Author: Clinton

It was a long time coming but earlier this week the Google Photos team updated the app and service so you can share photo albums with others.  The idea is that if I share an album with you, you will be able to see the photos without having to be a user of the service or even an Android user.  It also gives you the ability to allow people you share with to add their photos to the album which are uploaded to your photos library.  When Google previewed this back in September, it was a feature that I personally had keen interest in seeing as I use Google Photos and Android while my wife is an iPhone user.  Now we can share albums of our events without having to do the USB stick drive swap.

To share an album in Google Photos for web, just open up the album you want to share and tap the Share icon in the upper right corner.  There you can select those you want to share it with anyone by getting a link to the album (so you could send it via email) but I can also share that album with Google+, Facebook and Twitter too.  You can also select if those you are sharing with can upload photos to the album.

Sharing on Google Photos for Android is just as easy.

Earlier this week Google released the Pixel C, their latest-and-greatest Android tablet, into the Google Store and now you can download the factory image of Android 6.0.1 for it.  The code name for the unit is Ryu and the latest build for the tablet is 6.0.1 (MXB48K).  Given that the Pixel C is a Wi-Fi only tablet, we likely won’t see a lot of variations on the factory images going forward which will make it easy for those who want to flash them to the device.

For those who aren’t familiar, factory images are full builds of Android for the various Google Nexus and Pixel devices.  Aimed mostly at the developer community, anyone can flash their device with the latest factory image if they want to regress to a previous version or want to always have the latest version of Android on their device without waiting for the carrier or Google to send out the over-the-air (OTA) update.  To use a factory image, your bootloader must be unlocked and you can find the full instructions on the Factory Images site.

Earlier this morning I posted on an update to the Chrome browser that was released late yesterday.  Today, as is normally the case, the Chrome OS team has announced a new version is available for Stable Channel users based on the same update as the browser.  The new build of the OS is 47.0.2526.80 (Platform version: 7520.62.0) and it also includes an updated version of Adobe Flash Player, version 20.0.0.228-r1 for those keeping score at home.

Chrome OS users will likely recall that this is the second update to the platform in as many weeks which is not normally the case.  Google was very vague in the release discussing the update on what exactly was addressed, saying that there were bug and security fixes but not much else.  Usually they provide more details on specific bugs which may be an indicator that they don’t want the exploit widely known until more systems are up-to-date.

Back in September at the Google event where we saw the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X for the first time, Google teased that Google Play Music for families would be coming soon to the streaming music service.  Since then, thanks have been a bit quiet on the offering but that ended earlier today.  On the Official Android Blog, the company outlined that the service will be available “in the coming days”.

You and your family will be able to sign up for a Google Play Music family plan in the coming days on Android devices in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, France and Germany, with more countries coming soon. You and your family members can listen on Android, iOS and the web.

If you are a family with lots of music lovers, this will be a great plan at only $14.99 per month for unlimited streaming and downloading for up to 6 members of your household.  Keep in mind that a single subscription is $9.99 per month so basically for $5 you getting 5 additional accounts.

If you are a Chrome browser user on Windows, Mac or Linux, there is another new update coming your way.  The team announced on the Chrome Releases blog yesterday that build 47.0.2526.80, for those keeping score at home, has been released to the stable channel and that updates to your installed version of Chrome are rolling out.  In all, there are 7 security fixes in this release, 2 of which were considered high priority.  As has become the practice, Google is not releasing details of what exactly was addressed in the release just yet.

Access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix. We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed.

If you have Chrome installed on your PC, Mac or Linux device, the update will come to you via an OTA update.  You can also force the issue by going into Settings>Advanced Settings and check for an update.

All good things must come to an end and it appears that day has come for the Nexus 6.  Google has quietly pulled the 2014 hero device from the Google Play Store, ending the 14 month reign of the Motorola built device.  Unveiled on October 15, 2014, the Nexus 6 sported a massive 5.96″ super high resolution (2560×1440) display, 3GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera and powered by the Snapdragon 805 processor.  The device was met with glowing reviews overall with the two biggest sticking points being the price (started at $649 for the 32GB model) and the shear size of the device.  Google, it seems, listened to customers and critics as the Nexus 6P, the 2015 hero device, is considerably smaller and lighter weight while still sporting a 5.7″ display.

While Google has stopped selling the device, owners of the Nexus 6 still have a very viable phone in their hands.  Google released the device with Android Lollipop and has already rolled the update out to Marshmallow for it.  With the company’s commitment to a 2-year update cycle, that means that it should see Android N when it is released presumably in late 2016.