Google

Whenever it has new tech, Google generally comes up with some crazy experiments to go along with it. This week we’ve seen a ton of new development in ARCore, and that includes a fun new app directly from Google itself…

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Over the weekend, Google was found to be giving the police in Raleigh, NC  private user location data when served with a search warrant. While this has been done in the hope to catch a criminal, it also ends up giving law enforcement innocent people’s private data just for being in the area.

How do you feel about Google potentially handing over your private location history to the police?

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Google is offering a new service called Shopping Actions which will allow consumers to spot something they want in a Google search and then buy it through sponsored results alongside the organic results. The service is initially being piloted with Target, Walmart, Home Depot, Costco and other large chains, but will be open to smaller retailers too …

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For obvious reasons, Google locked down Android phones that were connected and running Android Auto. While there have been workarounds, your phone was essentially a brick when it’s connected to a car. Now, Google is allowing users to swipe to unlock the phone when it’s in Android Auto/Car Mode…

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In an effort to protect consumers, Google has announced a new policy for AdWords relating to cryptocurrency. Basically, cryptocurrency ads are over.
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The French government is taking both Google and Apple to court, accusing the companies of ‘abusive trade practices’ in the way that they treat developers.

Reporting on the case is light on detail, but France appears to have three objections to the way the relationship works between app stores and developers …

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Google has fallen 20 places in a huge annual survey of corporate reputations. The Harris Poll Reputation Quotient shows that the company fell from 8th to 28th place …

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Despite having multiple messaging apps, Allo is the app Google markets most for consumer chats. While it does have a web interface, it must first be signed in through the phone app and must remain in constant communication with the handset. Thankfully, Googler Justin Uberti gives us hope that this will change soon.
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With the release of the first Developer Preview of Android P, we’re one step closer to finding out what Google will name the next version of its mobile operating system.

What do you think Android P will be called?

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As rumored, Android P is adding support for phones that have a display notch similar to the Essential Phone and Asus ZenFone 5. Unfortunately, this means handsets without the notch will suffer due to design changes made in part to support phones with the oddly designed displays.

Do you think phones without the notch should retain Oreo’s status bar style or should Android P’s design choices be universal on all devices?

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Google is not only applying machine learning across its products, but also encouraging other developers to adopt it in third-party services and other use cases. It has now emerged that one of the latter examples is for drones from the U.S. government.

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The annual South by Southwest music (and a lot more than music!) festival in Austin, Texas, kicks off this weekend, and as usual, Google is going to have pretty significant presence. This year, it looks like everything will revolve around Google Assistant.

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While we all want a proper dark mode on Android, it doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon. However, Google did implement it in a limited capacity with Android 8.1 on the Google Pixel 2 family. That was tied to the color of the wallpaper, though, forcing users who want a dark theme to stick to a select few backgrounds for their homescreen. Thanks to a new app, though, it’s possible to get that dark theme with any wallpaper…

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Prior to reviewing cases for the Pixel 2, I’ve always preferred to use my phone without one. This obviously meant that my device was susceptible to wear from drops and scratches, but I’ve long been fine with the risk because it’s nice to use my phones the way their respective makers intended. But with Peel, as I found, I get the best of both worlds…

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Since Google unveiled Clips last year at itsOctober 4th event, I’ve been extremely interested in trying out the new AI-powered camera. Now that Clips is shipping and I’ve had it in hand for a day, I have to say I am quite impressed and happy with its results, despite its price…

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