Get $200 off a Pixel 2 XL for Verizon from Best Buy

There’s a new deal for those looking to get a new Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL. If you’re looking at Verizon, you should head over to Best Buy to take advantage of the following deal.

Save $200 when you purchase a Google Pixel 2 XL on Best Buy’s website with a monthly installment plan on Verizon. You can also save $100 if you purchase the smaller Pixel 2.

The 64GB Pixel 2 normally goes for $27.08 per month. With the $100 off, the payment goes down to $22.91. Meanwhile, the Pixel 2 XL with 64GB of storage normally goes for $35.41 per month, down to $27.07 per month after the discount.

The discount applies to either storage configuration of the Google Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL. Just so you know, this deal is only valid at Best Buy in-store or online when you purchase and activate a Pixel 2 on Verizon with an installment plan to pay it off, you won’t be able to buy it in full.

Offers like these are normally for a limited time and the deal can be called off at the retailer’s discretion. Even with the first Google Pixel (XL) last year, Verizon always offered discounts throughout the year. Chances are if you miss this deal, there will likely be a new one rolling around soon enough.

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Google flights can now predict if your flight will be delayed

Google’s vast collection of data helps the travel industry with Google’s Hotel search tool and Google Flights. Google is announcing a couple of new features for its plane-ticket search.

Starting with finding cheap flights, Google will begin offering more specific information about cheaper flight fares. New kinds of basic economy flights may not offer a carry-on or the option to pick your seat, so Google Flights will provide this information for American, Delta, and United.

Next, Google will be able to predict when you flight may be delayed. Google uses a combination of historic data and recent flight status information to foresee a flight getting delayed.

Google Flights will also offer information as to why a flight has been delayed to keep passengers informed. Delay predictions will only appear if Google’s algorithms are 80%s sure it will happen.

To look for flight information, just type the flight carrier and flight number or flight route (San Francisco to Hong Kong) into Google and you’ll know all about it.

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Google finalizes $1.1B acquisition deal with HTC

Back in September Google and HTC announced a $1.1 billion deal. The phone manufacturer is receiving the money in exchange for some of its employees and access to its intellectual property. The agreement was approved by the Taiwanese Investment Commission in December, and today Google officially welcomed the new members of its team.

The deal includes about 2000 engineers who were already working on the Google Pixel 2 smartphone and its upcoming successors. They will remain based in Taiwan and Taipei will become the largest Google engineering site in the Asia-Pacific region.

Rick Osterloh, Hardware Senior VP at Google, commented that the hardware business is entering its third year and the company will keep building and investing for the long run. The company will create “radically helpful experiences for people around the world” with the new teammates, by combining Google’s AI, software and hardware.

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Audiobooks now available on Google Play Store

After years of simply having ebooks, Google today announced that it is adding audiobooks to the Google Play Store. Audiobooks will be available in 45 countries and in nine different languages.

Just like the ebooks, the audiobooks will be available à la carte with no subscription service like on Audible. Once purchased, the book will be available to listen across all Google platforms, including the web, Google Play Books app on Android and iOS, Chromecast, Google Home, Android Wear and Android Auto. The progress will be synced so you can start on one device and pick it up later on another. You can also tell Google Assistant on any of the devices to play your audiobook and it will start playing the last one you played from where you left off.

Audiobooks can now be purchased from the Google Play Store on the web and on Android. iOS users can play audiobooks from the Google Play Books app but can only purchase them from the web.

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