With the Google Dashboard, users can see data and information about the various Google services they use. Featuring useful stats, it also provides quick shortcuts to individual product settings. The interface is being redesigned today with a more mobile and touch-friendly design.
A year ago Google simplified security and privacy settings with a redesigned My Account page. On its one year anniversary, Google has announced that over a billion people have used the site and that several new features, like how to find a lost phone including Android and iOS, are being added.
As part of Safer Internet Day 2016, users who perform a security check on their Google account will get 2GB of additional free Drive storage. Those who did the promotion a year ago can even do it again and get the added storage.
Google is a very security conscious company and always working on ways to keep users safe. They are currently testing a new way to sign into your Google account without needing to enter a password. One user on Reddit was invited to test the new method and posted detailed screenshots of the process.
Google Drive updates arriving today include new features for the Android app including sharing notifications and the ability to share with people without a Google account.
As part of its Drive mobile app updates today, both users of the iOS and Android apps can now enable notifications for when files are shared with them. Not only is it a notification, but it also acts as a quick links to jump right into the file or folder. And in addition, Google notes that “If a file/folder owner has notifications turned on and someone requests access to their content, the owner will be notified of the request instantly on their mobile device so they can quickly grant access.”
And while the Google Drive iOS app is getting what Google describes as a new consistent sharing experience (essentially bringing it up to par with Android), Android users are getting the ability to share with people without a Google account:
Until now, a Google Account was needed to view shared files on an Android device. Now, people can do this without a Google Account just like they can on the web.
The updated Google Drive app for Android is available now.
The great unraveling of Google+ as a fiber connecting all of Google’s products continues. Who’s disbanding this time? Well, basically all of the Google ecosystem.
Google wants you to check your account security, and its willing to bribe you to do it. In return for taking 30 seconds or so to complete a security checkup by February 17th, Google will add 2GB to your Google Drive storage allowance around the end of the month.
This Safer Internet Day, we’re reminded how important online safety is and hope you’ll use this as an opportunity to take 2 minutes to complete a simple Security Checkup […] As our way of saying thanks for completing the checkup by 17 February 2015, we’ll give you a permanent 2 gigabyte bump in your Google Drive storage plan.
The check makes sure you have up-to-date account recovery information, that recent activity looks legit, and that only the right apps and devices have permission to access your account. You can complete the check here.
Google has updated its account settings page with a material design makeover, and a shiny new myaccount.google.com URL. In a brief blog post, Google said:
Tabs have been removed in favor of a simple, single landing page that links directly to existing account resources. All other functionality is unchanged.
The YouTube for Android app also got a material design update a few days ago.
After June 30th, Yahoo will completely remove Google and Facebook sign-in options from Flickr. As the company transitions towards its own login system, it’s sending out emails to users of its photo sharing service offering them a chance to make the switch before it closes these two doorways. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a major company attempt to cut its ties with Google and it probably won’t be the last. A few weeks ago, Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer was reportedly trying to persuade Apple to drop Google search in favor of Yahoo’s engine for the company’s iOS platform. So Yahoo distancing its own products from Mountain View’s reach definitely to make sense.
Google is at odds with German regulators that are accusing the company of pooling customer information without consent. Mountain View’s practice of storing data from web search histories, video viewing habits and other activities into a single group, has caused officials to step in and review the firms operations.
Google has announced a change to its terms of service that will allow the company to use your name, photo and company endorsements to be included in ads from 11th November (via the NYT).
When the new ad policy goes live Nov. 11, Google will be able to show what the company calls shared endorsements on Google sites and across the Web, on the more than two million sites in Google’s display advertising network, which are viewed by an estimated one billion people.
If a user follows a bakery on Google Plus or gives an album four stars on the Google Play music service, for instance, that person’s name, photo and endorsement could show up in ads for that bakery or album …
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According to a report on TheNextWeb, Google appears to be testing a new Gmail login page that will make it much easier to log in and out of multiple accounts. The current Gmail login page requires users to enter their login information each time they sign in from the login page. The new Gmail page will allow you to add login information for multiple accounts and easily select any account with one click. Keep an eye out for a link at the bottom of the login page to try the new feature.
Google just launched a new feature called “Account Activity” that sends account-holders monthly encrypted reports about their signed-in frittering across the Web and Google services.
Once a user opts-in to the feature, Google will confirm and then send the first monthly report (see image below). The full-report gives Account information, such as locations, browsers, and platforms employed while Internet surfing.
The report also gives Gmail specifics, like most contacted addresses and to-and-fro message counts, and it breaks-down other Google services’ particulars, including Web history with users’ top searches, types, and queries, and a personal YouTube report on uploaded video activity and viewers’ location data. Users can also delete old reports or browse previous months as they begin to pile up.
Google added its Google Play service to the black navigation bar found at the top of its search engine.
The “Play” link seems to only appear for users logged into their Google account. Moreover, the Mountain View, Calif.-based Company is likely rolling out the addition, because some users claim they are unable to see the new icon in the Google bar.
It is worth noting the link still does not appear on Google’s main search page—despite being signed-in.
UPDATE: The “Play” link now appears on Google’s main search page whether or not a user is signed-in.
Google’s social network Google+ is now open for teenagers, according to Google’s Vice President of Product Management Bradley Horowitz’s announcement in a post today. Everyone who is old enough for a Google Account (13-years-old and up in most countries) can now sign up for Google+. The executive boasted the many security and privacy features of Google+ that help establish the difference between friends, acquaintances and strangers— a must for underage users.
Between strong user protections and teen-focused content, it’s our hope that young adults will feel at home (and have some fun) on Google+. And of course, we do have at least one thing in common with our newest users: we’re both busy growing up.
The Google+ service, he argued, has “awesome features that teens really want” whilst encouraging safe behavior “through appropriate defaults and in-product help.” In addition, abuse-reporting tools are easy to find and use, Horowitz noted. Details on age requirements on Google Accounts are available here. Teens can also get more information on Google+ safety features in the newly launched Google+ Safety Center, with interesting resources available for educators, teenagers and parents.
Robert Scoble has posted some highlights of his talk with Google VP +Vic Gundotra regarding the Google+ name fiaso. Gundotra told Scoble Google deleted Google+ accounts that spell their names in “weird ways like using upside-down characters, or who are using obviously fake names, like “god” or worse.”
There have been reports that Google has had a couple missteps in their deleting process. Gundotra says Google is working on making this a smoother process:
He says they have made some mistakes while doing the first pass at this and they are learning. He also says the team will change how they communicate with people. IE, let them know what they are doing wrong, etc.
Bradly Horowitz, Google’s VP of Product, had much more to say on the matter including some “myth busting” (below):
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Google+ user Ufuk Kayserilioglu was able to use his Google Apps account in Google+ for a short time today — sorta. As he notes below, he was able to sign into Google+ with a Google Apps account with some accidental trickery.
I discovered it by accident: I was logged into Google+ with my Google Account and into my Google Apps account (on the Paralaus domain), as secondary, with multiple sign-on. For some reason Google decided to log me off all my Google accounts. At that point, I made the initial login with my Google Apps account and secondary with my Google Account. I was unaware that Google+ was open on another tab. I tried to reshare something publicly, and was confused that it was saying Paralaus where it should be saying Public. Picking that options told me that only “People on Paralaus can find and view” my post. It was then that I realized I was able to use Google+ with my Google Apps account in a hybrid mode where I was not fully logged in but some elements were available; almost as a preview. ;)
Our own Seth Weintraub would love to see this feature come to Google+, as I’m sure many of you would too. While this was just a ‘preview’, we do expect Google Apps support to come very soon.
