Items tagged with Google
Just about everyone stores at least some of their personal data in the cloud today. That might be documents you want to access from anywhere, photos you want to protect, or other content you don't want to save locally. Google has announced that it will be offering the revamped Google Drive service known as Google One to everyone around the world. We first talked about Google One in May when it was first announced. The name change wraps in everything that was Google Drive before and adds in some new benefits like more storage for the same money, family sharing capability, and reduced-price bookings...
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One thing you do not expect when updating the software on your smartphone is to lose critical abilities, but it appears that is exactly what is happening for some first generation Pixel XL owners. Over at Google's Issue Tracker site, Pixel XL owners report a bug in the final version of Android 9 Pie that is preventing them from fast charging their device. "I have 4 chargers. 1 is unofficial. 2 is official. 1 was the packaged 6p charger and the other bought from Google Store. None of these work. I either get 'Charging' or 'Charging Slowly'. This never happened before [Android 9] Pie. I also have...
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Does Google track your location? A study by the Associated Press and Princeton University discovered that some Google services store your location regardless of your privacy settings. It is believed that over 2 million Android users are affected by this issue. Google claims that if users turn off their “Location History”, it will no longer store the places the users have been. The AP and Princeton University insist that some Google apps store time-stamped locations, even if the user has disabled “Location History”. Some of these exceptions make sense, but others seem illogical....
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When it comes to Android smartphones, one of the biggest advantages that they have over iOS-based iPhones is the ability to access external storage in addition to their onboard storage allotment. Take the Galaxy Note 9 for example; it is available with up to 512GB of internal storage and can also access up to 512GB of microSD storage, giving users up to 1TB in their pockets. However, Android apps often handle external storage poorly, leaving users vulnerable to exploits according to new research by Check Point. These exploits are being labeled as “man-in-the-disk” attacks, which could...
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There is evidence to suggest that Google may add a dual booting ability to Chrome OS to allow users to load Windows 10 onto Chromebooks, just as can be done on Apple's MacBook systems through Boot Camp. Called "Campfire," the dual boot feature appears to be in development for a public release, and not just limited to internal developers. Google is not talking about Campfire at the moment, though this is not the first we have heard of the company having interest in getting Windows 10 onto its laptops. Just a few weeks ago, it was reported that Google was trying to gain Windows 10 certification for...
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Fortnite fans on Android weren't happy when word surfaced that the game would be an exclusive title for Samsung on the newly unveiled Galaxy Note 9 and other newer Galaxy devices via Galaxy Apps. Fortnite is a huge deal with massive numbers of players battling it out and has turned over a billion dollars in revenue for a game that costs nothing to download. The good news for Android Fortnite fans with no intention of buying a new Samsung device was that Fortnite exclusivity was promised to be short-lived. Samsung's exclusive deal wore off over the weekend and that means that Android gamers on other...
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It's the time of year that parents love, and students hate; it's time to go back to school. The upside to back-to-school season for some students is that it means you get some new tech to take with you. The Google Store has a smoking deal going on right now for some of its most popular devices. One of the deals is offering up a big discount on the Pixel 2 XL. The Google Store is offering $100 off the Pixel 2 XL instantly, making it $749 rather than the normal $849. If you want the smaller Pixel 2 to fit into your skinny jeans, that device has no discount and is going for the normal $649 price....
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Despite being a free-to-play title, Fortnite is a veritable cash cow. That's because there are in-game purchases available, and Epic Games is raking in a lot of sales from what has become the world's most popular battle royale shooter, having taken the torch from PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and run with it. Unfortunately for Google, it stands to miss out on potentially substantial Fortnite-related revenue when it launches on a wide swath of Android devices. Epic Games previously confirmed that Fortnite will not be available in the Play Store, as it wants to avoid paying a 30 percent cut to Google...
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There's no doubt that one of the most highly anticipated smartphone releases for the second half of 2018 will be Google's Pixel 3 family. Unfortunately for the search giant, both the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have leaked repeatedly over the past few months, with the latest leak including a full unboxing. We're not just talking about photos here; there's a full video (in the source link below) as well showing the Pixel 3 XL in its full glory. We can see the final production device (turned on and booted into Android 9 Pie), which gives us a good look at its beefy display notch. The leaked images also...
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In the world of browsers, updates come fast and often. So never mind that you only recently updated Chrome to version 68, the next version is right around the corner and currently being beta tested. One of the features Google will introduce with Chrome 69 is supported for smartphones with display cutouts, otherwise known as notches. "Display cutouts are now supported in Chrome through the new CSS env() function (environment variables) and the viewport-fit meta tag. This allows developers to take advantage of the entire screen on devices that have a display cutout," Google explains in a blog post....
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Google decided to take Android 9 Pie out of the oven a little early, and while there are certain parts that could use a bit more baking, it is out of beta and ready to install on Pixel and Pixel 2 handsets. Well, sort of. Google is not pushing Android 9 Pie out to the masses yet, but has made available the source code to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). What that means is you can download and install Android 9 Pie on your Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, or Pixel 2 XL by manually sideloading it onto your device. That is a different process than just heading into settings and fetching it as an over-the-air...
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Well, this one sort of took us by surprise. Out of nowhere, Google just announced that the latest version of Android, Android P, is officially called Android 9 Pie. And best of all, the final, production version of the operating system is available right now for those using Pixel devices. As for Google's OEM partners that participated in the Android P beta, they will have to wait a bit longer to deliver the final release of the operating system to supported devices. Google writes: And devices that participated in the Beta program from Sony Mobile, Xiaomi, HMD Global, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, and Essential,...
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Android fans who have been wondering when they can get hands on the next flavor of Android have a date to look forward to. According to leaker Evan Blass, Android P will be launching on August 20. Blass tweeted an image of a calendar noting that fans might want to save the date. He didn’t give an indication of where this rumor was sourced. Blass does have quite the track record of accurate rumor mongering. The one thing that we still don't know about Android P is what its official name will be. Some reports suggest that the "P" will stand for Pistachio Ice Cream, which doesn’t...
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The world can be a scary place, but it can be particularly frightening if you have a difficult time interpreting nonverbal cues. One recent study used Google Glass smart glasses to help young children with autism better recognize facial expressions. The researchers are hopeful that Google Glass may assuage some of the children's’ social anxieties and improve their ability to understand emotions. The study was funded by Stanford University, the United States Institutes of Health, and several other organizations. Fourteen children were invited to attend three twenty minutes sessions per week...
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