Earlier this week, Google announced a number of updates to Google Search as it prepares for the next 20 years. Today, the Your Trips feature is getting ready for the holiday travel season with improved organization, more suggestions, and hotel ratings.
Alphabet in January unveiled Chronicle as the latest project to graduate from the X moonshot factory. Focusing on cybersecurity, this company includes the VirusTotal malware scanning tool that Google bought in 2012. Today, the Alphabet division is launching VirusTotal Enterprise for corporate customers that want advanced capabilities.
Announced at I/O 2018, Smart Compose in Gmail takes Smart Reply a step further and leverages Google’s AI to write entire messages for users. It’s already rolled out to regular accounts and is now coming to G Suite and enterprise users.
Virtual reality is a growing market, and one of the best places to find content for it is through YouTube. Unfortunately, the popular Oculus ecosystem hasn’t supported YouTube VR. That is, until now, as today it’s been announced that Google’s service is coming to the $199 Oculus Go in the near future.
In recent weeks, Android Messages has been redesigned with a Google Material Theme and dark mode, while also gaining a Messages for web client. Version 3.6 is now rolling out with advanced search and a new Material icon. Other new features include contact sharing and automatic previews.
Chrome 69 earlier this month introduced a Google Material Theme, smarter Omnibox, and a host of other new features for the browser’s 10th anniversary. In recent days, changes related to Account sign-in and clearing cookies were met with criticism. Google has now announced a handful of changes for Chrome 70 that should fix those issues.
Google is leveraging machine learning throughout all of its products from bilingual support in Assistant to productivity optimizations in Drive, and even to cool data centers. The company is now tapping AI to improve flood forecasting as part of Google Public Alerts.
Following Android Messages officially receiving a Google Material Theme and dark mode, the default SMS/RCS client is now slated for advanced search functionality. This revamp features a new design, filters, and is rolling out later this week.
In light of Europe’s GDPR privacy rules coming into effect this May, there has been increased calls for similar regulation in the U.S. Ahead of a Congressional hearing tomorrow, Google on Monday released a “Framework for Responsible Data Protection Regulation” in support, while recently revamping its Safety Center.
Google shared this morning that Google Lens was coming to Google Images. Meanwhile, last week, Google updated the Android app to version 1.1 and made visual search more widely accessible via the Share sheet menu.
To mark its 20th anniversary, Google today announced a number of changes to advance its marquee product. Focusing on AI and more visual content, Google Search is adding Activity cards to surface past searches, while subtopics allow for dynamic organization of results. Today’s new features are powered by a Topic Layer for the Knowledge Graph.
Following Instagram’s announcement of new shopping features last week, Snapchat is joining the fun with a new partnership with Amazon. As announced in a blog post, the company is partnering with Amazon for a new Visual Search shopping feature.
Announced last year, Google Lens received a big update at I/O 2018 with real-time search, smart text selection, and more. However, Google Images is the company’s original visual search product and this week it’s gaining a number of new features.
For the past several months, Google has been experimenting with a redesign to the Google Feed. Following reports last week of a rebrand, Google today confirmed that it’s now called “Google Discover” and is coming to the mobile web, along with a slew of other new features.
Google Calendar 6.0 is now the latest Android app to sport a Google Material Theme. Like with recent redesigns, the underlying functionality and organization is unchanged, but there are a slew of updated elements and iconography that makes for a starker than expected appearance.
Back in August, Google officially announced audio streaming and download quality controls for YouTube Music. The company also announced that its latest streaming service would adopt a more consistent update cycle. This evening, the much sought after feature is finally beginning to roll out on Android.
With macOS 10.14 Mojave rolling out next week, one of the more exciting user features is a system-wide Dark Mode. Various Apple and third-party apps are planning to support the theme, with Google also planning one for Chrome.
Looking towards the future, augmented reality will be a very important technology once it gets miniaturized into wearable glasses. Till then, apps and best practices are being developed through phone-based AR and VR headsets. Google today announced experimental features for standalone Daydream including a “See-Through Mode” and 6DoF Controllers.
Google has been working on adding a manual blur adjustment setting to Google Photos for several months now, and the popular “Color Pop” feature has also been hinted for a manual release. Now, it appears Google is testing out those features with some users.
Earlier this year, Google debuted AMP stories to compete with similar formats popularized by Snapchat and also found in Instagram. First appearing in Google Search, they are now available in the Google Feed on Android.
Late last month, the Google app resumed work on a customizable Search bar. A long time coming, the ability to personalize the Google widget appears to be rolling out to more users this week.
Chrome 69 earlier this September marked the 10th anniversary of the browser with a Google Material Theme and smarter Omnibox. In recent months, Google has also been contemplating a rename of Incognito mode to “Private” mode.
Over the past several months, the most notable updates to Google Keep involved an option to add grid lines when drawing and support for subtasks. The app is likely due for a Google Material Theme, but in the meantime Google has quietly renamed the Android client to “Keep Notes.”
At Cloud Next 2018, Google emphasized machine learning to help improve work productivity. In Google Drive, “Priority” works to suggest relevant documents, while “Workspaces” help arrange files that you might need quick access to. Google is now opening this new page up for beta testing.