Google Updates Gmail App With Better Google Drive Integration

While sharing documents and files between Gmail and Google Drive has been a nearly seamless experience on the web for some time, integration between the two apps on the mobile side has been lacking— until now.

Google rolled out an update to Gmail's iOS app Thursday that makes it easier for users to view and share documents and files between Drive and Gmail.

Gmail users on iOS can now view and save files on Google Drive directly from the Gmail app with "Save to Drive" and "Insert from Drive" options. Users can also now edit a file's sharing settings from within the Gmail app.

"The apps will even tell you if your file isn’t shared with the person you’re sending it to so you can change the sharing settings before you send it," Google software engineer, Simon Forsyth, explained in a blog post.

The update also brings new account management options for users who have multiple Gmail accounts. Those who have more than one account can choose which accounts appear within the app while remaining signed into the account elsewhere on their device.

Gmail's settings menu has also been tweaked so users can swap out their profile photo from within the app. The updated iOS app is available in the App Store. A similar update rolled out to Gmail's Android users earlier this month.

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Nokia and Microsoft May Be Working on an Android-Powered Lumia

Microsoft's next Lumia smartphone could be an Android.

While the two have previously released Android-powered devices, notably the Nokia X, the non-Windows Phone version of its flagship Lumia line would be a first for Nokia.

The new Lumia will supposedly be released under the Nokia by Microsoft brand, according to evleaks, which reported the rumor. The Twitter account, which has proved spot-on in past leaks, previously reported Microsoft would eventually rebrand all of Nokia's Windows Phone devices as "Nokia by Microsoft."

It's not clear whether the rumored handset would run a full version of Android or follow the same model as Nokia's X line, which are Android-powered but don't rely on Google services like the Play Store. Instead, the devices offer a selection popular Android apps through third-party app stores, along with the Nokia Store, similar to the approach Amazon took with its Android-powered Fire tablets.

The company recently added a new low-cost smartphone to the Nokia X lineup, the Nokia X2, slated to hit shelves later this month. Microsoft has used its Nokia X devices to lure feature phone owners in emerging markets.

Nokia was already one of Microsoft's closest partners for mobile when the Redmond-based company officially acquired Nokia's Devices and Services business in 2013 for $7.2 billion.

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You Can Now Access Gmail in 71 Languages

Google is adding 13 additional languages to Gmail, bringing its total language count to 71, the company announced on Monday.

Gmail — which now covers languages spoken by 94% of the world's Internet population — can now be formatted to Afrikaans, Armenian, Azerbaijani (Azeri), Chinese (Hong Kong), French (Canada), Galician, Georgian, Khmer, Lao, Mongolian, Nepali, Sinhala and Zulu.

Users can switch to any one of the 71 languages, regardless of where they live. For example, if you're trying to learn Spanish or want to brush up on your Canadian French, Gmail lets you make the change.

To do so, visit the Settings option in Gmail and it's the first option under the "General" tab.

Google representatives said in a blog post that the company worked closely with linguists to make sure the tone and style for the additional languages were on point — all languages have their own nuances.

"For example, both Hong Kong and Taiwan use traditional Chinese characters," the blog post reads. "However, you’ll notice that Gmail’s new Chinese (Hong Kong) language uses 收件箱 for “Inbox” instead of 收件匣, which is a word more common in Taiwan."

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Military Researchers Design Real-life 'Transformer' Plane

UK aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems have taken the wraps off several concepts it envisions as possible tools for the military in the decades to come — and if these designs are any guide, future battlefields are going to look like the set of a science fiction movie.

The most interesting of the concepts is called the Transformer, a stealth aircraft that's actually composed of three airplanes — a large, diamond-shaped model, and two smaller flanking planes.

The Transformer is theoretically capable of longer flights that conserve fuel by reducing overall aerodynamic drag.

Right now, the most common aerial refueling techniques are the probe-and-drogue and the boom method, both of which require the delicate mid-air synchronization of separate aircraft. The Transformer would conceivably make the prospect of longer missions easier by requiring fewer mid-air fueling runs.

Alongside the Transformer, the firm also unveiled several other concept vehicles, including a self-healing aircraft called the Survivor (see video above). This plane repairs its exterior in mid-flight using a lightweight adhesive fluid within a pattern of carbon nanotubes.

BAE's concept videos also include an aircraft capable of shooting a concentrated energy beam to disable missiles as well as an aircraft (see video below) with the ability to fabricate and deploy UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) using on-board 3D printers.

