Google

Google app gains Forward button (seriously!), more reliable voice search & other new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 27, 2016

In addition to adding support for Accelerated Mobile Pages to Chrome for iOS, Google also this morning issued a refresh to its native search app on the App Store, which supports Google Now cards. Google 17.0 for iOS, a free download, packs in improvements to help you get things done more quickly in the app such as the addition of a Forward button (what took them so long, really?), a more reliable voice search, the ability to revisit recent pages for a full seven days and a few local search results improvements.

Read More

Chrome for iOS now supports Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 27, 2016

Google today issued a small but important refresh to the Chrome browser for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on the App Store. The updated software bumps up version number to 52.0.2743.84 and brings official support for Accelerated Mobile Pages that, similar to Instant Articles on Facebook, load in a fraction of the time of their non-accelerated mobile versions. Any news stories and articles from partner publishers that have a lightning bolt and “AMP” next to them in search results will load instantly when tapped on.

Read More

Google Maps for iOS refreshed with cleaner look, now highlights local areas of interest

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 25, 2016

Google today updated its mobile mapping application for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with some rather useful visual tweaks. Google Maps 4.21 for iOS now highlights local areas that might interest you, adding multiple destinations to a route is supported in the new version and the typography of street names, points of interest, transit stations and other places has been improved to make them easier to read on smaller screens, among other changes.

Read More

Google Photos adds new cropping tool, reduces battery and cellular data usage

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Google Photos, the search giant's free mobile photo and video manager and cloud storage app, was updated in the App Store this morning with a few new features. Google Photos 1.12.1 for iOS packs in improved support for burst photos and offers a brand new cropping tool. Thanks to under-the-hood tweaks, the app should launch faster than before, promises Google. Last but not least, iPhone users will experience reduced battery and cellular data usage when using the refreshed software.

Read More

Rumor: Google developing two Wear smartwatches with circular displays

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 8, 2016

Android Police ran a story two days ago, that's now picking up traction, learning from supposedly reliable sources that Google is secretly developing a pair of smartwatches—code-named “Angelfish” and “Swordfish”—that will run its latest Android Wear software, have circular displays and more.

One of the devices, ”Angelfish”, is said to have a subdued but sporty look and include a built-in heart rate sensor, embedded LTE cellular connectivity and GPS for truly standalone operation.

Read More

Say hello to Android Nougat

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 1, 2016

When Google officially announced Android N at its annual Google I/O developers conference in May, they ran a contest asking fans to submit their suggestions for the official name of the next major revision to the world's most-used mobile operating system. Yesterday, Google announced they've chosen “Nougat” as the official code-name of Android 7.0.

Read More

Facebook posts Save and Share extensions for Chrome, revamps Like button on mobile

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Having launched at the annual F8 conference for developers, Facebook's Save button is now available for public consumption in the form of a new Save to Facebook extension for the Google Chrome browser. As a bonus, an official new Share to Facebook extension with more capabilities is now also available for free in the Chrome Web Store.

Taking dead aim at Pocket, the new Save to Facebook extension makes it simple for Chrome users to tuck articles away on Facebook to read later on. According to the social networking firm, more than 300 million people use the Save feature every month.

Read More

Google Maps and Earth gain high-resolution imagery from Landsat 8 satellite

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 28, 2016

Google is upgrading the quality of aerial imagery for the satellite view that's available in Google Maps and Google Earth services. According to a blog post yesterday, both mapping services now offer crisp high-definition satellite imagery of Earth without clouds captured by Landsat 8, an Earth observation satellite launched on February 11, 2013 in a collaboration between NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Read More

YouTube adding ability to live stream video to its mobile app

Cody Lee ∙ June 23, 2016

On Thursday, during its VidCon keynote address, YouTube announced that it's updating its mobile app with a brand new live streaming option. This will allow users to easily broadcast and watch live video from within the app with little friction.

The feature will initially be limited to top influencers like The Young Turks, AIB and Alex Wasabi, but it will roll out more widely soon. Once it's enabled, all you have to do is tap the big red capture button, select a thumbnail photo, and start rolling.

Read More