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.
The last major update to mobile Chrome introduced a grid layout for tabs and the ability to group them. A more minor Chrome addition on Android today lets you preview a page before fully opening it.
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Google offers a dedicated Finance portal that shows you news in addition to charts and other trend data. That said, most users make do with entering ticker symbols in Search to find the price of stocks, with Google recently revamping the desktop experience.
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It emerged yesterday that from next month, T-Mobile will sell web and app usage information to advertisers unless subscribers manually opt out. Google tells us today that this T-Mobile change to how data is used will not apply to Fi customers.
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The latest virtual exhibit for Google Arts & Culture and YouTube takes a look at the history of electronic music from its inventors, artists, sounds, and technology. Google also built a fun AR Synth experience that lets you create a tune.
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Following last year’s big Android and iOS revamp, Google Photos on the web is getting a matching “Explore” tab and “Favorites” shortcut.
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Back in February, Google announced that Fit for Android can measure heart and respiratory rate using just your phone. These new Google Fit camera tracking capabilities will start rolling out to Pixel phones on Monday.
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Back in May, chat.google.com received a Progressive Web App to replace the previous desktop client. The Google Chat Electron app will stop working at the end of March with users encouraged to upgrade now.
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Last month, Google started rolling out a free version of Google Chat ahead of classic Hangouts going away. The “early preview” of Google’s latest consumer messaging service is now widely appearing for more users.
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The first Chromebooks launched a decade ago, and Google is celebrating that milestone with a big Chrome OS 89 update that introduces a ton of user-facing features. The company is also using this occasion to look at where Chromebooks will go in the future.
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Following the desktop and mobile updates last week, Chrome OS 89 is beginning to roll out today. There are a number of big usability enhancements in this release that will be available over the coming days.
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Over the past month, Google has announced a slew of upcoming video calling features for education and enterprise customers. Some of them are now rolling out, including the ability to set up Google Meet breakout rooms in advance using Calendar.
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Back in October, Google rolled out a big revamp for Assistant Smart Displays that organized key functions in dedicated tabs and added a dark theme. While an improvement over the previous design in most ways, the old Nest Hub UI had one advantage in regards to quickly accessing Home control.
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Internet quality can greatly vary around the world, with Google hoping to expand who can participate in video calls with a Meet Global Dialing subscription.
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One of the biggest arguments for autonomous vehicles is increasing road safety. Waymo today released a study that used simulations to show how its cars would have responded to real-world fatal crash scenarios.
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Last week, Google’s latest payment service left “early access” for those in the US. Besides being more easily downloadable, exiting beta means that users can leave public ratings. However, the Play Store is not currently letting users review the new Google Pay.
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The big revamp of Google News in 2018 introduced a “Full Coverage” feature that brings together context and other perspectives for major stories in one feed, and it’s now coming to Search.
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At the tail end of last year, the Fossil Group started rolling out the latest system for Google’s wearable platform. It’s been a slow process, with H MR2 currently paused for Fossil Gen 5 Wear OS watches to address unspecified issues.
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With the Pixel 4 and Android 10, Google introduced the ability for your device to automatically subtitle playing audio. Live Caption on Pixel phones can be launched from anywhere using volume controls, but a bug for some sees that button reappear even after disabling.
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Following yesterday’s premature appearance, Google has released three new clock faces for the Nest Hub and Hub Max. These additions join the existing eight Fullscreen clock background for those who don’t want to set a photo album.
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The second-generation Pixel Buds are a little over 10 months old and gave Google a respectable pair of headphones following the original 2017 offering. Audio wearables are a very active category right now with rampant competition, and it would be smart for Made by Google not to wait 2-3 years before releasing another product, especially since there are many places they can take the line.
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Google today provided an update on the state of audio latency to encourage developers that “have been holding back on developing an Android app” in this category.
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From channels to flags and A/B tests, Google has a whole host of ways to test new Chrome features before they launch for all users. Chrome is now getting an “Experiments” pane, marked by a new beaker icon, right in the main UI to make it easier to test new features and send feedback.
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As is tradition, Google is inviting K-12 students in the US to create a Doodle for the Search homepage. Doodle for Google 2021 is looking for artwork that reflects “I am strong because…”
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Apart from the Fitbit acquisition, Google’s only in-house designed wearables are the second-generation Pixel Buds and Glass Enterprise Edition. A new report today says Alphabet’s X Moonshot Factory is working on wearable earbuds codenamed “Wolverine” that enhance your hearing.
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