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.
Joining a slew of other companies amid the Delta variant of COVID-19, Google today announced that the vast majority of staff won’t have to return to offices until January 10, 2022.
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Google officially announced the Play Store’s Material Theme in August 2019, while a dark mode came that October. Since then, pages like “Manage apps & devices,” settings, and navigation have been significantly revamped. A Material You redesign with Dynamic Color is what’s next for the Google Play Store, and here’s an early look.
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Earlier this year, Chrome rolled out the ability to generate links that directly highlight a specific passage of text. Google now wants Chrome users on Android to test (and create) “quote cards” that can be easily shared as images on your social network of choice.
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To help employees better manage their day, Google Calendar is introducing new “Time Insights” that let paid Workspace users see “how [their] time is spent across meetings and collaborators.”
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Earlier this year, Google redesigned the Now Playing UI in Podcasts for Android and iOS. Google Podcasts is now rolling out its next major redesign with a lot of tweaks that address usability complaints.
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So far, Gboard has received a Material You redesign that introduced rounded UI elements and support for Dynamic Color. The latest tweak to conform to Material You sees Gboard get circular key popups.
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While smartphones are increasingly approaching feature phone pricing, the latter category still has a place. As such, “smart” feature phones exist, and many are powered by KaiOS, though Google Assistant in recent months lost the ability to make calls and send texts through voice commands.
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As teased, Fossil unveiled its Gen 6 line of Wear OS smartwatches today. Besides the latest stylings, the exterior is mostly unchanged, but there are a handful of internal upgrades.
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Back in July, “Backup by Google One” started rolling out as an expansion to the existing Android backup service. This more granular and expansive approach to storage is now more widely available.
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Google ads for Pixel phones have been all over the place as of late, and the latest one about the 5a with 5G’s headphone jack parodies old Jony Ive product videos, but seemingly without realizing its own product history.
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Earlier this week, some Google Home users got the option to add delayed starts to macros. Google has now updated Assistant with support for “Daylong Routines” that allow actions to automatically trigger at different times over the course of a day.
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Our review of the Pixel 5a found that Google’s latest phone was closer to the Pixel 5 than the Pixel 4a 5G, as was widely expected during the rumor cycle. Those similarities unsurprisingly extend to the build, according to a Pixel 5a teardown today.
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With the Pixel 5a officially launching in the US and Japan today, Google has published the Android 11 factory images for customers that have already received the phone.
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Google Tasks is a straightforward organization tool that’s tightly integrated with Gmail, Calendar, and other Workspace apps. A small redesign of Google Tasks for Android and iOS introduces tabs that let you quickly jump between lists.
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The rise of remote work and video conferencing has boosted webcam sales over the past year. It has also led some to connect their DSLRs and other dedicated cameras to their PCs, while people are doing the same with their smartphones. Reincubate Camo is one of the more popular PC webcam solutions for iPhone, and it’s now available on Android in beta.
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Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and other tech executives today attended the White House Cyber Security Meeting. Google announced that it’s committing $10 billion over the next five years to strengthen and “advance cybersecurity.”
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Exactly two weeks after the last release in the preview program, Android 12 Beta 4.1 is rolling out with much-needed bug fixes on Pixel phones.
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Google launched its $1 billion licensing program in late 2020 to support publishers and surface card-based content across its platforms. Google News Showcase is now coming to Colombia.
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The Apple Watch popularized the concept of “closing your rings,” and Google Fit has Heart Points. Meanwhile, Fitbit — by nature of being around for so long — more prominently emphasizes step counts and miles than competitors. More recently, it’s found branding success in people comparing Sleep Scores, while there’s also one for stress. Fitbit today announced the Daily Readiness Score for Premium subscribers as the next metric you might care about.
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Google’s latest Search improvement is a “new system of generating titles for web pages” that better describes what a result is about.
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After launching in Gmail, Smart Reply has expanded to more and more Google products. Google Docs already has Smart Compose, and it’s now adding Smart Reply suggestions when commenting.
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Back in June, Google started rolling out Picture-in-Picture support in YouTube for iPhone. It’s not widely available yet, but YouTube Premium subscribers can experimentally enable PiP in the mobile app today.
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Alphabet wants to compete with the likes of Lyft and Uber, but it’s been very slow to expand “Waymo One” outside of Phoenix. That’s now changing with the launch of Waymo One Trusted Tester in San Francisco.
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Google Maps users on Android and iOS today are seeing a new prompt that explicitly permits the app to crowdsource their “navigation data.” Notably, live turn-by-turn navigation will not work unless you agree.
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