Google’s open-source Chromium evangelist François Beaufort shared some interesting details today about new voice search integration in the latest Chromium build— Google’s open source browser project that is often used to develop and test features coming soon to its Chrome browser. While users have been able to download a browser extension for Chrome since November that allows them to activate a voice search with the “Ok Google” voice command (just like on Android), it appears Google is testing the command as a native feature without the need of the extension. Beaufort notes that the latest Chromium code shows the ability to toggle the feature through settings: Expand Expanding Close
Following the release of Chrome 32 on Google’s stable release channel, today Chrome 33 has moved into beta bringing access to Custom Elements, a Web Speech API for speech recognition and synthesis, and more. The new Custom Elements will allow developers to add new HTML elements in web applications in “much cleaner ways” as highlighted by Google in the sample code for a chat app above. With the spec developers will able to:
Define new HTML/DOM elements
Create elements that extend from other elements
Logically bundle together custom functionality into a single tag
Extend the API of existing DOM elements
The release also includes access to the Web Speech API for adding speech recognition and synthesis features to web pages. Google gives the example of dictations being “synthesized to play back in a different language.” Google described some of the other updates in the release including the availability of the requestAutocomplete API for easily implementing web payments on Mac:
WebFont downloading has been optimized so that fonts (at the median) are available before Blink layout is done, meaning that the net latency impact of using a webfont is usually zero.
The Blink CSS Animations and Transitions implementations are now powered by the newWeb Animations model. This change should not affect developers or sites; let us know if it does.
Chrome now supports the latest version of the Web Notification API. We’ll be deprecating support for the legacy API down the road, so please update your websites if they’re using it.
Google today released Chrome 32 bringing a few notable features it launched for beta users back in November. Included in the release are noisy tab indicators, which puts a small speaker icon on tabs to let you see tabs that are making noise at a glance. You’ll also see other icons for tabs using your webcam or sending content to your TV (as pictured above). Google says the latest stable release also includes a stronger Safe Browsing malware warnings and beta preview of the supervised users feature to help families monitor browsing habits and set restrictions.
In addition to the above and new apps/extension APIs for developers,Chrome 32 also brings a redesigned Windows 8 Metro mode:
Manage multiple Chrome windows and quickly get to your favorite Chrome Apps with an integrated app launcher. On the desktop, we’ve updated the default styling of UI elements like form controls and scrollbars to match the sleek design of the new Chrome Metro interface.
A brand new Facebook test build is making its way into the wild and with it comes a flatter redesign. The boys at Android Police have a brief look at the redesign and its pretty easy at first glance to recognize that a lot has changed.
After a long beta period for 1Password for on the Mac, AgileBits announced today that the long awaited update of its popular password app will be arriving soon for Android. Today it opened up sign-ups for an Android beta newsletter that will notify you when the beta version of 1Password 4 for Android is ready to start testing.
Danger! Risk! Excitement! Are you looking to provide feedback on new features and functions while living a little on the daring side? Be among the first to use the latest and greatest unreleased updates for 1Password 4 for Android.
If you’re interested in being notified when the all-new version of 1Password arrives for Android, you can sign up here.
Google today announced that it is launching a public beta for its new Web Designer tool that allows users to build interactive ads and other HTML5 content. Google says that with HTML5 ad spend expected to overtake Flash spend within the next two years, it’s aiming to provide easy-to-use tools that will allow publishers to quickly and easily create and publish HTML5 ads:
We’re working hard to solve this development challenge by offering agencies powerful yet easy-to-use tools for HTML5 production. In this vein, we announced DoubleClick Studio Layouts for HTML5 back in August, which lets you create HTML5 ads in minutes, and last week we announced Ready Creatives in AdWords, which creates HTML5 ads for you in seconds. Today, we’re excited to announce the public beta of Google Web Designer, a new professional-quality design tool that makes HTML5 creative accessible to everyone from the designer to the dabbler.
