Customization is at the heart of Android and one of the easiest ways to change up your device is with a custom launcher. With just a few taps, you can easily change the look and feel of your device. Over the past few years we’ve seen dozens of great options, but lately I’ve been trying out a relatively new one called “Evie”.
Let’s a take a quick look.
Announced last August, the Mobile Vision API allows app developers to detect faces in images and video. The API was briefly removed, however, and today it makes a return as part of Google Play Services 9.2. A new Text API has also been added and will give developers access to optical character recognition.
After announcing the addition early this month, Google has finally enabled support for US Cellular’s network starting today for all users. To “ensure your device is ready to connect,” Google says you should download an update the Project Fi app which is currently rolling out via Google Play.
Coinciding with the announcement of Project Bloks, Google today introduced new updates and improvements to a slew of classroom tools at the ISTE education technology conference. Announcements include public availability of Cardboard Expeditions, Google Cast for Education, quiz support with automatic grading in Google Forms, and new creative apps for Chromebooks.
The novelty of exploring satellite imagery of the world in Google Earth has long worn off since the app launched in 2001. Now the the company has given you a reason to dive back in and explore the Earth from above, announcing today that all mapping products, including the satellite layer in Maps, will get sharper and more detailed images thanks to a new satellite and processing techniques…
A long standing complaint about the Netflix experience on Android TV has finally been addressed. According to the Android Twitter account, users will finally be able to search through Netflix’s library from Android TV’s universal search feature.
Facebook has offered automatic translation of posts and comments for some time, so it’s no surprise that Instagram – owned by Facebook – is following suit. Instagram has announced that the new feature will roll out sometime next month.
Google has today announced that the latest version of its photo editor Snapseed is now rolling out to iOS and Android users. The latest version packs a slew of useful features, such as a new blue filter and the addition of white balance in the RAW editor on Android…
Dropbox is getting some notable updates today for both the mobile apps and desktop that bring a number of new productivity tools and features to the service. It’s also changing its mobile camera uploads feature for basic users to require they have the desktop app installed or a paid Pro account.
I remember back in the day when VLC was just the necessary media player for pretty much any Mac owner. Since then, the free and open source cross-platform multimedia player has expanded beyond Mac and PC to mobile devices running Android and iOS. Today, the VideoLAN organization has pushed out VLC for Android 2.0, and it’s probably the app’s biggest release since its first out-of-beta release in February of last year…
A webpage discovered by a tech consultant and confirmed as official by TechCrunch indicates that Tumblr is planning its own Periscope-style live video platform later today.
Getting used to a new keyboard can be tough for many and it’s one of the primary reasons I’ve always stuck with the Google Keyboard on my devices. However that all changed when Chrooma Keyboard was originally released last year. I instantly switched and now several months later, that keyboard has hit version 3.0. In this version Chrooma not only adopts several features from Google Keyboard 5.0, but also adds several awesome new features of its own. Let’s take a quick look.
Two-step verification is an absolute must to stay secure in this day and age and now Google has announced an easier method to approve sign-in requests on both Android and iOS. The new Google Prompt requires just a simple yes/no to approve a log-in and is built right into Android.
In this week’s top stories: What’s new in the Android N Dev Preview 4, the official OnePlus 3 launch and first impressions, Android apps come to Chromebooks in Chrome OS Dev 53, and much more. Head below for the handy links to these and the rest of this week’s top shared stories.
There are dozens of great launchers for Android, however going back in time a few years, our choices were a bit different. One of the biggest players, and likely one many of us remember fondly, was ADW Launcher. It had tons of great features, but above all else it was fast, fun, and powerful. However that was a long time ago. ADW hasn’t seen an update since mid-2013, but now it’s back with a new design and some great new features.
Announced at Google I/O 2016, Androids apps and the Play Store are now officially on Chromebooks. Chrome OS 53 is rolling out now to all devices in the developer channel, but the Play Store is only showing up on the ASUS Chromebook Flip. Early users are reporting bugs, but reactions are generally positive with performance improvements over Android apps installed via ARC Welder.
In April, Google Calendar for Work and Education received the ability to “find a time” when your coworkers are free for a meeting. Now an update to the Android app adds a similar “when you’re free” feature to all personal Google accounts when scheduling an event.
Twitter has updated both iOS and Android apps with a Live button that starts a Periscope broadcast. It’s actually a bit of a cheat, though, as all the button does is open the Periscope app – or prompt you to download it if you don’t already have it installed.
Pinterest has today announced that they have acquired the team behind the popular keyboard app Fleksy. Pinterest is solely acqui-hiring the developers behind this application, not the technology or app itself. The app will remain live on both Android and iOS ‘for the foreseeable future’ and app updates will be very minimal.
Over the past few months, Google has rolled out several new features powered by machine learning. Announced at an enterprise event today, Google Springboard allows users to search through Google Apps and acts as a day-to-day work assistant, providing “useful and actionable information and recommendations.” The company also announced a major revamp to Google Sites.
