GOOGLE BUYS SOFTCARD

Google is in talks to buy mobile-payments company Softcard, technology news website TechCrunch reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal could help pair Google with the largest U.S. wireless carriers to battle Apple Inc and its new Apple Pay service,
TechCrunch wrote.
The deal may be valued below $100
million, the report said citing sources. Softcard is jointly owned by AT&T Inc, Verizon Communication Inc’s Verizon Wireless Inc and T-Mobile US Inc. Google was not immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business
hours. “We do not comment on merger speculation,” said a Softcard representative. It’s a good time to be a startup with a great idea, or actual great products. Companies are paying more attention and cash than ever to acquire new talent and technology to gain an upper hand in the cut-throat innovation-driven industry. Any one thing could be the next big cash cow and no one wants to miss out. Google along with Facebook, Yahoo and others was on a shopping spree last year. Take a
quick look at its acquisitions down

It’s a good time to be a startup with a great idea, or actual great products. Companies are paying more attention and cash than ever to acquire new talent and technology to gain an upper hand in the cut-throat innovation-driven industry. Any one thing could be the next big cash cow and no one wants to miss out.
At the forefront are the likes of Google, Yahoo, Apple and Facebook. While Facebook kickstarted the year with the massive WhatsApp acquisition, Google has been smartly picking companies regularly to spruce up its existing resources and get newer projects going. This year, the search giant has been on a massive buying spree with several acquisitions in fields as diverse
as home automation and space travel. Let’s take a look at them one by one.
Emu
Google’s latest acquisition is Emu – a messaging app that comes with a built-in virtual assistant created by a veteran of Apple’s Siri team. Google plans to shut down Emu on August 25 and the app will no longer be available to its existing
users. Google’s this acquisition aims at sprucing up Hang0uts that the company has turned into its communication hub. Emu has a built in system that monitors chats and infers what people are talking about. This could help Google insert relevant ad links. However, we also cannot rule out the possibility that Google may simply use this newly acquired technology to snoop on your chats and also Android
devices. Google can now snoop on your chats Directr In a move believed to give a boost to its advertising efforts, Google has disclosed that its YouTube unit has acquired Directr, a video-editing startup. Directr is a mobile app that helps small businesses create
marketing videos. No financial terms have been disclosed. Directr is available for personal as well as business use. Though the personal edition was free but the app charged 99 cents to download a finished
video. The business version was priced at $250-$500 a year, depending on features a user needs. However, all its variants will be
available for free on completion of the acquisition.
Dropcam
Google’s Nest Labs will buy home-
monitoring camera startup Dropcam for about $555 million in cash. Dropcam is best known for its cloud-connected security camera that saves the footage to a
cloud service, allowing users to check the recording anytime, anywhere, on compatible devices. Last year, the startup raised $30
million. Google’s move is eventually about diving deeper into home security, along with its Nest purchase.
Nest Labs
Google started the year by acquiring Nest Labs, the makers of the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Protect smoke detector. The deal was signed for a whopping $3.2 billion, and the amount was paid by Google completely in cash. Nest Labs has been a prime player when it has come to the “Internet of things” niche and this will only strengthen its position further. For those not in the know, the niche caters to making
everyday objects adhere to Internet-like structures. Undoubtedly set to be the next big thing, Google has already started betting its money on the field. With Nest, Google has set the ball rolling to enter yourliving rooms. To counter Google’s this
move, Apple has also launched its HomeKit platform at WWDC 2014. Nest holds great potential for Google
Titan Aerospace Google beat the world’s largest social network to purchase solar-powered drone maker Titan Aerospace as it ramps up plans to deliver wireless Internet access to remote parts of the world. Facebook was also reportedly in talks with the company, but Google has pipped it to the finish line. Titan’s solar drones could be used to beam internet to remote areas, or could act as kink in the company’s rapidly expanding cloud business.
Last year, Google had acquired Boston Dynamics , known for building robots that look as if they belong in a science-fiction movie. Big Dog, a four-legged robot that
can climb muddy hills, and Cheetah, a robot which can outrun the fastest human, are among the robots that now belong to Google.
Alpental Tech Google has quietly purchased wireless communications startup Alpental Technologies, say reports. From the looks of it Alpental will probably add to Google’s firepower for its high-speed Google Fiber Internet.
Skybox
Google’s latest acquisition is Skybox. The search giant is buying Skybox Imaging in a deal that could serve as a launching pad for the Internet company to send its own fleet of satellites to take aerial pictures and provide online access to remote areas of the world. Google plans to use Skybox’s satellite already in orbit to supplement the
material that it licenses from more than 1,000 sources, including other satellite companies such as DigitalGlobe and Astrium. Eventually, though, Skybox could
turn into another Google “moonshot” — a term that CEO Larry Page has embraced for describing ambitious projects that could take several years to materialise. Skybox’s imaging satellite Quest Visual
In one of the minor purchases, Google bought Quest Visual makers of popular Android, iOS and Glass app, Word Lens. Word Lens is one of the niftiest apps today. It provides users an instant translation of any portion of text in an image. Quest Visual’s special augmented-
reality based technology will be put to use in Google’s Translate products, presumably across platforms.
SlickLogin
By now nearly everyone is in agreement that passwords are not the safest way to authenticate users. They can be hacked and easily cracked. Google purchased
SlickLogin in an acqui-hire deal that will see the Israeli startup’s team move to Google’s offices and continue their work. SlickLogin’s technology lets user get authenticated by using a combination of sound, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. For example, users could log in to sites by placing their phone near the computer and having them
interact to authenticate you. Divide
Google also bought Divide, a startup that helps companies manage the mobile devices that employees are increasingly relying upon to get their work done. The deal is part of Google’s effort to widen corporate usage of smartphones and tablets
running on its mobile operating system, Android. The estimated deal price is $130 million. Google is counting on Divide’s technology to make companies feel more comfortable about allowing their employees to use Android devices for business email and other on-the-job tasks involving sensitive information. Google could build
on Divide’s existing tech to make home and office domains separate on Android. Adometry to help Google Analytics
Adometry In May, Google acquired marketing platform Adometry to help improve its Google Analytics products. The financial aspects of
the deal haven’t yet been disclosed. Adometry raised around $44 million in funding from investors which
include Austin Ventures, Sierra Ventures and Shasta Ventures. It uses SaaS-based analytics to analyze advertising transactions per month and identify the
consumer purchase-decision journey. Basically, it creates online ads which influence the decision of users to purchase the product or service, or click on the ad.
Google could use Adometry’s algorithms to better target ads for users who have opted in. Impermium Earlier this year, Google also picked a three-year-old startup with an India
connect, called Impermium. The deal was closed at $9 million. It is a security company that builds products for websites and has offices in Bangalore and California. It isn’t clear whether the company has been acquired for their technology or for the talent, and there’s very little word on the deal outside of the initial announcement.
Bitspin
Google has also acquired developer Bitspin, he company behind the much-loved Android alarm clock application. The deal is reported to be sealed at $40 million. Bitspin is the creator of the very popular and good looking alarm clock application for Android called Timely. The alarm’s design is
typography-heavy and there are a neat bunch of shortcuts and settings that allow you to make optimal use of the alarm’s features. Snoozing, setting new alarms and viewing the time are all easy and the animations make everything look good.