Google walked through a few of the features of Web Designer in its blog post:
Create animated HTML5 creative, with a robust, yet intuitive set of design tools.
View and edit the code behind your designs and see your edits reflected back on the stage automatically.
Build ad creatives seamlessly for DoubleClick and AdMob, or publish them to any generic environment you choose.
Receive updates to the product automatically, without having to re-download the application.
It also noted that access to Web Designer will be free for all, at least for the time being.
Last time we checked in with Kamcord, the free SDK that allows developers to easily implement in-game recording functionality in their iOS games, it had just hit 1B videos recorded, announced a brand new user community, and picked up an additional $1M in funding. At the time the company told us it was planning Android support, and today Kamcord becomes the first major platform to make in-game recording available free to Android developers.
Kamcord is today starting to accept signups for its new Android beta through http://kamcord.com/android, and in the coming weeks will make the SDK available to download for anyone.
Kamcord’s in-game UI for sharing recorded gameplay on iPad
We spoke with CEO Matt Zitzmann this week who told us all about the company’s plans to break into the Android world after having success on iOS. With next generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles bringing new in-game recording features to the mainstream, Kamcord has the opportunity to be the go-to solution for similar functionality in mobile games, and Android is a big piece of that puzzle. Zitzmann tells us that the company hopes the new Android SDK will help “to more easily drive adoption within Asia” where Android is thriving.
Kamcord’s biggest rival, Everyplay, is yet to introduce Android support for its similar platform, and today’s release of the Kamcord beta for Android could give the company a big jump on its competitor.
CEO of Djinnworks Robert Szeleney, a publisher with over 140 million app downloads across iOS and Android, is excited to bring the Kamcord platform to its Android titles: Expand Expanding Close
Twitter has just pushed out version 5.0 of its Android app to those that are part of its Android beta program. With the new release comes a brand new design that introduces a new slide-out menu on the left hand side, while still keeping the familiar tabs along the top of app and adding a few new ones for Trending, Activity, Find people. You’ll notice other areas of the app have been streamlined as well, but there’s not yet an iPad optimized version of the beta. There’s also a few features missing from the previous versions– like the ability to mark all tweets as read– but we’d imagine they will return before the redesigned app comes out of beta.
If you’re interested in joining up for the Twitter beta tester program, you can learn how to do so here.
Following an app update earlier this week to the Twitter mobile apps that introduced a somewhat controversial conversation view in the app’s timeline, Twitter is now making a beta of its app available for those interested in testing out the latest beta. It’s likely not a direct response to the backlash Twitter received with the latest update, but at least those interested in testing out the latest new features and UI changes will have the ability to give feedback prior to the public release of future updates. It’s worth noting that the beta will replace your current Twitter app, rather than installing a separate beta version like some Google’s beta apps, but you can return to the public build at any time.
A report from BlackBerryOS.com notes that invites to BlackBerry’s upcoming BBM service for iOS and Android have now started rolling out to users on the company’s Beta Zone website. Back in May, BlackBerry announced that its popular messaging platform would finally become cross-platform and arrive on both iOS and Android devices “later this summer,” and that deadline to launch is of course quickly approaching. Not all Beta Zone members have received the invite email above, but it looks like BlackBerry is getting closer to finally launching the new apps.
We haven’t seen much of the iOS app, but BlackBerryOS also got its hands on the screenshots below of the latest Android beta:
Facebook announced today that it’s starting a beta program for its Android apps that will allow users to sign up to test and provide feedback on the latest build of the app before its released to the public.
Facebook is the most-downloaded app in the Play Store, so we need to make sure it works for everyone, no matter their amount of RAM, network conditions, or version of Android they might be using. Factors like data costs and network speeds are especially important to users, and we want to make sure we’re always optimizing their experiences. With so many use cases to solve, testing becomes crucial to ensuring positive, consistent experiences across Android.
