Following a minor layout tweak last week, Calendar on the web is getting a more substantial usability change to how you add events. Google Calendar’s pop-up dialog now lets you directly add more advanced event details.
Expand Expanding Close
Google has surfaced AMP Stories since late 2018 to give publishers a way to deliver “news and information as visually rich, tap-through stories.” They currently appear as one-off cards, but Google Discover is now testing a “Stories” carousel.
Expand Expanding Close
For many, exercise has been one area particularly affected by COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing requirements. Google Fit wants to help ease that by integrating YouTube playlists on staying healthy indoors.
In recent years, Google has worked to make Image Search more capable with Lens integration and Fact Check labels. Results in Google Images will now include Knowledge Graph facts to tell users about what they’re seeing.
Some people live in Google Calendar and have picked up on how shorter entries are visualized in the exact same way as 30-minute events. This is now changing to “better reflect the true duration of the event.”
Two weeks ago, Google introduced a major Photos revamp for Android and iOS. The latest Google Photos experience is now rolling out on the web with a slight navigation redesign that removes the hamburger button.
Even without the dedicated streaming service, YouTube is a top destination for people discovering and listening to music. Google’s video site today is introducing new Analytics for Artists within YouTube Studio.
As telegraphed last month to G Suite admins, Google Currents is exiting beta and entering general availability today. The social network shut down last April, but Google is keeping the service alive for enterprise customers that need an internal way to communicate with employees.
For the past several iOS (now iPadOS) releases, Apple has worked to improve multitasking on tablets. Split View lets you use two app at the same time, and Gmail on iPads now has support for this feature.
YouTube Music continues to see a flurry of changes from Play Music migration to a revamped Now Playing experience. The latest YouTube Music test is a “Recent activity” carousel that shows library additions.
After months of work, the Google app in late April started testing an in-app browser for opening Discover articles and Search results. It saw a wider rollout a few weeks later, but Google now looks to be reverting to the previous Chrome Custom Tab implementation.
As promised last month, the Google Messages beta now takes advantage of Bubbles in Android 11. Support on the latest app beta is rolling out today via a server-side update.
In 2018, YouTube added a number of Digital Wellbeing features to help manage people’s use of the video service. The YouTube mobile apps are now adding bedtime reminder notifications.
In March, Apple announced that it acquired Dark Sky and planned to kill the Android, as well as Wear OS, app. The app has now been removed from Google Play for new users, but it — so far — still works.
Google’s goal with G Suite is to leverage AI to boost user productivity, with Smart Compose in Gmail and Docs being prime examples. Google Sheets is gaining similar features this year with Smart Fill and Smart Cleanup.
With video conferencing skyrocketing due to COVID-19, Google has been heavily pushing Meet to G Suite users. After rolling out Gmail integration last week, Google Meet is now adding a tiled layout for larger calls, low-light mode, and noise cancellation.
Since launching in December, Stadia’s Achievements page is still only available on the web and Chromecast Ultra. Google Stadia is now displaying “total play time” and other game-specific statistics in Achievements.
Back in May, Google quietly marked the fifth anniversary of Photos with direct album sharing. Google Photos today is now getting a big redesign that modernizes the mobile app’s look, and very notably its icon.
The bulk of YouTube Music changes in recent weeks have benefited the Android app. An update to YouTube Music on the web sees Google streamline the quick start behavior, with users now able to play an album from the cover art.
Google today issued a warning that older G Suite apps will stop working in August as it works to improve performance and security.
Google’s support page is necessarily long and sprawling given the number of products, platforms, and geographies it needs to cover. All Google Help pages now feature the ability to “Give feedback about this article.”
Google Contacts for Android has a very useful row of actions that lets you quick call, text, video, or email. Those in the US also have the ability to send P2P payments, but Google is planning on removing that functionality from Contacts.