it, mobile apps.

In the movie, a down-on-his-luck 30-something and his buds try to break up the doldrums of adulthood by starting their very own frat. What better way to recapture your youth than to get fall-down drunk and then, you know, fall down? So of course it makes perfect sense that the game based on the movie would be of the tower defense variety. Wait, what, really!?

“Old School Defense is a humorous pick-up-and-play tower defense game that offers simple to complex gameplay for all ages,” reads a statement from Big Blue Bubble announcing the launch of their game. “Progressing through increasing levels of difficulty, each player is challenged to protect their frat house and beer from Party Crashers and the nefarious Dean by strategically placing pledges and generating resources.”

Oh…Well, that actually makes sense, sore of.

Key features include Pledges with names taken straight from the movie, an upgrade system, the ability to go streaking, levels named after project backers, survival and campaign modes and more than 30 maps packed with different levels of invader waves.

You can grab Old School Defense for $0.99 right now on iTunes or Google Play.

A new promo video for Hothead Games' Big Win Basketball has been released, giving gamers absolutely zero game footage but instead a few laughs and skewed looks in result of the design team collaborating with one of the most bizarre basketball personalities in the history of basketball...Dennis Rodman.

The mobile game has managed to find its way onto Google Play and iTunes, enabling gamers to play their favorite sports team while on the go. The new promotional trailer for the title from Hothead plays for laughs and you can check it out below.

To be completely honest, I have no idea what that really has to do with anything but it was funny nonetheless.

If you're looking for a mobile title that offers up some sports-tastic gameplay and gaming-while-you're-on-the-go you can look to play Big Win Basketball right now for your preferred smartphone device. Need more info? Feel free to visit the Official Website.

There's just one more sleep until Christmas, and in anticipation of the holiday, Google has a new doodle and a Santa Tracker, for those kids (and grown-ups) who want to keep track of the big guy as he makes his way around the world, delivering presents to everyone on his Nice list.

First, the Doodle, which doesn't directly acknowledge Christmas beyond the glimpse of the word Google on what appear to be gift boxes in the background.

It's a colorful image that celebrates toys, which are probably universally adored the world over.

For those with kids or simply an appreciation for Santa Claus, Google has the SantaTracker up and running. It gives us a look at Santa's Dashboard, to show us where he is and check in on his latest status update…

The Dashboard also shows us how far he's traveled, how many presents he's delivered in total so far, and what his next location is.

And you can also check out the map (click the little map icon in the green part in the upper left corner) to see where he's been already.

Much in the way Google Maps function works, you can drag the map around to see the other locations. Clicking the pins on the maps shows us what time he arrived, what the weather was (courtesy of The Weather Channel) and how many presents were delivered to that location. This looks like something fun to check in on for those who need a break from wrapping presents or doing a bit of last minute shopping ahead of tomorrow's big day!

A new digital guide has become fully available for gamers looking to get a good understanding of the game mechanics, characters and all the ins and outs of learning how to become a legitimate awesomenaut at Awesomenauts. The app is available right now for both iPhone and Android users, so there's no mobile discrimination to worry about when using the app.

The app itself comes courtesy of our pals at XBLA Fans, with site owner Ben Fisher stating...

Being officially licensed means that this wasn't some back alley deal that went down involving a small plastic bag and a fistful of dollars. Ronimo standing behind the guide means that you're getting a fully endorsed guide for the game that contains legit info from start to finish.

What's more is that the game was actually played through and through by XBLA Fan's staff. So the added bonus is that it's real gamers providing actual, 100% born and raised information from first-hand gameplay experience. It's none of that manufactured stuff from clone press sheets or that nasty gloop from third-party middlemen who staple and tape together info from various other, less reputable sources.

You can pick up the app right now for your iPhone or your Android phone. Just head on over to the Apple app store or the Google Play store.

Those of us who watched PBS in the 80s likely have fond memories of staring at the TV screen, watching Bob Ross turn a piece of canvas into a gorgeous landscape, talking us through the process with each stroke and making the whole thing seem remarkably easy. Today is Bob Ross' 70th birthday and Google acknowledged the occasion with a happy little doodle!

Bob Ross' PBS series premiered January 11, 1983 and ended May 17, 1994, about a year before he unfortunately died of cancer. While he may have passed away more than a decade ago, those of us who were hypnotized by his painting process likely remember him fondly, so seeing Google's doodle for him today should bring a smile to many a fan's face.

