Tag: Google

Gmail for Android has been updated with several improvements for users.  The updated build, version 6.9.11.134426830.release for those keeping score at home and who like version number Bingo, is rolling out now in the Play Store and when you get it, you will find that you have much improved search features in the app.  Google has improved the search features in Gmail that give you much better search results of what is in your accounts whether you are offline or online.  Further, the search improvements work on both your Google accounts as well as your non-Google accounts.  You can search a variety of ways including the senders name and their email address.

Google is preparing in a big way for next Tuesday’s big Google Event.  Not only has there been a huge amount of advertising around the event, the company has already setup their YouTube channel for the event.  That means that you will be able to watch the event live for yourself.  I personally love the fact that they are doing this and making all of their announcements known to everyone.  And, given that it is on YouTube, that means you can watch it on-the-go from the YouTube app on any device.

Google today announced that what has been known as Google for Work has been rebranded as Google Cloud.  The new name encompasses many Google apps, platforms and services into one cloud-centric solution for businesses.

Google Cloud spans every layer. It includes all of Google Cloud Platform; our user facing collaboration and productivity applications — now named G Suite; all of our machine learning

tools and APIs, the enterprise maps APIs; and the Android phones, tablets and Chromebooks that access the cloud. All of this, built for the cloud from the get-go.

Moreover, Google Cloud has been engineered in an enterprise appropriate way, with integrated systems that include guarantees at the service level — all components integrated and meeting the SLA for whatever price point the customer chooses.

The change in name and direction of the solution isn’t just about products.  It is also the backend support that Google will provide to their customers to go through the digital transformation that Google Cloud can offer.  As they put it, “We are in it together”.  Customers won’t have to figure it out on their own and that, especially for smaller businesses, can be a huge relief and cost savings.

Google has rolled out another update to Google Photos and if you look at the release notes, you would think it was just a but fix release.  However, the new 2.1 version of the app has a new Assistant card that can help you with photos you shot sideways.  In previous versions of Photos – and other photo apps for that matter – if you shot a photo that was sideways, you would have to manually go in and edit that file by rotating it.  You can still do that in this update to Photos but now the app can analyze your photos and determine if it is sideways.  If so, it will give you an Assistant card suggesting that it can auto-rotate the photo for you without you having to manually do so.

On their official YouTube channel, Google has released another series of short videos highlighting a service of the company.  This new series is titled Meet Data and the seven videos show you how the company uses data to help you.  Using examples of how search works to how Google Maps helps you find that location you are looking for, the videos outline how Google uses big data to help you in that process.  Each video also points out that data security and privacy is important.

Google has given another fresh coat of paint to their two-factor authentication app, Google Authenticator.  The update is rolling out to the Google Play store now and if you have it installed, you likely will see the OTA for it in the next day or two if not already.  The updated build is version 4.74 for those keeping score at home.  If you aren’t familiar with Authenticator, it is the code generating app when you enable two-factor authentication on your various accounts.  Many services offer two-factor including Google, Microsoft, Evernote, WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  I strongly urge all readers to enable two-factor on all of their accounts for security purposes.  Yes it is a pain but apps like Google Authenticator allow you to have multiple accounts in the app.

Most of the changes in this update are cosmetic but they are good to see.  First, the app is completely Material Design now which has a nice clean look to it.  The six digit codes generated are now split into two, 3 digit sections so it makes it much easier to read.