Skip to main content

Google sees future in educational apps

Google is working with educational software companies to develop a marketplace for educational apps, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

The new venture would provide third-party developers with a way to connect with tech-friendly schools and universities. “If we can provide access to education apps to our 10 million users in thousands of schools, then that would be a win all around,” Obadiah Greenberg, Google’s business development manager for education apps, tells Bloomberg.

Recommended Videos

It’s not solely an investment in the minds of future heads of state and would-be Mars explorers. Spearheading an educational app marketplace is also a potentially lucrative business move on Google’s part. Educational software sales in U.S. alone are expected to surpass $4.6 billion this year with potential to climb above $5 billion well before the launch of the first manned mission to the red planet.

Google already offers schools and colleges its own cloud-based free software programs that include Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Sites. There’s also several third-party educational apps currently available through the Google Apps Marketplace, which launched in March of 2010.

Currently, most of the revenue generated in the Google Apps Marketplace ends up in the pockets of developers. That is soon to change: Google plans to begin taking a 20 percent share from sales starting sometime in 2011. However, it’s not clear if the educational app marketplace will be subject to the same fee structure.

Aemon Malone
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Google’s “Ask for Me” will have an AI schedule your next oil change
a phone saying hello

Google announced a new experimental AI feature being made available to select users on Thursday. Dubbed "Ask for Me," this AI agent will look up pricing and appointment availability for local businesses and automatically make reservations on your behalf -- though it only works for nail salons and mechanics shops currently.

Accessible through the Google Search Labs, Ask for Me will initiate when users search for either nail salons or auto repair centers with Google Search. If, for example, you need a mechanic, the feature will pepper you with questions about the service you need, the make and model of your car, and your availability to bring it in for work, before reaching out to the shop. You'll also need to enter your contact information (phone number and email, specifically) so the AI can keep you apprised of its efforts.

Read more
It looks like Microsoft has yet another anti-Google trick up its sleeve
Microsoft Edge appears on a computer screen with plants and a window in the background.

Microsoft drew attention at the beginning of this month for showing rather misleading Google-style search bar when users searched for the rival engine on Bing. Now, it appears the company is targeting the Chrome browser as well. Spotted by Windows Latest, some users may see a big banner pushing Edge when they search for Chrome while using Microsoft's browser.

The real dodgy part, however, is the fact that this banner just happens to partially hide the Chrome download link behind a "See more" button.

Read more
Careful — this Google ad could swipe your bank data without you knowing
Zoomed in version of Homebrew website.

Using Google ads to push their malicious sites to the top of the results page is a trick cybercriminals use all too often. The latest example is a fake Homebrew website that uses an infostealer to swipe personal data, browser history, login information, and bank data from unsuspecting victims.

Spotted by Ryan Chenkie on X and reported by BleepingComputer, the malicious Google ad even displays the correct Homebrew URL "brew.sh," so there's no real way to spot the trick before clicking.

Read more