But while BAE's advanced research group is known for coming up with fascinating innovations, the company is careful to mention that the concepts are mere predictions of what might be possible by 2040.

"[W]e don't know exactly what sorts of aircraft technologies will be used in 2040 with any certainty," said Nick Colosimo, an engineering manager from BAE's R&D team, in a statement. "But it's great to be able to show the public some concepts that might be possible through projecting where today’s technology could get to."

Image:youtube BAE SYSTEM

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Researchers Create Walking Bio-Bots That Are Powered by Muscle

Researchers at the University of Illinois are developing what they call “bio-bots," or machines that combine synthetic 3D-printed frameworks with biological muscle tissue.

When the muscle fibers are jolted with electricity, they contract. Those muscles are attached to 3D-printed "bones," which are flexible enough to bend under the strain, and the result is forward motion. Scientists can control the speed of each bot by varying the frequency of electric pulses.

Researchers here have worked on similar projects before. A walking bio-bot in 2012 used rat heart cells to provide motion. However, the heart cells were "always on"; researchers couldn’t control when they fired.

The new version solves that problem.

“Skeletal muscles cells are very attractive because you can pace them using external signals,” head researcher Rashid Bashir said. “We want to have different options that could be used by engineers to design these things.”

The Illinois group envisions bio-bots that act as surgical aids or drug delivery vehicles, perhaps even with their own neurons so they can recognize and respond to light or chemical stimuli.

The team’s findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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'Smart Glass' Could Produce DSLR-Quality Smartphone Photos

Newly developed "smart glass" technology that mimics the shutter capabilities of a traditional camera could improve the pictures you snap on your smartphone. Researchers in Germany have developed a camera component for smartphones that helps adjust light, exposure and focus.

Traditional cameras have what photographers refer to as an aperture — overlapping blades around the inside of a lens that move mechanically to change the size and focus of the lens. The aperture is sometimes referred to as an "iris." Much like the iris of the human eye, it controls how much light enters the mechanism, which affects the image that is eventually produced. When it comes to cameras, the amount of light that touches the camera's sensors affect the overall focus of the picture you take.

Because of their size, smartphone cameras currently don’t have aperture mechanisms. "There is no technology today that can realize an iris aperture for smartphone cameras," said Tobias Deutschmann, physicist at the Technische Universitaet Kaiserslautern in Germany and lead-author of the study.

As a result, camera phone pictures won’t have the same quality or focus as pictures taken by a DSLR camera, for instance.

"The [smartphone] cameras would benefit from an iris, because it allows [the camera] to change the depth of focus, which is not possible right now, and would further close the gap in functionality between smartphone cameras and conventional digital cameras," Deutschmann told Live Science. "In addition it would be an option to create larger optics for the smartphones to increase the picture quality in bad light situations, like at night, while the iris would decrease the amount of light that reaches the sensor in bright environments."

Deutschmann and his colleagues developed a mechanism to make up for the need for better focus — a "micro-iris." The thin device, made of electrochromic material sometimes referred to as "smart glass," can be placed on the smartphone camera lens. Electrochromic material controls how much light passes through itself by changing its transparency in response to light or heat. Smart glass has been used in sunroofs, windows and skylights, and the material changes in opacity from transparent to translucent when heated or when voltage is applied to it.

In rearview mirrors, smart glass tints the mirror to reduce light glare. In architecture, smart glass is being employed in buildings as a way to cut energy costs, Green Tech Media reports.

But in smartphone cameras, the smart glass in the micro-iris could function as an aperture — it can adjust how much light enters the camera, preventing too much exposure and helping to focus the image. The micro-iris is also incredibly low-powered, requiring only 1.5 volts of electricity, which means handheld smartphones are well-suited to handle it, the researchers said.

Deutschmann said the smart glass is still in its early stages of development, which means the idea works in principle but isn’t quite ready for commercial products just yet. Future research will look at how well electrochromic materials can control camera focus — an important parameter that will determine whether smart glass will be a key feature for next-generation smartphones.

This article originally published at LiveScience.

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Zappos Launches Native Windows Phone App

You can now add Zappos to the list of companies slowly making their way to Windows Phone.

The Las Vegas-based retailer launched its first Windows Phone app Tuesday. Zappos developed the app through a partnership with Microsoft.

