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.
Last month, Google announced that it would fulfill a long-time feature request in its RCS client. End-to-end encryption in Google Messages is now rolling out for some beta users.
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Google’s advertising controls today range from seeing why something was served to turning off personalization entirely. Moving forward, the company will let you limit ads that are sensitive in nature, with YouTube being the first to get this option.
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Google is rolling out new features across Docs and other Workspace apps to increase interoperability with Word and the Microsoft Office suite. It comes as some teams might choose to use both sets of tools, while others still work with partners that don’t use cloud offerings.
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Following this week’s Feature Drop, an update to the Pixel Live Wallpaper app introduces “Conveyor Belt” to the Pixel 5. A rather elaborate moving background, it does not appear to be available for the Pixel 4a.
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Google’s browser, especially on mobile, has always had a minimal interface to keep the focus on web content. Chrome houses the vast majority of controls in the overflow menu, which has just been tweaked with icons on Android.
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Back in June, Google started letting you use Fi and Voice on the same account. A new Google Fi promotion is now incentivizing those longtime Voice users to join the MVNO now that they have the opportunity.
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Last September, Made by Google started offering refurbished products at slightly discounted prices. The two initial offerings went out of stock quite a long time ago, and the US Google Store is now expanding the refurbished lineup to include Nest smart home products.
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Google today virtually kicked off Chrome Dev Summit 2020 with a recap of the past year in browser developments, and a look toward what’s coming next.
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From stricter disclosures to an entirely new platform, Google has been continuously working to make extensions better respect user privacy and more secure. Next year, Chrome will require users to first approve what sites an extension can access in a change to the default behavior.
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Google’s Health division today announced that its next project is an application to “make it easier for leading research institutions to connect with potential study participants.” The Google Health Studies app is available for Android and takes advantage of federated learning and analytics.
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Last month, Made by Google surprisingly launched its cheapest phone in a new color stateside. The Barely Blue Pixel 4a is now coming to Japan later this month.
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While Microsoft is clearly focused on iterating the Chromium version of Edge, the company’s previous browser is still available. Google announced today that Workspace apps will cease support for Internet Explorer 11 in March.
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Over the years, Google has been working to make “Chrome Sync” optional for more and more browser features. The company is continuing that today by announcing a pair of changes for Chrome on Android and one for desktops.
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Amid COVID-19, people unsurprisingly turned to watching a lot of video for entertainment. YouTube Gaming in particular touts its “biggest year, ever” in 2020.
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“Look to Speak” is a new experimental app from Google that helps those with speech and motor impairments communicate through eye gaze technology.
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The December Pixel Feature Drop quietly added more ML-powered “Suggestions” that improve sky pictures on Google’s first-party devices. At the same time, Google Photos also introduced a new “HDR” filter adjustment.
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At the tail end of September, Photos got a revamped editing experience on Android with new features. Notably, there’s a new tab that surfaces machine learning-derived “Suggestions.” Google Photos is now rolling out a slew of new sunset filters that are first coming to the Pixel.
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The last Pixel software update for 2020 is rolling out today with the December security patch. It’s rolling out for the Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a (5G), and Pixel 5..
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Alongside the December security patch, Made by Google is closing 2020 with a Pixel Feature Drop. Coming three months after the last release that coincided with Android 11, the Pixel 5 picks up a slate of new “Adaptive” features, as well as improved GPS. Google is also bringing several newer features to older devices.
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The flaws and constraints of GPS in dense urban environments are well-known by anybody that has used Google Maps in cities, especially downtown. Google is now improving GPS, starting on the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G, with the help of 3D mapping.
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Assistant has primarily been tied to your main email account since it launched. However, most people use and have several accounts signed in on their phones. Google Assistant now better reflects that reality with multi-account information access.
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Back in 2018, Google’s main video service started offering ad-supported films that anybody can stream. YouTube is now expanding that catalog by making the first 21 James Bond films available to watch for free this month in the US.
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There are a number of background services needed to make Android devices run that present themselves as apps that update via the Play Store. Google’s Pixel phones have more than a few, with a small change made recently renaming “Connectivity Health Services” to “Adaptive Connectivity Services.”
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Besides voice commands, the key aspect of Google Assistant headphones is having incoming notifications read aloud. Google has now brought this Assistant feature to all wired headphones, regardless of whether they’ve been optimized by the manufacturer.
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