Author: Clinton

The Project Fi team has just sent an email out to subscribers that a new Android Marshmallow update is being released for the Nexus 6.  The notification comes on the same day that T-Mobile announced a Marshmallow update for the Nexus 6 on their network and as I speculated, a Project Fi specific build likely wasn’t far behind.

There had been a lot of rumors since the release of Marshmallow that users of Project Fi would have issues getting connectivity. Specifically that the switching mechanism with the new Fi SIM, Marshmallow and the Nexus 6  meant that users could not switch from T-Mobile or Sprint on-the-fly, a key selling point of Project Fi.  Thus, to this point, an update had not been sent to subscribers.  That has meant that Project Fi customers have remained on Android Lollipop.

I have been running Marshmallow as a Fi user but I receive the OTA update on my Nexus 6 while I was still on AT&T (my device is unlocked and was purchased from Google directly).  When I switched over to Fi, I had no issues at all and in fact have found the service to be very reliable and faster than AT&T here in Denver. Ironically I reached out to Fi support earlier today asking about this very issue to which I was told that they had not had any issues reported to them. Yet we now have a new Marshmallow build.  Curious much?

Google Drive has an update rolling out for the web version of the cloud storage platform that will come in handy for power users.  Over the course of the next few days, Google will be adding a drag and drop feature for folders to the service.  What this will mean is that a user could drag a file from their desktop to Google Drive while it is open in the Chrome browser and drop it into the storage service. This will all but end the time consuming and awkward opening up of a file dialog box to perform the feature.  Now if this sounds familiar, it should.  You can drag and drop files to the root of your Google Drive now.  This update allows you to drop directly to folders.

The news of the update came from the Google Apps Blog and in order to take advantage of the feature, you will have to be using the latest version of Chrome or Firefox and will have to have that browser tab open to Drive.

Today at Google Play Music you can download the greatest selling album of all time, Thriller by Michael Jackson, for free.  No strings attached, not goofy coupon codes.  Free.  You just need to visit this link to add the special Google Play Music version of the album to your library which you can then stream or download to listen to offline.

Thriller has some of Jackson’s best known songs including the title track, Billy Jean, Beat It and Pretty Young Thing.  Even if you are not a big Michael Jackson fan, this album is simply a must have for anyone who loves music (and I would argue you should also have U2’s Joshua Tree, AC/DCs Back in Black and Adel’s 21… but that’s for another post!).

Michael Jackson – Thriller – Free at Google Play Music

For those of you who have a T-Mobile Nexus 6, good news has come your way from Des, the company’s Product Evangelist, on Twitter. According to a post last night, the Android Marshmallow update for the device has been tested, approved and should be rolling out very soon.  The updated build is MRA58X and while no exact date was given, user could start seeing the update as soon as today if previous history is any indication.

Great News! The @TMobile #Nexus6 Marshmallow SW MRA58X has been approved & should start rolling out soon! pic.twitter.com/oiyZ5mO9MC

— Des (@askdes) November 20, 2015

With this update starting to roll out, it means that T-Mobile is the first to get Android Marshmallow out to the Nexus 6 on their network. Verizon and AT&T both sold the Nexus 6 but neither have released or committed to the update for their devices.

If you are in the market for a Chromebook, head over to the Dell website to check out the deal on the Dell Chromebook 11.  Right now they have it on sale for $269 which is $272 in savings off of the regular price. This isn’t a stripped down version of it either.  It comes with an Intel i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and 16GB of storage with all the easy-of-use and security that comes with Chrome OS.

As the name suggests, this Chromebook has an 11.6″ display with a 1366 x 768 resolution so while it is not an HD, the crisp LCD display should still make it easy for hours of viewing.  You can of course connect an external monitor via the built-in HDMI port for more comfortable viewing. You can also expect to get about 7 hours of battery life on a full charge.

Dell Chromebook 11 – SALE at $269 – Dell

When I posted my review of Google Fit several months ago, I pointed out that while it was a good app that had a nice, clean interface, it lacked some of the features that would make it a true must-have fitness app.  The latest update to the app, which is rolling out to the Google Play Store now, closes a lot of those gaps by bringing a much tighter integration with other fitness and nutrition apps.  The result is that Google Fit becomes a portal for all your nutrition and exercise information.

The update is version 1.55.44-000 for those keeping score at home and while it has been released to the Play Store, it could be a day or two before you see the OTA update if you have it installed.  The first thing that is new in this build is the real-time tracking of exercises.  If you go on walks, runs or bike rides, you can now have Google Fit track that exercise for you and it will integrate with Google Maps so you can see where you went on your activity.  To do this, there is a new Start Activity option in the app’s menu.

Google Fit for Android – Free – Download Now