Google is increasing the maximum APK size in Google Play from 50MB to 100MB. The move comes in response to developers creating apps which offer richer experiences, and helps to avoid the need to download additional data after the initial APK download.

Expansion Files can still be used to allow for apps that exceed the 100MB barrier, but the aim in increasing the base limit is to speed up the installation for users. Now, rather than downloading an app followed by additional updates once the installation is complete, larger apps can now be downloaded and installed in one fell swoop.

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Google is making it easier for advertizers to very closely target mobile users, homing in on the 'moments that matter'. The company is launching two new ad products -- Customer Match and Universal App Campaigns -- in a bid to convert more views into sales.

The aim with Customer Match is to target people with ads based on what they are doing, where they are, and the device they are using. It ties in with searches, Gmail, and YouTube to enable businesses to create highly tailored ad campaigns. Universal App Campaigns helps advertisers gain greater reach across the Google network.

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While it seems odd to many people, the whole world isn't online -- though it may seem that way sometimes when you visit sites like Facebook. Not all countries have the infrastructure in place to support the deployment of broadband. Google is looking to help.

The company claims that one billion residents of India are without a connection. To remedy this the company is going to the heart of transportation in the nation, the railway stations.

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I can't confirm Bloomberg's report that the the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department allegedly are beginning a joint investigation into Google's Android licensing agreements. But I can explain what it means. Striping to the bones, from an antitrust perspective, there are two pivot points: Monopoly position and exclusive contracts. Then there is the broader regulatory agenda: Correcting (or preventing future) consumer harm.

Globally, Android is unquestionably a monopoly in the market for smartphones. However, its dominance in the United States is comparably muted by competition from iPhone. Based on smartphone subscribers, Android's share was 51.4 percent for the three months ending July 31, 2015, according to comScore. iOS ranked second with 44.2 percent. By cell phone manufacturer, Apple leads the market, with the same share, followed by Samsung (27.3 percent). Android is leading but declining—down 0.8 points, while iOS is up 1.1 points, from April to July.

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In my last post, I joke about the other five people who also bought Nexus 6 to make a broader point. Apple laps up positive PR—and rubs Android's nose in stinky sidewalk dog poop—by touting rapid iOS 9 adoption. Based solely on devices accessing the iTunes App Store, the number is 52 percent as of September 19. By the same measure, as of September 7, from Google Play: 20 percent of Androids run the newest version, Lollipop. iOS 9 released last week, and Android 5 arrived last year. Ouch!

Google shouldn't let the comparison stop there. The company should release Lollipop adoption data selectively, for stock Android devices like Nexus 6. That makes the comparisons to iOS more equal, being devices for which both companies control updates. Apples to, ah, Apple is more appropriate and responsive public relations management.

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As September 29th approaches, and Google's annual autumn launch event, rumors increase in frequency, and a few in absurdity, about what will be revealed. The gadget-obsessed shouldn't forget what else might arrive with one, or even two, rumored new Nexus smartphones: Expanded support for Project Fi. I am surprised how little buzz there is among the fan base. Where are the rumor-wagging tongues?

The search and information giant introduced the invite-only cellular service in April 2015, piggybacking Sprint and T-Mobile networks for a cool $20 a month, plus 10 bucks more for each gigabyte of data (refunding for portion unused). The gotcha: Project Fi only supports one device: Nexus 6. You buy one or you bring your own. Otherwise it's fee-Fi-fo-dumb for you.

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When Google unveiled its latest Nexus smartphone last year, many were disappointed that the search giant didn't announce a new version of the beloved Nexus 5. Yes, Nexus 6 was there to take its place, topping its predecessor in just about every regard, but the phablet was just too big for plenty of folks. So sales of the aging Nexus 5 continued until mid-March 2015, if only to just keep fans happy.

This year, however, Google will announce the real successor of the Nexus 5 we know and love. And, courtesy of Amazon India, who listed the smartphone ahead of time, we now know its main hardware specifications.

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One word describes Google's wireless router: Fantastic! That should be enough said, but one of my colleagues asked me how much OnHub costs. He bristled at $199.99, calling it too much. So, okay, let's do a real review that explains the magic that Google and partner TP-LINK accomplish with this remarkable router. But I warn you now: Buying one, even for two C notes, isn't easy. This thing is out of stock most everywhere, as it has been for weeks.

