If you are one of the countless thousands who pre-registered for Google I/O 2016, it is time to start checking your inbox. Google has started sending out the formal invites to the developer conference and for those of you who have received an invite, you only have 24 hours to secure your place or it is lost forever. No pressure.
Google Play Music for Android has seen a minor update today that brings some improvements around searching for YouTube videos in the app. The updated build is version 6.4.21 for those keeping score at home and if you have the app installed on your phone or tablet, you should see the update come to you via an OTA in the coming days. There isn’t much to report on as far as new features go, just the improvements around finding videos of your favorite bands or artists within the app.
There are a lot of things I love about Android, obviously, but there are a few things now-and-again that make me kinda batty. One of these things, and it is a simple thing, is the vibration that you get when you type on your keyboard when using your phone. Don’t ask me why it bothers me so much, but it does. It is one of the first things I turn off when I setup a new phone or have refreshed one anew. It struck me however that finding this setting is a bit difficult if you are new to Android or just simply haven’t dug into a least commonly accessed area in Settings, Language & input. In this How To I’ll show you where this setting is and how you can disable it if you too don’t like the haptic feedback when you type on your Android phone.
Whether you like the bottom navigation bar or not, it looks like it is here to stay in Android. Today Google updated the Material Design guidelines for app developers, outlining how a bottom navigation bar should be implemented, along with a list of do’s and don’ts on for it. To this point, Android has adhered more to a tab or top menu design but now developers are being told that a bottom navigation is the way to go as it is a better user experience.
In case you haven’t noticed, here in the United States, we are in the middle of a Presidential election campaign. It is hotly contested and regardless of where you stand with any particular candidate, campaign financing is always a hot topic. Now Google Search can get you the information on any candidate and how they (and who) has been funding their campaign. The nice thing here is that it is completely unbiased. The information Google is serving up is from the Center for Responsible Politics and they simply report facts. No bias, no pick-your-wing-conspiracies. Just financial facts.