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Google's Hands Free is hoping to make some change at the register. Visual Mozart/ImageZoo/Corbis Pay with your voice.Google on Wednesday released to the public a new app called Hands Free, which lets people pay for items in stores by simply telling the cashier, "I'll pay with Google." But don't tell just any local store owner that this one's on Google then walk out with a Snickers bar. The app, available for Android and Apple phones, is only being piloted in a few locations in the San Francisco area, including some McDonald's and Papa John's restaurants.Hands Free is just one of many experiments that payments and tech companies are trying out to find ways of getting people to pay for their s...

You can now alter the aspect ratio of your images in Google Photos. Google Google Photos users are getting a small batch of new tools. The photos team late Tuesday unveiled new online editing tricks. You can now jump between photos while remaining in editing mode, without losing either changes or the ability to revert to the original. You can also choose a specific aspect ratio for your photos by selecting any of four options: original, square, 16:9 and 4:3. Digital photos have become a central element of people's lives, driven by the convenience of phone cameras and the kick of sharing shots on social media. For those looking to manage and manipulate their images, Google Photos is just one ...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.All your pets are belong to us. Jurvetson; YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET We're slowly preparing ourselves for the coming of the master robots.We have some sense of what they'll look like and how they'll behave. We even make movies about it to prepare those who haven't thought about it yet.But what about dogs? They're far simpler, far more honest than we are. What happens when they're confronted by a robot version of themselves?Here, then, is one little dog who encounters a robodog that's a lot bigger. The robot canine is Spot. It was created by Boston Dynamics, a company owned by Google...

Enlarge Image Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET The hunt for the next US president will take a big step toward becoming a two-person race after Super Tuesday, online-search results say. At least one caucus or primary will be held in each of 12 states, and the team at Microsoft's Bing is among those predicting that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be the big wiers of the day, giving each a leg up on securing the Democr...

Enlarge Image Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET The hunt for the next US president will take a big step toward becoming a two-person race after Super Tuesday, the online-search results say. At least one caucus or primary will be held in 12 states, and the team at Bing is among those predicting that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be the big wiers of the day, giving each a leg up on securing the Democratic and Republi...

Enlarge ImageAtlas loves its box more than anything. Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET Google-owned Boston Dynamics released a video last week of its humanoid Atlas robot performing impressive tasks like opening doors, walking through snow-covered woods and picking up boxes. But all the viewers could talk about was how mean...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.And they lived happily ever after. Android/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET First, Oscars host Chris Rock explained how whites keep down blacks in Hollywood. Then the triple act of rock, paper and scissors explained how bullies keep down victims in schools everywhere. In this case, the victim is a simple piece of paper. I won't dwell on the fact that the paper in the Google ad, which launched during the Oscars broadcast, is white. Instead, I'll note that the ad sought new meaning for Google's Android message of "Be Together, Not The Same." This series of ads has included clear pokes at App...

Brave's logo has made its way into the Apple and Google Play app stores. Brave Software Despite troubles convincing Google that its app is legit, Brave Software's browser is now available to anyone who is sick of aoying mobile ads. Apple added Brave for iPhones and iPads to its app store on Friday, but Google rejected the app twice before publishing Brave for Android devices in the Google Play app store Tuesday night. Google's opposition, which lasted 10 days, was a serious impediment for the software and for the ambitions of Brave CEO Brendan Eich to make a fresh start in the Web browser business. Eich was a Mozilla co-founder who led the Firefox browser project until his controversial depa...

Google-owned Boston Dynamics on Tuesday released a video of its next-generation Atlas humanoid robot that's more than just a demonstration of a remarkably resilient, agile and adaptable robot. It's also a perfect bit of propaganda for a future robot uprising that's suddenly feeling a little more imminent. In the video, the robot opens doors, keeps its balance while breaking through a crust of deep snow and puts 10-pound (4.5 kilogram) boxes on shelves. This is all fine and good, but 90 seconds into the video, the robot's human makers start abusing it with a hockey stick and shoving it in the back so it falls flat on its face. Of course, this is all meant to show how easily the Atlas can adap...

Brave's logo has made its way into the Apple and Google Play app stores. Brave Software Despite troubles convincing Google that its app is legit, Brave Software's browser is now available to anyone who is sick of aoying mobile ads. Apple added Brave for iPhones and iPads to its app store on Friday, but Google rejected the app twice before publishing Brave for Android devices in the Google Play app store Tuesday night. Google's opposition, which lasted 10 days, was a serious impediment for the software and for the ambitions of Brave CEO Brendan Eich to make a fresh start in the Web browser business. Eich was a Mozilla co-founder who led the Firefox browser project until his controversial depa...

Google is helping article pages load faster on smartphones. Google The supermarket checkout line: A prime place to catch up on the news by reading through an article on your smartphone. But not if the story hasn't finished loading by the time you get to the cashier. Yes, it's a trivial problem. But it's still aoying, and it's something Google thinks it can fix. Starting Wednesday, whenever you search for an article or topic on Google using a mobile Web browser, Google will begin to link to Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP for short. The company says AMP pages load four times faster and take up 10 times less wireless data than a regular article page. It does this by loading the elements of an...

Brave Software's logo Brave Software Despite troubles convincing Google that its app is legit, Brave Software's browser is now available to anyone who is sick of aoying mobile ads. Apple added Brave for iPhones and iPads to its app store on Friday, but Google rejected the app twice before publishing Brave for Android devices in the Google Play app store Tuesday night. Google's opposition, which lasted 10 days, was a serious impediment for the software and for the ambitions of Brave CEO Brendan Eich to make a fresh start in the Web browser business. Eich was a Mozilla co-founder who led the Firefox browser project until his controversial departure in 2014. Without easy access to Android, Brav...

Walking through Google's campus on a warm February afteoon, Hiroshi Lockheimer pauses and points to two tourists smiling at their outstretched selfie stick. The world-famous Googleplex is always filled with tourists, who come to gawk and admire the sprawling headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley."Ten years ago, I would have never imagined that," he says laughing, as we pass by. But it's actually kind of his fault that they're even there. Lockheimer is a big part of the reason smartphones are everywhere. For the past decade, he's helped craft Google's Android operating system, now the most popular mobile software on the planet. Five months ago, he became chief of Android, overseeing dev...

Microsoft Translator has adopted a couple of features already available in Google Translate. Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET Microsoft's Translator app has a couple of new tricks up its sleeve to help it better compete with Google Translate.Released Thursday, the version of Microsoft Translator for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch now includes optical character recognition, or OCR. That means it can translate text that's in an image. So, you could use your iPhone to snap a photo of a sign or menu, for instance, and the app would overlay a translation of the text. On-the-go translation via mobile app has been catching on as a helpful service for travelers and others. Google has been the lead...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.Sundar Pichai. Pitching in with comment on Apple's battle. CNET Edward Snowden wanted Google to say something. After Apple CEO Tim Cook had insisted his company intends to fight a court order asking it to hack the iPhone used by one of the San Beardino terrorists, the self-exiled former govement employee offered a sobering tweet."This is the most important tech case in a decade. Silence means @google picked a side, but it's not the public's," he wrote.That silence from Google has now been broken.In a series of tweets, the company's CEO, Sundar Pichai, offered what some saw as support for Cook's posit...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.And you get Ronda Rousey too. SI screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET Female nudity's having a bit of an identity crisis.Playboy has decided it doesn't need it anymore (and advertisers approve). Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated has taken years and years trying to edge ever closer to at least one Playboyesque issue a year -- its swimsuit edition.This ever-popular, ever-chaste oeuvre takes famous models and sportswomen to exotic locations and presents them with very little on. Or very little Vo. This year, skier Lindsey Vo is merely adoed by body paint as she does pull-ups.There is, though, a technological...

H5OS is based on Firefox OS, a project Li Gong championed in his former job as Mozilla's president. Stephen Shankland/CNET Chances are that if you bought a phone today, it would run on Apple's iOS or Google's Android software. That's because when people think of a handset, their minds immediately go to an iPhone or a device made by the likes of Samsung or LG Electronics. But that isn't stopping Acadine Technologies, founded by one of the folks behind the Firefox software, from jumping into the software fray powering not only phones, but drones, medical equipment and more. The Hong Kong-based startup launched a new project on Wednesday that it believes will get you to use something else for a...

Just Google for bananas, ice cream, or hamburger patties. Josh Miller/CNET Google, no longer content simply being the front door of the Inteet, will show up at your actual front door -- with fresh groceries.The Mountain View, Califoia, search giant said Wednesday it is starting a pilot program today in parts of Los Angeles and San Francisco to offer customers same-day deliveries of fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, dairy and frozen foods as part of its Google Express delivery service. The program already offers snacks, cereals, drinks and other non-perishable foods."We've heard your feedback that you'd love for Express to help you check off your entire grocery list," Prabhu Balasubramanian, ...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.Two pianos. Only one plays a real tune. Google/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET Over the years, many brands have tried to insult the Apple's products. Samsung has suggested the iPhone's battery is embarrassing. LG had a laugh at the iPhone 6 Plus allegedly being a touch bendy.Somehow, though, nothing seems to stick. Which doesn't mean they won't stop trying. Google has lately resorted to suggesting that its Android mobile operating system allows for a vast technicolor dreamcoat of colors, choices and togetheess. While Apple users are mere conformists. During Monday night's Grammy Awards ce...

Of all the ways tech companies are guing to drive virtual reality, Google may be working on something no one else has done yet: make the experience self-sufficient.The search giant is developing a stand-alone headset, which would be the first VR goggle that isn't powered by a smartphone, laptop or gaming console, according to a report Thursday by The Wall Street Joual that cited uamed sources.The move would represent a novel approach as a scrum of tech companies, including Facebook, Samsung and HTC, jostle to bring the nascent technology to a mass audience. Facebook's $599 Oculus headset, available starting next month, requires a PC, while the offerings from HTC and Sony are also tied to a P...