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Avatar for Kyle Bradshaw

Kyle Bradshaw

SkylledDev

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.

Kyle@9to5mac.com

Connect with Kyle Bradshaw

Apple and Mozilla have been fighting Google’s latest AMP push for over a year

Google Chrome Android Address Bar

Earlier this week at AMP Conf 2019, Google announced that it was now possible for their Accelerated Mobile Pages to display the original page’s URL, despite the site not actually being “served” from that URL. However, in the months that Google has been planning that announcement, Apple and Mozilla have been sharing their concerns about the feature’s impact on the future security of the web.


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Codenames surface for Google ‘Pixel 4’ and ‘Pixel 4 XL’

Google Pixel 3

In the last few weeks, Google developers have become less tight-lipped about the upcoming Pixel 4 phone, mentioning it twice in the Android Open Source Project. Today, another layer of the mystery has been unraveled to reveal the codenames of the Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, and a third, unknown Google device.


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Cloud Code, Google Cloud plugins for IntelliJ & VS Code now available

Google Cloud

Developing for the cloud can be an entirely different experience than developing a local app, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be this way. During the second day of Cloud Next ’19, Google has launched Cloud Code, a plugin for IntelliJ IDEs and Visual Studio Code that will help developers create cloud applications.


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Google Nest Hub Max: Everything we know about the new Google smart display so far

Google Home Hub

For the past few months, all signs have pointed to Google creating a 10-inch Assistant smart display as the next step up from the Google Home Hub. While this device, tentatively revealed to have the name “Nest Hub Max,” hasn’t yet been formally announced, there’s still quite a bit of information available to sort through. So here’s everything we think we know about the Google Nest Hub Max.


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Google Pixel 4 makes yet another AOSP appearance, Pixel 3a too this time

Pixel 3 Android Camera

Last week, we were treated to the first appearance of the Google Pixel 4 inside the Android Open Source Project (or AOSP), which gave us a fairly clear indicator that the device is in-development and possibly already in some (but not all) Google developers’ hands. Today, the Google Pixel 4 has surfaced again in AOSP, this time side-by-side with the continuously-leaked Pixel 3a.


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Moshi Symbus Q Review: The Swiss Army knife of Chromebook accessories

Moshi Symbus Q front

Each year, Chromebooks become thinner and more portable, but this unfortunately comes at the cost of once-indispensable ports like HDMI and Ethernet. Some devices, like the Pixelbook, don’t even have so much as a full USB-A port.

These can, of course, each be replaced with a separate dongle, but many Chromebooks have only two USB-C ports, which would make it impossible to use two dongles and charge simultaneously. The Moshi Symbus Q, which plugs in with just one USB-C port, is able to replace all of these dongles, charge your Chromebook, and wirelessly charge your phone simultaneously.


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Google to expand Advanced Protection program to Chrome w/ download safeguards [Gallery]

Google Chrome browser

Back in 2017, Google announced its Advanced Protection program, designed to safeguard the Google Accounts of those who are “most at risk.” Google is now looking to expand the Advanced Protection program from just protecting individuals’ Google Accounts to protecting their web browsing with Chrome.


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Android Q adding support for ‘deep presses’ similar to iOS’s 3D Touch

Android Q cover

As many have noted, Android hardware has a tendency to follow the trends of Apple’s hardware. The clearest example of this is the prevalence of display notches, following the release of the iPhone X. It seems this trend has the potential to continue with the next generation of Android phones, as Android Q is adding support for “deep presses” on the touchscreen, loosely similar to the 3D Touch capabilities found on recent iPhones.


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Android Q Beta 2: ‘Notification Assistant’ to help manage your notifications, default app can change

Android Q Beta 2 Notification Assistant

Between all the bigger, more exciting features launched in yesterday’s Android Q Beta 2, one that’s gone relatively unexplained is the new Notification Assistant setting, which claims to help you manage your notifications. We’ve deciphered some of the documentation to help give you a better idea of what to expect from the new Notification Assistant apps that may be coming to Android Q.


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Google releases Android Q Beta 2 GSIs for Project Treble devices, user beware

Android 10 cover

The Android Q Beta has thus far only officially been available for Google’s own Pixel phones, unlike last year’s Android P Beta which launched on a significant number of non-Pixel phones. While other OEMs haven’t launched their beta programs yet, Google has provided an Android Q Beta 2 GSI that can be flashed to some non-Pixel phones, thanks to Project Treble. However, you probably shouldn’t install it just yet.


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Android Q beta 2 wirelessly charging pixel 3 xl

Android Q Beta 2: Google Pixel 3 no longer shows wireless charging speed as ‘rapidly’ or ‘slowly’

There’s an enormous variety of tiny adjustments and quality-of-life changes in Android Q Beta 2, but some aren’t necessarily an improvement. For whatever reason, on Android Q Beta 2, the Pixel 3 no longer displays whether it is charging slowly or rapidly when on a wireless charger.


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Android Q Beta 2: You can now choose notification dismiss swipe direction

Android Q Beta Notification Swipe direction

If you’re like me, and typically swipe your notifications from left-to-right, you were likely very frustrated with last month’s Android Q Beta 1 and its new menu for each notification. Previously, Android notifications could be swiped in either direction to dismiss, but in Android Q Beta 1, swiping left-to-right opened the new notification menu. With today’s Android Q Beta 2, you can now choose which direction of swipe opens the notification menu versus dismissing.


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