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The news aggregation and magazine reading app from Google, Google Play Newsstand, has a major update rolling out today into the Play Store.  The new version 4.0 of the app is, more-or-less, a complete revamp of the app.  The new update is more in line with Material Design and overall Android app design and features bottom navigation instead of being driven from the hamburger menu like the previous version.  The new For You section gives you a summary and highlights of news from various sources including sources for local news.  New in the app is the ability to have this section of the app downloaded to your device for offline reading.  You also note that the articles are heavily AMP driven for faster loading and when you have read an article, the title will go from bold to normal text to let you know.

Like most products and apps from Google, Google Home has a user-based help forum available for everyone.  The forum is a great place to go get answers to your questions, find out news and information and interact with experts both from Google and other users on Home.  While the Home forums are not as active as other forums like the the one for Gmail, Project Fi or Google Photos, it is getting there pretty quick as more people order the smart speaker device for their home.

Google Home

If you have a Home and are looking for some help or answers, head over to the forum and take a look around.  It is possible that your question has already been answered so be sure to do a search of the forum.  If not, you can easily post a question and one of the product experts or even a Googler will reply back with information if the answer is known.  If you are familiar with the forums for other products, you may be looking for who are the Top Contributors or Rising Stars.  Right now, because the product and the forum are both new, there are not any designated TCs yet.  That’ll change soon enough as more of us who are TCs in other communities (I am one in Google Photos) answer questions and, of course, new users who lend a helping hand to their fellow Home user.

Check out the forums to get help or to help others.  It’s a great community across a wide range of Google products and apps.

I appreciate that I’ve told readers about this deal already – twice in fact.  But it is one of those deals that is just too good to pass up.  Over at Amazon you can still pick up the Nextbit Robin for $169.  Originally the deal was only on the Mint color but now it is also on the darker Midnight color option.  Regardless of which color you choose, you are getting a solid mid-range phone with great specs and performance.  I reviewed the Robin a few months ago and at the time I said it was a pretty good deal at $299.  At $169, it is one of the best deals on a phone with these specs out there.

For those that don’t recall, the Nextbit Robin has some great features and offers a unique device-meets-cloud storage solution.  It has 32GB of onboard storage merged with 100 GB online storage, so you always have the space you need. Robin seamlessly backs up your apps and photos, intelligently archives the stuff you’re not using, and easily restores items when you need them.  The idea is that you never run out of space.  Those less used apps are backed up into the cloud but then are instantly available when you want them.  You’ll know an app has been backed up into the cloud as it will be grey on your Robin.

Continue reading after the break for more details

The Google Daydream VR headset has started to ship to those who have ordered it and Google, as expected, as released the Daydream app into the Play Store.  The app allows users with the new Google Pixel to have a full VR experience with the headset.  The VR UI for when you have your phone in the headset is very easy to navigate and if you have played with Google Cardboard in the past, it will look pretty similar to you.  Using the controller, you can look to an app you want to start and click the button to launch it.  Obviously content is still pretty limited at this point but more is on the way.  Google, in fact, launched YouTube VR today too.

Read more after the break