Looks like Google's Glass Basecamp stores might be closing their doors

But where will we try on different Google Glass colors?

The past couple of weeks have not been great for Google Glass users, and now to top it off it looks like Glass Basecamp locations in the US may be shutting down.

Google Glass Basecamps are the pop-ups in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles where Glass users could get technical support, try out different colors and accessories and more.

But according to Phandroid these stores are no longer taking new appointments, indicating they may be shutting down.

The Google Glass Basecamps were likely always meant to be temporary, but with the consumer version of Glass likely pushed into 2015 it probably isn't a good sign if they're closing already.

Then again this could just be a natural part of Google's transition into the consumer Glass launch or into purely online sales on Google Play for its existing and future Glass headsets.

We've asked Google to confirm whether the Basecamps are closing and what that means for Google Glass, and we'll update if we hear back.

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Google’s Nexus 6 Might Be Too Big For Right Now, But Right-Sized For The Future

As Greg Kumparak noted in the TechCrunch review of the Nexus 6, the phone is very large. Too large, in fact, for most humans. Back when it was just a rumor that Google would be picking Motorola to provide the Nexus 6 hardware, and that it would indeed be a monster with a 6-inch display, I lamented the phabletization of the Nexus line before it was even a real thing. Now, I’ve had some time with the device, and while part of me still feels the same, another part has to acknowledge that Google may have gotten it right with a “go big or go home” strategy for this generation of hardware.

For me, and for just about any other everyday user of the Nexus 6, there’s no question that something more akin to the Nexus 5, albeit with just better battery life, a better camera, improved specs and an updated display would’ve been the preferable option. Not least because such an unexciting iteration would probably have been able to keep the cost down, meaning you’d have another great pure Android option at a fraction of the cost of most locked, contract-only devices.

Which is great, insofar as you consider the purpose of the Nexus program to build affordable, easy-to-access devices with ergonomics aimed at suiting the needs of the greatest number of people. Nexus is not a populist program, however – it’s a reference hardware initiative that Google undertook because it wanted to help show OEMs how to get the most out of Android, and because it wanted developers to be able to build for a specific set of criteria that would mostly serve them well when their apps appeared on other Android devices, too.

Some speculate that the Nexus 6 was actually just one of many devices that were supposed to take part in the Android Silver program, which would’ve replaced Nexus devices with hardware from various OEMs that contained a pure version of Android with guaranteed timely updates. That theory suggests that the Nexus 6 is but one of a variety of different kinds of smartphones, some of which would’ve resembled the Nexus 5 more closely, and theoretically been more broadly-aimed devices.

Even leaving that aside, however, the Nexus 6 seems like it fits the Nexus mould – it’s a device that lets Google show off Android 5.0 on hardware that exemplifies some of its best aspects. It also potentially anticipates a future where, rather than a mobile market divided among tablets and smartphones, most consumers prefer a single device with a large display but with all the functions they’ve come to expect in a phone.

In my time testing the Nexus 6, it went from something that I found awkward to use and that would mostly stay home, to a device I’d carry in lieu of a tablet, stowed in a pocket or bag, and that I automatically used two-handed, without thinking about how inconvenient it was to use single-handed. And while it still isn’t for everyone, it might be the Nexus Android needs, in terms of lighting the path forward for what’s coming next in the mobile device market.

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Google's Copresence might link iOS and Android like never before

Now that's a blended family (credit: Android Police)

Devices with different operating systems are traditionally limited in the ways they can interact with one another, but Google may be working to fix that with a feature called "Copresence."

Google Copresence is a tool that will let iOS and Android devices that are in proximity to one another exchange files, photos, directions, messages, and more, according to Android Police.

The site says that with Copresence, the devices can authenticate with one another using Bluetooth or location information, then transfer data back and forth via Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi direct.

The images above were reportedly unearthed in the latest Google Play Services APK, and they clearly show different types of handsets and tablets - iPhones and iPads and Android devices - interacting with one another.

Developers have reportedly also glimpsed a Copresence API in various documentation, among other clues.

The feature is being compared to Android Beam, a hidden gem for NFC-enabled Android devices, and Google's Nearby, a feature that was rumored over the summer.

In fact, it seems Copresence may be an evolution of what we were previously hearing about as "Nearby," or the name of the technology behind the Nearby feature.

Either way, word is we'll be hearing more straight from Google within "the coming weeks."

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How an Apple iWallet might work

The iPhone's Passbook app was a small step by Apple into the mobile-payments world. James Martin/CNET

Will this be the year that Apple fully dives into the mobile-payments market? JP Morgan analyst Rod Hall believes so and suggests three different scenarios for how Apple might run such a system.

Speculation has run rampant for years over when Apple might introduce its own form of mobile payments that would allow people to pay for goods and services at checkout via their iPhone. The company took its first baby steps in 2012 with its Passbook app but hasn't done much since then to expand the feature into a true mobile-payments system. Paying for items on the go through your smartphone is a technology that already exists -- you can tap an NFC-enabled Samsung Galaxy S5 at point-of-sale terminals found at many Walgreen drugstores -- but it has yet to truly take off among consumers. Apple's entry could provide just the boost the market needs to move forward.

In an investors note released on Friday, Hall said he believes there's a "high probability" that Apple will announce a mobile-payment capability alongside the expected iPhone 6 at next week's launch event on September 9. If true, the analyst sees three scenarios: 1) Apple would allow consumers to carry virtual versions of credit cards on their iOS devices; 2) Apple would provide a true merchant payment system via an iPhone with near-field communication, or NFC; 3) Apple would become an actual credit card issuer.

Among the three options, Hall sees the first one as the most likely.

"We expect Apple to start small by enabling iOS device users to carry virtual representations of select credit cards on their devices (possibly in Passbook)," the analyst said. "In return for this we would expect Apple to take a small transaction fee (we assume 1 cent) every time a virtual credit card is used. Note that we do not expect this to include debit cards initially due to more stringent regulation and the fact that a debit card is directly tied to funds in a bank account."

And what of the other two scenarios?

Apple could potentially offer its own merchant payment system if it finally adds NFC to the iPhone. The financial benefit to Apple would be more substantial than that seen in the first scenario. However, Hall believes the "complexity of directly interacting with merchants seems outside of Apple's wheelhouse."

And what of the idea that Apple could become a credit card issuer? In this scenario, the company would have to take on the risk of managing credit cards or require users to preload money onto their cards. According to Hall, "neither option seems particularly likely to us."

Apple declined to comment on Hall's note. We should find out if Apple does unveil its own mobile-payments system at next Tuesday's launch event. CNET will host a live blog of Apple's event starting with a preshow at 9 a.m. PT, followed by the actual press conference at 10 a.m.

Update, 1:00 p.m. PT: Adds Apple declining to comment.

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