In 2020, Google’s streaming service offered a “Year in Review” playlist, while a handful of users got an email with top stats. YouTube Music’s 2021 Recap is much more extensive than previous Google efforts and more on par with other streaming services.
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While Google Workspace offers Sheets, people still use Docs to create inline tables. Google is now letting you better create and customize tables in the Docs web app with a handful of upgrades.
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Over the past few days, you might have noticed that Google.com looks slightly different when searching for news. Google’s “Top stories” carousel on the desktop website has been revamped with a new grid-based organization structure.
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Back in September, Google previewed how Chat will let you make one-on-one Meet calls without having to use URLs. Similar to classic Hangouts, this feature is now rolling out in the version of Google Chat inside Gmail.
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In addition to a bottom field, the Google app is testing a Search bar that appears at the very top of your screen. It matches other first-party apps, but it is a departure from what Google Search has looked like on mobile for the past several years.
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Since the start of this year, Google has been testing a new YouTube app/experience for the regular Chromecast. The new YouTube Cast app looks to be widely rolled out for the 3rd-gen Chromecast and Ultra this week.
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On Monday, Google made Workspace available “for everyone” with free, personal accounts able to turn on the integrated Gmail experience with Chat and Rooms — soon to be called Spaces. Alongside that, Google Workspace branding now appears on the Gmail web client.
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Previewed in October and officially announced yesterday, YouTube Music’s new “Recent Played” widget is now available on Android 12.
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Back in October, Google added a Bluetooth-based auto-launch for its Android Auto replacement. The latest way to launch Google Assistant Driving Mode is through a simple homescreen shortcut.
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Over the past year, Google listings have gained more attributes and details to better let potential customers learn about a place before visiting. Google Maps, as well as Search, is now letting healthcare providers identify which insurance they accept.
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Back in May, YouTube started testing “Listening controls” that looked to bring a dedicated music player to the main app for Premium subscribers. This UI is now widely rolled out for all videos.
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Following Gmail last week, Play Books, Google Photos, and YouTube Music are set to get new widgets on Android.
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While the YouTube Music web app is undoubtedly more feature-complete than the Android TV experience housed in the main app, it still lacks native Cast integration. That fortunately appears to be changing.
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Chrome OS 96 is rolling out today with a number of enhancements focused on the camera and other general app upgrades. Version 95 was skipped as part of the transition to updates every four weeks, while an LTS version for Chromebooks is now offered.
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With the Pixel 2, the Pixel Launcher was revamped to place the search field at the bottom of your screen. Four years later, the Google app looks to be readying something similar with a bottom Search bar redesign.
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Google Voice is primarily a Workspace service at this point with new features focused on enterprise usage. That said, Google today updated Voice for Android with fairly straightforward app shortcuts.
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Assistant Snapshot carries forward the legacy of Google Now, though its prominence is diminished compared to the previous feed. Its standing might be further de-prioritized following a pair of worrisome changes to Snapshot in the Google app and Assistant.
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In the second half of next year, a handful of existing smartwatches that run Google’s operating system will get updated to Wear OS 3 based on Android 11. Ahead of that, Google has rolled out a new “System updates” screen for Wear OS.
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Google, in partnership with American Express, is marking Small Business Saturday this weekend with “shoppable murals” in four US cities that promote both local shops and Google Lens.
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While not explicitly a Black Friday deal on the level of the Google Store or Fi, YouTube TV is offering a slew of add-on discounts at $.99 per month for the first two billing periods.
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As teased with the launch of Android 12 last month, Gmail is rolling out a new Material You widget that’s quite powerful.
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While the latest Google app beta introduced some nice updates to the Weather widgets, it also hampered At a Glance in the Pixel Launcher. Namely, it launches the original Google Weather experience instead of the redesign.
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The “Sleep Score” is one of Fitbit’s most alluring metrics that people like to compare and improve on. Fitbit is now testing “Sleep Animals” as a friendly but surprisingly smart way to encourage “better sleep health.”
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Google is making a change to Chrome settings that lets users more easily delete the data stored by sites. At the same time, the Google browser is moving the ability to delete individual cookies into DevTools.
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