Google is introducing a new way for Maps users to contribute without having to leave a review. Google Maps photo updates will be available in the coming weeks, while a “Local Love” challenge is kicking off.
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Crowdsourcing plays a big role in keeping Google Maps accurate and current. Google is introducing a more immersive desktop tool to edit roads in Maps over the coming months.
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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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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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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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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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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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The latest update to the Pixel series Google Camera app, version 8.2, has begun rolling out, bringing an improved experience for taking videos with a long-press of the shutter button.
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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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Google has historically released new versions of Chrome every six weeks with smaller patches rolled out in between. In a big change, Google Chrome is moving to a four-week update cycle this year.
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Back in November, Google completely revamped its mobile payments service to be more personal and helpful. The new Google Pay for Android launched in “early access” stateside, but it’s gone stable in recent days.
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The Analytics tool in YouTube Studio is adding new and returning viewer metrics to help creators better “understand different trends in your audience over time.”
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To mark National Read Across America Day, Google Play Books is getting a pair of tools to make the Android and iOS apps more friendly for kids and young readers.
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Following version 88’s release on Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, the next release of Google’s browser is rolling out. Several user-facing enhancements will start rolling out with Chrome 89.
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Google has been working to make Assistant compatible with enterprise G Suite accounts since 2019. It started with a beta, and Google Assistant will now be generally available to all Workspace customers on Android over the coming weeks.
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In October, G Suite became Workspace and last month rolled out to education customers. A new “Workspace Frontline” tier is coming as Google lays out how it wants to help users adapt to the new hybrid working environment.
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Last week, we spotted how the Google Chat website was getting some tweaks and Hangouts-style chat windows. This redesign of Google Chat is now rolled out for free accounts and is interestingly directly part of Gmail.
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Back in August, Google Discover started surfacing “Short videos” to join webpages, regular videos, and later, AMP-based Web Stories. Ahead of the beta coming to the US next month, Google is testing YouTube Shorts and other short-form content in Discover.
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Last year, Gboard introduced clipboard suggestions so that users don’t have to long-press when pasting text. A beta update to Google’s Android keyboard today lets you disable that option.
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