Category: Android

Google has rolled out another update to the Chromecast app for Android phones and tablets that brings a new Offers page off the menu.  The updated version is 1.13.13 for those keeping score at home and has been published to the Google Play Store.  That means that if you have the app already installed on one of your Android devices, you should see the OTA update at any point now.

Functionally you are not going to see much difference between this update and the previous version except this new Offers page.  As you may know, when you buy a Chromecast (and they are on sale – 2 for $55 & $20 in Google Play Store credits) you will receive various offers from Google and other companies that you can use with it.  These offers vary from time to time (generally every quarter they change a little bit) and range from free movies to trials of services (like Google Play Music).  Previously finding these offers was tricky and the fastest way I found was by going to the Offers website – not exactly handy while you are on-the-go.  Now all you do is tap the menu button in the upper left corner and tap on Offers.  There you will see all of the current offers available and you can tap on any one of them to get the details or to sign up.

If you are considering getting a Chromecast, take a look at my review.

If you are one of the people that look at Google Plus, seeing all the changes and left scratching your head, you are not alone.  By a long shot. The little social network that could, which was aimed squarely at meeting Facebook head-on, has seemingly been not only revived from the brink of death earlier this year but actually thriving.  And even more importantly, Google seems to be paying attention to it.

I know, I was just as shocked.

For those who don’t use Google Plus or have not looked at it in a long time, let me give you a bit of background.  While never coming out fully and saying they were killing Google Plus, the Mountain View company left plenty of hints and suggestions that their attempt at being a social network was ending.  Bits and pieces of the service like Google Photos and profile integration were moved out of the service and even some of the single sign-on features were starting to disappear.  It seemed that Google had other interests in mind and had conceded the social network space to Facebook, Instagram and others.

But then a curious thing happened just last month.  Google with a reasonable amount of fan fair announced a completely revamped Google Plus experience was coming and, in fact, users could try it immediately.  The move was to focus the service on Communities, collections of fellow users with common interests around a subject (like Formula 1 for me as an example), and would be  tweaking and improving it over time.

Now why would you spend any amount of time, resources or money on something that is supposedly dead?  What you have to keep in mind though is that Google never said they were killing plus.  It was assumed by many blogs and tech writers based on other things the said.  That is where it went off the rails.

Harry Potter fans, rejoice.  For the first time and some would say a bit too long, the entire book series and movies from the popular series are now available from Google.  You can pick up any of the 7 books for $8.99 each while the 8 movies for as low as $9.99.  All of the motion picture sound tracks are available too so you can complete that collection too.

There have been a few books, movies and shows missing from Google and certainly the J.K. Rowling wizard adventure series has been one of them.  With the books at a reasonable price of $9, you won’t break the bank (nor will your kids) getting all of them and with all of them available before the holidays, they make a great gift too.

Harry Potter in the Google Play Store

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.

For subscribers to Project Fi, there is a new version of the app for Android available.  The update is version G.1.7.12 for those keeping score at home and while it brings some bug fixes and stability improvements, it also adds a key feature:  Notifications of service outages.

I have been using Project Fi on my Nexus 6 for a couple of months now and while I have not been impacted by an outage, there have been issues in the past like any other carrier (especially a new one like Fi).  To this point, in order to find out about an issue, you can to email, call or chat with the Fi team which can be a bit more time consuming.  Now that requirement is gone as you will get notifications of any outages right within the app.

If you are curious about Project Fi, you can read my review of the service to see what my experience has been like with it.

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.