While Facebook noted that it has been providing a beta of its Android apps to partners such as Qualcomm, HTC, Ericsson, Sony, Huawei and MediaTek over the last six months, starting today all users can now sign up to become beta testers.
After launching a private beta of its new Google Reader replacement, Digg announced today that it is now rolling out the beta to all users signed up to test the new app. Digg just sent out the first batch of invites to the new web app, but promises it will be “adding users in increasingly larger batches.”
The app is still a work in progress and won’t get you every feature you might have had with Google Reader, but for now you can easily import your Google Reader content, use Google Reader-like shortcuts, and save and share to all the usual third-party services.
iOS versions of Digg Reader land for iPhone and iPad in the App Store sometime today, and Digg says an Android app will be available before the end of July.
Digg warns that the app is still very much in beta, but reminds us of a few features it plans to add in the coming months: Expand Expanding Close
During its Google I/O keynote earlier this month, Google announced that it would be bringing conversational, Google-Now like voice search to the desktop. Using a UI similar to voice search and Google Now in its mobile apps, Google would soon allow Chrome users to search and drill down further into results using only their voice.
Today, Google appears to have finally started rolling out the feature for Chrome users on the stable and beta channels of Chrome.
After updating to the latest version 27.0.1453.93 of Chrome, users can navigate to Google.com, click the microphone icon, and choose to allow the new Google Voice search feature to begin listening. Google will only ask for permission to listen once and from then on users can simply speak in order to search. For certain search results such as questions Google will also provide audible results.
Not all of the functionality seems to be available as of yet. For example, when Google first showed off the feature users weren’t required to click at all. Google execs were activating the feature by simply saying “Ok, Google” and were able to continue searching with their voice, hands-free, from on the search results page. The feature as it’s currently implemented now requires users to click the mic icon in order to start a voice search. Expand Expanding Close
Google is beginning to roll out a new feature in Gmail today that will allow users to quickly and easily create or add an event to Google Calendar without ever leaving their inbox. Once the feature has been enabled, users will be able to click the date and time within emails to add or create an Google Calendar entry using the data from the email (as pictured above). The calendar entry can be edited before added and will also automatically include a link back to the original email for reference:
When you click on one of these underlined dates, you’ll be able to preview your schedule for the day and change the title, date or time of the event. Clicking “Add to Calendar” will do exactly that — add the event to your calendar, and for extra convenience, the calendar event will include a link back to the original email.
Keep an eye out for the new feature rolling out to everyone using the English (US) language setting over the next week.
A 9to5Google reader, today, sent in a screenshot of a new Google homepage layout that the company is testing. It is unclear how spread the testing is of this homepage, but it’s no secret that Google tests new page layouts with small numbers of users. These test layouts sometimes never even get rolled out to the complete user base.
Notably, the new layout sports a button to quickly access Google’s various web applications.That new apps button appears to replace the top bar with the most commonly used Google services (like Mail, YouTube, and Drive).
Google began testing this new layout in February, but the appearance of testing in April could point to this new design still being under consideration or could point to extended testing.
Google announced on its YouTube Creators blog last night that it is starting a new beta test for creators that will allow them to link a Google+ account to their YouTube channel.
Other benefits of linking your YouTube channel to Google+: YouTube will allow you to “Choose any name for your channel and page.” That also includes the opportunity to rename your channel if that’s something you might be interested in. You’ll also now have access to a few new features including “live broadcasts via Hangouts”, a YouTube tab displayed on your Google+ page, and better video sharing features.
Google warned that there might be some issues with the beta for third-party tools:
– Certain mobile apps and third party tools may require a bit more effort to work with YouTube channels linked to Google+ pages. Just make sure you’re using the most recent YouTube app on Android and iOS. And if necessary, setup login credentials for these apps.
