Articles about Google

Google's products and services can be "hit or miss." For every revolutionary offering, such as Gmail or Maps, there are utter failures such as Google+ or Glass. I don't fault the search giant for failing, however, as I appreciate its risk-taking.

One of the company's biggest successes is Google Translate. If you aren't familiar, it quite literally translates languages, helping people communicate the world over. Is it perfect? No, sometimes the translations are a bit muddied, but more often than not, the message is conveyed well enough. Today, Google announces big changes to Translate on the web. Not only is it getting prettier, but it is gaining new functionality too.

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Google is taking steps to make it easier to not only pair Bluetooth headphones and speakers to your Android phones, but also to make it easier to user the same Bluetooth hardware with multiple devices.

The Fast Pair feature was announced last year, and now Google has teamed up with numerous audio companies to not only improve support, but also to use Google accounts as a means of simplifying the process of using the same headphones and speakers with multiple phones -- and, as of next year, Chromebooks.

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Part 2 of three. For readers who like to criticize and gloat, I have an early Holiday present for you: This story. You can call me an effing idiot, and I couldn't disagree. After Google Store sent me the wrong Pixel phone, I foolishly placed another order, and a similar distribution mishap occurred. Bad is now worse; I also write to caution other potential Google Store shoppers: This could happen to you.

To briefly recap the first instance: In October, I ordered Pixel 3 Clearly White 128GB. On the 17th, the Pixel 3 XL Just Black 128GB arrived instead. Google Store couldn't process a return without conducting an "investigation" because the make, model, and IMEIs didn't match. I agreed to keep the phone. Then, on November 2, I dropped the XL and shattered the screen. But the insurance provider, Assurant, couldn't process repair or replacement because the device covered doesn't match the one I have. The situation is unresolved, weeks later. Current crisis, briefly: I foolishly took advantage of Black Friday discounts and purchased from Google Store another Pixel 3 XL, which arrived on November 26. But the IMEI on the order doesn't match the phone received. That makes the purchased Preferred Care warranty useless, and a device return can't be properly processed for the same reason.

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If you have an iPhone, you use Siri; if you have an Android phone, you use Google Assistant. Right? Thanks to Siri Shortcuts -- and an update from Google -- it's now easier than ever to access Google Assistant on your iPhone with a voice command.

With iOS 12, Apple introduced Siri Shortcuts giving users the opportunity to record their own voice triggers that can then be used to perform different actions. Now Google Assistant supports Siri Shortcuts, so you can access it via Siri.

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We're approaching the end of 2018, so it's only natural that companies take a look back over the year and reflect on what was great about it. Not one to miss out on such things, Google is launching its first-ever User's Choice Awards and is asking for your votes.

Google users are invited to cast their vote for what they believe is the best app of 2018, and what is the best game of 2018. Want your voice to be heard? Now is the time to cast your vote.

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It can't have escaped your attention that -- in the US at least -- holiday season is just around the corner. With Thanksgiving comes Black Friday and other sales, and Google is getting in on the action with a series of discounts in the Play Store.

There are great savings to be made on games and apps, ebooks and audiobooks for cyberweek, and if you're in the mood for a movie on Thanksgiving itself, you can rent any title for just $0.99.

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In early January 2019, you will no longer be able to receive SMS notifications about Google Calendar events. The change will affect Android and iOS users.

While Google does not give an explicit reason for killing off SMS notifications -- other than seemingly not wanting to offer too many means of receiving notifications -- the company says that users should not notice any difference because of in-app notifications.

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With little fanfare, YouTube has started to offer ad-supported, feature-length movies, giving visitors the opportunity to watch Hollywood titles for free.

As reported by AdAge, it seems that YouTube introduced this option last month, but gave it something of a stealth launch. It has been possible to purchase movies from YouTube for some time, but until now there has been no (legal) way to access movies for free. And if you are concerned that free might mean that poor quality, you should be reassured to see titles such as The Terminator and Agent Cody Banks in the library of free-to-watch, ad-supported movies.

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Startpage.com is a privacy-focused alternative to the likes of Google (although the search results are provided by Google -- minus all the ads and stripped of tracking), and the search engine has just relaunched with a new look and new features. The visual changes will be apparent to anyone who has used the site before, but for anyone who is concerned about their online privacy, it is new options such as Anonymous View that will be of greater interest.

This new feature makes it possible to visit websites completely privately, essentially using Startpage.com as a proxy. Importantly, this extra level of privacy and protection does not come at the expense of speed, meaning you can browse the web anonymously without compromise.

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Part 1 of three. Google Store's bureaucratic ineptitude is beyond belief. My recent, unresolved customer crisis is an experience in artificial unintelligence. For a parent company whose core competency is supposed to be indexing, crunching, and disseminating information, it's inconceivable that something so simple as fixing a single order error could escalate into a tragically comic Catch-22. I should have abandoned all efforts long before reaching the point of penning this post and looking back to the Apple Way.

To summarize: I received the wrong Pixel phone nearly a month ago. Google Store struggled to process a return authorization, because the device in hand didn't match the one in the order. I eventually agreed to keep the thang, so long as the retailer could transfer the extended warranty -- so-called "Preferred Care" -- that I had paid for. But the process proved to be complicated, then necessity, after I unexpectedly needed to file a damage claim. You'll have to read on for the sordid punchline, but suffice to say it all ends in a comedy of compounding errors.

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Google Chrome Labs has released a new online image conversion app by the name of Squoosh. The open source tool is essentially a simple browser-based image editor, and the focus is very much on speed.

Showcased at the Chrome Dev Summit, Squoosh is not limited to working only in Chrome -- other browsers are also supported. While the conversion options are useful to many people, Squoosh is really an opportunity for Google to show off new web technologies.

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Google recently rolled out a floating keyboard option to Gboard, and now the company has introduced another new feature -- AI-driven suggestions for GIFs, emoji and stickers.

The move sees Google acknowledging that we increasingly communicate with images rather than words. Or, as the company puts it, it's a feature designed "for those of us who just can't even without the perfect GIF".

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The New York Times is to digitize more than a century's worth of photographs, and it is going to use Google Cloud to do so.

The NYT has a massive collection of photos dating back decades, and the plan is to digitize millions of images -- some dating back to the late nineteenth century -- to ensure they can be accessed by generations to come. The digitization process will also prove useful for journalists who will be able to delve into the archives far more easily in future.

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There has been a spate of adding dark modes to apps, websites and operating systems in recent times. Many people simply prefer the look, while others say a darker theme is easier on the eye. But there is also the school of thought that says dark mode saves battery life.

And this is very much the message that Google is sending to Android developers. At the Android Dev Summit this week Google highlighted the massive difference Dark Mode makes, seemingly in a bid to encourage more developers to embrace the idea and add the option to their apps.

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It's less than a year since Google launched Files Go, its first attempt at a file manager app for Android. The primary aim of the app is to help users to free up space on their phones, and today Google announces that it not only has a new name, but also a new look.

Files Go has been rebranded Files by Google, and the updated version of the app is starting to roll out now.

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