ProtonMail brings end-to-end encrypted email to Android
Google Hangouts now lets App customers video chat with up to 25 participants
You’ll soon be able to hold video chat meetings with much larger groups as today Google begins increasing the number of participants Apps customers can have in a Google Hangouts video call at any one time. The old limit of 10 participants today gets increased to 25 users.
The change comes to Apps customers only— Business, Government, and Education— while all other Hangouts users will still have the old limit of 10 participants for video.
Google notes that it will only show “the 10 most active video call participants” along the bottom of the video chat to maintain quality, but it will switch on the fly between active users for the new limit of up to 25 participants.
All Apps customers should start to see the new participant limit increase roll out over the next few days.
Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, & Slides will soon let you set expiration dates for document access
Google is adding the ability to set expiration dates for access to documents across Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides apps. The idea is that you can limit a contributor’s access to a document for a specific time period, which Google points out will come in handy for companies and organizations that often share files with third-parties temporarily:
Google updates Material Design spec with animated bottom bars for navigation
Both Google+ and Google Photos have been updated with a bottom bar in the past few months. Google is now officially embracing bottom navigation with an update to the Material Design spec.
Google using Opinion Rewards app to ask what Android ‘N’ should be named [Poll]
While Google surprised us all by releasing the Android N developer preview last week, it hasn’t seen fit to announce a name for the software yet. Of course, that could simply be because it hasn’t thought up a name. After all, it didn’t see fit to finally confirm that Android 6.0’s ‘Tasty Treat’ name would be Marshmallow until late August last year, a couple of months after the dev preview dropped at Google I/O 2015.
Android gaming gets a boost w/ streaming game demos, indie apps collection, & gameplay recording/streaming
Google is announcing several big Android gaming updates at this year’s Game Developers Conference. A majority of them will be user facing, like app streaming and more social features in Play Games, while others will help developers market and add new features to their games.
OnePlus’ new Gallery app aims to make photo organization easier and more intuitive for OnePlus 2 users
OnePlus has decided to wade in to the world of software, and today announced a brand new app aimed at making photo organization and editing much easier for its smartphone customers. The “no-nonsense” app is equipped with only the tools OnePlus thinks are most necessary, or most likely to be used by OnePlus owners.
WhatsApp rolling out new document uploader in Android app
WhatsApp has started rolling out a new document uploading feature to its Android app users. This new attachment option has been showing up for a number of WhatsApp users (including myself) and allows you to upload PDFs. It’d be surprising if this wasn’t expanded to include other document formats in the future.
Nova Launcher Prime for Android drops to $0.99 (reg. $4.99)
Nova Launcher is one of the best launchers available for Android on the Play Store. It lets you customize virtually every part of your smartphone user interface. While the free version is great, the premium ‘Prime’ version offers far more fine-tuning capabilities and normally costs $5. For a limited time, Nova Launcher is now available for just $0.99.
Nova Launcher Prime
Unlock the following extras by purchasing Nova Launcher Prime
• Gestures – Swipe, pinch, double tap and more on the home screen to open your favorite apps
• Unread Counts – Never miss a message. Unread count badges for Hangouts, SMS, Gmail and more using the TeslaUnread plugin
• Custom Drawer Groups – Create new tabs or folders in the app drawer
• Hide Apps – Keep a clean app drawer by hiding never used apps
• Icon Swipes – Set custom actions for swiping on app shortcuts or folders
• More scroll effects – Such as Wipe, Accordion, and Throw
It’s worth noting that Nova Launcher Prime isn’t an app download in itself, rather, it acts as a license to unlock the listed features in the free Nova Launcher app. What that means in simple terms, is that you need to download and install the free version before you can head to the Play Store and pay for the Prime version.
Google Photos on the web gets some much-needed new editing tools
Spinning off Photos in to its own app and service is arguably one of the best decisions Google has ever made. It’s a fantastic tool for storing your photos, it’s easily searchable and sometimes makes its own automatic moments of magic. It’s safe to say, I don’t love any of its services as much as I love Photos. But now it’s getting better.
Sky Map receives first update since 2012, but it’s still wildly outdated
During the early days of smartphones, one of the coolest apps you could show off was an augmented reality-like stargazing app. At the time, Google made a free version called Sky Map. The app is showing signs of life again and received its first update in four years.