To try out the beta, you’ll need a Google+ account on the same Google account you use for your YouTube channel. From there you can activate the feature through YouTube’s advanced account settings. Full instructions from Google below: Expand Expanding Close
Google has begun its yearly unveiling of April Fool’s Day jokes with some clever new ideas that probably come up in strategy meetings throughout the year.
Google Nose. Searching a query on Google and clicking the ‘Nose Beta’ button can only find this ‘service’. The service isn’t real of course, but you can read about its features on Nose’s homepage. Funniest bit?
Don’t ask, don’t smell: For when you’re wary of your query – SafeSearch included.
Google announced today on the Chrome Blog that it is promoting Chrome 26 to the beta channel and including a number of new features in the release. Among the most notable new features included in today’s Chrome Beta release is an improved default spell checker that brings support for additional languages like Korean, Tamil, and Albanian. Google also highlighted other new features included in the beta like the ability to sync custom dictionaries and “support for grammar, homonym and context-sensitive spell checking in English.”
Furthermore, for users who have enabled the “Ask Google for suggestions” spell check feature, we’re now rolling out support for grammar, homonym and context-sensitive spell checking in English, powered by the same technologies used by Google search. Support for additional languages is on the way.The new spell checking engine – which is also available in Google Docs – even understands proper nouns like “Justin Bieber” and “Skrillex,” so if you’re wondering how many Ns there are inDananananaykroyd, worry no more (there are four).
The new features will rollout to users on Chrome OS, Linux, and Windows in the “coming weeks” with Mac support some time after.
Today, Facebook is announcing a major overhaul to its Android SDK with the release of Facebook SDK 3.0 Beta for Android. As it recently did for iOS developers, it is also launching a new Android Dev Center with resources and tools for integrating Facebook into mobile apps. In a blog post on the company’s Developer Blog, Facebook’s Michael Marucheck said the new SDK “makes it easier to build more immersive social experiences, as well as better distribute and promote your app.”
With this update, our SDK provides advanced functionality that makes it easier to build more immersive social experiences, as well as better distribute and promote your app. With our SDK and Open Graph, now it’s even easier to get more people to install and use your apps regularly.
Some of the new features in the Beta include: new native UI controls, simplified session management with new tools for authorization and authentication, and better Facebook API support with batch SDK requests, enhanced Mobile install measurement to “measure clicks and installs for mobile app install ads,” and other improvements.
Facebook highlighted some of the new native UI controls included in SDK 3.0 that are “more efficient and responsive” for web developers than web dialogs:
Google confirmed on the Google Chrome Releases blog today that Chrome for Android is now a Stable Channel release and officially out of Beta. The download is available now on Google Play for devices running Android 4.0 or later.
This update picks up important stability and performance fixes since the last Beta, along with some minor UI adjustments, especially for tablets. Known issues are available on the Chrome support site.
This morning’s Stable release of Chrome will soon allow access to open tabs across multiple devices in different locations.
The feature has been available in Chrome Beta since early April. It enabled users logged into Chrome to open browser tabs on one device while permitting access to them on separate devices from within the “Other devices” menu on the New Tab page.
“Say you’ve found an awesome recipe on your work computer while… ahem… working hard at the office. But when you get back home, you can’t quite remember if it was two teaspoons of baking soda or two teaspoons of baking powder,” wrote Software Engineers Raz Mathias on the official Google Chrome Blog while detailing the latest feature. “Wouldn’t it be cool if you could pull up the same recipe on your home computer with one click?”
Remember Google Fiber? That little experiment determined to bring “universal, ultra high-speed Internet access”, making for a network “100 times faster than what most Americans have access to”. Seems like those claims might not be too far off if you believe the rather impressive speed test below, posted by Redditor TheTeam who claims to have just received access to the network.
Google announced last year their dreams of “downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes” via the experimental Google Fiber network. The process of building and testing networks in select cities is already underway, with the first city in the community selection process set to be announced by the end of the year. However, an initial experiment at Standford University and the surrounding area started rolling out as early as last month, according to a report from PaloAltoPatch.
