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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.

YouTube has announced that later this year, they will be rolling out a new app that will allow for offline content viewing and sharing.  The new app, YouTube Go, will allow users to download content to their phones and view that content later, even if they are offline.  You will be able to select the quality of that content so you can control how much space on your phone is taken up with YouTube content and you will be able to share that content with others via NFC.  The idea is that the app can work completely offline.

The powerful new compact phone from Sony, the Xperia X Compact, is now available on Amazon.  The unlocked phone comes in Black, Blue or White and is $499 and eligible for Prime Shipping.  The X Compact was announced last month at IFA in Berlin and the new 4.6″ Android phone turned heads there and created a lot of excitement when Sony announced it would be coming to the US.  Spec wise, while the package of the phone is small, it is power packed.  It runs on the Snapdragon 650 processor Hexa-core (4 cores 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 & 2 cores 1.8 GHz Cortex-A72).  It is mated with the Adreno 510 GPU, has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of Storage.  That storage can be expanded up to an additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  The display is 4.6″ rendering at 720 x 1280.  That equates to 331 PPI and it is protected by Gorilla Glass 4.

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.