Kyle Bradshaw joined 9to5Google in 2018 with a special interest in Google’s Fuchsia OS, rooted in his experience of being the first to offer a visual preview of the revolutionary design of the in-development operating system. Since then, his attention has broadened to include the secrets hidden within other areas of Google’s public codebases.
By reading the public Fuchsia code, Kyle was able to prove the existence of the Nest Mini and the Nest Hub Max months ahead of their respective announcements. With evidence from Chromium, he reported on Google’s since-canceled efforts to create an offshoot of Android designed for “touchless” feature phones.
In 2018, Kyle reported on three distinct Made by Google Chromebooks in development, the Pixel Slate, the Pixelbook Go — a full year before its release — and “Meowth,” the original version of the Pixel Slate that was canceled due to Intel’s delays that year. For ChromeOS itself, Kyle was the first to demonstrate the upcoming light theme redesign in action.
Looking at the early evidence of the Pixel 5’s specs, Kyle accurately predicted in February 2020 that the Pixel 5 might not be a traditional “flagship” phone. In 2021, he reported that Google’s next headset would be the “Pixel Buds A.”
Kyle was the first to report that the Pixel 6 would mark the debut of Google’s in-house processors, later revealed to be the Tensor chips.
Kyle contributes to the APK Insight column at 9to5Google, discovering the hidden changes in Google’s apps. These efforts have revealed hotly anticipated features, details about upcoming devices, and unexpected connections between companies.
He can be reached for tips or just friendly chat by Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky, or email. If you’re looking for his other works or side projects, head over to Kyle’s personal portfolio.
Google has released an update to Android Studio version 4.1, bringing a new Database Inspector tool, some improvements to Material Design, and a more deeply integrated Android Emulator.
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Lenovo has announced the ThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook Enterprise, one of the only Chrome OS devices to offer a “pointing stick” cursor.
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In this week’s top stories: Google Wifi makes a comeback at a more affordable price point, Gmail Go briefly becomes available to all Android devices, the OnePlus 8T’s design is shown in detail, and more.
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Today, many reviewers use YouTube as a platform to share their thoughts about new products in video form. To better accommodate both reviewers and potential buyers, Google is reportedly planning to integrate a full shopping experience into YouTube.
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Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 197th birthday of Canadian-American abolitionist and suffragist Mary Ann Shadd Cary, who, among other accomplishments, is known as the first Black female newspaper editor in North America.
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While the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G aren’t set to launch until later this month, Google has begun sending its new phones to reviewers, who have been able to share videos of the unboxing process along with first impressions.
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Since 2017, Waymo has offered a limited access to a sometimes “fully driverless” ride-hailing service, Waymo One, to select residents of Phoenix. Starting today, Waymo’s fully driverless rides will gradually become available to all customers in the Phoenix area.
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Over the years, Google has worked hard to add accessibility features to Android, both to make Android itself more accessible and to use Android’s smarts to make the world more accessible. The latest Android accessibility feature, Sound Notifications, can alert those with hearing loss to any important noises nearby.
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While fans of using Android in the car may be more excited by the upcoming launch of Google Assistant Driving Mode, Android Auto is preparing improvements of its own with custom shortcuts to Assistant actions and contacts.
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Yesterday, Google re-released their original Google Wifi mesh router, bringing it to a new, more affordable price point, just one year after releasing the Nest Wifi system. Here’s everything you need to know about this new Google Wifi and where to buy it.
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Back at I/O 2019, Google announced that the on-phone experience of Android Auto was on the way out, set to be replaced with a new “Google Assistant Driving Mode” experience. As of the most recent beta update to the Google app, we’ve finally been able to enable Assistant Driving Mode and get a preview of how it will look and work.
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Last week, Google announced the Pixel 5, their latest flagship phone, set to launch in several countries around the world later this month. However, Google fans in France will not be able to purchase the Pixel 5 in both colors.
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Dungeons and Dragons fans, rejoice! The wait is over. Baldur’s Gate 3, the latest game from Larian Studios based on Dungeons and Dragons, has finally entered early access on Google Stadia and beyond.
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Over the last few years, Chromebooks have become useful to more than just students. Thanks to support for Android and Linux apps, Chromebooks are great for productivity and even app development. Now Chromebook makers are rising to meet the needs of power users and developers, and the Acer Spin 713 is one of the best and most affordable high-performance Chrome OS devices.
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Like it or not, Google Play Music is on the way out, with YouTube Music becoming Google’s only music streaming service. To help match Google Play Music’s capabilities, YouTube Music’s free tier can now cast uploaded music to smart speakers.
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In this week’s top stories: Google formally announces the Pixel 5 along with a variety of other new hardware, we get an in-depth look at Google TV and the services it can integrate with, OxygenOS 10.0.08 releases for the OnePlus 7, and more.
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In the US, people rely on SMS and RCS messaging for everything from connecting with friends to account security. To help make your text message inbox less of a cluttered mess, Google Messages is preparing a new “Message Organization” feature, which we were able to get hands-on with.
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One of the most highly anticipated features of Google Stadia is the ability to share games with members of your family. This week, we uncovered more specific details of what Stadia’s family sharing can share, including the ability to share claimed Pro games.
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Last week, amidst a slew of other impressive products, Amazon announced a new gaming service, Luna, that competes directly with Google Stadia. But before you count Google out of the game streaming war, it’s important to remember that there’s one thing Stadia has that neither Xbox Game Pass nor Amazon Luna can offer — ownership.
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In the last few weeks, Google and Apple have each released the latest version of their respective operating systems. The latest update to Flutter, Google’s cross-platform app development framework, gives developers the best of both Android 11 and iOS 14.
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While today’s Launch Night In event showcased quite a variety of Made by Google hardware, the most tangible device is the new Chromecast, as it’s launching the soonest. In fact, the Google Store has already begun shipping the new Chromecast with Google TV to those who pre-ordered it.
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Earlier today, Google made the Pixel 4a 5G and its flagship Pixel 5 phones official, making them both the first Pixel phones equipped with an ultrawide lens. Google has shared some camera samples from the two phones that show off the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G’s new capabilities, including Night Sight portraits and the ultrawide lens.
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Today, Google took the wraps off their latest phones the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G. Following that announcement, Netflix has added official support for watching HDR content on both the Pixel 5 and the Pixel 4a 5G.
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During Launch Night In, Google unveiled Nest Audio, a major revamp of the original Google Home speaker, and it’s available on October 5 for $99.
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