Simply stated: OnHub is the best router ever to anchor my home network. Beauty, simplicity, availability, and extensibility are On Hub's defining characteristics. Sold in blue or black enclosures, the thing is gorgeous, and it feels as solid as it looks. Setup and maintenance are frightening for their ease. The usable wireless range far exceeds the Apple AirPort Extreme router that OnHub replaces in my home. The network device packs protocols and other features you won't need now but will want later on.

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As websites and online services become ever more demanding, the need for compression increases exponentially. Fans of Silicon Valley will be aware of the Pied Piper compression algorithm, and now Google has a more efficient one of its own.

Brotli is open source and is an entirely new data format that offers 20-26 percent greater compression than Zopfli, another compression algorithm from Google. Just like Zopfli, Brotli has been designed with the internet in mind, with the simple aim of making web pages load faster.

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One person's spam is another's feast, depending on who is giver or receiver. That's one way to read new capabilities coming to Gmail on Android and the web. The first, available starting today on PCs and arriving on Android devices over the next week, lets users block designated email addresses. Google describes "block", but the feature is more of an easy-and-quick filter that dumps unfriendly senders into the spam folder.

For either platform, you click the dropdown options menu to the right of the email address, and block appears as an option. Unsubscribe already is available from personal computers but is new to Android. For example, in the desktop browser, marking listserver messages as spam solicits the user to unsubscribe. The feature also will roll out over the next week to Android. 

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Chromebooks are amazing web surfing machines, offering great battery life, focused computing and affordable pricing. While they aren't for everyone, they are a smart choice for many. Do you know someone that spends all their time in the web browser? Chromebooks are designed for them.

Toshiba makes particularly great Chrome OS laptops, and its Chromebook 2 was quite a hit with fans of Google's web-focused operating system. Today, the company refreshes it with Broadwell processors and backlit keyboards.

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France has rejected an appeal from Google about last year's Right to Be Forgotten ruling. A previous ruling said that when Google received requests from European citizens to remove search results linking to stories deemed "inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant", the removals should be applied worldwide.

Google disagreed, saying that removals should be limited to country-specific Google domains like Google.co.uk and Google.fr, leading to the appeal. But the president of the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés, Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, said that rather than amounting to censorship, imposing global removals would help to prevent circumventions of the ruling.

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Browser stability is a big issue, and it's something that can very easily sway choices. A bug has been discovered in Chrome which crashes the browser if a user visits a particular URL -- 16 characters is all it takes to kill Google's web browser.

The problem is reported as affecting Chrome 45 and older, although it also seems to all kill version 47 on the Dev channel. The issue stems from the inclusion of a NULL character in the URL and has already been reported to Google.

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On Sept. 16, 2015, Apple released iOS 9, which enables users of iPad and iPhone to disable ads. The company claims the capability improves the overall user experience. As someone covering the tech industry for more than two decades, I perceive it as something else, too: Competitive assault against Google and means of pushing publishers to iOS 9's new News app. There is nothing friendly about Apple's maneuver. It is aggressive and tactical. But does it really matter?

Stated simply: More than 90 percent of Google revenue comes from contextual and search-related advertising. Apple derives about the same figure from selling devices and supporting services. At the same time, mobile is the future of Internet advertising and the battleground where the two meet. The entities' respective mobile platforms, Android and iOS, long ago put the tech titans on a collision course. Conceptually, what Apple can't gain from iPad and iPhone sales, it can take by shaking pillars supporting its rival's business.

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Apple has released its first ever Android app. No, there's not an Android version of Safari or anything like that, but a tool designed to simplify the process of switching to iOS. The predictably named Move to iOS will appeal to anyone who was persuaded to switch allegiances by the release of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, or indeed iOS 9.

The app can be used to move contacts, messages, photos and more to a new iPhone or iPad, and is compatible with phones and tablets running Android 4.0 and newer. It works slightly differently to what you may have expected. Rather than uploading data to the cloud, it instead creates a private Wi-Fi network between an Android and iOS device and securely transfers it.

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