One of Area 120’s many experimental apps is a hyperlocal social service for group meetups. Born out of Google’s internal incubator and only available in New York City, Shoelace announced today that it has “decided to pause operations” in response to the coronavirus.
Most YouTube watchers aren’t aware that the video player has a built-in looping capability and instead turn to third-party tools. To better emphasize the loop capability, Google has tweaked YouTube’s right-click menu on the web.
After rolling out to Android 10 devices last October, the Google Play Store’s dark theme is now available for “any” phone and tablet going back to 2014. This wider launch also comes with a preferences menu to manually set the look.
With most people just sticking to a generic default for all correspondences, email signatures are an undervalued way to personalize messages. Gmail on the web is now adding support for saving and quickly accessing multiple signatures.
Stadia’s Android app hit the Play Store for download on November 7, almost two weeks before the game streaming service’s actual launch. After four months, the client now has 500,000 installs.
Google Groups is the company’s email-based forum offering that’s popular for developers and other communities. Dating back to 2001, the company today announced a Material Theme redesign that’s inline with Gmail and other G Suite revamps.
Google Docs on the web is getting the ability to fix an image to a certain position on the page. As part of this, the editor is adding a new image formatting sidebar to provide easier access to capabilities.
Last October, Google tested a drastic revamp to Assistant Updates. More users this evening are encountering the chronologically ordered feed with additional cards and tips.
At I/O 2019, Google Lens gained the ability to analyze a physical restaurant menu and flag popular dishes. This Lens menu capability is now integrated right into Google Maps.
Back in January, Google widely launched G Suite Add-ons to allow third-party integrations across products like Calendar and Drive. Adobe today announced a plug-in that lets Gmail users quickly access Creative Cloud.
New YouTube mobile features usually make their debut on iOS before coming to Google’s first-party operating system months later. The latest example sees the Android client finally getting the ability to filter videos in Subscriptions by channel.
At I/O 2018, Google unveiled celebrity voices for Assistant, starting with talented musician — and friend of the company — John Legend. Available since last April, the company announced today that it’s pulling Legend’s cameo voice on March 23.
Many users today primarily interact with the mobile web, given the worldwide proliferation of phones. Google Search set out on accounting for this change in 2016, and later this year will use mobile-first indexing for the whole web.
Google last month started fulfilling its Q1 2020 roadmap by rolling out its streaming service to Samsung, Asus, and Razer phones. Up next is 4K gaming for Stadia on the web, with that functionality beginning to appear for users this evening.
At CES in January, Google previewed what’s coming to Assistant in 2020. A screen reader built in to Assistant and activated by “Hey Google, read this page” is now rolling out on Android.
For years, the hamburger menu was a core part of Android app design, but Google has slowly been shifting away from that over the past couple of years with several bottom bar redesigns. Now it looks like Google Photos might be ditching the hamburger side menu, with a new “Library” tab taking its place.
In January, Google Search enabled an SOS Alert for all coronavirus-related queries to provide trustworthy information. Google Play now looks to have disabled searching for “coronavirus” Android apps.
Recording and sharing is a big part of gaming today, but Google’s first stab at the functionality is quite rudimentary. Stadia Captures are now beginning to roll out to the web with the ability to download.
As Play Music nears the end of its life, Google has been amping up development on YouTube Music to prepare for the influx of new users. In recent weeks, we’ve seen music uploads roll out on the web, as well as lyric support landing on Android. This week, Google has quietly rolled out a new set of backdrops for YouTube Music’s web app that accompany the homescreen carousels.
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After a delay of approximately three weeks, Chrome OS 80 is beginning to roll out. Google this morning detailed headlining features like Ambient EQ for Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook, but there are a slew of other changes.
With recent releases, Google has been better at covering major Chrome OS features. For March, the company detailed Ambient EQ introduced on the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook and confirmed that it’s coming to other Chromebooks, while Netflix for Android now supports picture-in-picture.
The latest update to Stadia for Android is rolling out with a handful of tweaks. There are no major changes in version 2.7, but game details are now easier to browse and there is a new cancellation survey for Stadia Pro.
YouTube TV this morning announced that a contract dispute with the Sinclair Broadcast Group will see the cord-cutting service lose the Fox Regional Sports Networks. Starting Sunday, those channels — along with the YES Network — will no longer be offered.
Like on the full video service, recommendations are at the heart of YouTube Music and its Home feed. The YouTube Music mobile apps now look to actually be sending out “New release for you” notifications.