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.
Google wants to improve the real-time editing experience in Slides with a “Follow” feature that lets you jump to whatever page a specific user is viewing.
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Following two new tiles for sunset/sunrise and favorite contacts, Google Keep for Wear OS is beginning to roll out its updated notes feed.
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Google started rolling out passkey support in October, and availability has now entered Chrome’s stable channel with version 108.
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Following the Play Store and YouTube Music, Google’s wind down of 2022 continues with the annual “Year in Search” recap video.
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The Private Compute Core (PCC) was announced with Android 12 to let ML-backed features operate in a privacy-conscious manner independent of other parts of the OS, including third-party apps. Google recently published a technical whitepaper detailing the Private Compute Core Architecture.
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With Chrome 108, Google is introducing Memory Saver and Energy Saver modes to improve the browser’s performance and extend battery life, respectively.
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The Pixel 7 Pro launched with version 8.7.165 of Google Camera, and 8.7.250 is now rolling out with the addition of Macro Focus settings but also with the removal of the double-tap action gesture.
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The Waze team is being merged into the organization responsible for Google Maps, though no changes to the end-user experience were announced as part of this internal change.
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During the October event, Google previewed that the Pixel’s Recorder app will soon be able to identify multiple people, and “Speaker Labels” are now rolling out.
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Jetpack Compose is Google’s recommended approach for building UIs on Wear OS and version 1.1 is rolling out with a handful of tweaks that you might encounter in apps.
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Google today announced an add-on for Google Sheets that applies “Simple ML” to your data that was built by the TensorFlow team to help make “machine learning accessible to all.”
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Following last week’s announcement and mention during the Pixel’s December Feature Drop, Google has started rolling out two new Tiles for watches that quickly show when the sun will rise/set and your favorite contacts.
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From Android apps and games to YouTube, it’s time for annual recaps and Google has released its 2022 Year in Search. Powered by Google Trends, the top trending searches list now includes Google Lens and Hum to Search.
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Back in June, we noted that Google is no longer developing “Assistant Memory,” and the Collections feature that it would have presumably replaced is now seeing a redesign.
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If a Pixel Watch update is not available on your Wear OS device yet, there’s a remarkably simple way to download and install the OTA immediately.
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Google Photos has long been able to estimate the location of pictures that don’t contain geodata. It previously did this using Google Account Location History but has since stopped and is giving users the ability to remove those estimates.
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While GPay is getting some Material You tweaks, the app is losing the ability to pay for parking and gas right from your phone in the US.
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Android 11 made it so that Bluetooth, if active, would stay on even after you enable Airplane Mode, and Google is now extending that to Wi-Fi on Pixel phones.
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As Google works on an Omnibox redesign for Android, Chrome on desktops is getting a very handy shortcut that lets you quickly search your history and bookmarks right from the address bar.
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In addition to continuous scrolling on desktop, Google is rolling out new topic filters for mobile Search.
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Google is fulfilling a common request of Android Automotive owners today with the launch of a dedicated Waze app, though availability will be limited until next year.
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Spatial Audio on Pixel phones and Pixel Buds Pro is not launching until January, but Google today detailed how it will work and what Android apps will be supported.
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The Files app on ChromeOS has seen a steady pace of updates in the last year, but the biggest upgrade to the experience yet is the concept of a Trash can.
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Back in September, Google previewed a new AR Translate feature for Lens that takes advantage of the technology behind the Pixel’s Magic Eraser. Ahead of that, Google Translate has replaced its built-in translation camera with Google Lens.
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