Google Glass is Apparently Still Around

Today, in its first update since September 2014, Google Glass got a “MyGlass” companion app update, some bug fixes and now supports Bluetooth. That means the new “XE23” version can now hook up mice, keyboards and other Bluetooth-enabled objects to their Glass device. The app update rolled out yesterday and, in an even bigger surprise, the firmware update for Glass came out today. So, Glass is alive? Well, yes, but it never really died. Despite seeming to go the way of the Dodo (you can’t buy it anymore and Google shut down the website in 2015), it never really left...

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Deliver a seamless online customer experience

You’re a busy support leader with a team to manage and KPIs to meet. Up and to the right is a series that focuses on simple, actionable tips you can use right now to meet your goals. We’ve all experienced that frustrating moment when you’re online and in dire need of help but there isn’t an easy way to get in contact with the company. It might be a “Contact Us” page buried in the page footer, a lengthy form requiring information that the company should already know, or simply an email address with no indication of when you’ll...

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Google Gives $1 Million Donation to Preserve LGBT History of Stonewall Inn

Google is donating $1 million to preserve an oral history of the 1969 Stonewall riots that were the groundbreaking moment for the LGBT rights movement. Sen. Chuck Schumer made the announcement on Sunday that Google.org, the company’s philanthropy branch, is donating the grant to the LGBT Community Center in New York City to start the project. Schumer says the purpose of the project is to spread the word and educate future generations about the Stonewall riots. “The purpose is to spread the word about the Stonewall uprising and the progress we have made as well as the distance we...

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Google Gives $1 Million Donation to Preserve LGBT History of Stonewall Inn

Google is donating $1 million to preserve an oral history of the 1969 Stonewall riots that were the groundbreaking moment for the LGBT rights movement. Sen. Chuck Schumer made the announcement on Sunday that Google.org, the company’s philanthropy branch, is donating the grant to the LGBT Community Center in New York City to start the project. Schumer says the purpose of the project is to spread the word and educate future generations about the Stonewall riots. “The purpose is to spread the word about the Stonewall uprising and the progress we have made as well as the distance we...

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How AI is shaping the latest customer support trends

What does the near future have in store for us? It looks full of self-driving cars, built-in curators for Netflix queues, and homes that know your temperature preferences better than you do. Artificial intelligence is likely to touch on every aspect of our lives, and there’s no telling what crazy innovations we’ll be seeing in the next decade. It’s difficult to be completely certain when it comes to artificial intelligence, but it’s a pretty safe bet that it will change the customer experience as we know it (and likely sooner than later). It’s telling that business leaders are placing...

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Google Hangouts adds iOS CallKit to make & receive calls from Apple’s built-in phone app

Google has updated its Hangouts messaging and voice calling app with support for Apple’s CallKit, the iOS 10 feature that enables VoIP services to use the iPhone’s built-in dialer and phone app to both make and receive calls. Once the new feature is enabled within Hangouts, users can initiate phone calls using the iPhone’s built-in Phone app or with Siri voice commands, and also receive incoming calls form Hangouts using the stock iOS call UI. You can enable CallKit support for Hangouts while navigating to Settings within the app and switch the toggle for “Answer on lock screen.” That will make...

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Live chat vs. phone support

  It goes without saying that today’s customer service tools are not one-size-fits-all. Different communication channels—social, phone, email, chat–offer different benefits to the company and to the customer. When it comes to offering highly personalized, on-demand customer service, live chat and the phone are the most obvious options. Both allow for a close agent-customer connection and both let customers explain a problem or ask a question and receive an immediate response. There are a few key differences between these channels, however, that can impact your team, your customers, and your business. One notable difference between live chat vs. phone...

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Let’s clear the air: mapping our environment for our health

How hot will it be today? What is the traffic for my commute to work? Where’s the nearest grocery store? Every day we use data about the world around us to make decisions. One useful dataset is air pollution data, which contains much-needed information that can help us understand how to live healthier lives, build smarter and more sustainable cities, and reduce climate-changing greenhouse gases in both urban and rural areas. Today, with our partners at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Aclima, we’re sharing the first results of an endeavor we started in 2015: to measure air quality using Aclima equipment mounted on Google Street View cars. You...

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