Items tagged with Google
If you have a Gmail account and have had it for a long time, think about how many purchases you have made online and in stores where receipts have been sent to your email address. Google has had a tool in place inside Gmail that keeps track of all the purchases ever made with receipts that came to Gmail all in one place. The odd thing about this tool is that while Google told The Verge in a statement that the tool was meant to make it easier for users to keep track of all their purchases and subscriptions in one place, the tool was never publicized. Google pointed out that only you can see your purchase data and that the data can be deleted at any time. Users who have had a Gmail account for...
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Google surprised no one when it officially launched its Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL mid-range smartphones last week. Both phones are much cheaper than their Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL counterparts, and are priced at $399 and $479 respectively. However, the most anticipated smartphones from Google this year will no doubt be the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. These new flagships will likely come packing Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 855 SoC and will be going up against the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S10 family and the new OnePlus 7 Pro. Previous rumors have suggested that both smartphones will include a punch hole display, which is most prominently featured on the Galaxy...
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Google Titan Security Keys are supposed to be the best way to secure your online accounts, and come with two-factor authentication. Google has stated that it uses the Titan Security Keys internally. Recently the search giant announced that it had discovered a misconfiguration in the Bluetooth Low Energy version of the Titan Security Key that could potentially allow a nearby attacker to communicate with the security key or the device the key is paired to. Google gave two examples of how an attacker might take advantage of the misconfiguration in the security key. One of the ways the flaw could be exploited is as the user is pairing the key to a PC or a phone. The attacker could potentially connect...
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Owners of the original Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones who have devices that were manufactured before January 4, 2017, may get some money from Google. Google has agreed to a proposed settlement for a class action lawsuit that was brought by owners of the original Pixel devices who claim they were sold devices with defective microphones. The settlement could see owners getting up to $500 from Google. Google finally admitted that there was an issue with the microphone in some of the smartphones in March of 2017 when it said that less than 1% of Pixel phones had a hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec. That crack caused issues for affected users when calling and when...
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Does your Pixel device feel like it is harboring untapped performance potential? Is it acting sluggish at times, or have you noticed any unusual stuttering? If so, the culprit could be Google's Digital Wellbeing feature in Android 9 Pie, which is designed to help you manage how much time you are spending on your smartphone. Turning it off could actually help solve performance issues. The Digital Wellbeing app offers a daily view of your digital habits, including how frequently you use different apps, how many notifications you receive, and how often you check your phone. It allows you to set limits for how much you use apps, and can silence notifications at nighttime to ensure a good night's...
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Smart devices are necessary and ubiquitous in 2019, but it can be difficult to find a operating system or service that fully respects your privacy. Many users are concerned that major tech companies like Google are stealing and sharing your data. Now you do not need to choose between security and convenience. The e Foundation or /e/ will soon offer refurbished smartphones with its own /e/ operating system. The e Foundation, or /e/, is a non-profit organization that was incorporated in 2018. Their mission is to provide an open-source OS and other mobile services that respect user privacy and are easy to use. They launched their own OS beta this past September and many people enjoyed it. The non-profit...
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The launch of the Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL smartphones this week was no surprise. The devices had been leaked and rumored for months ahead of becoming official. The devices launched starting at $399 for the 3a and $479 for the Pixel 3a XL. Google wants to woo iPhone users to the Android side with these new smartphones, and is offering some trade-in deals on that could put some cash back in their pocket if they switch. It's hard to imagine owners of high-end devices like the iPhone XS Max moving to a mid-range device, but stranger things have happened. The trade deal for the iPhone XS Max is worth $610 if your device is in good shape. Traders with that deal could get a Pixel 3a XL...
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Over the past several years, we have seen numerous references to a mysterious next-gen Fuchsia OS being developed by Google. We say "mysterious" because Google has not come right out and said what exactly it is, or why it's developing another OS when it already has Android and Chrome OS. Will Fuchsia OS replace one or the other, or perhaps both? Google finally answered that question, and the answer is no.. All we have really known up to this point is that Fuchsia OS is an open source project—you can even play around with an experimental version in your browser, over at GitHub, where it first landed back in 2016. It's only a rough demo, though, and does not really offer anything of substance,...
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This week, the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are the hottest talk of the internet, as they are the new mid-range smartphones from Google. With a starting price of $399 for the Pixel 3a and $479 for the Pixel 3a XL, both phones offer a nice balance of features, camera image quality, battery life... and actually include a 3.5mm headphone jack. Not surprisingly, it didn't take the folks at iFixit to take a scalpel to both the Pixel 3a and the Pixel 3a XL, and thankfully, both have modular components that are more readily accessible for replacement in case of failure. Unlike most smartphone which feature bodies made out of a combination of aluminum and glass, the new Pixel devices feature plastic...
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The Google Play app store ecosystem is robust, and many of the apps that people buy are purchased with a credit card that is tied to the person's Google Play account. For most people linking a credit card to their account isn't a big deal, but that isn't always the case in all market around the globe. Some users fear the security of their credit card information, and often parents don't want to tie a credit card to a kid's account out of fear the child might make unauthorized purchases. In some countries, the problems are more significant than security. In locations like India where most people use Android devices, but few use credit cards or debit cards with bank accounts, paying for apps is...
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In this episode of HotHardware’s Two And Half Geeks, Marco, Chris and Dave chat about NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1650, Lenovo's Legion Y740 Gaming Laptop, the LG G8 ThinQ Flagship Android Phone, a Sneak Peek at the Google Pixel 3a XL, Corsair's H100i RGB AiO Liquid Cooler and more! Show Notes: 04:24 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Review: Budget Gaming On Turing 13:41 - LG G8 ThinQ Review: An Affordable, Capable Flagship Smartphone 23:34 - Lenovo Legion Y740 Gaming Laptop Deep Dive Review With Benchmarks 34:49 - Corsair H100i RGB Platinum Liquid Cooler Review: Powerful And Customizable 41:48 - Pixel 3a XL Sneak Peek...
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Considering that many smartphone OEMs have abandoned 3.5mm headphone jacks on their smartphones in a bid to save space and "embrace the future," many consumers have skipped over adopting USB-C headphones and are instead going completely wireless. While those firmly in the Apple camp have gravitated towards AirPods (Siri), Android users have instead opted for devices like the Google Pixel Bids (Google Assistant) and Samsung Galaxy Buds (Bixby). Today, Qualcomm and Google have announced an alliance that will make it easier for manufacturers to develop Google Assistant-equipped wireless headphones for the consumer market. Qualcomm announced that it is adding two Google technologies to...
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As expected, the bigwigs in Mountain View rolled out the third beta of Android Q at Google I/O 2019, giving us a broader view of what the next major version of Android will bring to the table. We still do not know what exactly it will be called—Queen of Puddings, perhaps?—but here are some of the more notable additions introduced in the latest beta. To begin with, Google said it's been focusing on three themes, those being innovation, security and privacy, and digital well being. "We want to help you take advantage of the latest new technology—5G, foldables, edge-to-edge screens, on-device AI, and more—while making sure users' security, privacy, and well being are always...
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Yesterday, Google announced its Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL mid-range smartphones which rock a Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage and the familiar two-tone design aesthetic (albeit with a plastic body). Best of all, the phones start at an incredibly reasonable $399 and $479 respectively, which has already been discounted by $100 thanks to a promotion running at Best Buy. For those that think that the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are just a stop-gap measure that will go by the wayside in the blink of an eye (think iPhone SE), Google is indicating that these more affordable Pixels are here to stay. Android Police was recently able to talk with members...
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