Google Acquires Gecko, Which Did Mechanical Design For The Original FitBit

Google has acquired Gecko Design, a firm operating out of Los Gatos, California, to help with its Google X special projects laboratory. The acquired company has done design work for a number of high-profile clients, including Aliph (Jawbone), Dell, HP, Slingmedia, OLPC and FitBit. It did all of the mechanical design work behind the original activity tracker FitBit debuted at TechCrunch50 in 2008, according to its online portfolio.

Gecko was founded in 1996, and the company has worked together with Yves Béhar's Fuseproject and Frogdesign on past projects, firms which had a hand in the development of some of the most iconic gadgets brought to market in the last decade. Google X is the source of some of Google's most ambitious projects, including Google Glass, its driverless car program, the wide-reaching Internet connectivity project dubbed Loon and its diabetes monitoring contact lenses.

Gecko design gives Google some significant product design chops to help bring new hardware to market, with both manufacturing and industrial design expertise. Early rumors had pegged Google as shopping around for Jawbone or other wearable device makers, but it's possible the company decided instead to target a design partner used by these startups instead of the startups themselves (it's very common for companies, especially young ones, to outsource parts of their product design process).

Google hasn't released any specific details regarding the deal, but we'll be sure to update the post if any are revealed.

Microsoft makes Office for iPhone and Android completely free

Microsoft's Office Mobile apps for Android and iPhone are now
completely free for all home users. The company has done away with
the need for an Office 365 subscription, opening up the full
document viewing and editing capabilities of each app. It's a clever
move that will quickly make Office an essential download for many
users. No one likes making changes to a spreadsheet on a 4-inch
screen, so it makes sense for Microsoft to give the software away in
hopes of steering users to its desktop Office software and the all-
new iPad version — which still requires an annual $99 Office 365
subscription if you want to edit anything.
The free Office apps are intended "for home use" according to
Microsoft's update notes, which implies the company may still plan
to hold businesses to that Office 365 requirement. But realistically
speaking, that would be a difficult model to enforce. As The Next
Web notes , employees can simply install the software on their
personal phones and use it for work purposes. Microsoft is of course
well aware of this, but since the free apps will help push more people
to its cloud services in some way, it's doubtful the company cares all
that much. If you're someone who relies on Office to get critical
tasks done, odds are you'll still be paying for it in some way.

Nokia X 1 million preorders claim disputed

Within just four days after the Nokia X launched, Nokia was seen bragging on its Weibo account about reaching 1 million preorders in China alone. While factually true at face value, there seems to be more afoot than meets the eye, making the claim sound just a tad exaggerated.

After years of belittling its competition, Nokia has strangely decided to release its own custom-made, non-Google-certified Android smartphone. Although the Nokia X and XL are nothing to write home about hardware-wise, the combination of a reputed Nokia build, an Android OS, and a dirt cheap price tag all sum up to one intriguing device.

In China, where the Nokia X has just gone on preorder, Nokia would have as believe that as much as 1 million people have already signified their intention to own one. And indeed, the numbers from JD.com, who was running the pre-orders, attest to that, but even numbers can be deceiving.

Apparently, preordering only involves logging in and hitting the preorder button and nothing else. No down payment or other forms to fill out. Furthermore, JD.com is running a contest where customers could pre-order once for every Nokia X color available, which means at most four preorders per customer. All in all, the theory that any random person would have four entries under his or her belt sounds like a more plausible scenario than having 1 million unique preorders from people who will actually be paying for the device once it hits the market.

Not that the Nokia X is nothing to line up for. It just might not be the market upstart that Nokia wishes us to believe. While it does offer the familiarity of an Android platform paired with the novelty of Nokia's custom interface and apps, Nokia's history with past operating system as well as its relationship with Windows and the Windows Phone OS might make some people think twice about reaching for this odd duck just yet.

Source- liveside.net