Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac. He covers Google for 9to5Google.com, the best gadgets and deals on 9to5Toys.com, and delivers a weekly roundup of EV and solar news on Electrek.co. Sometimes he makes weird electronic music as one half of Makamachine.
Contact Jordan with news tips and long-winded complaints:
Google is today releasing an update for its Gmail mobile apps that introduces a new Smart Reply feature with suggested quick reply buttons within emails.
The feature is something Google is bringing over from its Inbox by Gmail and Allo apps where similar functionality was already available. Google says that the feature accounts for around 12% of replies sent in Inbox, for instance.
GE Appliances is today announcing integration with Google Home and Assistant, allowing voice control for its range of refrigerators, freezers, ovens, dishwashers, washers, dryers, air conditioners and more.
CTL’s J2 Chromebook has received good reviews as a popular budget option for use in the classroom. Today the company is announcing an even easier way for schools to invest in the device with a new 15-unit pack that it says will be competitive with Apple’s iPad mini bulk offers.
Accessory maker iDevices is the latest to announce integration of Google Assistant with its lineup of connected home products, which were previously compatible with competing platforms, Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s HomeKit.
In this week’s top stories: Our Moto G5 Plus & Keyone reviews, the best Android phones and smartwatches for May, hints at an incoming Android O beta, new Google apps and updates, and much more.
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Niantic, developer of popular augmented reality games Pokémon Go and Ingress, plans to host community events for players in public spaces around the U.S. through a partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The company announced the project today, with the first event set to kick off this weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Google is launching a new initiative called AIY Projects, which will include a number of do-it-yourself artificial intelligence reference kits for developers starting with a new Voice Kit it’s announcing today. Google hopes the first project will help developers build voice command interfaces directly into products, using them to replace, for example, apps, physical buttons and digital displays currently used to control appliances and other accessories.
In this week’s top stories: Project Fi’s ‘Travel Trolley’ vending machines, Google Home updates and recommendations, ZTE Max XL arrives, Larry Page-backed Kitty Hawk demos its flying EV, and much more.
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Rolling out this week for Google Home users, Google Assistant now offers step-by-step spoken cooking instructions for around five million recipes. The feature, Google notes in a blog post today, is powered by various sources including Bon Appetit, The New York Times, Food Network and more, and works by sending a recipe to Google Home via Assistant on your smartphone, or by simply asking Google Home for a specific recipe.
Instagram today announced a new feature for saving posts, allowing you to store them into folders called private collections. You can create multiple collections, meaning you can use the feature to organize posts you might want to reference at a later date. You’ll be prompted to create a new collection when saving a post:
In this week’s top stories: Our look at the best Android phones this month, hands-on with YouTube TV, Google Allo 9.0, YouTube’s hidden dark mode, and much more.
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Instagram is rolling out an update today that adds new features for stickers in both Stories and Direct messaging. The new features include more custom geostickers for cities, a new selfie sticker, and a “sticker pinning” feature that gives you more options for adding stickers to videos.
2018 Lincoln Navigator
With an official introduction of the 2018 Lincoln Navigator today, the vehicle becomes the latest that will include Google’s in-dash Android Auto system standard.
To enhance the feature within Facebook Messenger that lets users send money to one another, today the app is getting an update that enables payments among groups of users. The feature is aimed at people that want to be able to easily split restaurant bills or send money to friends, and works via group conversations in Messenger.
Minecraft Pocket Edition for Android is getting an update today that brings a new Chinese Mythology Mash-Up Pack and more. Included in the pack are 26 new skins, texture sets, and other goodies:
An update to Instagram coming today aims to improve the service’s Direct messaging feature by combining disappearing photos and videos with text conversations into a single thread. Previously the features were separated, with disappearing photos and videos in their own conversation separate from text chats, meaning that you could have multiple threads going with the same person(s) within Direct.
Today’s update hopes to streamline your inbox within Direct by making the disappearing photos and videos appear inline within text conversations when it’s the same contact(s):
Minecraft announced today on its blog that an upcoming update for the game will bring a new community-driven Marketplace feature to players of the Pocket edition of the game for Android and other mobile devices.
In this week’s top stories: Our LG G6 and ASUS Chromebook Flip C302CA reviews, Android One US rumors, Galaxy S8 and Bixby, new apps and updates, and much more.
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After first announcing the service back in February, today YouTube TV is officially launching in select U.S. markets.
The standalone TV service that offers users 4 big networks and other channels with unlimited DVR functionality for $35 a month comes today to both mobile devices and desktop users in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Chicago ahead of a broader roll out.
In this week’s top stories: Hands-on w/ the Galaxy S8 and S8+, 5 Android apps to download this month, a first look at Essential’s bezel-less Android phone, and much more.
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Google today announced the release of its Calendar app for iPad, which was previously only available for iPhone, Android smartphones and tablets and on the web.
In this week’s top stories: Hands-on with the new Android O features, Android 7.1.2 beta 2, Galaxy S8 leaks, app updates and much more.
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Facebook today introduced two new features for Messenger called Message Reactions and Mentions.
Pokémon GO developers Niantic today announced the latest upcoming in-game event for the title with the Pokémon GO Water Festival scheduled to kick off today, March 22.
During the event, players will have increased opportunities to catch water-type Pokémon, which the developers note includes “Magikarp, Squirtle, Totodile and their evolutions around the world,” among others:
