Send tips/talk to abner@9to5mac.com or @technacity (open DMs).
Abner Li has worked at 9to5Google since 2015 and in late 2020 took on the role of editor-in-chief. He is keenly focused on tracking what happens at Google, and is often the first to spot new features in Google’s ever-growing family of applications that are updated on a daily basis, including Search, Assistant, Maps, Workspace, Android, Chrome/OS, Wear OS, and YouTube Music.
To him, what Google does greatly impacts the technology space and modern life. Inside the company, he is particularly interested in the key products mentioned above, as well as services like Google Podcasts and Google Lens. Each are massive platforms that can be unwieldy to grasp, with Abner keenly bent on understanding their philosophy and future direction. He is most excited about Google’s plans for augmented reality glasses.
Abner spearheads the APK Insight program at 9to5Google to chronicle all changes in the company’s Android apps, often finding new features before they are officially announced. This includes redesigns and revamps, launches, and new products.
A big area of interest is Google’s hardware division, including Pixel, Fitbit, and Nest. He detailed all of the Pixel 3’s camera features before launch and scooped the 2nd-generation Nest Hub’s Soli-powered Sleep Sensing capability, including how it would integrate with Google Fit.
Recently, Abner detailed the Pixel Watch’s specs in full before launch, including bands and pricing. He also got wind of the Pixel Tablet’s ultimate form factor.
Over the past week, some users of Google Messages for web have encountered an issue where everything is automatically marked as read.
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Google is rolling out ChromeOS 115 as a bigger-than-usual update with a number of user-facing additions over the coming days.
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The latest Fixed on Pixel ad features soccer/football star Megan Rapinoe, while pulling double duty by announcing a new, sporty Pixel Watch band in Coral.
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It emerged at the start of this year that cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were involved in planning Google’s AI strategy. A new report today details just how active Brin has been recently.
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Google Messages on the web rarely gets updated, but a recent addition lets you directly reply to RCS chats like on Android.
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The price of an individual YouTube Premium subscription is increasing by $2 to $13.99 per month in the US for new and current customers.
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Besides building AI products for personal, productivity, and developer use cases, journalism and news is another area for Google with details of a “Genesis” tool.
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One advantage of Google Play Billing is the ability to manage your subscriptions in one place, but that UI and functionality are currently broken on Android.
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Google today announced its support for interoperable end-to-end encrypted communication between large messaging platforms, with plans to integrate the MLS protocol into Google Messages and Android.
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Following last week’s release, Google is now taking feedback on Android 14 Beta 4 as the preview program is almost complete.
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Following the beta this March, Google is ready to launch Nearby Share for Windows in full today.
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We questioned at the end of last month whether the Pixel Fold had launched yet, given a number of missed milestones. It’s now clear the answer at the end of June was no, with Google’s latest device only seeing its formal launch today.
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After starting public testing in Slides, AI image generation is now coming to Google Meet on the web to create custom backgrounds.
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Google announced Home Panel was coming to Pixel phones with the June Feature Drop, and it’s now widely rolling out with an update to the Google Home app.
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The Arts & Culture app gained a new icon earlier this year that evoked rather strong opinions, and Google has now introduced an updated version on Android.
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Over the past few days, Google has been prominently promoting Enhanced Safe Browsing in the Gmail apps.
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AppSheet lets businesses easily build internal tools, and Google is now giving access to entry Google Workspace tiers.
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Boosting playback speed is a common occurrence with most YouTube content these days, especially with podcasts, and Google is making it easier to 2x videos with a new gesture.
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Google Nest Hubs automatically reboot and/or install updates every night, but an emerging issue sees some Assistant Smart Displays stuck, or bricked, on the “Updating” screen.
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Besides the Metal Mesh strap that never came to be, there was another Pixel Watch accessory that Google ended up not releasing: a Coral Active Band.
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Google rolled out the ability for Messages to auto-group SMS texts and RCS chats last year, but the categories have now disappeared for some users.
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Bard received a major update yesterday with a slew of new features and expanded availability. Most notable is the ability to save and pin chats, as well as have multiple conversations, with Bard’s UI being updated to support everything.
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Google introduced Gmailify in 2016 so that you could use Gmail features like spam filtering and inbox organization with a third-party account, but that integration is currently down.
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After launching in late April for US users, YouTube Music is starting to roll out international support for podcasts.
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