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.
In recent years, Google has notoriously kept its work on augmented reality hardware secret. That has started to change recently, while a new report today provides explicit confirmation that “Google is working on a new iteration of smart glasses.”
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Back in August, Google updated Tasks for Android and iOS with tabs that let you quickly jump between lists. The instance of Google Tasks that exists in the web sidebar of Gmail, Docs, and other Workspace apps now looks to be getting a similar redesign, as well as the ability to favorite items.
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For two products that should be very important to Google, Assistant and Lens had a quiet 2021 compared to even the year prior. Fortunately, the lack of movement seems to be due to upcoming advancements being not quite ready yet.
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Waymo One is Alphabet’s Lyft/Uber competitor that’s live in Phoenix and currently undergoing testing in San Francisco. Waymo today announced a future EV for its US ride-hailing service that will be “rider-first” and have no steering wheel.
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Just like last year, we’ve put together an end-of-year recap of all the major features that Google Assistant and Google Home launched in 2021.
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The Pixel is the “Official Fan Phone of the NBA,” and Google is reminding people of that fact with a high-profile Pixel 6 ad ahead of five Christmas Day basketball games.
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With the launch of Android 12, Google is massively improving widgets on phones after several years of many interactive homescreen objects remaining unchanged. Here are the best widgets worth trying on your new Android phone.
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At the start of this year, Google rolled out the ability to track key vitals directly on your Android device. Google Fit on iPhone has now quietly received the same ability to measure your heart and respiratory rate using just cameras.
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Since its inception, Google has given Fi members a holiday gift. For 2021, the “year-end gift” is simply $10 in Google Play credit that can be redeemed from the Fi app.
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Google’s latest social play to advertise the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro is quite elaborate and involves the creation of a themed Tarot card deck, as well as AR filters on Instagram.
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Following many other tech companies in recent days, Waymo and Google announced today that it’s no longer having an in-person presence at CES 2022 due to the “quickly evolving COVID infection rates.”
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In the coming days, many people will be setting up new phones that they received as presents. Google has released a video in ASL that walks those that are “hard of hearing or profoundly Deaf” through helpful Pixel accessibility features like Live Transcribe and Caption.
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Some Pixel 6 users continue to face connection issues that appear to be exacerbated by the December security patch. Google has been working on a possible connectivity fix via Carrier settings and testing it with what appears to be a small number of Pixel 6 users in recent days.
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With Android 12 now two months old, more and more OEMs are beginning to update existing devices to the latest OS version. Motorola has now detailed what Android 12 will bring to its devices next year and which phones will be updated.
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The big bug fix update for the Pixel 6, as well as Android 12, has had a few issues of its own in recent days. The latest sees Google disable the Call Screening and Hold For Me on the Pixel 6 due to an unspecified bug in the December security update.
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Google Voice is primarily aimed at enterprise, and many of its new features are for paying Workspace customers. However, starting today, regular Google users in the US will also benefit from the addition of Voice “rules” for call forwarding and other custom actions.
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At the moment, the Android 12L Developer Preview is only available via the Android Emulator, while the beta is coming to Pixel phones in December. A preview is also set to arrive on the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro for large-screen Android 12L development, and Google is offering a discount on the upcoming tablet.
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The Google Home Mini launched in October of 2017 and was replaced two years later by the Nest Mini. Despite that, the original affordable speaker has remained available for sale but is now finally out of stock on the Google Store.
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Before Google Wifi was announced alongside the original Pixel phone, Google a year earlier released OnHub-branded routers from Asus and TP-Link. In late 2022, Google will end support for OnHub routers that will be seven years old at that time.
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As seen with 12L, Google is making a big push to improve the experience of using Android and its apps on large screens. In its developer recap, Google shared today that usage of Android apps on Chrome OS increased 50% year-over-year.
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Stephen Curry last week broke the all-time record for three-pointers made in NBA history, and to celebrate Google Photos is out with a new ad featuring pictures and videos from his personal library.
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Disney channels are returning to YouTube TV after being unavailable for most of the weekend, following a new deal.
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YouTube TV has failed to reach a new contract with Disney and has lost ABC, ESPN, and several other channels. As a result, Google’s cord-cutting service temporarily costs $49.99 until the dispute is resolved.
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According to Merriam-Webster — yes, I’m purposefully being cliche, the em dash can be used to separate extra information in place of a comma, colon, or parenthesis. Google Docs will now autocorrect for the em dash (—), but it’s using the wrong default shortcut.
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