Android TV has slowly begun morphing into something that more closely resembles Google TV over the past few months. Google has previously stated that its intention is to phase out the Android TV interface over the next two years across all devices, so this is not unexpected. Just a few weeks ago, it gained the […]
Continue ReadingChromebook Dark Mode Scheduler gains ‘sunset to sunrise’ and ‘custom’ options
Last month, Android Police uncovered evidence we discussed that Google was looking to implement a scheduler for dark mode into Chrome OS that would see the user’s theme automatically change appropriately during the day or night. Now, 9to5Google has discovered direct verbiage regarding this upcoming feature. dark_mode: Add scheduler UI to dark theme settings – […]
Continue ReadingGoogle Chat to replace Hangouts for Workspace users this August
On August 16, 2021, Google is going to be swapping Workspace users over automatically from “Chat and classic Hangouts” to “Chat preferred” unless organizations opt-out. This means that the next phase in the company’s shutdown of classic Google Hangouts is going to be in full effect before the end of the year. For most users, […]
Continue ReadingGoogle Tasks comes to more Workspace tiers to increase user productivity
Over the next week, Google will continue to roll out access to its popular (and awesome) Google Tasks service to Workspace Essentials and Workspace Enterprise customers with no extra hit to their wallet. Tasks will be enabled by default for everyone within these two new tiers, and there is nothing either admins or users will […]
Continue ReadingYour Chromebook is getting a new emoji picker this month and 992 new emoji later this year
Later this month, Google will be releasing a shiny, new emoji picker for Chromebook users in alignment with its release on Android 12, Gmail, and Youtube. Many very well-known emoji are also being updated to be more inclusive and diverse in light of World Emoji Day. There are currently over 3,521 emoji to choose from, […]
Continue ReadingChrome OS may receive a new two-tone window design with rounded corners
Hot off of the heels of Windows 11 with its shiny, new, rounded window corners, Chrome OS now seems to be testing a similar user experience. Over the past few weeks, I’ve encountered two separate instances where a new look appeared for my Chromebook’s windows which had not only rounded corners, but also an odd […]
Continue ReadingChrome OS Phone Hub may soon show your recently used phone apps for quick access
Google has been putting in lots of work on the new Chromebook Phone Hub as of late. Photos you’ve snapped on your phone are beginning to appear there for users instantaneously, it will soon drain your phone battery less quickly by making less frequent pings, and more. Despite the fact that three very important things […]
Continue ReadingGoogle launches Workspace Individual for entrepreneurs and small business owners
Google Workspace is now pretty much “for everyone“. This week, the company officially launched its ‘Individual’ subscription tier for the service, which provides premium features across several Google services for small business owners and individual entrepreneurs who don’t have any employees. The idea is to provide a small-scale version of Workspace’s vast benefits for sole […]
Continue ReadingEnabling Google Assistant’s Workday Reminders was a decision I sorely regret
When I started working from home, mostly thanks to the pandemic, Google announced an addition to its Assistant Routines feature that would let users be periodically reminded of things throughout their workday – cleverly named Workday Reminders. Being someone fully on board with assessing new Google services and features, in part due to the nature […]
Continue ReadingGoogle Meet now restricts free users to one hour group video calls
Due to the global pandemic, Google lifted the 60-minute group video call restriction for free Meet users over this past year. Now, anyone using a standard, non-Workspace Google account will no longer have that benefit. Starting just a few weeks ago, anyone who isn’t paying per month for a Workspace subscription will now be cut […]
Continue ReadingAt long last, Google Play Books is bringing user-created bookshelves out of beta
I’m a big Google Play Books advocate. Whenever I don’t have a physical book at the ready, and sometimes even when I do, I opt for an audiobook or an ebook. With Google Play, you own 100% of the Play Books content you buy and can export it via Google Takeout whenever you’d like in […]
Continue ReadingPokemon Go Fest 2021 and Google are giving away 3 free months of Youtube Premium
Pokemon Go Fest 2021 begins in just a few days (July 17th and 18th from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 pm local time), and if you’re into the game at all (or as much as my son is), then you’ll be happy to hear that Google has partnered with Niantic and The Pokemon Company to offer […]
Continue ReadingYour Chromebook is getting a new and improved wallpaper picking experience
The standard experience for changing your Chromebook’s wallpaper has been unchanged for many years. We’ve been watching a new update to the Wallpapers app for quite some time now, and not until recently did it mature enough to discuss. Instead of being a built-in application, the new experience is a system web app (SWA) which […]
Continue ReadingChrome Tab Groups and Bookmarks may become one and the same which makes sense
As I’ve previously said, Chrome users will no longer need to rely on extensions like Toby Tab Manager to collapse and save tab groups for later. After having introduced the feature and included several ways to automatically collapse and recall previously created Tab Groups, Google is now adding a way for users to manually do […]
Continue ReadingChrome is getting a dedicated screenshot tool via its new share menu
In the Chrome browser, one can take a screenshot via the standard system keyboard shortcuts – though they differ on Chrome OS, Windows, macOS, and Linux, they are baked directly into the operating system. Interestingly enough, I never really thought about the fact that Chrome itself didn’t have such a feature to itself. Including OS-level […]
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