I love how his head is the uppercase G in Google, while the lowercase g has made its way into Bob's painting. But it's the happy squirrel on his shoulder that really brings the piece together and pays tribute to the artist, who was known to describe the things he was painting with words like "happy" or "quiet."

You can find plenty of clips of Ross' PBS show on YouTube. The one below does a nice job of capturing Ross' spirit, if not quite his talent, since we don't get to see the finished piece. One of the fun things about watching him paint was seeing the picture come together. Many times, you couldn't tell what he was really trying to do as he mashed and scraped colors onto his canvas, but eventually, the picture began to emerge and sure enough when he was done, there was a beautiful scene laid out in front of us. If only painting were as easy as he made it look.

"I'm still a Mommy's boy and I really don't care who knows it. She's my favorite lady in the whole world. So, this is her painting. This is for her. And a beautiful lady should have a painting."

How could you not love him?

Happy 70th birthday, Bob Ross!

Google Maps is more than just a great way to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B, it's also a great way to pass the time (or lose an hour without even realizing it) when factoring in the Street View, which allows us to take virtual tour of various places across the world from a ground view. Until now, those street viewers were restricted to land, but it appears Google has plans to change that. Google Maps is headed for the ocean!

Google Maps posted the following video, which announces their partnership with the Catlin Seaview Survey and induces their first underwater Street View collection.

That's right, ocean dwellers! You thought you were safe from Google's prying eye? Think again! The turtle caught on camera in the Great Barrier Reef near Heron Island is my favorite shot from what I've seen so far:

View Larger Map

Makes me think of Finding Nemo's Crush!

Check out more of Google's under-water "Street View" tours here.

With just under a month to go, Ouya, an Android-based home gaming console has surpassed the $4 million mark on Kickstarter (as of the publishing of this article). The initial goal was only $950,000. I guess there are a lot of people out there, 32,062 to be exact, that want something a little different out of their home console gaming experience.

The Ouya is an open-style game console for televisions based on Android's design platform. So if you can make a game for the Android you can make a game for the Ouya. One of the main selling points is that ANYONE can make a game for the Ouya and get it out there. No more retail fees, no more royalty fees, no more massive distribution costs. Effectively, it's a console made for gamers but designed for developers.

I also really love the selling point that hackers are welcome. I nearly chuckled out loud at that statement on the Kickstarter page and when it was mentioned in the promo video, which you can watch below.

Now for everyone thinking "Ohhh, this will murder home console gaming" it's not quite like that. The most core games that will be available from the start are games most mobile gamers will already be familiar with, including Minecraft from Mojang, Shadowgun, and Deadtrigger from Madfinger Games. And speaking of core games...right now the go-to-engine for high-end mobile titles is the Unity Engine, so we can expect to see the Unity tech showcased quite a bit early on in the lifecycle of the Ouya given that most devs don't want to deal with the licensing fees attached to other AAA engines such as the CryEngine and Unreal Engine (although the UDK is still highly supported).

I'm sure the biggest obstacle of the Ouya will be finding a mainstream audience, but assuming that's not the actual goal of the project then I think Ouya will be perfectly fine with a more niche development and support community. I can easily see this becoming the home console rendition of Linux.

The project is also being heavily supported by a lot of indie-devs right now who just want to make and create great games. So even if we're not seeing Uncharted 3 quality titles on the Ouya, you can bet your bottom dollar you'll be seeing plenty of original and creative games nonetheless.

You can donate to the project just for kicks (they've already surpassed their goal by a substantial margin, to say the least) or you can learn more about the open-development platform that could help breathe some new life into the home console arena by visiting the Official Kickstarter Page. You can check out the specs for the console below.

Specifications:

• Tegra3 quad-core processor

• 1GB RAM

• 8GB of internal flash storage

• HDMI connection to the TV, with support for up to 1080p HD

• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n

• Bluetooth LE 4.0

• USB 2.0 (one)

• Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad

• Android 4.0

You just can't keep a good warrior down. That fact is being proven by former free-to-play title, Dragon Age: Legends. Though the successful RPG tie-in adventure game has been nixed from Facebook/Google+ and expelled from EA's own servers, the title lives on as a slightly modified single player experience. And yep, it's still free.

