Items tagged with Google
As the coronavirus spreads around the world, more people are turning to the Internet for news and information on how to fight against it. The problem that some looking for information have run into is malware out there masquerading as coronavirus information. Google says that interest in COVID-19 information has climbed around the world, and currently, the disease is the most common topic people are searching for. Google says that search volume for coronavirus has outpaced even the most common and consistent queries seen in search such as weather and news. Therefore Google is expanding its COVID-19 search experience. Google says that after the WHO declared a public health emergency in January,...
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It has not been quite a full year since Google released the Pixel 3a, a budget version of the Pixel 3 with respectable features at a tantalizing price. It originally debuted at $399, which was a welcome respite against flagship phones that command four figures. Now, however, you can snag one for as low as $149.99 at Best Buy. There are some caveats in order to purchase the Pixel 3a at that price. The first is you need to activate it right away. Otherwise, the phone costs $299.99. Secondly, you have to activate it with either Sprint or Verizon. If you choose to activate it with AT&T, the price is $199.99. And lastly, the $149.99 price is good for new lines or new accounts, not existing ones....
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Google has announced that Android 11 Developer Preview 2 is now available to download and install. Google doesn't want consumers installing the new version of the operating system, so it's making it available for developers only by manual download/flash. Developer Preview 2 will work on Google's first-party Pixel 2, 3, 3a, or 4 smartphones. Google is offering the operating system via the Android Flash Tool to make installing a bit easier. Those who are running Developer Preview 1 or 1.1 can update to Developer Preview 2 via an over-the-air update. As for what's changed in the new developer preview, it adds a new 5G state API to quickly check whether the user is currently on a 5G New Radio or...
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Google is answering the call to make Android more secure and less likely to contract a malware infection, at least for users who opt into the company's Advanced Protection Program. This is primarily intended for journalists, activists, business leaders, political campaign teams, and other individuals and organizations at risk of targeted attacks. This isn't exclusive to Android—it is a free service for Google accounts that can also be implemented on iPhone devices with the Google Smart Lock app. As it applies to Android, however, Google rolled out some updates that batten down the hatches in an attempt to thwart hackers and other nefarious actors from wreaking havoc. There are two main...
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The government is urging people to keep their distance from others to help slow and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The government is currently in talks with Facebook and Google along with a range of other technology companies and health experts to determine how they may be able to use location data gathered from smartphones to glean information about the coronavirus. Public health experts believe that private companies may be able to compile data in an anonymous and aggregated form that could be used to map the spread of the infection. Details of the talks come from a trio of unnamed sources cited by the Washington Post, which claim that the project is in the early stages. While analyzing...
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Google has announced that starting today, the Google Translate Android app can transcribe foreign language speech as it's happening in real-time. That means you can launch the app as someone is talking or audio is playing back on a computer and translate it immediately. Google says the feature will be rolling out over the next couple of days with support for any combination of eight major languages. Supported languages include English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Thai. Only the latest version of the Translate app available on the Play Store supports the transcribe feature. Once the latest version the app is installed, users can access it by tapping on the "Transcribe"...
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Google and Amazon haven’t exactly been on good terms in recent years. The two have been duking it out in the streaming world, and the rivalry got so bad that Amazon refused to sell Google streaming hardware, while Google wouldn’t allow the YouTube app to be installed on Amazon Fire TV devices. Those specific tensions have been settled over the past year, but there is still bad blood between the two companies lurking under the surface. A new report from Protocol indicates that Google is currently holding back the growth potential of Fire TV Edition smart TVs due to contractual agreements that it has entered into with its Android TV partners. According to the report,...
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One of the features that many fans of Google Pixel devices want to land for future smartphones is the ability to record 4K video at 60 fps, and a new leak suggests that feature is in the works. The leak comes courtesy of the Google Camera 7.4 APK. Google Camera 7.4 is an unreleased version of the Google camera app for Pixel devices. It's worth noting that just because the mode is hinted at in the unreleased camera app, doesn't mean that the feature will come to market any time soon, or at all. Hints of the new mode were discovered within a class related to video recording. The telling tidbit of code is "camcorder.4k60fps" mode. A deeper dive into the software didn't turn up any references to...
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Google Chrome is the popular browser on the planet, and the search giant is always looking for ways to add features and improve security across the board. The latest new feature being introduced to Chrome is an expansion of the existing Guest mode. It’s called "Default to Guest" mode and is primarily aimed at power users. Default to Guest mode provides what Google describes as a "stateless browsing experience from session to session" that is enabled every time you open a browser session, rather than you having to select "Guest" from the profile icon in the UI. Once you close out your browsing session, all of your cookies, site data, and browsing history are automatically deleted. This mode...
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We still have a couple of months to go before Google formally introduces its Pixel 4a family, assuming it sticks to the same release schedule as the Pixel 3a, which was announced at least year's Google I/O event. Launch pricing might also be the same—rumor has it the Pixel 4A will start at $399, making it once again far cheaper than some premium phones that breach the $1,000 mark. The current-generation Pixel 3a XL that we reviewed last year earned high praise from us as a full-featured, affordable phone delivering a pure Android experience. It is obviously too early to judge, be we are likewise holding out hope that the Pixel 4a is another ointment for the rash of ultra-expensive smartphones...
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A new rumor is going around that claims Google is planning to launch a second-generation Chromecast Ultra during 2020 that will be based on the Android TV operating system. The source claims to be familiar with the product and says that it will be a dongle similar to the current form factor with one significant change that fans of the current device will appreciate. The second-generation Chromecast Ultra is supposed to come with an external remote (finally). The device is reportedly codenamed "sabrina," and it will support 4K HDR content. It will also have the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity that you would expect of such a device. The remote control is said to resemble a cross between the Daydream...
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Google began rolling out version 80 of its Chrome browser to the public at large in early February, with the most publicized feature being a new cookie classification system designed to give users more control over cookie controls. While cookie handling dominated the headlines, Chrome 80 also added stronger encryption, though perhaps not strong enough. Starting with Chrome 80, the browser encrypts local passwords and cookies in Windows using AES-256 encryption. Prior to Chrome 80, the browser leveraged the data protection API (DPAPI) built into the OS to handle encryption chores. And it still does, but AES-256 acts as another layer of protection for added security. This was thought to thwart...
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Google Pixel 4a and Pixel 4a XL news has been leaking quite frequently in the past few weeks, mainly in the form of images. Today, however, we're getting our first look at the smartphone on video along with confirmation of specs for the entry-level device. A video from TecnoLike Plus has been posted which highlights the smaller of the two expected smartphones: the Pixel 4a. Looking at the device from the front, we see a punch hole cut-out for the selfie camera at the top right-hand side of the display (something that we've seen on previous photo leaks) along with pretty large bezels around all sides of the display. The side bezels are especially large -- compared to what we...
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Actual photos (read: not graphic renders) of Google's upcoming Pixel 4a smartphone have emerged on Twitter, and it looks...well, dirty. That's not the fault of Google, but the person who handled this phone, plastered it with finger smudges, and then thought, 'Hey, I should take some photos without wiping this thing down!', and so they did. These are not the highest quality images in the world, either. I'm not in the business of leaking this sort of thing (not as the original source, anyway), so I can only assume there is a coalition of leakers who meet every month and have bylaws, one of which is to only post low quality photos, with copious blur. I also image there is a point system, and they...
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