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 is rolling out a change to Maps and Search that explicitly notes whether a place provides a specific, confirmed service, starting with healthcare facilities that offer abortions and veterans hospitals.
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At I/O 2022 in May, Google announced the AI Test Kitchen mobile app as a means to let the public “learn about, experience, and give feedback on emerging AI technology.” You can now “Register your interest” for it to experience LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications).
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Fitbit just announced a trio of new devices, but it’s already preparing another one. An FCC filing filed Wednesday could be for the Fitbit Charge 6.
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After entering the Preview Program in June, Fuchsia is now rolled out on the Nest Hub Max for all users. Google’s nascent OS is now widely available on a second device after the original Nest Hub last year.
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Google’s push to make Spaces a better Slack or Microsoft Teams competitor continues by making them discoverable in Gmail search on the web.
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Earlier this year, Google Research presented its work on RawNeRF with “NeRF in the Dark: High Dynamic Range View Synthesis from Noisy Raw Images” at the CVPR (Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition) 2022 conference.
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With the latest Google Play system update for August 2022 announced this week, Android owners are seeking out the “Check for update” button only to find that it no longer exists. This is happening for both Pixel and Samsung, though it’s not clear whether this is a bug or an intentional behavior change.
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The first Samsung customers are beginning to receive the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro, and Google has some “important” advice for those that are having trouble getting Assistant for Wear OS up and running.
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This year, carriers in the US are phasing out support for 3G cellular networks and Google is detailing how it will impact Pixel owners, while it released a Voice over LTE (VoLTE) roaming update this month.
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Following last month’s launch, Google Wallet is now available in six new countries: South Africa, Serbia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Qatar, and Iceland.
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After last month’s drop primarily consisted of new titles, August 2022 brings six games to Stadia Pro.
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Ahead of iOS 16 launching next month, Apple Music for Android has been updated with the latest features to ensure parity as part of version 4.0, which is currently in beta.
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After adding a Commute toggle for traffic, the Pixel’s At a Glance widget has now introduced a setting to get the “Delivery and pickup status” of “Food and household orders.”
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Some Google Fi customers cannot get RCS to connect on their Pixel phones after installing Android 13. That said, this does not appear to be a widespread issue.
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Earlier this month, a report revealed that Google TV was adding Nest Audio support, as well as Fitbit/Wear OS and smart home integrations. Details of a YouTube TV split screen mode and YouTube Shorts on televisions have now emerged.
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In recent days, the Meet merger widely rolled out to Google Duo for Android and iOS. Google is now readying to start the next phase where the Meet icon and name replaces Duo’s following a mobile app update.
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Google’s newest Android app on the Play Store is called “Online Insights Study” to allow “registered users to participate in market research.”
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As we’ve been tracking since May, Fitbit and Google Fit integration on the 2nd-gen Nest Hub is getting deeper with a stats card that can appear directly on the Smart Display’s homescreen.
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YouTube organically became a place for distributing and watching/listening to podcasts, and the Google video service is widely expected to offer a more optimized experience. This is starting with a YouTube “Explore” page for “Podcasts.”
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In things that surprisingly work rather well together, a Waymo employee has set a time lapse of an autonomous vehicle operating in San Francisco to lo-fi hip-hop.
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With Android 13, Google made it so that the Pixel 6, 6 Pro, and 6a cannot reinstall Android 12 in order to address a security issue. In addressing that vulnerability, another problem might arise, and Google has released instructions on how to avoid bricking your device if you flashed Android 13.
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Google launched and started rolling out the latest version of its mobile operating system on Monday. As of Friday afternoon, many Pixel owners in the US are getting the Android 13 update.
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Besides our status update on face unlock, the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are seeing an early hands-on today that provides our first very good look at the hardware, and how it compares to the previous generation.
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Google Search has long featured a collection of simple tools, but the stopwatch and timer have mysteriously disappeared in the past day or so.
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