Abner Li

With every major OS release, Android has continued to iterate on privacy and security features. Google announced today that the Play Store is adding a “safety section” that all Android applications must fill out to “help people understand the data an app collects or shares.”

Two-factor authentication — or two-step verification in Google parlance — is a minimum requirement for staying safe online. Google today revealed that it plans to automatically enroll users with “appropriately configured” accounts into 2SV methods, like the Google Prompt.

Google next month will stop providing unlimited free backup in Photos. Although existing Pixel phones are exempted, future devices — as of today — will miss out on a great perk that helps emphasize the camera. An update to Google Photos today reveals apparent work on a new “Storage saver” tier that will be “free and unlimited” for Pixel.

At the end of March, we exclusively reported about Google’s next wireless earbuds, and the first image leaked a week later. Google today announced the “Pixel Buds A-Series” on Twitter, though the reveal was entirely an accident.

Last year, Adobe released a Gmail Add-on for Creative Cloud for quick access and saving. An update to the Creative Cloud Add-on for Google Workspace today extends that functionality to Google Docs and Slides.

For May 2021, Google is adding three games to Stadia Pro in a slight decrease from last month. All these titles are already available for purchase on the streaming service.

Version 2.37 of the Google Home app is rolling out today with a small tweak that makes users more likely to use the Nest Wifi’s notification capabilities, while faster Smart Display and speaker setup is also coming.

YouTube this morning hosted its 2021 Brandcast Delivered for advertisers. It’s an annual opportunity for the Google company to share its upcoming Originals content lineup and new ad offerings in a star-studded manner.

At the end of March, Made by Google started shipping its latest Smart Display in six countries. Google will be making the new Nest Hub (2nd gen) more widely available in Europe next month.

Google Pay support is much more common and familiar on mobile than the web, but adoption is increasingly growing. To further that, a new and “improved” Google Pay button is working to increase click-through rates.

Ahead of the first Android 12 Beta later this month, Google is rolling out the May security patch to address bugs on the Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a (5G), and Pixel 5.

Google is a sprawling company with 139,995 employees as of the first quarter of 2021. Recent personnel changes have seen new executives lead Assistant, News/Discover, Search, and Payments, while there have also been a handful of high-profile departures. One of those includes Stadia product head John Justice.

While all the speculation is currently focused on cheaper Google earbuds, there have been some recent developments around the 2nd-generation model. The latest involves several US retailers applying a rather significant $50 discount on the current Google Pixel Buds.

Activity and investment in the podcasting industry is currently at an all-time high after Facebook, Apple, Spotify, and others detailed their latest efforts last month. One major player that has yet to respond with new plans of its own is Google Podcasts.

While recent weeks have seen a flurry of developments in the podcasting industry, Google has remained relatively quiet about its offering. That said, Google Podcasts has just redesigned the Now Playing screen on iOS and has widely rolled out the ability to block recommendations.

Despite being one of the first to embrace remote work, Google is adamant about getting its employees back in the office. This hybrid, “flexible workweek” is part of the company’s belief that in-person — and often unplanned — interactions spur new ideas and solutions. Google today shared its plan for post-pandemic offices. 

Starting on Android 12, Google is rolling out the next big redesign of Discover. This visual revamp of the feed was first introduced on iOS and is now coming to Android.

Preventing “unintentional data loss” is a big concern for companies, and Gmail is now adding an “External” badge on email conversations that include recipients outside your Google Workspace organization.

Google today announced new policies and guidelines for how Android apps can present themselves in the Play Store. This is meant to ensure that end users are not misled by app listings.

The last year has seen many more people turn to the internet for work, learning, shopping, socializing, and entertainment. Google Fiber reports that its networks nationwide saw an approximately 32% increase in demand.

Google is rolling out a rather sizable April update to the Chromecast with Google TV that brings several fixes and a handful of new features.

The initial I/O 2021 “Program” — as it’s called this year — of sessions was released today and we have our first glimpse at what to expect from Google’s developer conference.

As we get closer to I/O 2021, Google today posted the schedule of sessions and other events for its three-day developer conference next month.

Back in August, Google announced that it would turn your Android phone into a seismometer to form the “world’s largest earthquake detection network.” The Android Earthquake Alerts System will now start sending warning notifications in Greece and New Zealand.

Google today announced a trio of updates for Google Assistant that leverage AI to improve pronunciation accuracy and context. 

Fossil started rolling out the latest Wear OS update to various watches in December but announced that it paused the release for Gen 5 devices in February to “iron out some issues.” H-MR2 today is rolling back out to Fossil watches in a process that involves two updates.

With the underlying concept popularized by Stadia and other game services, Mighty wants to stream an entire Chromium browser from the cloud. The effort emerged this week after two years of development with a tagline of “Make Chrome Faster.”

Alphabet this afternoon reported big Q1 earnings with notable year-over-year growth as ad spending returned. In prepared remarks, CEO Sundar Pichai told investors to expect “significant product updates and announcements” at Google I/O 2021 next month.

Epic’s lawsuit against Apple has revealed quite a bit about iMessage for Android, including how platform lock-in is one reason it doesn’t exist. New filings today revealed that Apple executive Eddy Cue made the case for iMessage on Android to stop Google from owning messaging.

Alphabet today announced Q1 2021 earnings with $55.3 billion in revenue. These numbers range from January to March, and reflect an increasing return to normal in some industries.

On iPhone and iPad, the Google app is how users access Lens, Search, and Discover. For the two latter experiences, Google has already built out a rich web experience, but the iOS Search app is now becoming even more browser-like with a grid of “Tabs.” 

Back in October, Google and Parallels let enterprise users run Windows on Chromebooks for the first time. A big update is now rolling out to Parallels Desktop for Chrome OS that adds a slew of new features.

Besides being sold on the Google Store and talks of some Nest Hub sleep data integration, it’s still early days for that acquisition. One upcoming change will see Facebook no longer supported for logging on to the Fitbit website. 

Google products have a large reach, and YouTube wants to use its platform to “encourage people to get informed about the vaccine.” YouTube’s COVID-19 vaccine info PSA is starting in the US and will expand to other countries.

For the past several weeks, we’ve been tracking an Assistant feature codenamed “Guacamole” in the Google app. We can now report that “Guacamole” will let users perform time-sensitive Assistant “quick tasks” like answering calls or silencing alarms on your Android phone without having to first say “Hey Google.”

Google detailed the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G’s HDR+ with bracketing advancements in a research blog post today. As part of that, the company linked to a gallery demonstrating the camera technology and one of those shots includes a photo taken by the Pixel 5a 5G.