As rumored — and following other social networks, YouTube today announced “Shorts” as a “new short-form video experience for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones.”
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Google gave Maps on mobile a big revamp earlier this year. Like all other first-party apps, the design is always being tweaked and Google Maps for Android now features a pill-shaped search field.
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Back in June, we enabled a Google Camera-inspired redesign of Google Lens. It’s now rolling out to some Google app beta users on Android.
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Back in March, a Material Theme redesign of Google Groups was announced. After a beta, it entered general availability in May. The new Google Groups is becoming the default experience for all users next week.
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After announcing last year, Google this May launched a tool for quickly accessing Assistant Actions from the Android homescreen. An update to Action Blocks today adds a vast number of UI tweaks, including dark theme widgets.
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Google Finance is getting a desktop and mobile redesign today that is focused on making it easier to “find data for stocks you’re interested in, market trends and relevant news to make more informed investment decisions.”
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Back in March, Google Podcasts received a big visual revamp and launched on iOS. As part of that expansion, the team hosted an AMA and promised a handful of new features. Quick access to Cast from the Now Playing sheet is rolling out today in Google Podcasts for Android.
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As announced last month, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for Android now support Microsoft Office editing. A related change sees Docs adjust line spacing based on the current font.
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Over the past week, Google has been testing an Assistant notification on the lockscreen that provides tappable access to frequent commands. It looks to be an extension of Google making its voice assistant more ambient.
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Last week, the Google Home app received a dark theme, unified camera page, and ability to control all Nest and Chromecast media devices from the Android 11 power menu. Following Nest x Yale control rolling out, the Google Home app now quickly shows whether your lights and other similar devices are on or off, while there’s also a new set-up list.
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As rumored, YouTube TV today announced its latest channel additions. It starts with the $64.99 subscription adding NFL Network, while Google is now offering a Sports Plus “add-on package” for an additional $10.99 per month.
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YouTube Music has seen a flurry of changes in recent weeks ahead of Play Music shutting down by year’s end. A smaller change sees YouTube Music for Android and iOS revamp its branding.
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Many habits have changed in response to COVID-19 lockdowns, and that is reflected in large services like Google Maps. The company saw an “up to a 50% decrease in worldwide traffic,” which has required road predictions to be retooled. Meanwhile, Google Maps has “significantly” improved ETAs by leveraging DeepMind AI.
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DNS over HTTPS (DoH) makes it so that malicious third-parties cannot see what you’re visiting or redirect you to phishng sites. After introducing to desktop browsers, Google is bringing Secure DNS to Chrome 85 for Android.
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Back in November, Google Assistant augmented user-curated “News briefings” with a personalized “mix of top headlines and stories based on your interests.” “Your News Update” is now coming to Google Podcasts, while more natural text-to-speech is also available.
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Google Maps now lets you pay directly for street parking inside the app on Android and iOS. Leveraging Google Pay, the company partnered with Passport on this integration, which is first coming to Austin, Texas.
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After adding a dedicated tab for Google Meet, Gmail for Android is now picking up a nifty shortcut for quickly adding recipients directly from the body of an email.
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After rolling out last Tuesday to Mac, Windows, Linux, and Android, Chrome OS 85 will soon be available over the coming weeks. There are a number of usability improvements in this release.
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Last December, Google added “Food & drink” settings so that Smart Displays could recommend recipes that abide by your dietary restrictions. In a revamp, Google Assistant’s new “Food preferences” menu has a more friendly interface and fine-grained options.
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Google is working to improve braille support in Docs with a handful of new features today that cover navigation and output.
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Google is working on a redesigned image editing experience for Photos on Android. At the same time, the video editor in Google Photos for iOS now has access to a wider range of tools.
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Google Voice is the latest first-party app to adopt a dark theme today. Following Gmail last month, the VOIP client is getting a standard night-friendly look on Android.
Update 10/1/19: We’ve been tracking development of a dark theme in Google Voice since early August. Like other apps, it adopts a gray background. The bottom bar and “Search Google Voice” field uses a somewhat lighter shade that’s also leveraged by the dialer interface.
The dark-green FAB in the bottom-right corner has also been tweaked to be distinctly brighter and more neon with a dark interior. Other colors throughout the interface have also been shifted. Google Voice’s homescreen widget already abides by the dark mode.
Unlike Messages last night, there will be an option within Google Voice preferences to set the look manually. The app is otherwise set to follow Android 10’s dark theme by default:
To change the theme specifically for the Google Voice app, go to Menu > Settings > Display Options > Theme and select “Dark.”
This dark theme will be available for all G Suite editions, and it begins gradually rolling out today with version 2019.40. It will be fully launched over the next 15 days to users. Following Messages and this update, Hangouts Chat is Google’s only remaining messaging service to not feature a night-friendly appearance.
Update 8/30: Nearly 11 months after launching on Android, Google Voice for iOS is picking up a dark theme. It is widely rolling out now with version 20.36, and it respects system settings. The release notes also highlight the ability to “see and access an on-going call while navigating the Voice app.”
Google Images is rolling out two features today aimed at “image creators, stock image providers, and digital content associations.” Eligible results in the visual search engine will feature a “licensable” badge, while you can now filter by “Usage Rights.”
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By October, YouTube Music’s predecessor will stop working around the world. Ahead of that, the latest version of Google Play Music for Android introduces an “Export local playlists” capability.
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