Get inside your favorite movies with Google Play

�What�s his name again? Wasn�t he the guy in that movie with the battle of the bands?� Now, while you're watching a movie on Google Play, you can find out that it�s Jack Black (of course!), who was born in Hermosa Beach and is 43 years old. And with one click you can search the web and learn the fun fact that his parents are both rocket scientists.

We�ve added info cards to the Google Play Movies & TV app so you can easily learn more about the actors, related films and even what song is playing in many of your favorite movies. When you�re watching a film on your tablet, simply press pause and cards will pop up with information about actors on screen. You can tap on an actor�s face to learn more about him, like his age, place of birth, his character in the movie, and his recent work, or scroll through the info cards to learn more about the movie or soundtrack. When you resume the movie, the cards will disappear.

This new feature is offered for hundreds of movies in Google Play and we�re adding more every day. If you�re in the U.S. and have a tablet running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and higher, download the latest version of the Google Play Movies & TV app to check it out. We hope to bring info cards to more movies in more countries and devices soon.

Posted by Ben Serridge, Product Manager for Google Play

The World�s Languages in Your Pocket (No Internet Required)

Have you ever found yourself in a foreign country, wishing you knew how to say "I'm lost!" or "I'm allergic to peanuts�? The Internet and services like Google Translate can help�but what if you don't have a connection? 

Today we're launching offline language packages for Google Translate on Android (2.3 and above) with support for fifty languages, from French and Spanish to Chinese and Arabic. 

You can select [Offline Languages] in the app menu to see all the offline language packages available for download. To enable offline translation between any two languages, you just need to select them in the offline languages menu. Once the packages are downloaded, you're good to go.

 

While the offline models are less comprehensive than their online equivalents, they are perfect for translating in a pinch when you are traveling abroad with poor reception or without mobile data access.

  

So go out and explore another language or another culture without worrying about Internet access. There�s a whole world offline out there.

Posted by Minqi Jiang, Associate Product Manager

Google Keep--Save what�s on your mind

Every day we all see, hear or think of things we need to remember. Usually we grab a pad of sticky-notes, scribble a reminder and put it on the desk, the fridge or the relevant page of a magazine. Unfortunately, if you�re like me you probably often discover that the desk, fridge or magazine wasn�t such a clever place to leave the note after all...it�s rarely where you need it when you need it.

To solve this problem we�ve created Google Keep. With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what�s important to you. Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand.

If it�s more convenient to speak than to type that�s fine�Keep transcribes voice memos for you automatically. There�s super-fast search to find what you�re looking for and when you�re finished with a note you can archive or delete it.

Changing priorities isn�t a problem: just open Keep on your Android phone or tablet (there�s a widget so you can have Keep front and center all the time) and drag your notes around to reflect what matters. You can choose the color for each note too.

Pro tip: for adding thoughts quickly without unlocking your device there's a lock screen widget (on devices running Android 4.2+).

Google Keep is available on Google Play for devices running Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich and above. You can access, edit and create new notes on the web at http://drive.google.com/keep and in the coming weeks you'll be able to do the same directly from Google Drive.

Posted by Katherine Kuan, Software Engineer

Celebrating Google Play�s first birthday

Accessing digital entertainment should be simple, whether you like to read books on your tablet, listen to music on your phone and computer, or watch movies on all three. That�s why one year ago today we launched Google Play, where you can find and enjoy your favorite music, movies, books and apps on your Android phone and tablet, or on the web.

Google Play has grown rapidly in the last year, bringing you more content in more languages and places around the globe. In addition to offering more than 700,000 apps and games, we�ve partneredwith all of the major music companies, movie studios and publishers to bring you the music, movies, TV shows, books and magazines you love. And we�ve added more ways for you to buy them, including paying through your phone bill and gift cards, which we're beginning to roll out in the U.K. this week.

Since no birthday is complete without presents, we�re celebrating with a bunch of special offers across the store on songs, TV shows, movies and books. We�re even offering a collection of games with some fun birthday surprises created by developers.

It�s been a busy year, but we�re just getting started. We look forward to many more years of bringing you the best in entertainment!

Posted by Jamie Rosenberg, VP of Digital Content, Google Play

The Fallacy of Fuel Economy Law Suits

Lawyers are firing up lawsuits against Ford for misleading consumers on the fuel economy of the C-Max hybrid and Fusion Hybrid.   Ford certified them as 47/47 mpg (city/highway) on the EPAs fuel economy tests, but consumers are seeing lower numbers.

The only way the lawsuits have merit is if the attorneys can prove that Ford gamed the EPA test, and that in fact they don't get 47mpg when tested according to the regulations.

But EPA has not come out and stated that Ford's tests are invalid, the way they did with Hyundai.  

The issue is, I think, that the vehicles get great (and probably repeatable) results in the lab, but in the real world they are sensitive to environmental conditions and driving style.  

This puts Ford, and other OEMs, in a tricky spot, because they are required to advertise the EPA mileage on the new-car ("Monroney") sticker.  The usual marketing jargon "up to" and "your mileage may vary" is deployed, but people still get the idea that the EPA number is what they should be getting.

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