While we all wait for more news, both of the official kind and leaks alike, to make its way out of Google I/O 2013, the massive company has decided to make a few preemptive strikes by putting out information on its own. So far, these have mostly been expected bits of news, like updates to its search engine (which does have cool things like voice search and spoken results) and Google+ (which no one cares about, really). A few surprise announcements have come out too though.
Google Play Music All Access launched today as a new monthly music subscription service where you can pay $10 a month to create a radio station based on a song or artist, browse recommendations from Google’s large library of music, store 20,000 songs for free in the cloud, listen to your music anywhere without the need to synch, and maybe best of all, there are no ads. Ten bucks a month too steep for you? Then maybe you can try the free model where you can still store your music in your own locker, access it anywhere, and be free from ads. Try it free for the first month, and if you start your trial by June 30, you end up only paying $8 a month.
Google Maps has been remapped. Besides making Google Maps a fullscreen experience, the maps now have become sort of an A.I. that learns through experience to create customized maps that differ for each user.
Like a friend drawing you a map to her favorite restaurant, with only the roads and landmarks you need to get there, the new Google Maps instantly changes to highlight information that matters most.
And the more you interact with the map, the better it gets. When you set your Home and Work locations, star favorite places, write reviews and share with friends, Google Maps will build even more useful maps with recommendations for places you might enjoy.
Your search results now appear directly on the maps instead of a sidebar, along with reviews and alternate options. The 3D function of Google Earth has also been added to Google Maps, adding more clarity to your search results (and the option to explore underwater in some places).
As more information comes in from Google I/O, we’ll do our best to keep you current with updates.
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