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.
At the start of this week, Google made the Material You redesign of the Wear OS Play Store official. Alongside that, Google Play on Android phones was also updated with easier install and search filters. Thanks to the Play Store, along with the latest app update, we get a very quick and minor peek at YouTube Music for Wear OS.
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Alongside WWDC 2021, Apple rolled out a bunch of features for its Music streaming service. The Lossless and Spatial Audio update, as well as other enhancements, are now available for Apple Music on Android.
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Over the past few years, some malicious actors have leveraged Google Drive sharing to target people with spam-filled documents. Google now has a solution to that form of spam with user blocking in Drive.
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At the start of this year, Google introduced an “About this result” panel to learn about the sites that appear in Search. That feature will now tell you why you’re seeing a specific result.
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Given the scale that its services operate at, Google is a big user of phased rollouts to catch issues. It also operates beta tests for key apps, and Google is now officially operating a program for Android Auto.
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At I/O 2021 in May, Google announced a total overhaul of its wearable platform. We’ve since seen the new OS previewed on an emulator, while Samsung has confirmed that the new Galaxy Watch will be the first to run it. Many questions remain about Wear OS 3, and Google today addressed the update situation for current watch owners.
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Back in March, Google announced that Cloud Next in 2021 would take place October 12-14. The company left open the possibility that the enterprise conference could take place in-person, but as registration opens today it will be a digital event.
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Since March of this year, we’ve been tracking a brand new Cast experience for YouTube on regular, non-Google TV-powered Chromecast dongles. It looks like the YouTube app on Android TV with better remote control options and is now rolling out to more users.
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Google today started rolling out “Backup by Google One” as an update over the existing Android backup service that now means end users only have to be aware of one sync to the cloud.
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Google launched a $1 billion licensing program in October 2020 to support publishers and surface card-based content across its platforms. Google News Showcase is now coming to Austria.
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Google is updating Maps with a handful of new features today focused on expanding transit crowdedness predictions and an “Insights” addition to the powerful Timeline history.
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One of YouTube Music’s oldest (and best) features is an “Offline Mixtape” that can be quickly played on Android. Over the course of today, the app shortcut has disappeared for users.
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In May 2017, amid a big virtual reality push, Google announced that it acquired Owlchemy Labs. Known for Job Simulator and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Owlchemy shared today that it’s making a new VR game.
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In a significant expansion, Google is bringing its Lens visual search tool to the desktop web via the Chrome browser.
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Following version 91’s release on Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, the next release of Google’s browser is rolling out. Chrome 92 is here with a slew of user-facing security and productivity enhancements.
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As part of the broader Chrome 92 update today, Google is expanding the availability of Site Isolation on Android, as well as to extensions on desktop browsers.
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Google is rolling out Chrome 92 for iOS today with a number of new user-facing features and tweaks.
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Android TV is set to receive even more features from Google TV in the near future, but the reverse is now also set to happen. The Google TV “Continue watching” carousel will soon let you “Hide” content.
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Google is alerting Pixel 4 XL owners that it’s running an extended repair program for the 2019 flagship phone. It’s specifically limited to four countries and applies only to “certain power-related issues.”
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Pixel Buds A-Series officially launched in the US and Canada last week after being announced at the start of June. The 2nd-gen Pixel Buds are now completely “out of stock” in those two countries in a possible sign that Google has discontinued the headphones.
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At the start of this year, Google said it was partnering with institutions to use YouTube’s scale to widely surface trusted health videos. This is now manifesting as an “accredited hospitals” label on authoritative YouTube videos.
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Downtime among Google’s largest services is typically rare, but it does occur from time to time. Google is now updating the Workspace Status Dashboard and other tools that admins can use to keep track of outages.
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Google has a multi-stage plan to shut down classic Hangouts and move enterprise Workspace customers to Chat. This latest step in advancing Google Chat adoption takes place next month.
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Sundar Pichai has historically maintained a low public profile, especially as of late, compared to other tech CEOs. A fascinating interview with the Alphabet/Google CEO by the BBC aired in the UK last week and reveals more than recent talks.
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