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 created a new app called "Uptime" [Direct Link] that allows users to watch YouTube videos in real time along with their friends (via The Verge). The iOS-only app is available in the United States and was created through Google's internal incubator program known as Area 120, which continues the company's famous workplace perk that encourages employees to take 20 percent of their week to ...

Google's search algorithms came under renewed fire on Sunday after the BBC highlighted examples in which the company's Google Home smart speaker promotes "fake news" and conspiracy theories through its virtual assistant. BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones tweeted a video yesterday that appears to show the smart device responding to the question "Is Obama planning a coup?" with the...

YouTube today officially announced its new streaming television service, YouTube TV, reports Recode. Priced at $35 per month, YouTube TV features access to ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and approximately 30 major cable channels, with television content available alongside YouTube's own video content. Separate from YouTube Red, the new TV service will be available as a standalone app that's launching...

Google has responded to multiple reports of users being unexpectedly logged out of their Google accounts, in order to assuage fears that the logouts were security related. The unexpected sign-outs began on Thursday night and continued through Friday, affecting multiple services including Gmail, Chromecast, YouTube, and Google Play. During routine maintenance, a number of users were...

Google has announced a significant update for Gboard, bringing new emoji, Google Doodles, voice typing, and additional language support to the iOS keyboard app. Gboard integrates the company's search capabilities into an iPhone or iPad's keyboard. Using the Google button in Gboard, users can search for information, send what they find, discover GIFs, emojis, and more, without having to exit a...

The newest build (58.0.3020.0) of Chrome Canary, Google's experimental browser, includes support for the Touch Bar built into the 2016 MacBook Pro, indicating Touch Bar support will soon be added to the Chrome browser. On the Touch Bar, the current Chrome Canary build offers a search/URL bar, forward and back buttons, a refresh/stop option, a button for opening a new tab, and a button for...

Both Amazon and Google are working on turning their popular AI-based speaker products into replacements for a home telephone, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Amazon Echo and/or the Google Home could be used to make and receive phone calls, with the two companies planning to add the updated functionality as soon as this year. Smart home products like the Amazon Echo have become a staple in ...

Google today announced that the code for Chrome for iOS is being added to its Chromium project and will be available through the company's open-source repository going forward. According to Google, Chrome for iOS was previously kept separate from the rest of the Chromium project because of the "additional complexity" required for the platform, such as the need for the browser to be built using ...

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year, and to celebrate the Year of the Rooster, Google has teamed up with 12 museums from Beijing to Washington to create a new online exhibition that can be visited through the Google Arts & Culture iOS app. Across Asia and around the world, families are coming together, houses and neighborhoods are being dressed up in red and traditional...

Google spin-off Waymo unveiled its fleet of 100 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans in a preview event ahead of the North American International Auto Show on Sunday (via USA Today). John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo, told attendees at the Detroit event that the fleet packs an array of new sensors that were all developed in-house, including an enhanced vision system, improved radar and...

A new trend study published by Nielsen this week looks into the top smartphone apps of 2016, as well as the operating systems that the apps were downloaded on. This year within the United States, Facebook won the top spot with more than 146 million average unique users each month. The social network company also dominated the second spot with Facebook Messenger at 129 million unique users...

Google has released an update to its Motion Stills app that lets users create moving text effects for inclusion in their videos. Motion Stills is designed to create unique GIFs from Live Photo images captured with the iPhone 7, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE. The app was released earlier this year and its main features were subsequently integrated into Google Photos for iOS. The ...

Google has listed its annual "Year in Search" results, highlighting the most popular searches performed by people throughout 2016. As is usually the case, Apple-related search inquiries topped a few of the charts over the last twelve months, with Apple winning four total spots in the Consumer Tech category: the iPhone 7 topped the list ahead of the Freedom 251, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, Google Pixel, ...

Google is reported to have shelved plans to develop its own self-driving vehicle in favor of nurturing partnerships with existing car makers to continue its work in the automotive space. According to The Information, the company's autonomous car unit, known internally as Chauffeur, is working with established car companies to develop vehicles that will include self-driving features, while...

Google has issued an update to its recently redesigned Gmail app for iOS that brings a few notable changes to email composition and management on mobile devices. In version 5.0.7, an option in the Settings panel lets users select their favorite browser (Safari or Chrome) for opening links in emails. Users are now also able to select multiple messages in their inbox by tapping on the...

YouTube has announced it now supports 4K live streaming at 60 frames per second, enabling content creators to live broadcast both 360-degree and standard video in the high resolution standard. Viewers with screens equipped to take advantage of the resolution shouldn't have to wait long to tune in to regularly streamed 4K broadcasts. YouTube said the first event to be live streamed in 4K will...

Google has released a free Mac screensaver that showcases popular high-quality photos shared and liked by Google+ users. The company regularly showcases Google+ photography on idle Pixel phone screens as well as on TVs and monitors connected to its Chromecast and Google Fiber products. Called Featured Photos, the free screensaver download announced yesterday brings the same eye-catching...

Google is offering four free months of Play Music as part of its Cyber Week deals. The four-month trial includes a YouTube Red subscription for ad-free YouTube streaming and can be cancelled at any time. The Play music streaming service usually costs $9.99 per month, giving members access to over 35 million songs. Google recently announced an overhaul of its Google Play Music streaming...

Google has announced a new feature in its Search and Maps services that enables Black Friday shoppers to know how busy a store is in real time. Dubbed "crowd control", the live feature comes on the back of the company's Popular Times feature, introduced last year, that lets users check how busy a place typically is at different times of the week. Just in time for the Black Friday swarms, ...

An incoming update to Google Translate on the web and mobile app will enhance the service's ability to translate whole sentences at a time, instead of going word by word. With the help of "Neural Machine Translation," Google said that Google Translate will be able to look at the "broader context" of a phrase to parse out a more naturalistic representation in the native language of the app's user. ...