Word went out through the Legends website yesterday that the once great social title would be dying a quick death on the social media scene, but be born anew as a downloadable game for all to enjoy.

Developed by Bioward, Dragon Age: Legends gave players a chance to explore the DA universe in a new 2D perspective with loads of questing and strategic battles. Players could recruit their friends' characters to lend a hand in battle and even spend some of their own moolah to pick up in-game perks.

While the social features are no longer available, everyone can still download the single player version of the game to enjoy hours upon hours of adventuring, killing monsters, looting their bodies and even building your own castle.

Download instructions can be found at the Legends website. All you have to do is install Adobe Air (available on the site), download the game and get to playing.

For those who started their adventure on Facebook or Google+, the post also notes that players will soon be able to download their old characters as a “Saved Game” and pick right back up where they left off. Not too bad, Bioware. Not to bad at all.

Ever since seeing Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, I've wanted to see a movie at the drive-in. I know they still exist, but I've yet to cross that activity off my movie-themed bucket list. In fact, I may make that my mission this summer, especially in light of today's special Google Doodle, which celebrates the "birth" of the drive-in.

R.M. Hillingshead of Camden, New Jersey is the man who birthed the idea of a set-up that allowed people to watch movies from their cars, and brought the concept to fruition with the first drive-in opening in New Jersey on June 6, 1933. The idea apparently didn't really catch on until the late-forties though and the popularity of these theatesr seemed to peak around the 50's and 60's. There aren't as many around out there as there used to be, but they are still out there.

As you may have noticed, if you've visited Google today, to honor the 79th anniversary of the first drive-in movie theater, today's Google page features this adorable little animated video.

Google's known to work their name into their doodles, and this 31-second video was no exception. We found a couple worked in there. Once you've watched the video, take a look at the screenshots below and let us know if we missed any!

The last one's a bit harder to see than the rest, but it's there! And then of course, there was the popcorn. Did we you catch any that we missed?

President Barack Obama might already be campaigning to win Americans’ votes later this year, but apparently, his efforts have recently attracted the attentions of many who can’t participate in the upcoming election: the Chinese. Those who regularly follow the President’s Google+ account may have noticed a remarkable increase in the number of Chinese language comments on his posts the last two days. Apparently, their presence wasn’t an anomaly.

According to the BBC , China’s Great Firewall that previously blocked Google+ was altered on February 20th to allow many residents access. Over the next few days, loads made their way to President Obama’s profile, and an informal sit-in was staged to occupy the page in a tongue-and-cheek reference to the recent American protests.

As of press time, the White House hasn’t commented on all the Chinese feedback they’ve been getting concerning human rights and other issues, but many Americans have reportedly taken to social media to complain about all the foreign language comments they can’t read. Some feel their prevalence has undermined discussion, which is perhaps a fair criticism but probably not a reason to exclude the President from having foreign fans.

More than anything else, this situation is a reminder of how many people there are in China. With almost one billion, four hundred million residents, if even a small percentage of the population gets excited about something, in this case responding to Barack Obama, it can overwhelm comment sections in a hurry.

Today Google confirmed the rumored games service for Google+ today. Starting today you can play a number of high-profile games through the budding social network.

"When you’re ready to play, the Games page is waiting—click the games button at the top of your stream," said Google in today's announcement. "You can see the latest game updates from your circles, browse the invites you’ve received and check out games that people you know have played recently. The Games page is also where your game accomplishments will appear. So you can comfortably share your latest high score—your circles will only see the updates when they’re interested in playing games too."

Google+ will support these sixteen games initially:

• Angry Birds
• Bejeweled blitz
• Bubble Island
• City of Wonder
• Collapse! Blast
• Crime City
• Diamond Dash
• Dragon Age Legends
• Dragons of Atlantis
• Edge World
• Flood-It!
• Monster World
• Sudoku
• Wild Ones
• Zombie Lane
• Zynga Poker

Judging by the games on the list, it seems Google's managed to snag some of the biggest social gaming players out there, such as Rovio, EA, and Zynga. Zynga is the developer of FarmVille, the most popular application on Facebook. Perhaps that game will make its way to Google+ as well.

Google plans to add additional games in the future. In the mean time, they're hoping to get user input on these launch titles. If you get a chance to try them out, send Google your opinions by pressing the "send feedback" button at the bottom-right corner of Google+.