Gemini Live preps big upgrades with ‘Thinking Mode’ and ‘Experimental Features’
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Google is working on a collaborative social app for sharing and editing photos in groups
In recent weeks, Google has launched a number of social apps through its Area 120 incubator. However, the company is also working on a first party social app that lets small groups edit pictures together with the help of computer vision.
YouTube launches new native messaging and sharing feature on Android and iOS
Starting today, YouTube is rolling out (via Wired) a new native sharing and messaging feature in its Android and iOS apps. While the video network is already a popular destination, YouTube wants to keep people in the app by having conversations about popular videos start and remain there.
Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, & Slides will soon let you set expiration dates for document access
Google is adding the ability to set expiration dates for access to documents across Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides apps. The idea is that you can limit a contributor’s access to a document for a specific time period, which Google points out will come in handy for companies and organizations that often share files with third-parties temporarily:
Play Games announces automatic sign-in, no longer requires a Google+ account
Over the weekend, Google announced changes to Play Games permissions that are mostly meant for developers, but regular users who game on Android will also see a benefit. Players no longer need their Google accounts upgraded to Google+ to use Play Games and can now automatically be signed-in with a standard Google account.
Inbox by Gmail adds Photos-integreated attachment picker, posts can be pinned to Google+ Profile
Google has been sprucing up their web apps this week as the first new updates of 2016 start to trickle in. Inbox by Gmail on the web adds a super convenient photo and attachment picker, while Google Plus now allows users to pin posts to their profiles.
Google Drive gains search improvements on Android, iOS, and web
Google has highlighted new features for Google Drive apps today that it says make it easier to search for files on Android, iOS, and web.
Among the improvements to search in the app, you’ll now be able to narrow your search by file type and open advanced search from the search box. For iOS specifically, users can now get quick access to recent files and search from the Home screen icon using 3D Touch and the ability to search from iOS’s Spotlight feature.
Here’s a full list of improvements courtesy of Google:
- Narrow your search to a file type from the search box on Android, iOS, and the web.
- Open advanced search instantly from the search box.
- Access recent files or search Drive from the home screen using 3D Touch on iOS.
- Search Drive using the iOS search bar without opening the Drive app.
- Search for shared files by file owner using their name or email address.
- Use advanced search options like the date a file was modified, words it contains, or who it was shared with.
Google says the improvements for Drive will roll out to the Android and iOS apps over the coming weeks.
Google Play Games app adds gameplay recording & sharing features
After adding gameplay recording features to mobile apps alongside its new YouTube Gaming platform launch earlier this month, Google is today updating its Google Play Games app for Android with similar features.
The update will allow users of the Play Games app to quickly hop into gameplay recording with the ability to share their own commentary simultaneously using their device’s front facing camera and microphone.
It’s simple. In the Play Games app, select any game you want to play, then tap the record button. You can capture your gameplay in 720p or 480p, and choose to add video of yourself and commentary via your device’s front facing camera and microphone. When you’re done recording, you can quickly edit and upload your video to YouTube.
Google notes that the feature should come in handy for some of the content creators contributing to the roughly 144 billion minutes of gaming videos and live streams viewed on YouTube each month.
The updated Google Play Games app for Android is rolling out to users in the US and UK starting this week with users in other countries getting access in the near future.
The ‘soul of Google’ Omid Kordestani is now Twitter’s executive chairman
Image: Forbes
As unsurprising as it may be, an early Twitter investor came out several months to say that Google still doesn’t understand social and should buy struggling Twitter. And while that hasn’t quite happened (and we don’t really have any hard evidence that it will), it appears that ties between the two companies are strengthening. Twitter’s once-again-CEO Jack Dorsey has today announced that Google’s previous chief business officer Omid Kordestani has been appointed as the social network’s executive chairman.
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Facebook experimenting with letting friends easily send “Happy Birthday!” videos on mobile
One of the many things Facebook does well is make it nearly impossible to miss when one of your friends turns another year older. On the web, birthday reminders are placed prominently near the top right with links to easily wish your pal a happy birthday, and on mobile Facebook has experimented with alerts and other ways to help you not forget someone’s big day.
Now Facebook appears to be testing an even more personal way to make your birthday wish stand out: video messages. The Next Web reports that some mobile users have seen a new ‘birthday video’ option appear under Facebook’s Birthdays section (although don’t worry if you don’t see it yet, I don’t have it either).
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Skype 6 for Android adds floating action button and improved messaging in latest redesign
It was only a month ago that Skype for Android was hit with a slight visual refresh, and today Microsoft is pushing out a much bigger redesign to the messaging app that it says was inspired by Google’s Material design. Skype 6.0 for Android replaces the custom action bar along the bottom of the app with a new floating action button that should be familiar to other modern Android apps. The action button ties in shortcuts to video messages, video calls, voice calls, and conversation chats.
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Viber Android app updated with easier video calling, rich links, lower data usage & more
Viber has updated its Android app to add a range of improvements based on user requests, says the company. Version 5.5 allows you to start a video call directly from your recent calls list, rich links now display content previews when links are posted into text chats – and Viber says more efficient data compression has allowed it to improve the quality of both audio and video calls while reducing data usage.
Users can also now share contacts within both one-to-one and group chats, and invite an entire group to follow a public chat.
Viber is a free download from Google Play.
Google+ unraveling continues as Google Account replaces sign-ins for several services
The great unraveling of Google+ as a fiber connecting all of Google’s products continues. Who’s disbanding this time? Well, basically all of the Google ecosystem.
