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Microsoft has released a new update to their SwiftKey keyboard app for Android.  The new build brings a handful of new features including a new Quick Paste feature.  This new feature allows you to copy text from your screen and it will be available to you in your prediction bar at the top of the keyboard.  This makes pasting that copied text quick and easy.

Along with the new Quick Paste feature, support for seven new languages are in this update.  Those languages are Chamorro, Ju|’hoan, Lisu, Palauan, Piedmontese, Sardinian & Scots.  Related to this, there are also new layouts available for Naratgul and VEGA

With the beta program now completed, members of the Android Beta Program are now starting to receive the production build of Oreo 8.1.  Google released this final build yesterday and those with with Pixel devices and Nexus devices that were in the program should start seeing the OTA update to the production build over the next few days.

The update is very small, just over 40MB, reflecting the fact that the second and final beta of Oreo 8.1 was all-but complete.  That small of an update means very few bugs were found to be fixed.

If you are new to the Android Beta Program, there is nothing special you need to do.  The OTA will download to your phone just like any other update from Google.  It is just a matter of when it gets to your account.

As we close out 2017, the odds are better that your bank or financial institution supports Android Pay rather than it not.  That’s because the tap-to-pay service for Android devices added another 59 banks and credit unions to the support list today, bringing the total to 1,131 supported here in the United States.

I remind you that in January of this year, fewer than 400 banks were supported.

As has largely been the case over the past six months, most of the additions to the supported list are smaller, regional or local financial institutions.  Thanks to the team over at Android Police, after the break you can read the full list of new banks supported.

While the growth rate of Chrome OS in the United States K-12 education sector has slowed, it is still the dominant platform according to the latest sales analysis from Futuresource.  The consulting firm released their quarterly K-12 market analysis and it points to Google’s platform holding a commanding 59.8% market share for the third quarter of this year.  That’s up 2% over the second quarter and is up 2.1% over 2016.

The numbers certainly show that the penetration of the platform into the K-12 market has slowed significantly, thanks both to market maturity as well as an influx of competition from both Apple and Microsoft.  Both companies have made strategic investments into getting a piece of the education pie in the US but both still have a long way to go.  Microsoft’s Windows platform is a distant 2nd place at 22.3% market share while Apple sits at 17% if you combine both MacOS and iOS.