Cloud Next is Google Cloud’s annual conference for enterprise customers and developers, and this year’s virtual edition is kicking off later today at 9 a.m. PT. Google Workspace announcements at Cloud Next ‘21 are primarily centered on security.
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At Cloud Next ’21, Google announced “Work Safer” as a one-stop offering for small businesses, enterprises, and public sector institutions looking to equip and protect employees amid hybrid work.
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Following the big Android app update that brought a Material You redesign and new widgets, Google Calendar is adding a nifty shortcut on the web to create meeting notes.
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The Gmail side panel today provides quick access to Calendar, Keep, and Tasks. Google is now bringing Contacts to the sidebar for Workspace and personal customers using Gmail.
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Compared to the last design language revamp, Google’s rollout of Material You is happening at a much faster pace. That Material You app update blitz comes amid a barrage of Pixel 6 advertising and that’s no coincidence. It’s the sign of a well-under-way vision at Google that has been sorely missing.
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Compared to other redesigns, Material You for Google Calendar is very straightforward, but the widgets do benefit from one handy tweak.
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Google Workspace was announced at the start of October as a rebrand of G Suite and revamped approach to office-less productivity. As part of these changes, all of Google’s Workspace apps are seeing new icons, with the rollout now underway.
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On Chromebooks, you can access most Google services with either the website or the Android app. Google today updated Gmail for Android on Chrome OS with the latest Material You redesign, but more importantly the latest app icon.
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The Google Docs web client is adding support for background watermarks, while comment boxes in the sidebar are getting wider to let you read more feedback per line.
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Over a one-month period that ended in late November, Google rolled out updated logos for the vast majority of Workspace apps. Google Tasks was left off the list, but that’s now being rectified with a new icon.
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The most full-featured Gmail experience is still found on the web, but the mobile apps continue to pick up more and more capabilities. Gmail for Android is now gaining “improved search” through a set of filters.
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Recent updates to Google’s main video conferencing service have made it easier to set visual effects and detect echos. Google Meet is now bringing brightness adjustments to the web client following the introduction of a low-light mode on mobile last year.
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In announcing that Keep is getting a Material You redesign, Google yesterday failed to mention that new widgets were also inbound. We’ve since enabled them, and they’re absolutely fantastic.
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Last week, Google announced that Material You is actively rolling out to the key Workspace apps on Android, including Drive. The Google Drive redesign also brings along new widgets including a quirky and large X-shaped one.
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After debuting Material You revamps for other Workspace apps earlier this month, Google is today announcing that Google Keep is next in line for the update.
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Video effects are useful for both personal and work calls. Google Meet is now making it easier to set visual effects on the web with a new settings panel.
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Back in June, with the announcement that Workspace is available “for everyone,” Google revealed that “Rooms” in Chat would soon be renamed to “Spaces” and gain a slew of new features. That rebrand is now underway.
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While text chatting with classic Hangouts is still possible today, Google has killed most of the legacy service’s video calling features. Google will soon restore a familiar capability that lets you make direct calls using Meet without having to generate a link ahead of time.
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Google wants to build tools for the future of (hybrid) work with Workspace. To that end, Google Workspace is acquiring the team behind Playspace.
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Google continues to add more features to Chat as it becomes available for more and more people ahead of the classic Hangouts depreciation. The Google Chat web app is now integrating Tenor GIF search.
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To help employees better manage their day, Google Calendar is introducing new “Time Insights” that let paid Workspace users see “how [their] time is spent across meetings and collaborators.”
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Google Tasks is a straightforward organization tool that’s tightly integrated with Gmail, Calendar, and other Workspace apps. A small redesign of Google Tasks for Android and iOS introduces tabs that let you quickly jump between lists.
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The process of shutting down classic Hangouts for Workspace users is almost complete, as Google this week enables the integrated Gmail with Chat and Rooms for even more paid accounts.
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Last year, Google Chat added support for talking with users outside their company, thus expanding from being just an internal team communication tool. Google Workspace admins are now getting the ability to limit that external Chat access.
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