Author: Clinton

With the bulk of the editing feature of Google Map Maker now in Google Maps, the company quietly shut down Map Maker last week, on March 31st.  The help page for Map Maker now indicates that the service is no longer available.  The news isn’t entirely a surprise.  Map Maker had been around since 2008 and gave users the ability to add places to Google Maps, edit places and edit road segments amongst other things.  All of those features are in Google Maps now so it somewhat made Map Maker redundant.

On the help page, Google points out that they will continue to brings more features to Google Maps from Map Maker.

Today’s Deal is on the low profile USB Flash Drives from SanDisk.  Over at Amazon you can pick up the SanDisk Ultra Fit 64GB drive for $18 with other sizes available.  The Ultra Fit series are designed to fit into the USB 3.0 port of your PC, Mac or Chromebook and not protrude like a normal Flash Drive.  Indeed, the idea is that you can leave it in your computer without ever having to take it out when you slip it into a bag or backpack.

The sale is on the 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB versions of the Ultra Fit.  All four are have a zippy read speed of 150MB/s so while they are too slow to run apps from, they are perfect for data, photos and videos.  The drives also come with SanDisk’s SecureAccess software to encrypt the drives should they ever be lost or stolen (although you can use MacOS and BitLocker encryption should you choose to do so instead).  I personally use one  of these Ultra Fit drives (the 64GB model) and have no problem recommending them.  They are a great performing accessory for your Chromebook (in my case).

Project Fi subscribers, there is a small update rolling out for the app that should be hitting your phones in the next few days.  The update is build N.3.3.19 for those keeping score and it brings with it some minor updates and improvements.  Perhaps the most noteworthy update according to the Fi User Forums moderators post is more flexibility to notify users from inside the app.  What this means exactly wasn’t explained but I can assume it means that there are improved notifications or different types of notifications coming from the Fi app than previously.  I’ve already received the update but I’ve not seen any noticable changes in notifications or how it functions.

Along with this, fixes for app crashes have been applied in this update as well as, “Minor polishes to the account management experience”.  Again, having looked at this, I’m not seeing a change.  If you are a subscriber to Google’s MVNO and see a change, let me know (I’ll update this post with proper credit).

Good news this morning for those with the Moto G4 Plus.  For those who have the unlocked version of the phone, the Android Nougat update is rolling out to you starting today.  The update brings all of the goodness of Nougat 7.0 to the budget friendly but powerful phone.  Once you have it installed, things like improved Doze, multi-window support and inline notification replies will be yours.

The update weighs in at about 740MB so you will certainly want to make sure that you are on Wi-Fi to download the OTA update.  Once you have it downloaded, expect about a 15-20 minute install before a final reboot.  You’ll need to make sure you have plenty of battery (75% or more remaining) so you can do the update.

Twitter continues to tweak their service to give you more space in your replies on the service.  Starting today, the company is rolling out an update to users that eliminates the username of those to whom you are replying to from your 140 character limit.  This means you will have those characters to formulate your reply and, hopefully, not have to do so in multiple Tweets.

How this works is pretty straightforward.  When you reply to a Tweet, the @username part is removed from the tweet but you are shown who you are replying to at the top of the page on your Android phone.  While this isn’t a big deal for individuals you are replying to, for large groups, it is a big space saver.

The news today that Microsoft will be selling the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ in their stores caught more than a few people by surprise.  The company, through multiple reboots, has tried for years to get their Windows Phone platform off the ground with limited success.  At the same time, they have been continually developing their suite of apps for both Android and iOS, appealing to both consumers and enterprises as being available on whatever device the end user wants to use.  It has worked.  Microsoft continues to be the dominant player in the enterprise with Office 365 and are taking their fair share in the consumer space at the same time.

But the addition of the new Galaxy S8 lineup to their store inventory is another step all together.  It is, more-or-less, an admission of defeat.  They know that the market is set between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android and that it simply cannot bear another mobile platform.  Consumers, and for that matter enterprises, have said as much with their wallets.  As this tale of woe has unfolded, much digital ink has been spilled on the lack of a Microsoft mobile strategy.  I, for one, think that is wrong.  I think Microsoft has had a mobile strategy all along.  It’s not about devices or even the platform.  It’s about the apps.