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.
While the promise of Google Stadia shines brightest when playing AAA titles on a cheap Chromecast, Google’s gaming platform has also picked up a slate of exclusive indie games, including Lost Words: Beyond the Page. I took some time this week to experience and review Lost Words, which brought me on a roller-coaster of emotions not unlike a Disney film.
Most Android TV devices have the built-in capability to work as a Chromecast, but the best experiences usually come from using the native Android TV apps. Recently, however, folks have noticed that native Android TV apps are creating phone notifications as though you were watching via cast.
If you have a second controller handy, it’s a snap to play co-op games with a partner on Google Stadia, including on Chromecast Ultra. To help give you more to do with your “Player 2” of choice, Google Stadia has announced two more co-op games coming soon, Gunsport, a timed exclusive, and Just Shapes & Beats.
Like it or not, the best thing we can all do as a society is stay at home for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, here in the 21st century, there’s limitless ways to keep entertained from the comfort of your own home, like video games. To help you stave off boredom and donate to fighting the coronavirus, the latest Humble Bundle offers over 40 fantastic PC games, including Google’s own VR art game Tilt Brush, for just $30.
While Google will not be up to its usual April Fools’ Day shenanigans today, the company’s homepage will still look different for many. This morning, they’ve chosen to celebrate the life of Dame Jean Macnamara, a tireless polio researcher, with a Google Doodle.
Right now, we’re square in the middle of a pandemic the likes of which our generations have never experienced, which is also inconveniently overlapping with the tail end of the normal cold and flu season and the arrival of allergy season. This has caused a fair bit of uncertainty for some, but thankfully there are ways to have a better idea of whether or not your symptoms line up with those of COVID-19. Here are some of the many coronavirus symptom-checking and tracking apps available on Android.
With schools out in many areas around the United States, many parents have been forced to get creative when it comes to keeping kids entertained. As it turns out, the live 3D view of animals Google provides in Search, such as tigers and pandas, have exploded in popularity, becoming a tool for parents and even trending among users on social media.
In this week’s top stories: OnePlus returns to mid-range phones with the upcoming “OnePlus Z,” Google’s Pixel Buds arrive at the FCC in preparation for release, Samsung launches the well-rounded Galaxy Tab A 8.4 at an affordable price point, and more.
As we all work together to practice safe social distancing, we’re finding and adapting ways to replace that personal connection between friends, family, and co-workers, especially through video calling. To help more of us stay connected, Google Duo is expanding its group calling capabilities to allow up to 12 people into a single group call.
As we face this pandemic together and do our part to stay home and contain the spread, many of Google’s various projects are being forced to change their timelines, with Chrome being the prime example. The latest Google project to share revised plans in response to the COVID-19 crisis is the Go programming language (or Golang).
Without a doubt, Virtual Desks are the best feature to launch for Chrome OS power users over the last year, allowing you to organize your thoughts, apps, and tasks into separate “desks.” However, the classic Alt-Tab shortcut to quickly swap between your most recent windows does not currently respect the separation of your desks, but that’s about to change.
Today’s Google Doodle celebrating Banh Mi, the traditional Vietnamese street vendor sandwich, is sure to get your mouth watering.
Undoubtedly, the way that the console wars are won is through exclusive titles. So far, Google Stadia has been a bit lacking in that department, with only timed exclusives branded as “First on Stadia” titles. Today, the studio Splash Damage has announced a proper exclusive title is in the works for Google Stadia.
Last week, it was announced that Google would be pausing its standard update schedule for Chrome and Chrome OS, instead keeping version 80 running well with bug and security fixes. Now we’re learning that, due to these delays, there won’t even be a version 82 of Chrome or Chrome OS.
In this week’s top stories: OnePlus gets a new yet familiar looking logo, Google Camera gets review bombed by frustrated Pixel 2 owners, the Google Store accidentally marks the Pixel 4 down to “free,” and more.
In the most recent Pixel Feature Drop, Google launched easy access to your “Cards & Passes” from Google Pay by way of the power menu. As of the latest Android 11 Developer Preview, launched earlier today, Cards & Passes is set to be replaced in the power menu with something called “Quick Controls” that appears to make smart home shortcuts easier to access.
As we are all facing the coronavirus pandemic together as a global community, Google is using its platform as the most popular search engine to replace its homepage logo in nearly every country around the world with a Doodle honoring Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, “the father of infection control” and a pioneer in hand washing.
Last month, Google was found to have filed a trademark for an “operating system” by the name of “Pigweed.” Today, Google is officially taking the wraps off of Pigweed, a collection of open source libraries or “modules” for developers who work on embedded devices — not an operating system.
Today is the spring equinox, which means we’re entering into a brand new season. With the new season comes a renewed hope for the future, and a new Google Doodle to celebrate the spring season.
The Google Stadia app updated on Android and iOS this week, and while things don’t look any different on the surface, we’ve found that Google is prepping to bring wireless Stadia Controller support to Android, along with a mention of “Pro-only games.”
The Android 11 Developer Preview, as the name implies, is primarily intended to be an early preview of Android 11’s changes so developers can make their apps compatible long before it launches. However, sometimes upcoming Pixel-exclusive features leak through, as is the case with “Columbus” which lets you do things like invoking the Google Assistant with a double-tap on the back.
In the world of Android development, you need to connect your computer to your phone, usually via a USB cable, in order to transmit your app to your phone. To simplify and modernize this process, Android 11 Developer Preview 2 includes a new “Wireless debugging” setting to let you connect ADB over a Wi-Fi network.
Last year, Google began the process to acquire Fitbit to bolster its own fitness and hardware capabilities. While the business end of that deal is still ongoing, Fitbit appears to be moving forward with their next hardware launch, as a new fitness tracker has been listed with the FCC.
GitHub, acquired by Microsoft in 2018, is part code management service and part social network, and altogether an integral part of many developers’ lives. However, there’s not been a good way to take that experience on the go, beyond the mobile web interface and unofficial apps, but that changes today with the launch of GitHub for Android and iOS.