Abner Li

In March of last year, YouTube Music widely rolled out the ability to shuffle songs when Casting but bafflingly didn’t also enable repeat. As of today, that latter action is available again.

Following the redesign in Android 12, calls from Pixel owners that want the option to remove At a Glance have only increased. It’s unlikely that will happen anytime soon as Google is very much in the middle of justifying At a Glance’s existence and making it a pillar of the helpful Pixel experience.

Google is rolling out a new Side Panel UI in desktop Chrome that provides fast access to your bookmarks and Reading List. 

With the small business-focused Workspace Individual tier last year, Google Calendar gained appointment scheduling. Google is now bringing Calendar booking pages to the other enterprise and education Workspace tiers. 

With Android 12, Google introduced a “performance class” to let app developers “understand what a device is capable of, and tailor [their] user experience accordingly.” The Pixel 6 and several other modern flagships were the “first to optimize” and meet the standard, which apps like Snapchat are using, but Samsung is absent.

Google recently updated the default “Shopping List” experience used by Assistant and Home devices. For many users, it’s a huge visual and functional regression that has taken away useful capabilities.

In releasing QPR3 Beta 1.1 for the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro today, Google also announced that it will soon give testers the ability to opt out of the Android Beta Program at the end of every cycle without having to wipe their device.

Following the launch two weeks ago, Google is now rolling out Android 12 QPR3 Beta 1.1 for the Pixel 6 series. This is a preview for the upcoming June Feature Drop.

To date, Google has released three Assistant Smart Displays. 9to5Google can now report that the company is working on a new Nest Hub for 2022 with a dockable tablet form factor where the screen detaches from a base/speaker.

Google has a new series of ads that are aimed at getting iPhone users to switch to its browser by pointing out how they’re likely using desktop Chrome and could get those features on mobile. 

As of last year, Google Health is a “company-wide effort to help billions of people be healthier” that’s distributed across several product teams. At its second annual “The Check Up” event, Google showed off its latest health research and features to accomplish that goal.

With the war in Ukraine ongoing, Google today detailed its company-wide response to the conflict with a focus on the “safety and security of our employees, users, and customers.”

Back in 2020, Google announced that it would require all apps in the Play Store to use its billing system but later delayed that to this month. Google will soon allow Android apps to use their own payment system as long as Play Store billing is an option alongside it, with Spotify notably the first “User Choice Billing” partner.

Since 2018, YouTube has offered a collection of free-to-watch movies that are supported by advertising. That YouTube library in the US is now expanding to TV shows with almost 4,000 free episodes.

After the death of Play Music, Google Play was left with applications, books, and television. The Play Store will soon drop Movies & TV on Android with the Google TV app being the new place to buy and rent content.

After updating the primary tab with interactive device toggles inspired by Android 11, the Google Home app wants to redesign the “Feed” to be more useful.

Under the auspice of spring cleaning, Google Photos is redesigning its Library and Sharing tabs over the coming weeks. There’s a focus on easier sorting of albums and shared content, as well as the introduction of various shortcuts.

Following a casual announcement last week, Steam for Chrome OS is officially rolling out in Alpha quality. Only a handful of new Chromebooks are supported, and switching to the Dev channel is required.