Articles about Google

There are many metrics by which to measure how good an app is, and Google is starting to use a few more when it ranks Android apps and games in the Play Store. The latest app-ranking algorithm now takes into account app stability, performance and battery usage.

As well as improving the relevance of listings for people downloading apps, Google is also using this change to push developers to improve their apps.

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Google has relaxed its rules surrounding real-money gambling apps in Google Play -- in some countries, at least. There has been a ban on apps and games that allow users to gamble with real money since 2013, but that has now changed.

While there was previously a ban in place due to the difficulty in policing ages and complying with different gambling laws around the world, real-money gambling apps are now permitted in the UK, France and Ireland.

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It has been a number of months since Google Earth received a makeover on Android and the web, and now the update is making its way to iOS. The latest version of the 3D world-exploration tool has been overhauled, bringing a number of new features to iPhone and iPad users.

These features include 360-degree videos, guided tours, and the interactive Voyager option for traveling virtually to major cities of the world.

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A recent investigation by The Independent uncovered a financial scam that was placing thousands of people at risk. An increasing number of binary trading options have proved to be fraudulent, and in the UK they fall outside the control of financial regulators.

Binary option scams have been described as "possibly the biggest financial scam in the world," and Apple and Google have cleared hundreds of trading apps from the App Store and Google Play after a review by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

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The second iteration of Nearby Connections -- called, funnily enough, Nearby Connections 2.0 -- is upon us. Google has released the API to Android developers, giving them access to greater bandwidth, reduced latency, and -- most excitingly -- offline functionality.

Working over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Nearby Connections 2.0 makes it possible for devices to communicate with each other without the need for an internet connection. The API is supported by Android devices running Google Play services 11.0 and above, and it is essentially a peer-to-peer system that works much like a next-generation version of NFC.

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When Apple added support for third-party keyboards on iOS, many users were excited. To be honest, I was not, however. While I appreciate having the choice, I much prefer privacy. You see, when you add a third-party keyboard, the developer can potentially intercept your keystrokes. If you are OK with that, more power to you. Me? I'll stick to the stock variant, thank you very much.

But OK, let's say you don't like Apple's keyboard and trust Google with your entries. If that is the case, the search giant's Gboard is a very impressive offering. It is more than just a keyboard, as it adds the ability to easily insert things like gifs, plus do Google searches. It even offers swipe-style typing, meaning you can glide from letter to letter rather than peck. Today, Gboard gets even better thanks to new Maps and YouTube functionality. Google has also added support for drawing, plus three additional languages -- Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew.

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Flagships like the Apple iPhone 7 Plus, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S8 all have such great cameras that it can be really hard to definitively say which one is the best option for mobile photographers. Reviews, comparisons and blind tests all point to different winners, but, more often that not, you will usually find an Android smartphone at the top.

Vic Gundotra, who lead Google's mobile efforts for a couple of years, helped create Google+ and is an avid photographer, has a rather different opinion, claiming that Android is actually "a few years behind" the iPhone for mobile photography, and that, if you really care about photography, you should get an iPhone 7 Plus.

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The Android version of Cortana has been getting some attention from Microsoft recently, and today the company has released another update to its virtual assistant. With Cortana 2.9, Microsoft not only introduces something of an interface makeover, but also adds new features.

While the redesign is nothing major, it is a move for the better, with Settings now easier to access and the interface is reduced to two tabs rather than three -- and they are now labelled too! But it doesn’t end there.

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It is now two years since Google launched its open source compression algorithm, Brotli. Microsoft has already shown some interest in the technology, adding support to Edge late last year to speed up the loading of web pages. Having conducted rigorous tests with Brotli compression, Microsoft is now ready to bring it to .NET.

Microsoft's tests show that Brotli is at least as good as Deflate and gzip, in terms of compression levels and the amount of time it takes to compress and decompress. It is because of these results that Microsoft is happy to launch .NET support for Brotli compression "as an alpha-quality preview."

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Google has been stirring things up a little recently, adding autoplaying videos to search results, and killing off Google Instant. The autoplaying videos are also something that Facebook has tinkered with recently, managing to irritate people in the process.

If you're searching Google on your phone, one of the last things you want is to have your battery draining unnecessarily because of videos playing automatically. Thankfully, you can disable this feature; here’s how.

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YouTube's head of music, Lyor Cohen, has confirmed that Google Play Music and YouTube Red are going to merge. Speaking in New York at the New Music Seminar conference, Cohen said that a new streaming service would be created.

Rumors of the merger have been circulating for some time, and the move will see Google consolidating its services into something rather more manageable -- both for the company and for users.

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There are four key areas where digital businesses can make a significant profit, and Google's parent company Alphabet appears to be gaining in all four of them according to its latest earnings report.

In a recent call to reveal its results, Alphabet said revenue rose 21 percent to $26 billion, in the second quarter of 2017. Net income was $3.5 billion.

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Google is sidelining one of its famous features: Google Instant. The feature displays search results in real-time as you type, eliminating the need to press Enter or hit Search, but after 7 years, Google thinks it's time to wave goodbye to it.

The reason given for the cull is that the majority of searches are now conducted from mobile devices, and Google Instant makes less sense on a touchscreen. This does not mean, however, that Google's autocomplete function is disappearing.

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When Twitter and Facebook introduced autoplaying videos, many users were annoyed by their intrusive nature. Subsequent tweaks and the introduction of autoplay settings calmed the mood a little, but now Google has decided to stir things up a bit.

Perform a Google search and you might well find that the results include an autoplaying video -- even for searches that would not necessarily mean you want to see a video. Given the reception autoplaying videos have received elsewhere, this is not likely to go down well with Google users.

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Google is rolling out new features to its Search and Maps products to help get information out to people in the event of a crisis. SOS Alerts provides access to information and stories about incidents and locations where there has been some form of disaster.

Just what is displayed to you depends on how close you are to the incident. Google will show those in the area information such as emergency numbers and directions to help, while those elsewhere will see news about what is going on, and links to donate money or help.

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