Unlike some Windows Phone apps — such as the one recently launched for Pinterest — Zappos' app is a true native app, and not just a shortcut to its mobile site.

"Windows Phone doesn't have a lot of native apps," Aki Iida, Zappos' head of mobile, told. "When you build web apps, one of the main challenges that you have is you have to build the same experience for all devices. With native experience, you can build technology that allows you to make all the transitions much smoother and easier."

The Windows Phone app has the same basic functionality as Zappos' existing iOS and Android offerings, including free shipping on all orders placed through the app. However, it has fewer features overall. For example, the Windows Phone app doesn't allow users to initiate returns, track orders or manage their account information.

This highlights a much bigger problem with the Windows Phone platform. Companies are often reluctant to spend the time and resources developing native Windows Phone apps, and even when they do — as we've seen recently with Pinterest, Spotify and Instagram, which is still in beta more than a year after its launch — the apps are rarely on par with their iOS and Android counterparts.

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Samsung Announces New 85-Inch UHD TV and Curved Sets

Samsung announced three new UHD televisions on Tuesday, including two curved sets and a monstrous $10,000 addition to its HU8550 series.

At a whopping 85 inches, the new TV is the largest set in Samsung's HU8550 lineup, though it's not the company's largest UHD TV, which is 110 inches. The television will sell for $10,000 when it becomes available later this month.

The two new curved sets — part of Samsung's new HU7250 lineup — come in more manageable 55- and 65-inch varieties, and will retail for $2,200 and $3,300, respectively, when they hit stores in August. The new curved offerings are powered by a quad-core processor, and include Samsung's UHD Dimming feature, which adjusts the display's brightness and contrast. They also have the ability to display content from four different sources onscreen, simultaneously.

Finally, Samsung announced its new HU6950 series, new flat screens meant to be more affordable UHD TV offerings. The sets come with some of the same features as Samsung's flagships, including UHD Dimming, UHD Upscaling and multiscreen capabilities. The HU6950 lineup come in 40-, 50- and 55-inch options, and will cost between $1,000 and $2,000.

Image: Samsung

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Google Is Getting Into Domains. Should GoDaddy Worry?

Watch out, GoDaddy. Google is making moves on your turf.

It looks like the search giant is getting into the domain registrar business; Google has a "beta" site available at domains.google.com.

The service is invite-only for now, but it looks like it will provide a bevy of features typically found on registrars such as GoDaddy, Namecheap and Hover.

Google Domains boasts free private registrations, 10 million resolutions per year on Google's DNS servers, branded email that forwards to an existing mail account (not to be confused with Google Apps domain support) and domain forwarding. Google says it will support a variety of different gTLDs (generic top level domains), including offerings such as .photography and .guru that are rolling out over the next few months.

Google will also offer easy-access to additional site-building services from Squarespace, Shopify, Wix and Weebly for an additional fee for users that want an all-in-one approach to building out a website.

Google Domains isn't Google's first foray into the domain space. Longtime users may remember that Google previously offered the ability to purchase a domain through eNom or GoDaddy. But this time, it appears Google will actually be the registrar.

The company will even offer phone support. (Yes, we took a double take at the idea of Google offering phone support for anything, too.)

Domain registration is a heavily commoditized market. Most registrars are about the same price ($10 to $12 for a .com domain).If Google is charging $12 a year including private registration, that's about the same as what Namecheap charges, with its Whois Guard service as an add-on.

That said, the domain market is about to get a lot more interesting as a new wave of TLDs rolls out this year and next year. There are already significant differences in pricing for certain TLDs.

Across three different registrars (including two owned by the same parent company), the pricing gamut ran from $24.99 to $39.99 to register a .wtf domain when that TLD becomes available in August.

Google definitely has the revenue to undercut competitors by a significant degree, much as GoDaddy did in the mid 2000s. The search giant already offers a variety of developer-facing web services, similar (though less popular, perhaps) to Amazon Web Services. If the company is willing to make the right investments into more commoditized hosting services for "regular" users, it certainly has what it takes to take on incumbents such as GoDaddy.

Plus, if Google does want to get active in the domain business, it has a significant advantage over every other player in the ecosystem: Control of the search results on Google.com.

Google Domains is in invite-only mode right now.

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China Has the Fastest Supercomputer in the World — Again

Zipping along at 33.86 petaflops (quadrillions of calculations per second), China's Tianhe-2 is the world's fastest computer for the third year in a row, according to Top500, a twice yearly compilation of the fastest computers on Earth.

