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Google has released another new app into their Go initiative, Google Assistant Go.  The new app will bring a subset of Google Assistant benefits to devices with limited RAM, following in the footsteps of other Go apps.

With Google Assistant Go, there are now six Go apps:  Google Maps Go, Google Files Go, GBoard Go, Google Go, and YouTube Go along with Assistant.  If you aren’t familiar with the Go program, it is an initiative set out by Google back at Google I/O last year to bring apps & services to devices with low RAM.  These apps are mostly aimed at emerging markets or those with very low cost devices with 1GB or 2GB of RAM.

A new update to the Google Backup & Sync app for MacOS and Windows 10 is rolling out that brings a lot of fixes and a few new features.  The updated build is version 3.39 for those keeping score at home.  This new build was released on February 1st so it is likely that you already have it installed as Google pushes updates to Backup & Sync behind the scenes.

For those who use Network-Attached Storage (NAS), this update is an important one for you as it is finally supported.  You can now backup files and folders stored on a NAS to your Google Drive.  The folder has to be mounted and you will be able to add a NAS folder from the My Computer section of Google Backup & Sync.

The slow and somewhat painful adoption of Android Oreo continues but there are some highlights to point out in this month’s Android Distribution Report.  Google released the report today and it shows that the latest version of the Android platform, Oreo, was installed on 1.1% of the devices that hit the Google Play Store for the 7-day period ending February 5, 2018.  That’s up .4% from the January report but there isn’t much to applaud frankly.

Android Oreo has been out now six months and despite Google and manufactures releasing updates, the needle has hardly moved on adoption.  This is likely due to a couple of reasons.  First, manufactures are being painfully slow in getting the updates out themselves.  Two, lots of people are using devices that are over 2 years old and will not be updated.

Google has just released the February Android Security Update patches for the Pixel and Nexus lineup.  Traditionally, Google releases the patches on the Monday of the first full week of each month (barring a holiday falling on Monday) so today’s release was somewhat expected.

All told, the updates this month are pretty small when it comes to patching vulnerabilities within Android.  It does consist of two patches, one dated January 1 with the second dated the 5th.  Google devices will receive the second patch when the OTA updates are released.