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.
Over the past several months, Google has been testing various tweaks to the Google Feed on Android. These design changes could now be accompanied by a complete rebrand of the feature to “Discover.”
Mobile phones are notoriously bad at aiding emergency dispatchers in pinpointing your exact location. To address this, Emergency Location Service (ELS) provides 911 with a more accurate location. Google is now launching this lifesaving technology on Android in the U.S. starting with T-Mobile.
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Fortnite is the game that took the world by storm, and it’s constantly getting updated with new content. This week, Epic Games is rolling out version 5.41 with some new patches, limited time modes, and a crazy new item.
Google’s Slack competitor is gaining the ability to snooze notifications. A staple feature of any enterprise messaging app, the implementation in Hangouts Chat conveniently alerts other users when you’ll return.
Chrome OS 69 is rolling out today following the Android and desktop release last week. Version 69 includes the Google Material Theme to coincide with the browser’s 10th anniversary. Meanwhile, Linux apps are launching on the stable channel for select devices, while Chrome OS adds Night Light and easier to access system-level voice dictation.
One of YouTube’s first standalone services was YouTube Gaming to capitalize on streaming games to a live audience. With the explosive rise of an Amazon-owned Twitch, Google is now integrating gaming into the main YouTube site and mobile apps.
Since its inception, Accelerated Mobile Pages has been criticized as a Google takeover of the web under the guise of speed. Of course, AMP is appreciably faster with wide adoption from a variety of publishers. Google is now hoping to alleviate that concern with an “open governance model” that cedes decision-making to third-parties.
Google finally launched its own podcast player, Google Podcasts, earlier this year. The app is pretty barebones, but seems to be adding features all the time. Now, it appears that Chromecast support is rolling out.
Spotify is one of the most used music streaming services available today, but recently its Android app has been subject to some big issues. A handful of bugs in the Spotify app cause music to stop randomly, notification controls to disappear, the app to show itself offline, and much more…
In regards to cars, Google has a two-prong approach with Android Auto and Android Automotive. The former is an infotainment system that features Assistant and Google Maps, while the latter involves Android running on cars. Google is now working with Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi to bring Android Automotive into 2021 vehicles.
It’s pretty amazing what clever developers can do with apps on Android, but sometimes their aspirations don’t always work out. This week, the popular app Weather Timeline has been pulled from Google Play…