Cyanogen’s ‘MOD’ platform gives developers (Microsoft) access to deeper Android integration
Cyanogen has today announced a new platform called “MOD,” giving developers deeper access to the Android operating system and allowing them to take advantage of platform APIs that are otherwise out of reach. Microsoft, for example, has built a Skype mod that allows users to add VoIP calling functionality directly to the Android dialer, as well as a Cortana mod that replaces Google Now on an OS level…
Google building a new engineering team in Singapore, plans to train 100,000 developers in Indonesia as it refocusses on southeast Asia
Google today announced a couple of new significant moves as it plans to refocus on development in southeast Asia. It will build its first engineering team dedicated to the area, in Singapore, and has promised to help train up to 100,000 developers in Indonesia within 4 years, in a bid to get more content out in the country, using its own national language(s).
At long last, Vimeo app for Android gets Chromecast support
Vimeo, the popular alternative to YouTube, has just released a brand new update to its Android app. Within the update, the company has finally enabled a feature which should have been there a long time ago: Chromecast support. Anyone downloading the app, or updating, will now be able to beam content straight to their Chromecast-connected TV with just the press of an onscreen button.
A month after your bday, you receive a card. It serenades you with a 90s slow jam before you slam it shut, mortified. But you smile — because Grandma loves you. *And* because Chromecast has arrived.
Late is better than never, and Vimeo loves you a ton too, and now you can tap the Chromecast icon to seamlessly stream videos to your big screen. We appreciate your patience, pals!
Oh and we fixed some bugs and crashing issues, also.
You can download the app free from the Play Store, or if you have the app already installed, check for updates and you should see it available to download right away.
SMS function could return to Facebook Messenger for Android
Facebook has been busy testing new versions of its Material-inspired Messenger in recent weeks. Three weeks ago, the Material Design refresh started showing up for a handful of users with an account-switching feature and new FAB (floating action button), while others last week reported a fresh new blue lick of paint.
More recently than that, it seems some Messenger users are seeing the inclusion of a new feature. Or rather, the return of an old, discontinued feature.
ASICS will acquire Runkeeper, following Adidas and Under Armor’s example
Following in the footsteps of competitors, Adidas and Under Armor, ASICS will buy fitness app-maker, Runkeeper. The move was announced on Medium by Runkeeper’s founder, Jason Jacobs, and indicates that all fitness apparel companies clearly see the need to embed tracking technology, and/or tie-in apps with their brands.
6.2 billion – the number of smartphones & tablets on the planet by 2020, says App Annie
Data from App Annie suggests that the total number of smartphones and tablets on the planet will hit 6.2 billion by 2020 – up from 2.6B today. That would be 80% of the forecast population of 7.76B people.
The analytics company told Bloomberg that the strongest growth will be seen in India, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Brazil and Turkey as cheaper phones hit the market. For many of those in developing countries, the post-PC era has already arrived, a smartphone or tablet serving as their only Internet-enabled device …
Play Store will begin using Gmail itineraries to recommend apps
The Play Store currently recommends apps based on various signals from the people you follow on Google+. Starting with version 6.2, the store will also begin using a user’s Gmail itinerary to make app suggestions. Here’s how it will work:
Crowd-support project wants to turn Monument Valley in to official LEGO sets
Monument Valley is undoubtedly one of the best, and most attractive, puzzle games to ever hit the Play Store. Its gorgeous Escher-esque art and smooth, minimalist animation ensures that it’ll almost certainly gain ‘legendary’ status among the mobile gaming community. Now, with the help of a crowd-support project on LEGO Ideas, it could become immortalized in the form of an official LEGO set.
The concept was created by LEGO Ideas user Isometry, and, if you were worried that it’ll just be a static set of aesthetically pleasing geometric structures, your fears are miss-placed. The aim is to make them interactive.
My Lego Ideas project is inspired by the Monument Valley game, and aims to capture the journey through a creative 3-D experience. This set includes four minimalist landscape themes that are modular and interactive; featuring rotating walkways, platforms, pillars, staircases, bridges and water wheels; along with three main characters, Ida, Totem and Crow. It is an original Lego design concept with visually attractive elements that are appealing and intriguing to a wide audience.
