Google

When Apple Music first launched in 2015, playing it on anything other than an Apple device was impossible. Thankfully though, over the years Apple has made its streaming service available to access through third-party devices and speakers, including Amazon Echo and Google-owned speakers. This article focuses on Google devices. If you have a Google Home mini or a newer Nest-branded smart...

Google includes a Live Captions transcription feature in version 89 of its Chrome browser for desktop. Live Captions uses machine learning to create a real-time transcription for videos or audio played through the browser, which can make online media more accessible for members of the Deaf community and other people with hearing loss. Once enabled, Live Captions appear in a box in the bottom ...

If you buy a new iPhone to replace your existing one and you use the Google Authenticator app to access online accounts protected by two-factor authentication (2FA), you should transfer those accounts to your new phone as soon as possible, because without the 2FA codes close at hand, you could find yourself locked out of your online accounts. 2FA adds an extra layer of security to your...

Google Lens can now recognize over a billion items in the world around us, the search engine giant announced this week. That's four times as many things that the AI-powered feature could identify when it was first launched last year, thanks partly to a huge number of Google Shopping products which have been added to its knowledge base. While its optical character recognition engine has...

In Chrome 66, rolling out now for Mac and iOS, Google has added a password export option to the web browser so that you can easily migrate your login details to another browser via a third-party password manager app. In this article, we'll show you how to export your passwords from Chrome on Mac and iOS. At the end of the process, you'll be left with a CSV file containing all your login...

Google has said it will patch a "bug" in Google Photos that enables iPhone users to store pictures in the cloud in their original quality without counting toward their Google Drive storage limit. Currently, the Google ‌Photos‌ iOS app happily uploads photos in Apple's efficient HEIC format without requiring them to be converted from "Original Quality" to "High Quality JPEG." The reason is...

Google has ignited security concerns over the facial authentication system in its new Pixel 4 smartphone by admitting that it will unlock the device even when the user's eyes are shut. Google unveiled the Pixel 4 this week to mostly positive reviews, many of which praised the phone for its super-fast new face unlock system, which replaces the fingerprint sensor and works much the same as...

Google today unveiled several new products at its Made by Google event in New York, including the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones, Pixel Buds 2 wireless earphones, Pixelbook Go notebook, and new Nest devices. Pixel 4 The new Pixel 4 and 4 XL were widely rumored ahead of their release, to the point that Google even shared teaser photos of its own, and now the devices are official. Key...

An appeals court in London has reinstated a lawsuit filed against Google that accuses the company of unlawfully gathering personal information by circumventing the iPhone's default privacy settings, according to Bloomberg. The collective action, equivalent to a class action lawsuit in the United States, alleged that Google illegally tracked and gathered the personal data of over four million ‌...

With the launch of iOS 13, Apple released Apple Arcade, a new $4.99 per month gaming service that provides unlimited access to new and exclusive games. Less than two weeks later, Google announced its own gaming service called Play Pass, which also offers unlimited access to games. In our latest YouTube video, we went hands-on with both services to compare them. Subscribe to the MacRumors ...

Google today announced the launch of a new gaming service called Google Play Pass, which gives Android users access to more than 350 games and apps for $4.99 per month, similar to Apple Arcade. Google's version, like ‌Apple Arcade‌, provides games to customers without in-app purchases and without ads. There is a family sharing option, and a Play Pass subscription can be shared with up to five...

YouTube Music has launched a new automated playlist called "Discover Mix" to help subscribers to the streaming service find new songs and artists that match their taste. Image via 9to5Google Similar to Spotify's popular "Discover Weekly," Google's new playlist features 49 songs consisting of music that's "picked for you," according to your listening history, and updated every Wednesday....

Google today updated its Gmail app for iOS devices with a new image blocking setting for easier access to the option designed to prevent Gmail from automatically loading attached images. Many email tracking clients use small, invisible images as a means of tracking when an email has been opened and viewed, allowing for invasive features like read receipts. Gmail on the desktop has long...

