Tag: Google

[Update 12/20/2017:  It has now been removed.  Microsoft states that the installer violates the store’s policies. ]

Big and somewhat surprising news this morning for Windows 10 users.  Google Chrome is now available for download in the Microsoft Windows Store.  It means that users can now install Chrome on their Windows 10 PCs (except Windows 10S users) without having to side-load it.  This is something that many administrators lock down for security reasons.

Essentially this new app, which is published by Google, is an installer which acts as a shell to go get the browser installed on your PC.  In other words, it is an official channel to go out to the web and download the browser as you would if you were side-loading.

Since its release last year, Google Home has always responded to two hot words:  “OK Google” or “Hey Google”.  On phones, however, it has been “OK Google” since Google Assistant began rolling out to a broader set of devices.  That now appears to be changing.

Google has made a cloud side change for Google Assistant that now allows your phone to respond to “Hey Google”.  This change has been touted for months now, really since the October Pixel event where it was demonstrated.  The goal of this change is to allow users to have one consistent hot word to use and to make Google Assistant more conversational.

Google’s Project Tango will be shut down on March 1, 2018 as the company turns their attention, and that of developers, to the software-only ARCore.  The news came from the Project Tango Twitter account where the Google team behind it thanked developers for their work over the past three years on the hardware-software Augmented Reality solution.

We’re turning down support for Tango on March 1, 2018. Thank you to our incredible community of developers who made such progress with Tango over the last three years. We look forward to continuing the journey with you on ARCore. https://t.co/aYiSUkgyie

— Tango (@projecttango) December 15, 2017

The news should not be shocking at this point for developers or consumers for that matter. Google has been clear over the course of 2017 that ARCore, which is now in Developer Preview 2, will be the company’s AR solution going forward.  It has a lot of benefits including being hardware independent.

Google Gboard, the keyboard app that is now native on a wide range of Android phones, has a big update rolling out this morning.  The update is version 6.8 for those keeping score but given the number of improvements and changes, this really feels like a major “dot oh” release.

The headline new feature for the app is Handwriting input support.  Now you can use a stylus or your finger to write instead of typing on the QWERTY keyboard.  Previously, to use handwriting input, you had to have a separate app.  If you are wanting to have this new input method in your install of Gboard, you will need to make sure you enable it.

To enable, open up the Gboard app settings and then tap on the Languages section.  At the bottom, tap the “Add Keyboard” button then tap on English (US).  The first option you see should be a Handwriting keyboard.  Select it then tap the Add button.  This will now make it an option on the keyboard.

Now to an app where you would type and you should see a globe icon on the keyboard next to the space button.  Tap that icon and you should alternate between your normal keyboard and the handwriting panel.

Google has announced that they will be making some minor menu updates to some of the G Suite apps starting in January.  The updates are primarily focused on Google Docs and Google Slides with the idea being to make it easier for users to find certain menu settings.

The changes that Google outlined will be coming to the apps starting January 4, 2018 with the schedule release of the updates.  It should be noted that the changes that are coming are only for the online version of the apps.  Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides for Android and iOS are not impacted by this change.

As for the changes themselves, most of them are renaming of features and not necessarily moving them.  For example, in both Google Docs and Google Slides, “Lists” in the Format menu have been renamed to “Bullets and numbering”.

Google Assistant is finally coming to tablets.  The news came from Google today in an announcement that also indicated that the personalized assistant will be coming to phones running Android Lollipop (version 5.x).  To this point, Google Assistant has only been available on phones and only on devices running Android Oreo (v8.x), Android Nougat (v7.x) and Android Marshmallow (v6.x).

The first step in getting Assistant to tablets will be an update on the cloud side from Google and then, likely, an update to Google Play Services.  Once the update rolls out, users will be able to long press the Home button/icon on their phone to active Assistant just as they do on their phone.  It is likely just a matter of users doing the long press of Home until they see the Assistant opt-in page pop up.  It should also be noted that this addition of Assistant to tablets will only be for US English devices.  If you have your tablet set to another language, even an English variant, you will not be getting updated.