Google

With April Fools’ Day falling on a weekend this year, the festivities are occurring slightly earlier. Like last year, we’ll be covering all the gag products and services from Google and Alphabet, as well as the best ones from the rest of the tech industry.

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Over the past several months Google has been updating its sign-in pages on mobile devices to a new, cleaner version, incorporating elements of material design. However, this change didn’t make its way to the web, at least not for everyone. Now, though, it seems that Google is getting ready to roll out the new UI in a big way.

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Last year at Google’s developer conference, the tech giant introduced two new messaging applications: Allo and Duo. While Duo offers a cross-platform and simplistic video conferencing app, Allo was meant to be the go-to messenger application. Due to its very limited nature, however, the app never took off.

What features do you want to have added before you would consider using Allo as your main messaging application?

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A trend we are seeing with this year’s flagship smartphones is the adoption of 18:9 aspect ratio displays or 2:1 for the least common denominator types. So far we’ve seen the LG G6 with an 18:9 aspect ratio and now the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ with an 18.5:9 screen size. Now Google is urging developers to update their apps to better work with these new screen sizes…

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Google has partnered with Howard University to launch a new school campus called Howard West right within its own Mountain View campus. Google says undergraduate students from Howard’s computer science program will have the opportunity to attend the campus-within-a-campus for hands-on learning direct from both Howard staff and Google’s own engineers…

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Google is all about incorporating all of its different services into a single app, and that is what the company has done with the search app. Now, either when you swipe over to Google Now or launch the Google app, you will see a list of icons below the search bar. Tap on the arrow button on the right side of these to open an app drawer full of different web services…

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YouTube has responded to a growing ad boycott by major brands and government departments in the UK. The boycott was prompted by ads being embedded within and alongside hate videos.

In a blog post, Google apologized for the failure in its policies and filters, and explained the three measures it was taking in response …

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The internet was in an uproar today after finding out that Google had added a “Beauty and the Beast” segment to the “My Day” feature found within Assistant on the Google Home and Pixel. Although Google claims that this stunt wasn’t actually an advertisement, the negative public opinion was enough for the Beauty and the Beast piece to get removed.

Do you think Google should have ads read by the Assistant?

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Today, it was reported that Google is currently working on a third phone alongside the two-second generation Pixel devices. While not much is known about this codenamed “taimen” device, we have heard that it will be even larger than the updated Pixel XL. If you were to purchase one of these phones, which size would you choose?

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Yesterday we had “confirmation” of the codenames under which the sequels to the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones are being developed over at Google (“walleye” and “muskie”, respectively). However, it looks like the Mountain View firm may have a third device up its sleeve…

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Yesterday we got our first look at Uptime, a Googler-created application that allows you to watch YouTube videos with your friends. The biggest downside was that one of the first apps coming out of Google’s Area 120 business incubator was an iPhone exclusive. Today, we are getting a look at the first app from Area 120 to hit the Play Store, called Supersonic Fun Voice Messenger…

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Google gives its employees (Googlers) the opportunity to spend 20 percent of their time working on side projects – some of which like Gmail and Google Maps have become some of the company’s core applications. The latest 20 percent project to go live is an app called Uptime which lets you use the app’s odd user interface to watch YouTube videos with friends. Strangely, though, it is only available for iPhone and not Android…

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Android is a versatile operating system, everyone knows that. In its various forms, it runs on all kinds of devices, from phones and tablets to smartwatches and even fridges. But have you ever thought about a phone case that uses Google‘s OS? Let alone an iPhone case? Well, it looks like someone has, and that someone is willing to kickstart mass production of the so-called “Eye”…

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We haven’t heard much about Google’s Project Jacquard in the last several months, but as we pointed out the other day, that will soon change thanks to some events that Google is hosting at SXSW. To kick things off, Ivan Poupyrev of Google ATAP is holding a talk where Google and Levi’s are revealing tidbits of new information about the connected clothing…

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Gmail on its own is already a very powerful email client, offering useful features and direct integration with Google’s other services, like Google Drive. However, there’s always room for improvement. Today, Google has announced that Gmail will add support for native add-ons.

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For the sixth year running, Google has been named the world’s best company to work for by a Fortune 100 ranking. It’s the eighth time in eleven years that Google has taken the number one slot.

The $75 billion tech titan is famous for luxe perks like free gourmet food, haircuts, and laundry services, of course. But it also takes a ­rigorous analytical approach to morale. It boosted its parental-leave policies, for example, after finding that mothers were leaving at higher rates—the result was a 50% reduction in attrition for working moms. And then there’s the culture: Town halls held by black Googlers and allies, support for transgender workers, and unconscious-bias workshops (­already attended by more than 70% of staff) help foster what employees say is a “safe and inclusive” workplace at this hive of high performers …

The full ranking allows you to sort companies by such factors as compensation, perks and time off …

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The Google Pixel and Pixel XL easily became our picks for the best smartphones of 2016, but they’ve not been without faults ─ and a lot of them. Since release, Google has been dealing with issues such as battery hiccups, speaker popping, camera bugs, and much more. Now, some Pixel owners are reporting a new issue with their microphones.

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Google has issued a statement stating that ‘many’ of the Android exploits reportedly used by the CIA have already been addressed. Google’s statement used similar wording to one issued earlier by Apple.

As we’ve reviewed the documents, we’re confident that security updates and protections in both Chrome and Android already shield users from many of these alleged vulnerabilities. Our analysis is ongoing.

But the WSJ reports that they and other tech companies are being hampered by two factors …

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We haven’t heard anything about Google & Levi’s plans for a Jacqurd-equipped jacket since Google I/O last year, but now there’s hope that might change in the coming days. As per the schedule for SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas this coming weekend, the two companies are jointly holding a party to “celebrate” the forthcoming Levi’s Commuter jacket…

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