Skype for Android updated with visual refresh & improved chat experience
Microsoft has released an updated version of Skype for Android today that delivers both a visual refresh to several parts of the app as well as performance improvements throughout.
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Google Hangouts now lets you drag and drop images on the web
Google Hangouts on the web now lets users drag and drop images directly from their computer or web browser. That goes for the little chat window within your Gmail inbox and through the standalone Hangouts Chrome app. Googler Mayur Kamat shared the news and the image above demonstrating the new feature through a post on Google+ today.
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Amid turbulence, Google Plus loses its latest leader – Horowitz again takes over
…confirmed with Google, that David Besbris [above] has left his role as the head of the company’s social and identity product. He has been replaced by Bradley Horowitz, a longtime VP of product for Google+.
Google Plus seems to be in tumult and it sounds like it is being dismantled for its good parts including Photos and Hangouts. Perhaps the feed will turn into a more Twitter-like product. Who knows at this point—we’ll likely get a roadmap at Google I/O in May.
As for new lead Bradley Horowitz, he never really left Google+ through Vic Gundotra’s departure and will probably oversee the split of the units which are said to have already been reduced by half.
Google updates Drive and Docs sharing with profile pictures and suggested recipients
Google has made a couple of updates to its Drive and Docs editors that deliver smarter sharing and make it easier for collaborating with others. Starting today, after adding an email address to the sharing dialogue on either service, you will see profile pictures for each person you’ve added and, after adding two collaborators, suggested recipients based on who you frequently share emails or files with.
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Google+ adds ability to pin posts to profiles and pages
While Google+ may not always get the attention it deserves, Google this evening has announced a useful new feature for its users. In a post on the social network, Google employee Dennis Troper announced that users can now pin posts to the top of their profiles and pages.
Google Drive for Android gets improved search, better sharing & enhanced PDF viewer
Google has updated Drive for Android with a Material Design facelift and three new features in improved search, better sharing and an enhanced PDF viewer that make it easier for users to find, view and share through the app. The update will be rolling out on the Play Store for Android devices over the next several days.
The new search bar in Drive is easier and more predictive at finding content by updating results as each letter is typed into the field. Meanwhile, the app has improved sharing functionality that allows for users to write a custom comment on shared files so that all collaborators know why they sent it.
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Facebook releases updated Android client with improved support for sharing multiple photos
Facebook has announced that it will be releasing an updated version of its mobile application later today that will improve the process of sharing multiple photos in a single post. The new composer will allow users to choose multiple images from their device’s photo library or camera, then show a preview of the post with each image in the order they were selected.
From here users will be able to add captions to each photo, write an introduction for the post, or rearrange the order of the photos. The post will show up in friends’ news feeds as a photo collage rather than a horizontal group of photos.
Twitter introduces new audio card, allowing in-line audio playback in mobile apps
Twitter announced a change coming to its mobile apps today that allows users to play music directly from a tweet. The new Twitter Audio Card will allow certain users (there’s a list on Twitter’s blog) to share audio uploaded to SoundCloud with users in-line. Users will be able to listen to these embeds while they continue browsing their timelines.
Twitter says it’s just starting to test the feature right now and plans to roll it out to more content creators and partner audio sites in the future. You can try it out in Twitter for Android right now.
Google’s head of social reiterates Google+ is not going away, ‘very happy’ with progress
Re/code has posted an interview with Google’s ‘new’ head of social at the company, David Besbris, after taking over from Vic Gundotra. The interview ranges in scope, but most notably it opens with a direct question about the future of Google+ with many rumors circulating that Google intends to kill off the ‘failure’.
Unsurprisingly, Besbris denies the claims and says that Google made a long-term bet. It has no intentions to drop Google+ from its offerings.
Is Google+ going away anytime soon?
We’re actually very happy with the progress of Google+, [CEO Larry Page] said this at the time that Vic transitioned that he’s going to continue working on building this stuff, that he’s very happy with it. The company is behind it. I have no idea where these rumors come from to be honest with you.
PSA: Google is investigating an issue with Google Drive sharing
Google is investigating an issue for a number of Google Drive users this morning after rolling out an updated UI for the service earlier this year. Google confirmed the problem on its app status website noting that users on the old Google Drive interface are unable to share documents externally.
Google is marking the issue as a service disruption, which means you should still be able to access all of the service’s other features while it looks for a fix. While the new user interface is being rolled out to users already, users still on the old UI have the ability to manually opt-in to the updated Google Drive.
Mysterious Motorola phone appears on Geekbench with flagship specs
It seems as if speculation surrounding the Moto X+1 has been floating around the rumor mill for months now. Every week, it’s as if an announcement is imminent, then, more rumors build up and the phone remains a mere myth. This week is no exception, with a mysterious Motorola device appearing in Geekbench’s database.
Skype says free group video calling coming in the future to more platforms
Earlier this month, Microsoft-owned Skype rolled out a group video calling feature to Windows tablets. The free video calling allows for calls with up to ten people, and integrates with Skype on the desktop, which has supported group video calling since April.
Today, Skype tells us that the group video calling feature will be coming to all of its mobile platforms in the future:
We’re excited about Skype group video calling and are working to bring it to more of our platforms. In the future, we’ll be enabling group video calling for all our users across more platforms – at no cost
Unfortunately, the company could not yet provide a more specific rollout timeframe. Skype has been rapidly releasing new products over the past several months, with a major redesign of the Skype iPhone app arriving a couple of months ago.