The results were announced on Monday at the International Supercomputing Conference in Leipzig, Germany.

The Tianhe-2 was developed by China's National University of Defense Technology. Its predecessor, the Tianhe-1A, held the top spot on the supercomputer list in 2010. Top500 organizers note that the top 10 supercomputers are mostly unchanged from the last list, with the exception of a Cray XC30 computer, which is "installed at an undisclosed U.S. government site," according to a release on the Top500.org site.

Overall, the United States has by far the most supercomputers out of the top 500 systems, with China in a distant second; the UK, France and Germany lag far behind.

Supercomputers are not like the computers you use at home or in the office; they're not even much like the servers you’ll find in the office basement. They’re comprised of thousands of nodes and designed for crunching data and solving very difficult problems — in other words, research and development. That's why you'll find them hidden away at military facilities and laboratories.

Top500 notes that the rate of performance growth for the entire list is slowing down. Performance at the low end of the list typically grew at 90% year-over-year, but has now dropped to a 55% growth rate. Part of this deceleration is attributed to the dearth of new systems at the top. Despite that lack of change, these supercomputers will get more super. Tianhe-2 is projected to reach 100 petaflops by 2018.

Of the 500 systems on the list, 37 offer performance above the 1 petaflops range, nearly all of them use multicore processors, and 85% of them are running Intel processors. As for the systems themselves, 36% are built by HP and 33% by IBM. Cray builds 10%.

This is the 21st year that organizers in Germany and the United States have compiled the list.

The computer scientists measure system performance with the Linpack Benchmark, which is used in each system to solve "a dense set of equations." The benchmark is not a measure of the system's overall performance, but rather its performance on that task. Top500 organizers insist that no single benchmark can effectively measure the overall performance of a given system.

IMAGE: IMAGINECHINA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Smart Soccer Ball Brings Tech to the World Cup

Whether you’re on the field or spectating from thousands of miles away, there’s no escaping the impact of technology on this year's World Cup.

In our latest Mobile Minute video, we take a look at the big tech players - from smart soccer balls to smartwatches that track goals.

The Adidas miCoach Smart Ball lets you feel like a champ at home, helping you perfect your passes, headers, corners and penalty kicks in time for the next games.

For the brave souls officiating each game, there's Goal Control, a camera-powered smartwatch that vibrates when the ball crosses a goal.

And for those who want to get in the action at home, there are plenty of ways to stay connected to the game thanks to a variety of apps.

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Glance Turns Almost Any Wrist Gear Into a Smart Device

It's not a smartwatch, but it's pretty dang close.

Glance is a wristband prototype accessory that can effectively turn a regular watch into a smartwatch. Designed by Kiwi Wearables, a startup based out of Toronto, Canada, Glance can be tucked in behind a regular watch band and synced with a smartphone.

The device can alert the wearer to incoming calls or text messages, track movement and be used as a remote control for a smart TV, according to the device's Kickstarter page.

Unlike many smartphones, which can only survive a few hours of optimum use before needing juice, Glance's designers created it to last for a week without charging. When its power is low, the Glance's battery can easily be recharged via its USB port, just like any other mobile device.

Glance also uses a 3D motion detector to measure movement. For example, it can tell how many steps you've taken or how many miles you've biked. It also has the added benefit of being waterproof.

The team behind Glance is looking to raise $150,000 by July 3 to fund the project. So far, they have nearly 500 contributors who have collectively put up just over $41,000.

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iTunes and App Store Return After Brief Outage

Apple's App Store, iTunes Store and Apple TV services are back up and running, following a brief outage Thursday afternoon.

These services experienced a disruption that made the App Store, iTunes Store and some Apple TV features inaccessible to some users.

An Apple spokesperson confirmed the issue was resolved as of 4 p.m. ET but did not elaborate on the source of the outage but 9to5Mac reported it was caused by "service issues."

iTunes first began experiencing issues at 1:56 p.m ET, according to downdetector.com, which tracks service disruptions of various platforms. The outage appears to have affected users in the US and Europe.

Image: DOWNDETCTOR.COM

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Google Launches New Platform to Connect Businesses With Customers

Google wants to create a better business directory and, this time, they mean business.

On Thursday the tech giant launched Google My Business, a one-stop way for merchants to manage their presence on a variety of the company's properties including search, maps and Google+.

