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 announced the creation of Open Usage Commons, an organization aimed to help open source projects manage and enforce their trademarks appropriately and effectively.
One of our most hotly anticipated Android devices of this year, here at 9to5Google, has surprisingly been a foldable Android from Microsoft — the Surface Duo. A new report details — and we’ve confirmed — that Microsoft has moved its development of the Surface Duo’s flavor of Android to be in-house.
Since launch, Google Stadia has been amassing a collection of timed exclusive “First on Stadia” titles, including Get Packed, Embr, and most recently Crayta. The next Stadia exclusive to release, Orcs Must Die! 3, has had its launch trailer leaked, showing it to be a free Stadia Pro title.
Earlier this year, the Google Assistant gained public support for a variety of media devices including TVs and remotes. Today, Google is following that up by openly allowing developers to connect the Google Assistant to speakers, soundbars, streaming boxes, and more.
For over a year now, Google has been bringing dark mode to its Android apps to go with Android 10’s dark theme toggle. Today, they’re launching a long-awaited and much needed dark mode to the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps for Android, to make your work easier on the eyes.
These days, you can’t get hardly anything done without a good, working web browser, but what do you do when Google Chrome starts acting up? Here’s a guide for how to clean up some of Google Chrome’s most common issues including slow loading, excess notifications, using the wrong search engine, and more.
In this week’s top stories: Renders and specs arrive for the upcoming Motorola Moto G 5G / Plus, “OnePlus Pods” true wireless earbuds leak looking like AirPods, Google Photos stops backing up saved photos from social media apps, and more.
Right now in Google Chrome, if you close a tab, it’s immediately unloaded to help clear out memory, something Chrome has long been notorious for hogging. That means if you accidentally close a tab and need to reopen it, you’re essentially opening the page all over again. As spotted by the folks at Chrome Story, Google Chrome is readying an experiment to make the “Reopen closed tab” feature almost instant.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Google was working to bring Steam to Chrome OS. We’ve now discovered how Chrome OS will run Steam and which Chromebooks will support it to start.
As of the most recent update to the Google Stadia app on Android, you can now browse your games in landscape orientation, a long-requested addition.
Last week, a new beta version of Gboard began rolling out via the Google Play Store. Today, some folks who use the Gboard beta are finding “Smart Compose” features in Google Messages.
One of the most unique aspects of Google Stadia is its controller, which instead of connecting wirelessly over Bluetooth, connects over Wi-Fi directly to your Stadia instance. Starting today, you can now use the Stadia Controller wirelessly when playing on your Android phone.
On June 30, Google is closing Pride Month out on a high note by honoring Marsha P. Johnson — a pioneer in LGBTQ+ rights activism.
Nearly every Made by Google product released in the last few years includes a way to invoke the Google Assistant, and the Stadia Controller is no different. The Stadia Controller’s Google Assistant button has suddenly become far more useful, as you can now use it while playing your games.
The true value of a game console, more than its raw hardware capabilities, is its library of exclusive games. We got hands-on time with the latest timed exclusive for Stadia — Crayta, a hub for both playing games and creating games of your own — and think it could very well be Stadia’s killer app.
In this week’s top stories: Google may soon be facing a class action lawsuit from Pixel 3 owners, Xiaomi’s Mi TV Stick retail listings leak series of Android TV dongles, Google’s own Android TV dongle gets leaked once again, and more.
One of the strictest limitations of Google Stadia is that you can currently only play while on a Wi-Fi connection. According to the latest version of Stadia for Android, Google is preparing to allow players to experiment with playing on a 4G mobile data connection.
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This morning, Google surprised us all by releasing a developer preview of Android 11 for Android TV. Digging through the preview’s files, we found a video showing the upcoming Made by Google Android TV dongle.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many of us around the country to work from home, forcing companies to adapt in new and creative ways. For Bungie, the developers of Destiny 2, Google Stadia was one of the key ways their teams were able to get back to working and playtesting effectively.
Whether you love or hate the Pixel 4, one thing that’s undeniable is that Google delivered a striking design. A member of the Made by Google team has shared incredible photos of the Pixel 4’s design process including previously unseen colors and a dual camera bump design.
In recent years, there has been an explosion of new video streaming services, and the latest from NBCUniversal, Peacock, has confirmed it will launch on Android, Chromecast, and Android TV devices.
Like many other children of the 90s/00s, I grew up playing the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, with its fantastic mix of arcade gameplay and rad soundtrack. When we first got a glimpse of Wave Break, a “First on Stadia” timed exclusive title which takes the familiar skateboarding genre and adds guns, “cute” animals, and a heaping helping of 80s retro aesthetic, I was sold. But does it live up to that hype?
While many use Google Stadia to enjoy the benefits of the free monthly games from Stadia Pro, buying games keeps them in your library even when your Stadia Pro membership lapses. Starting today, Google Stadia is offering steep discounts on some of its best games including Borderlands 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2.
To help fans get more context on the story-driven Metro series, the folks at 4A Games and Deep Silver are bringing “Redux” versions of the first two games, Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light to Stadia.