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I love when a new browser update arrives, because it’s always fun to see which talked-about features are live and which require a little coaxing to appear. Such is the case with Google’s recent launch of Chrome 86, which rolled out to everyone yesterday.Read more...

At least 21 percent of the U.S. population has access to one of the official COVID-19 contact-tracing apps developed by various state governments, but only a fraction of people actually use them.Read more...

Google could have dropped a bombshell on the Android market last week by announcing a flagship device with big batteries, crazy cameras, a Snapdragon 865+ processor, and other dabs of Google magic cooked-up in a quarantined laboratory somewhere. Instead, we got the Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5—fine smartphones, sure, but…Read more...

Isn’t it fun when one platform’s technology won’t play nicely with another? Owners of various Samsung Androids are experiencing this joy firsthand, as the Samsung Camera’s motion photos don’t appear to be working with Google Photos—a popular, free, wonderful photo backup solution.Read more...

Google’s “Launch Night In” gave us an overview of the company’s upcoming hardware releases, including two 5G Pixel phones, a new Nest Audio speaker, and an updated Chromecast with a dedicated remote.Read more...

I’ve been covering press events for roughly 15 years or so, and in all that time, I’ve never seen a company speed through its announcements as quickly as Google did during today’s “Launch Night In” event. Perhaps Google knew it was staying up past its bedtime and didn’t want to get yelled at?Read more...

Fall hardware announcement season continues. Google is on tap today; its fancy “Launch Night” event kicks off in just a few hours. As for what the company is planning to announce, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, since much of it has already leaked across the internet—or at Home Depot.Read more...

Google Meet’s Android and iOS apps offer a streamlined version of the video chat service’s desktop interface. The basic controls are simple and should be familiar to anyone who has used a video or voice chat app on smartphones, but plenty of helpful features and settings are tucked away in Google Meet’s mobile…Read more...

I was really hoping Google’s newest integration for Google Maps would allow you to see COVID-19 cases popping up and spreading out on a giant map in the style of Plague, Inc. Alas, it’s not meant to be—but you can at least now see COVID-19 trends directly on Google Maps. Read more...

Google is finally patching an annoying bug that has haunted Pixel Buds users for weeks: Every minute and fifty seconds, the wireless headphones would suddenly pause during playback. Every. Single. Time.Read more...

While, sure, anybody could just drive by your house to see what it looks like—all the tin foil in the world isn’t going to shield you from that privacy “violation,” though a fence might help—you can make it harder for people to see your home on Google Maps. Read more...

Google is slowly rolling out its new “Verified Calls” service, a kind-of supercharged Caller ID that should at least let Android users know whether the number that’s blowing up your phone is a legitimate business or not. As an added bonus, businesses using the service can even list a reason for calling, which will…Read more...

Android 11 is here—the stable version, that is—and only if you’re running one of Google’s Pixel phones (the Pixel 2, 3, 3A, 4, or 4A) for the stable release. A beta version of Android 11 is also available, starting today, for the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro, as well as the Oppo X2 and Reno 3.Read more...

Google Home version 2.27 adds a bunch of new features to the app, including new in-app controls for Nest home security products on iOS and Android and expanded device support for Android 11’s Power Menu shortcuts. Oh, and there’s finally a dark mode on Android—though it might be hard to turn on. Here’s how to access…Read more...

While it sucks that smarter schools are shutting their campuses and switching to virtual learning, there’s one big, silver lining to this transition: It’s a hell of a lot easier to take notes, recordings, and automatically create full transcripts of your online classes and meetings.Read more...

Like a kid on [holiday of your choice], Chrome 85 dropped to the masses yesterday. Or, at least, theoretically. When I went to fire up the browser yesterday afternoon and perform my typical ritual of navigating to its “About Google Chrome” to launch the update, nothing happened. Read more...

Everyone loves the Chrome dinosaur game—not the reason it appears, which happens when something goes haywire with your network connection and the web browser can’t load the site you were trying to reach—but it is a little fun and it helps pass the time while you wait for your network to fix itself your troubleshooting…Read more...

Forest fires are a necessary and natural part of a forest’s lifecycle, but recent years have seen a drastic increase in the number and severity of uncontrolled wildfires during the summer months—ask any Californian about that. Thankfully, new tools in Google Search and Google Maps can keep you up-to-date on the status…Read more...