Business owners that had been using Places for Business or Google+ will be transitioned to the new platform. There is also an Android app that can be used to manage business information and respond to customer reviews.

"The Internet is connecting more businesses with their people every day. However, our users tell us that finding these loyal customers can be complex and time-consuming. We believe it shouldn’t be," Google posted in a blog entry.

Google lauds the program as a way for businesses to better understand their customers and cater to their needs. The new system will integrate with Google's AdWords platform and provide businesses with data about customers and engagement.

The program is a simple way for Google to compile accurate business information that its various properties can then use to improve its other properties. Having a directory of accurate and easily referenced business data should be particularly helpful for mobile and contextual search, which heavily relies on combining user data with search results to provide better results.

Users already tend to ignore search results past the first few items. One study found that the first three returns of a search receive about 60% of the traffic.

Mobile search is an important part of the future for Google, which made its name as a search engine. Desktop search is expected to decline as mobile search grows — a trend that has already had an impact on Google's revenue.

Google isn't the only tech company to try to embrace businesses. Yahoo has also made moves to bolster its mobile search offering, partnering with Yelp to provide information that will be similar to the data compiled by Google My Business.

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Nex Band Is a Wearable Device Complete With Modular Charms

Charm bracelets aren't just for kids anymore.

NEX Band is a customizable wearable device for adults that allows the wearer to add charms or “Mods," each with a unique set of features.

"It's a disruptive concept because it gives power to the consumer to customize their bands on the inside and out at a fraction of the cost," Adam Adelman, CEO and co-founder of Mighty Cast, the company producing NEX Band, told.

While most wearable devices focus on a single niche use, the NEX Band includes five different modifications including giving the wearer the ability to track their fitness or send coded messages to other NEX users. Some Mods may also function as stand-alone fashion statement pieces.

Each of the multi-colored LED Mods can send notifications, be exchanged with other users and managed with the NEX mobile app. The company uses its patent-pending "Base and Token" technology to connect the Mods to a cloud system to update any information in real-time. "In essence, we're a Pandora charm bracelet 2.0," says Adelman.

Beginning May 13, SDKs, APIs and emulators will be available for developers to use to "create Mods for The NEX band and/or use the technology to adapt the base and token concept to other form factors outside of wearables and into the Internet of Things," said the company in a press release.

The NEX Band itself is Bluetooth enabled and iOS and Android compatible.

Similar to Google’s Project Ara smartphone, Mighty Cast believes modular tech is the next level of technology. So if a developer wanted to create a Mod that requires hardware inside the Mod, Mighty Cast claims it's possible.

"The NEX Band is set to disrupt the wearable space, giving power to the consumer to customize their user experience, not lock themselves into one application,” says Adelman.

The NEX Bands are currently available at a pre-order amount of $49.99 — half off its expected price of $99.99 — with the next batch shipping in the fall.

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Japan Lets You Use Your Passport to Get Free Wi-Fi

Although Japan is renowned for having some of the best customer service on the planet, for various reasons, including language and cultural hurdles, it isn't known as the most tourist-friendly destination.

Some of those hurdles also extend into the tech arena, namely, Wi-Fi. Although sidling up to a café in Europe or North America and grabbing a bit of free Wi-Fi for your mobile device is common, finding such wireless access in tech-centric Japan's major cities remains notoriously difficult. But that's about to change.

A new program launched by NTT (Japan's largest telecom), is designed to serve foreign tourists on the hunt for Wi-Fi. For those who haven't traveled to Japan, the program might seem behind the times, but for anyone familiar with attempting to find Wi-Fi in Japan, this is huge news. (YouTube is littered with video commentary from frustrated travelers marveling at the lack of Wi-Fi access in such a technologically advanced country as Japan.)

Now, when a traveler arrives at a Japanese airport, they can present their passport and register for a Wi-Fi card that offers free Wi-Fi coverage via 45,000 hot spots in the eastern Japan area including Tokyo, Hakone, Mt. Fuji, Yokohama, Nagano, Nikko, Kusatsu, Tohoku, Hokkaido and Fukushima.

Additionally, a traveler outside of the country preparing to visit Japan can download the iOS or Android version of the NAVITIME for Japan Travel app and obtain an ID and password beforehand. The app also offers an augmented reality mode that shows you a Street View-style image of the location where an available Wi-Fi hotspot is located.

