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Google adds location sharing, animated GIFs to Hangouts, integrates SMS

Today during its “A Morning with Google+” event, Google announced some updates for its Google+ service on top of sharing some improvements to Hangouts. Perhaps the biggest new feature that was announced during the event this morning is the integration of SMS into the Hangouts app, something that many user have speculated would arrive in Android 4.4 KitKat, the next version of Android expected in the near future.

Another new feature that Google announced today was location sharing, which allows users to click a small icon before posting to Google+ to add their location. Finally, Google’s Vic Gundotra announced that Google+ will now support animated GIFs.

Google also announced some new features for Hangouts on Air today, including the ability to plan a future Hangout. That will give users a dedicated landing page for the upcoming Hangout in order easier promote it, and Google has new tools that allow users to manage users in an active Hangout. It also announced that it is flipping the switch on HD full screen video calls across all devices and new auto-awesome tools. Those tools will provide auto-correction features, but also creative features that allow users to flip on different filters during a live video chat.

In addition, Google noted today that it has added 1000 new terms into its deep learning algorithms that allow users to search for visual content on Google+ even when the photos or videos aren’t tagged with your specific search query. Google has a roundup of all today’s announcements on its blog here.

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Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s weekly Logic Pros series and makes music as one half of Toronto-based Makamachine.