Category: Google

Google has announced that a change is coming to Google Drive to help cut down on duplicate files.  The update is currently in Rapid release mode with a full roll out happening in a few weeks.  Once it does, if you have file that you are trying to upload to your Drive with the same user name, that older version will be made a part of your revision history and not a separate file.

A common use case for Google Drive users is to download a file from their Drive to modify it locally, and then to re-upload the new version. In the past, this would result in duplicate files (the original and the new one), and users would have trouble finding the latest version. That’s why we’re introducing a change in Drive to deduplicate files which were uploaded in this way.

Once launched, when users upload files that have the same filename as an existing file, they’ll be deduplicated, and the old file will be in revision history. This is so that if any mistakes are made, users can get back to the previous version. Similarly, uploaded folders will be merged with folders of the same name.

Based on a leak from the ever reliable Evan Blass, it looks like we could well see a new 7″ Android tablet from Google coming very soon.  In fact, it could be as early as next month with the October 4th event slated to announce the new Pixel phones, a 4K Google Cast device, Google Assistant and Google Home.  Adding a tablet to that mix wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

Google’s Huawei-built 7-inch tablet, with 4GB RAM, on track for release before the end of the year.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) September 5, 2016

If the rumor is true, this would be a welcome device by many Android fans.  The very popular Nexus 7 (2013) tablet is no longer available or supported as far as major releases are concerned and the only real Google branded tablet option is the Pixel C.  That’s a nice device and Android Nougat has certainly made it more usable, but at 10″, it is bigger than what some people will want or need.

Google Search on your Android device just got a whole lot more powerful.  The Search team announced that a new feature named In Apps is now rolling out to the app on Android devices that will allow you to search content within apps installed on your phone.  Now you can search for a contact for example and find that contact along with being able to see all the messages that you have had with that contact in the various apps you have used to contact them.  Perhaps even more useful, you can search for a subject from an email and Search will interrogate Gmail to find that email.  Essentially this new feature eliminates the need to do per-app searching (if that is possible) and takes it to the system level.

Google has stopped selling their remaining flagship Chromebook device, the Chromebook Pixel 2.  The store shows that the $1299 powerhouse is no longer in stock and according to VentureBeat, the company has no plans of restocking the device.

“We’re committed to the Pixel program but we don’t have plans to restock the Pixel 2,” a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.

While there are certainly high-end Chromebooks out in the market thanks to the like of HP and Acer, having a Google Chromebook in the mix for the “ultimate” experience was fun to see – even if it was a steeply expensive “ultimate” experience.

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai took to Twitter last night and provided an important update to everyone:  Google Duo has hit the 5 million download mark.  The new video calling app was released the same day as Android Nougat and frankly is a pretty refined experience versus other video calling solutions.  Duo gives you a preview of who is calling before you even accept the call.

Google Duo now over 5M Android downloads in a week! https://t.co/ctwn131gYq

— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) August 25, 2016

While 5 million isn’t exactly huge when you compare it to the hundreds of millions of Android phones and iPhones out there, it is significant in that there is some excitement around this new video app.

Great news and yet another reason to pick up a Nexus phone.  The Nexus team at Google has announced that Wi-Fi Assistant is coming to all Nexus phones in the coming weeks.  Wi-Fi Assistant to this point has been exclusive to Project Fi users which allows their devices to automatically connect to Google approved Wi-Fi hotspots securely and without any user intervention.  It is a huge benefit to Fi frankly as it saves on data plan usage.  It will connect your phone to Wi-Fi without you even knowing it.  Now all Nexus owners will benefit from the feature.