Tag: Google

Google Opinion Rewards, the app that pays you Google Play Store credit for your opinion, has been updated and expanded.  Now Android users in Denmark, Norway and Sweden can take part in the program just by downloading the app and answering opinion questions as they are sent to you.  For those outside of these new countries, there is an app update available which has some stability fixes and other under-the-hood improvements that you’ll want to get.

If you aren’t familiar with the program, Google Opinion Rewards sends a survey once a week or so (sometimes more, sometimes less) that asks your opinion on anything from branding to places you visited to products and services.  Answering the survey’s will give you credit, up to $1, in the Play Store which you can spend later.  Most surveys are just a few questions so they are quick and easy to complete.

It looks like the Nexus name is dying a death.  Reports are suggesting that Google is going to be hosting an event on October 4th, at which we will see the new HTC-built Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL announced.  Those phones are currently under their code names of Marlin and Sailfish respectively.  The new naming convention will mean that across all hardware types – phones, tablets and Chromebooks – there is one name to remember and will likely have some sort of suffix designation for the model.

What is interesting is that the name “Pixel” has been associated with Google as being the designer of the product.  Take the Pixel C or the Pixel Chromebook as an example.  While Google may not have built those devices, they had a very heavy hand in their design.  Is that the case for the Pixel and Pixel XL phones?  leaked mock-ups suggest no.  The Marlin (Pixel) device looks strikingly like the HTC built One A9.  While it may have different innards, outward appearances don’t suggest Google did the design.

Google has rolled out a nice improvement to the search functionality in the Google Inbox app.  This latest update builds on the 1.30 update that rolled out last week and is a behind-the-scenes update.  So long as you have the latest version of the app, this feature will roll out to you over the course of the next few days.  Essentially, this new search function makes it far easier and faster to search for an email message.  By tapping the search function, you will see a quick list of the contacts you email with often, the businesses you email with often and a refinements section that allows you to search for messages that have attachments, photos or are from last week to name a few.  You can, of course, still search for any word, date or topic within the search function as you have always been able to do.

If you are a user of Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, there is a small but nice new update that is rolling out to the web version of these apps.  Google announced yesterday that they are adding the ability for users to see file information on a document that they have open in one of the apps.  This is very similar to a feature that is already in the online version of the apps which is to see file or folder in Google Drive.  It has just been added to the Docs apps for convenience.

Getting to this new file information is pretty straight forward.  Open up a Docs, Sheets or Slides file and from the File menu select Document Details.  This will pop up an overlay that shows you the location within your Google Drive that the file is stored, the owner of that file and the last time it was modified.

If you use Google Chrome on your Mac or PC, the latest update to the browser brings fully integrated Google Cast support.  Long time users of Chrome will know that there has been a Google-built Cast extension for some time now, two years in fact.  This update essentially deprecates that extension as it is no longer need.  Casting is now in the core of Chrome itself.  The net result for users is that when you are on a site that supports Google Cast, you will see a casting icon appear near your search bar.  Click it, select the Google Cast you want to cast too and that’s it.  No configuring things and no fussing about.  It’s that simple.

Google Wallet isn’t dead and, in fact, has just received a pretty nice update.  The update that is rolling out in the Play Store now allows you to have funds you receive in your wallet to be automatically transferred to your bank account.  This new feature is far faster than the cash out process that use to be your only option in the app.  Now, once you have an account associated with Google Wallet, any time you receive funds, you can have them go to your bank account and be there usually within 2-3 days (your mileage will vary based on your bank).