Google

Google Keep may not be something that is used by a huge number of people, but that could be about to change. Google is finally doing something that should have happened from the start -- bringing Keep to G Suite to allow for integration with Docs.

The company has taken the decision to boost its notetaking app to a key member of its cloud app lineup.  Google says that as well as being a G Suite core service when used within a domain, Keep notes can also be accessed from within Google Docs.

At a meeting with journalists at MWC 2017 in Barcelona, Google's hardware chief, Rick Osterloh, said there are no plans to release any more premium Pixel laptops. We may have seen the last of Google's top-of-the-range Chromebook.

The Pixel name is these days reserved solely for Google range of smartphones. These have proved so popular that the company has struggled to meet demand -- something that also blighted the Nexus phone launched in the past.

Google has announced a few changes to the Play Store, one of which means that listings for games will be promoted not based solely on the number of downloads. The company is tweaking its algorithms to take into account how much time is spent playing games -- so a game which achieves large numbers of downloads but isn’t played much will drop down the rankings.

Another change that has been a long time coming is the option for developers to list sale prices for their apps and games. While it was previously possible to manually change the price of a title, now devs can list the full and sale price at the same time, so buyers can easily see what savings they are making. New editorial pages are also due to be added to Google Play.

Cable television is very expensive nowadays, so many people are opting to cut the cord. Depending on where you live, you can sometimes get free over-the-air programming -- this is a great way to save money, but the number of channels is low. Another option is internet-based solutions such as PlayStation TV or Sling TV. The problem with these services, however, is the limitations, such as missing channels and a lack of some live sports.

Today, Google is aiming to be the best internet-based television provider with the all-new YouTube TV. The search-giant's new offering is very affordable, plus it has really impressive features like live sports, local channels, and an unlimited storage cloud-based DVR. You even get access to YouTube Red original shows. Unfortunately, it falls short of perfection.

It is really starting to feel as though the days of SMS and MMS are well and truly numbered. Google has already updated its Messenger app, renaming it Android Messages as it aims to branch out into Rich Communication Services, and now Samsung has announced that it's ready to jump in too.

After new tablet announcements at MWC 2017, Samsung says that its acquisition of NewNet Communication Technologies' RCS solution means it is ready to expand its messaging services. Samsung's embracing of RCS will bring features such as group messaging, file transfers and video calls to users and Samsung says its RCS cloud will help mobile operators to quickly roll out new services.

A Google report, five years in the making and with information from 625,000 people, shows just how much the Internet and smartphones changed our lives in half a decade.

According to the report, five years ago, one in three consumers in 40 markets had access to a smartphone. Fast forward to 2016, the number has gone up to a "staggering" 70 percent.

If you like the idea of Google Assistant but didn’t like the fact that it was tied to the Pixel range, there's some good news. Google has announced that the handy helper is making its way to all Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Android 7.0 Nougat smartphones.

The roll out starts this week, and brings Siri- and Cortana-like voice control to millions of Android users. Earlier today at MWC 2017 in Barcelona, the newly-announced LG G6 became the first non-Pixel device to offer Google Assistant, and Google now says that the feature is coming to "eligible Android phones running Nougat and Marshmallow with Google Play Services".

Not content with publishing details of an unpatched Windows bug, Google has now gone public with a security vulnerability in both Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. Going under the description of "Type confusion in HandleColumnBreakOnColumnSpanningElement", the bug has the potential to allow an attacker to execute malicious code.

The vulnerability has been assigned the code CVE-2017-0037, and details of the flaw have been published under the terms of Google's Project Zero. Microsoft was notified about the problem 90 days ago, and as the company failed to patch it Google has made the problem public.

Just last week we were talking about Google's championing of RCS (Rich Communication Services), the successor to SMS. Now the company has renamed its Messenger app to Android Messages as it aims to become not just the default SMS app, but the default RCS app for Android users.

The name change also helps to better differentiate the app from others that had the same name -- such as Facebook Messenger, which is shortened to just Messenger on shortcuts. At the same time, the change is likely to cause a degree of confusion thanks to the sheer number of messaging apps Google now has.

After two years of research, Google has shown that it has successfully broken SHA-1 encryption. The company is yet to release details of how it achieved the first SHA-1 "collision", but has released a proof of concept.

In keeping with its own disclosure policy, details of how the encryption was effectively broken will be released after 90 days. In the meantime, you can take a look at two specially-crafted PDF files that have identical SHA-1 hashes but different content (the definition of a collision).

Any website that allows contributions from visitors -- whether it is a platform such as Twitter or a site that has a comments section -- has to contend with the problem of abuse, swearing and harassment. Manually keeping on top of this sort of content can be a hellish task, but Google and fellow Alphabet subsidiary Jigsaw have launched a new technology called Perspective to help automate things.

The technology uses machine learning to identify what are being called "toxic comments" (defined as "a rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable comment that is likely to make you leave a discussion") so they can be dealt with appropriately.

Google's Gboard keyboard made its debut on iOS, and it was a few months before the company brought the app to its own Android platform. Today a major update to the iPhone version of the keyboard sees the arrival of voice typing, meaning that users will be able to dictate messages rather than typing by hand.

In addition, the update introduces new emoji, support for additional languages, as well as easy access to Google Doodles and information about them.

The Oscars are this Sunday, and I have seen a grand total of zero of the films nominated for Best Picture. Isn't that a shame? This is because of a few factors -- the theater is too expensive nowadays, and I simply haven't had the time. Not to mention, none of this year's nominated films particularly interest me. Oh well.

To celebrate the much-anticipated award show, the folks over at Google have created a leaderboard for the nine Oscar "Best Picture" nominated movie trailers. The search giant explains that the rankings are comprised of views "including both studio channels and popular aggregators." The ranking is not at all surprising, with the overall most-watched film trailer getting a lot of hype lately.

Emails to customers reveal that Google plans to kill off Google Site Search this spring. While customers who have paid for the service will continue to have access to it, no new licenses or renewals will be sold after 1 April, 2017.

As reported by Fortune, customers will be migrated to Google's ad-supported Custom Search Engine once their license or search limit expire. The move illustrates Google's on-going and growing reliance on advertising income, and it's something that is unlikely to be well-received by web users who are already sick of being inundated with ads.

Believe it or not, in 2017, file-sharing between individuals is not a particularly easy affair. Quite frankly, I had a better experience more than a decade ago sending things to friends and family using AOL Instant Messenger. Nowadays, everything is so fragmented, that it can be hard to share.

Today, Google unveils yet another way to share files. Called "Upspin," the open source project aims to make sharing easier for home users. With that said, the project does not seem particularly easy to set up or maintain. For example, it uses Unix-like directories and email addresses for permissions. While it may make sense to Google engineers, I am dubious that it will ever be widely used.