Kyle Bradshaw

Google’s long in-development operating system Fuchsia has taken one step closer to running on real devices, as a Bluetooth listing shows the Nest Hub running “Fuchsia 1.0.”

Android Auto is great for getting maps and music running in your car, but the vast majority of vehicles that support it also limit users to slow charging speeds. Now, one person has come up with a clever way to bring fast charging to essentially any Android Auto user.

Every month, Stadia Pro offers a diverse selection of games for subscribers to claim for free, which is sure to leave quite a few games unplayed in some players’ libraries. How many unplayed Pro games do you have in your Stadia library?

If you’ve already bought into the Google Home ecosystem, it’s easy to think that Google’s own Nest thermostats are the only way to go. However, Ecobee’s line of smart thermostats offer full integration with the Google Assistant, but how do they stack up against Nest?

In this week’s top stories: Google Messages gains an alternate One UI-inspired design, the Chromecast with Google TV gets an April update, Samsung begins rolling out its May 2021 patch, and more.

Google is experimenting with putting ultra-wideband (UWB) connectivity into their Android hardware, likely for the Pixel 6 family of phones.

9to5Google’s Game of the Week is brought to you by GeForce NOW. GeForce NOW Instantly transforms nearly any laptop, desktop, Mac, SHIELD TV, Android device, iPhone, or iPad into the PC gaming rig you’ve always dreamed of. And, every GFN Thursday, new games are added to the GeForce NOW Library.

Over the weekend, I took time to play Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, an accurately titled video game and easily the funniest game I’ve ever played.

For a few months now, Chrome for Android has had an easy shortcut to search for an image you find online using Google Lens. Now it seems Chrome for Android may be gaining more handy Google Lens shortcuts.

Update 4/29: This feature has begun to roll out in Chrome Beta for Android.

One of the most bizarrely missing features for Stadia is finally launching. Starting today, Stadia for web now offers a proper search bar to find games in the store, as well as a revamped library view, and Google is teasing a few future upgrades.

Last month, Google Stadia co-hosted the “Play Anywhere Game Jam,” and as a result three indie games have been offered the chance to become full Stadia games.

Recently, Samsung made Google Messages the default messaging app on the Galaxy S21 series outside of the US, instead of their own app. It seems the next step of this change is that Google has more widely launched a redesign for the Messages app that looks more like Samsung’s One UI on Galaxy S21 series phones.

Google Lens has begun to appear in the Pixel Launcher’s search bar side-by-side with the Google Assistant, in a new test.

As we steadily approach the midway point of the year, rumors have begun to swirl about the next Google Pixel phone, presumed to be the “Pixel 5a.” Here’s what we’ve learned about Google’s next phone from the Android 12 Preview builds.

In this week’s top stories: we compare the Apple TV versus the Chromecast with Google TV, Android 12 gets its third developer preview, the Pixel 5a’s chipset gets leaked, and more.

Chrome OS will soon be testing a frequently requested feature, the ability to have the current date and notification icons displayed in the corner of the shelf.

Update: Google has changed the flags that are used to add the date to your Chrome OS shelf.

9to5Google’s Game of the Week is brought to you by GeForce NOW. GeForce NOW Instantly transforms nearly any laptop, desktop, Mac, SHIELD TV, Android device, iPhone, or iPad into the PC gaming rig you’ve always dreamed of. And, every GFN Thursday, new games are added to the GeForce NOW Library.

Loop Hero is one of the most innovative indie games that has been released in years, reversing the usual focus of “gameplay” to create a fantastically ambient experience. This reversal makes Loop Hero a perfect fit for playing from mobile.

Android 12 Developer Preview 3 has brought the new “Conversations” widget for some, allowing you to keep tabs on your most important conversations — in style.

Earlier this month, Google confirmed that their next budget smartphone, the Pixel 5a 5G, would be releasing later this year. Thanks to the latest Android 12 Developer Preview, we can report that the Pixel 5a 5G will run on the same chip as the Google Pixel 5.

Following the recent popularity of homescreen widgets after their launch on iOS, Android 12 is giving some love to the OS’s long-existing widgets system, including a new menu, forced rounded corners, and more.

One fundamental feature of the web browser is the ability to find sites you’ve viewed before in your history. Google Chrome is set to gain “Memories” as an alternative way to look through your browser history.

In this week’s top stories: Play Movies & TV app to be shut down on Roku and other smart TVs, Android Auto gains a manual day/night toggle, we offer first impressions of the OnePlus Watch, and more.

The latest update to the Stadia app for Android, version 3.12, includes references to new referral bonuses, an exclusive avatar, and continued work on Google TV support.

The latest update to the Google Pixel Buds app hints that the upcoming Pixel Buds A may ditch the series signature swiping gesture for adjusting volume.

Google has announced that they’re delaying their original plans for Chrome to enforce Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) to have functioning offline support.

The latest beta version of the Google app includes a redesign of the homescreen Discover feed on Android 12 that revamps the header and removes the search bar.

While Chromebooks have long been used as affordable, low-power computers, there’s also a growing market for premium, high-end devices running Chrome OS. To that end, Nvidia and MediaTek have announced that they are now working together on bringing RTX graphics to future Chromebooks.

A new YouTube experiment will occasionally play 15-second “media literacy” ads before videos to “prompt critical thinking.”

In this week’s top stories: Google Play Music gets one last update on Android, Apple explains why they haven’t brought iMessage to Android, “Pixel 5a 5G” confirmed by Google for later this year, and more.

Last week, we exclusively reported that Google’s two phones for fall 2021 would run on a Google-made chip. Here’s everything we know about the Whitechapel GS101 chip that will be used in the Google Pixel 6.