However, the access only lasts for 14 days (or 336 hours), just enough to get you used to the free access, but not long enough to be truly useful for anyone planning an extended stay in Japan.

According to the Nikkei, the program is also being directed by the Japanese government, which plans to use the initiative to get more buildings in the country to offer Wi-Fi access.

The trial program, which began earlier this year, will last until September 2014.

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Canon's Irista Is Flickr Without the Cool Features

Canon has entered the cloud-based storage arena, albeit a bit late.

Previously marketed only in Europe as a beta program under the name Project1709, irista is the photo company's first foray into the storage universe, which has long been dominated by platforms like Google Drive and iCloud.

The platform offers users up to 10GB of free storage space. In comparison, photo-sharing site Flickr provides more than 100 times that amount with room for 1,000GB worth of photos per user, according to its website. File-saving site Dropbox comes in last with only 2GB.

Interestingly, irista does not have its own sharing area. Rather, it allows users to share photos via Flickr and Facebook.

Similar to Flickr but unlike generic sites such as Dropbox, irista's focus is solely on photos. It does not store items like documents and apps. Additionally, irista appears primitive in its lack of editing and filter options, such as those offered by Flickr and Instagram.

irista is now accessible via its new website, irista.com.

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Motorola Slashes $100 Off Its Moto X Smartphone for 48 Hours

Motorola is knocking $100 off the price of its Moto X smartphone for just 48 hours.

The company announced the deal on Twitter Tuesday night, but it's applicable to only those in the U.S.

The sale, which began at 12 a.m. Wednesday and will run through 11:59 p.m. Thursday, is good for the 32GB Moto X and its Developer Edition the latter comes with a woven white design on the back.

There's no contract attached to the discount.

Typically, the Moto X costs around $349, according to Motorola's website, so $249 for a no-strings-attached upgrade is a pretty good deal.

The user also has the ability to custom design his or her own phone, choosing from a selection of body and accent colors. It's possible to inscribe a personal message or name on the back of the device too.

The sale comes one day after Motorola announced it is bringing the Android 4.43 KitKat operating system to more Moto devices. The software comes with a better camera and a cleaner interface.

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LG G3 Specs Leak Ahead of Release: QuadHD Display, 13MP Camera

The LG G3 is set to be launched on Tuesday, May 27, but some of LG's international websites have killed the suspense by publishing the device's specifications a day early.

Droid Life has the details (coming from LG's Dutch site), and they're as expected: the LG G3 will feature a QuadHD (2560x1440 pixels), 5.5-inch display — the first high-profile Android phone to do so.

We also know the G3 will have a 13-megapixel rear camera, 2GB of RAM, a Snapdragon 801 processor, 16GB of storage (expandable via microSD memory cards), and a 3,000mAh battery.

Other features of note include a 2.1-megapixel front camera, "lightweight metallic design," wireless charging support and a 1W speaker.

We'll follow up after the device's official unveiling later today.

Image: LG

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Google Unveils Self-Driving Car Prototype

Google has been building self-driving cars for years, but what we've seen so far has always been retrofits of existing cars — until now. The search giant unveiled on Tuesday a fully autonomous self-driving car, built from the ground up by Google and its partners.

Company co-founder Sergey Brin revealed his plans at Recode's Code Conference in southern California. He told Recode editors Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher (who has ridden in the car), that there's a safety benefit in a custom-built self-driving car. Because the car doesn't have a steering wheel, accelerator or brakes, it has more sensors in strategic spots than is possible in a regular vehicle. It is also equipped with a big "stop" button. In addition to all this tech, Google's autonomous car includes internal power steering and power brakes.

"It was inspiring to start with a blank sheet of paper and ask, 'What should be different about this kind of vehicle?'" Chris Urmson, director of the Self-Driving Car Project, wrote in a blog post about the new car.

Swisher said riding in the all-electric car was like going on a Disney ride. Considering it currently has a maximum speed of roughly 25 mph, this makes sense. Brin described riding in the car, which in one test was programmed via smartphone, as "relaxing," and similar to catching a chairlift. He added that the car will eventually go up to 100 mph once it's proven to be able to travel safely at that speed.

As for when the cars — which are significantly smaller than traditional cars and include couch-like seating — might actually make it to real highways, Brin said Google will soon test them with drivers. "Within a couple of years, we'll — if we’ve passed the safety metrics we've put in place, which is to be significantly safer than a human driver ... have them on the road," he said.

Image: GOOGLE

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