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.”

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. 

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.”

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.

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.” 

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.

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.

In May, the Weather Frog clock face rolled out to the first-generation Nest Hub and Hub Max, and Google now appears to be combining the adorable character, weather, and photos into one clock face.

Following last week’s initial tweet parade during the Pixel 6 launch event, Google today gave another look at new Material You widgets for Android 12.

Back in October, Google announced that its Google One storage subscription was adding a built-in VPN option. The Google One VPN is now seeing an expansion in North America and five European countries.

Fitbit OS 5.3 is rolling out as a smaller update for the Sense and Versa 3 that introduces status indicators. It follows the bigger release in June that added audible Google Assistant responses and better clock face switching.

Just before the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro event last week, the latest Google app beta introduced Material You weather widgets on Android 12. Google has now updated the widgets with more size configurations and an hourly forecast. 

Last month, Google announced a big upgrade for Lens that’s coming next year, and that the visual search tool is coming directly to Chrome. Until then, the Google Lens UI on Android is seeing a tweak that lets you easily reanalyze images with a different filter.

For most, the YouTube “Home” feed/page is very good at recommending videos that you’d enjoy watching. It can, however, get repetitive and YouTube wants to tackle that with “New to you.”

In addition to Turntable at the start of this month, YouTube Music on Android 12 is set to get another Material You widget called “Now Playing & Recently played.” 

Back in March, Google Play announced that it was cutting commission fees to 15% on the first $1 million in revenue from paid apps and in-app purchases (IAPs) for all Android developers. Google announced today that next year, the Play Store will only take a 15% cut on all subscriptions from day one. 

In October 2020, a big Smart Display redesign that brought more interactivity, as well as a dark theme, widely rolled out. Google is now introducing an “app” – though it’s more akin to shortcuts – launcher on the Nest Hub Max.

Following the Nest Hub, the “Memories” carousel will soon be available in Google Photos on the web to let you feel nostalgic “no matter what device you’re on.”

Following a Material You redesign and new homescreen widgets on Android, Google Calendar is getting a new “Focus time” event type.