Google's Project Zero published a blog post this week about a previous security threat wherein malicious websites quietly hacked into the victim's iPhone. This small collection of hacked websites were used in what was described as "indiscriminate" attacks against unsuspecting visitors for years, but the threat has been addressed by Apple. If the attacks were successful, a monitoring implant...

Google today announced its next major version of Android will be named Android 10, as the company has decided to move past dessert-inspired names for the operating system like Ice Cream Sandwich, Lollipop, and Marshmallow. Android's new logo Android's naming scheme is now consistent with iOS. Android is only on version 10 though, compared to iOS 13, because Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, and ...

Google Assistant is about to gain a new reminder feature that allows you to get someone else to do your bidding. Called Assignable Reminders, the feature lets you set reminders for other people, so long as they are in your Google Contacts or opted in to your Family Group. You can create a reminder using your voice ("Hey Google") or text, and set it to be delivered to a phone or via a...

Following Apple's decision last week to suspend a Siri program that allows employees to listen to audio recordings for quality control purposes, Amazon and Google have both chosen to make their policies on human reviews of voice assistant audio more clear. Late last month, Apple confirmed that a small number of anonymized ‌Siri‌ requests are analyzed for the purpose of improving ‌Siri‌,...

Google parent company Alphabet has overtaken Apple to become the world's most cash-rich company, reports The Financial Times this morning. According to the FT, Apple’s cash hoard has fallen to $102 billion, down from a peak of $163 billion at the end of 2017. Meanwhile, Alphabet's $117 billion cash reserve has risen by almost $20 billion over the same period. However, as FT notes,...

Ahead of the launch of its new flagship smartphone, the Pixel 4, Google has been sharing details on the device to get ahead of leaks. The design of the Pixel 4 was unveiled in June, and today, Google offered up a look at some of the features that will be included in the new smartphone, including Face Unlock and Motion Sense. Face Unlock is designed to unlock the Pixel 4 much like Face ID...

Google Maps this week expanded real-time bikesharing information to 23 additional cities in 16 countries around the world. In addition to New York City, the feature is now available in Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Chicago, Dublin, Hamburg, Helsinki, Kaohsiung, London, Los Angeles, Lyon, Madrid, Mexico City, Montreal, New Taipei City, Rio de Janeiro, the San Francisco Bay Area, São ...

Google has killed its Nest app for Apple Watch, meaning Nest smart thermostat owners can no longer control the device's target temperature and operating mode directly from their wrist. The deprecation of the wearable apps for both Apple Watch and Wear OS coincides with version 5.37 of the Nest mobile app, which was released on Tuesday. Any mention of the Apple Watch app has since been...

Google today announced a major update for Google Maps on both Android and iOS, introducing new transit-related features. Google Maps will now provide details on live traffic delays for buses in places where real-time information doesn't exist from local transit agencies, which will let Maps users see if a bus will be late, how long the delay might be, and how long travel might take. Me ...

Google in May announced a new privacy-focused auto-delete option for automatically removing Location History and Web & App Activity after a set period of time, and the feature is now rolling out to Google users. Google users who have these options enabled can choose to delete their information manually, every three months, or every 18 months. Opting in to auto-delete will allow Google to...

Google has no future plans to release additional tablet devices and has even canceled two models that were in development, the company confirmed to Computerworld today. Google has not released a tablet in 2019, but did come out with the Pixel Slate in 2018. Google was working on two smaller tablets, but ultimately decided to stop focusing on the tablet form factor in favor of laptops. The ...

Google today confirmed that its upcoming Pixel 4 devices will feature a square-shaped rear camera bump, a feature also rumored to be coming to the 2019 iPhones. A case maker's mockup for the Pixel 4 smartphones leaked earlier this week, and today, Google confirmed the news itself in a tweeted image showing off the new design. Well, since there seems to be some interest, here you go! Wait 'ti ...