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 2019, Google started testing a review and approval system for Docs, Sheets, and Slides. After the two-year beta period, “formal document approvals” are now rolling out to Workspace users.
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Google Arts & Culture went momentarily viral in 2018 for introducing a camera feature that compares your selfie to famous portraits, and the app is now offering the same capability for pets.
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Google is all-in on Rich Communication Services (RCS) as its main consumer messaging strategy. That said, Google Messages is working on the ability to have video usually sent over MMS be sent using Google Photos instead.
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In November of 2019, Google upgraded Assistant’s “play me the news” capability with personalized audio digests. Google Assistant has now removed “Your News Update” and gone back to only offering standard sources.
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Android 12 replaces “Android Auto for Phone Screens” with the long-awaited Assistant Driving Mode. As part of that, most people with the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro lose the Android Auto icon in the app launcher.
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Since August, Google has been using a “page experience” metric to determine how websites appear in mobile Search. Page experience ranking is now coming to the desktop version of Google Search from February 2022.
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As the holiday shopping season gets under way early this year due to supply concerns, Google today announced its latest tools for local shops, including a renamed “Business Profile.”
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Last year, DeepMind’s AlphaFold2 AI system made a “significant contribution to humanity’s understanding of biology.” Alphabet has now taken that advancement and created a new company called Isomorphic Labs, focused on AI-driven drug discovery.
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In late August, South Korea passed a law requiring alternate in-app payment systems in Google Play and the iOS App Store. Google today detailed what steps it will be taking to comply.
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Owners of various Google Nest products this evening are reporting sporadic outages with their smart home devices. While not all users are impacted, a wide range of devices are going offline.
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The Chrome New Tab Page on desktop (Mac, Windows, Linux) and Chrome OS can be customized by third-party extensions so that users “discover something new every time [they] open a new tab.” Google’s new “Tab Maker” tool lets anyone create such an extension with “no coding required.”
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Back in May, Google said it would start automatically enabling two-factor authentication on eligible accounts. As part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Google today provided an update on its account 2SV efforts.
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As teased in recent weeks, Google Drive now offers a new Material You widget on Android 12 that lets you “quickly access suggested files and search.”
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Last week, Google announced Android 12L as a big update for foldables and tablets. It’s also coming to phones, with Pixel devices receiving the update in Q1 of next year. The Android 12L Beta Program is set to start in December, and today Google added the Pixel 3a and 3a XL to the list of supported devices.
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The November security patch was announced on Monday as the first update to Android 12 following its launch a few weeks earlier. This update includes a series of bug fixes, but Pixel owners that are still on the Android Beta Program have yet to receive the November release until they opt out.
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As the penultimate month of this year gets underway, the Google Play Store is opening Users’ Choice voting for the best Android content and media of 2021.
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Marketing leaks leading up to the unveiling of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro suggested the surprising presence of “Face Unlock.” However, at launch, there is no such capability, though signs continue to point towards it.
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With the launch of the November security patch yesterday, Google did not release factory or OTA images for the Pixel 3. The 2018 flagships officially hit the guaranteed update period in October with Android 12, but Google told us today that one more update is coming.
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The Chromecast with Google TV offers a good user interface and experience but is rather hampered by only 8GB of storage. We, along with many others, have complained about this hardware limitation, and Google Support now offers a basic how-to on what to do “if you run out of storage on your Chromecast with Google TV.”
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Google Home devices have long let users place phone calls with just their voice. An upcoming Assistant change will restrict that calling capability to numbers saved in your Google Contacts.
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The Google Photos “Your memories” widget introduced in August is set to get a Material You upgrade that will let you customize the shape, just like in the Pixel 6 promo videos.
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In the past, Google has offered free Assistant speakers to existing subscribers and prospective members of its subscription storage service. The latest Google One promo involves upgrading to a 2TB annual plan for a free Nest Hub (2nd-gen).
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The November security patch is rolling out now to all supported Pixel phones – the 3/XL is currently dropped – as the first update to Android 12. Pixel 6 and 6 Pro owners received the November update last week, but Google is only today detailing what’s included.
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The first update to Android 12 is rolling out today with the November security patch for the Pixel 3a, Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 5, Pixel 5a, Pixel 6, and Pixel 6 Pro.
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