The project has 1,590 supporters so far (at time of writing) and has some way to go before LEGO will build it and place it in stores. But, of all the mobile gaming tributes, I can hardly think of one more fitting than a build-able interactive Monument Valley set.
The set concept includes The Garden from chapter II, Labyrinth from chapter VI, Water Palace from chapter IV, Halcyon Court from Appendix IV and three characters; Ida, Totem and the Crow. There are also three illusion stickers to add dimension through illusion of shadows, buttons, doorways and windows.
Unlike most crowd-support sites, LEGO Ideas doesn’t ask members for money. Instead, you offer your official support and fill in a very quick poll on how popular you think it would be if it hit store shelves. Once it gains 10,000 supporters, LEGO will review it and might even launch the sets.
Google seemingly kicking standalone ad-blockers from the Play Store
Update: VentureBeat received information from a source, shedding a little more light on the situation.
A source close to the situation indicates that Google considers this a “unique case” because two apps are required to invoke the ad blocking. Furthermore, the source adds that Google has no problem with browsers which can block ads within themselves via built-in functionality (like Adblock Browser) or via plugins.
Earlier in the week, Samsung’s new browser API meant developers, if they wanted to, could build ad-blocking apps to work alongside the browser. It’s similar to the ad-blocking feature Apple introduced in iOS 9 with Safari, which lead to a number of ad and tracker-blocking apps become popular within the first few weeks of iOS 9’s arrival.
With this feature added, more developers could develop standalone ad-blockers for Android which work with Samsung‘s mobile browser. It turns out however, that Google has pulled some apps, and rejected updates for others. It seems the company isn’t keen on having standalone apps — designed to work alongside browsers to block ads — on the Play Store…
Google Play Music showing new Podcasts interface for some users
It wasn’t that long ago that rumors predicted that Google was planning to bring a new podcasts feature to its popular Play Music app. This would see Google add yet another media platform to its already large list of options available in the Play Store. With it already offering books, movies, music downloads and streaming, apps and games, it would mean Google would now offer virtually every kind of popular media. Popular podcaster, Bill Simmons confirmed the move on Twitter before taking down his tweet earlier today.
Thanks to Android Police, we now have a good idea as to what the podcasts user interface will look like and the features it’ll bring along with it…
Nintendo: Our second mobile game will feature a ‘very familiar’ character
When Nintendo first announced that it would finally be launching a smartphone game, it’s safe to say, many of us children of the 90’s got a little excited. Sadly, we got excited too soon. Excitement turned to bemusement once the company revealed it would be launching a weird game called Miitomo, which wasn’t exactly a game, but rather a social network.
Following its disappointing Q4 results, Nintendo has confirmed that its second title would include a “very familiar character”, and won’t be another social network attempt. It did, however, stop short of confirming exactly which character we’re going to see.
Tesla planning to allow app mirroring from Android to center consoles
Since Tesla launched the Model S in 2012, the automaker has been talking about releasing a software development kit (SDK) to create a full third-party app ecosystem for its 17-inch touchscreen, which acts as a center console for the Model S and X, but despite several inquiries from eager app developers, there has been little communication about the project until now.
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SwiftKey Stats brings signature emoji, your most-used topics to beta Android app
SwiftKey has updated the beta version of its popular keyboard app to include in-depth, personalized and visualized stats for all its users. Using SwiftKey Stats in the SwiftKey beta app for Android you can now see more than just the usual set of statistics. It looks at your typing habits, and brings you a pretty fun look at your most-used emoji, topics and more.
- Topics – 3-5 different subjects you type about the most. We created a bunch of fun, diverse categories to show you some of the topics you love to talk about – from Art & Design to Comics and everything inbetween.
- Top Emoji – the emoji you use most often. This is a cloud-like visualization of the emoji you use the most – the bigger the emoji in the ‘cloud’, the more you use it.
- Signature Emoji – the emoji you use more than other people. This emoji is generated by the emoji you overuse compared to the average (this is not the emoji you use most often).
- Vocabulary Size – how many words has SwiftKey learned from you? This number starts at zero when you install – find out how much your personal SwiftKey vocabulary has grown!
If you’re intrigued and want to try it for yourself, you can download the beta for free from the Play Store. Once installed, go through the set-up process and then sign in to your account. As soon as you start typing, the app starts collecting information and will be able to give you your stats.