Gadgetory

Google is expanding its plans for virtual reality I'm Bridget Carey this is your cnet update it appears that 2016 will be the year of virtual reality and Google is hungry to rule the VR space the company has created a division just to focus on virtual reality products and the guy who used to run Gmail and Google Docs is now in charge of ER Google already dabbles in VR with its cardboard headset and it worked with GoPro to create a rig for creating 360 degree videos it's called jump Google is likely amping up its efforts because it doesn't want to be left in Facebook's virtual dust with the oculus rift headset that just began taking pre-orders costing six hundred dollars in ships in March expect VR to be a big talking point of made during Google's annual IO developers conference it takes place on my 18th this event has gone on for ten years and it's where we check out software updates and we see Google's biggest ideas on display io is where Google glass made its debut car talk is also likely to be the focus of the event and the location this year is the shoreline amphitheater in Mountain View California which just so happens to have a large parking lot to show off car tech and it's also right next to Google's campus over at the detroit auto show going on now Google is looking to work with more traditional car companies the new head of self-driving cars at Google said that he wants to make more partnerships with car makers because he says Google can't do this alone the wall street journal reports that google is in talks with ford but you don't need a google car to drive in new ways with google an update to the Maps app on Android has a new driving mode as first reported by android police driving mode is looking at your habits and search history to predict where you're going to go during a drive and then it'll give you advice about upcoming road delays and you can search for a nearby things on your route and it's all by guessing where you're going maps version 9 point 19 may roll out to android users by the end of the week but google has not formally announced the feature that's it for this tech news update you can catch up on all the latest news at seen at comm from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey