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 says it is willing to make changes to its new Chrome auto-login feature, following heavy criticism from privacy-conscious users. In previous versions of the browser, it was left up to the user whether they wanted to log in to Chrome while they used the app. However in Chrome 69, released earlier this month, if you sign in to a Google site like Google Search, Gmail, or YouTube, you...

Just over two months after Google updated the "Inbox by Gmail" app for iOS to support iPhone X, the company this week announced that it will discontinue the service at the end of March 2019. Inbox by Gmail was an experimental email app, offering users features like snoozing emails to check later, Smart Reply, high-priority notifications, and more. The company says that in the four years of...

Google today sent out invitations to members of the media for a "Made by Google" event that's set to be held in New York City on Tuesday, October 9. At the event, Google is likely to unveil its Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL smartphones, which will be competing with the trio of new iPhones that Apple is set to unveil next week. It's official, Google sends out invites for its annual event http ...

Idle Android devices typically send data ten times more often to Google than iOS devices do to Apple's servers, according to new research shared by trade association Digital Content Next. In a paper titled "Google Data Collection," Douglas C. Schmidt, a computer science professor at Vanderbilt University, arrives at some stark conclusions regarding how much Google is collecting about...

Google today updated its Wear OS iPhone app [Direct Link] and Google Fit Android app with a new redesign that emphasizes closing a set of rings, similar to Apple's Activity app. Every day, Google Fit will task users to close one ring based on "move minutes" and another ring based on "heart points" (via The Verge). "Move minutes" is a metric that is intended to be better than measuring daily...

Google entered the smart speaker market in 2016 with the introduction of Google Home, allowing users to speak to Google Assistant and control various smart home products, listen to music, get the news, and more. Eventually, Google added the Home Mini and Home Max to the lineup, introducing products that were direct competitors to the Amazon Echo Dot and Apple HomePod, respectively. Looking...

Google today launched its new cloud storage pricing scheme under the moniker Google One, which replaces all paid storage plans under the Google Drive brand. The new plans include 100GB storage for $1.99 a month, 200GB for $2.99 a month, and 2TB for $9.99 a month (down from $19.99). The free 15GB for non-paying users remains. There's also a new family option for divvying up a single storage...

Some Google apps on iOS and Android devices continue to store location history even with the setting disabled, according to a new AP report citing data collected by computer science researchers at Princeton. Location History, a feature available in Google apps like Google Maps, is an option that allows the app to display the locations that you've visited in a timeline. Princeton researcher...

Google this week debuted a new app called "Cameos," which lets celebrities record video answers to "the most asked questions on Google," and then post the recordings directly to Google's search results (via TechCrunch). The company says that this will let users "get answers directly" from the source when searching for facts and trivia about certain people in the spotlight. Although anyone...

Although Google's major fall event is still about two months away, typically occurring in October and ushering in a new generation of Pixel smartphones and other products, today leaked pictures have been shared online highlighting the upcoming Google Pixel 3 XL. Images from Telegram user @LuchkovCh via Android Police The images depict an alleged "pre-release" final production unit of the...

The Gmail app for iOS was today updated with an option to turn off the threaded conversation view that some users have been unhappy with. Toggling off "Conversation View" in the Settings menu in the Gmail app will now let users see each of their emails listed individually in their inbox rather than grouped up in an "easier to digest and follow" format, as Google puts it. Gmail on the...

Google's latest Android operating system update, Android 9 Pie, was officially released to customers today following a beta testing period that started earlier this year. Android Pie introduces a new gesture-based system interface that's similar to the interface of the iPhone X, with iPhone-like swipes for navigating through the operating system. We went hands-on with Android Pie earlier this...

Google Maps was today updated with a new "Match" feature that's designed to offer up personalized restaurant recommendations based on a user's customized tastes. The Match option allows users to tap on a food or drink spot to see if they're likely to enjoy a new spot based on past restaurant visiting history. The update also includes a list of how many restaurants have been visited in the...

Google today updated its Street View app for iOS, finally adding support for the iPhone X's display eight months after the device's launch. Google Street View is designed to allow users to explore different locations and landmarks around the world using the Street View feature. The app also allows users to create photo spheres with the iPhone's camera, and today's update also improves support...

The European Commission hit Google with a $5.1 billion fine today, stating that the tech company broke EU antitrust laws by striking deals with Android phone manufacturers to favor Google's services over rival services (via The New York Times). Android P is the newest version of the software, set to launch this fall Specifically, the European Commission pointed towards the Google search bar...

Google has added support for Morse code typing to its Gboard app for iOS, providing an accessible method of digital communication for people with disabilities. The customizable feature replaces the letters of the keyboard with large dot and dash keys to enter text, and offers text-to-Morse sequences to the auto-suggestion strip above the keyboard. Google has also launched a Morse Typing...

The Inbox by Gmail app for iOS devices was today updated with support for the iPhone X, a full eight months after the larger-screened iPhone launched. Since November 2017, Inbox by Gmail has received 13 updates, none of which included iPhone X support until today. Inbox is one of Google's last apps to get iPhone X support, with most other apps updated earlier in the year. Before update on ...

Siri rival Google Assistant received a major update today across the Google Home speaker ecosystem with a feature Google revealed at I/O in May, called "Continued Conversation." Now, when you speak to Google Assistant and wake it up with a "Hey Google" or "OK Google" phrase, you don't need to repeat the phrase again for a follow-up request. For example, you can ask "Hey Google, what's the...

Google Photos is set to plug a couple of holes in its basic feature set over the next few days, bringing it in line with similar functions available in Apple Photos. Up until now, the cloud-based photo service has lacked the ability to favorite photos, but that's about to change. Google says it's rolling out an option for users to tap a star in the upper right of any photo in their library, ...

Google recently introduced a new Google News app with an entirely updated interface and a range of new features that put it on par with Apple's own News app, including a "For You" recommendation section and "Full Coverage" headlines that present a story from multiple angles. We went hands-on with Google News to check out the new features and to see how it compares to Apple News, the built-in...