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The Google Plus app for Android has yet another update rolling out today, the ninth such update this year.  Version 7.8.0 brings mostly refinements to the community centric app for Android and brings back quick access to other Google apps you may have installed on your phone.  In all, there are 22 bugs fixed in this update according to Google’s Luke Wroblewski as well as Quick access to Google Photos, Hangouts and Search within the app. If this seems like a blast from the past, it should.  Before Google decided to decouple other services and apps from G+, you had quick access to other Google apps before the whole Google Plus is Dead, Long Live Google Plus era we are in now.  This is back now and frankly is a great touch that has needed to come back to the new and improved app.

Google Sheets, the spreadsheet app in the Google Apps for Work suite, has been updated with a long missing and much wanted feature:  Image support.  With this update, users will be able to view images and drawings with the Sheets app and not have to revert to the desktop version of the app to view them.  It is a nice addition for sure and closes the feature parity gap between the desktop and mobile versions of the app.  The update is rolling out now to the Google Play Store and given that this update also impacts the iOS version, the update is rolling out in the iTunes App Store too.

Microsoft’s latest improvement to their launcher app for Android, Arrow Launcher, brings more improvements and functionality to the app.  For those who have tried it,  Arrow Launcher gives a mult-page look to your phone that brings things like contacts, widgets, most used apps and reminders within easy reach and is designed for Android phones.  The latest update, version 1.3.0.22862 for those keeping score at home, brings a handful of new features to the app.  The biggest of those new features is integration with Wunderlist.  With this update, all of your lists are displayed and you can set reminders for the app within Arrow as well.

The news from Reuters today outlining a massive email hack that has impacted some 270 million accounts globally, including some Gmail accounts, serves as another reminder to be safe out there and to use 2-Factor authentication.  Yes it is a pain and yes it sucks that we have to do these kinds of things, but it is a great way to keep your Google account and any other for that matter more safe and secure.  In fact, I would go as far as to suggest that if a service you use doesn’t offer 2-Factor authentication, you may need to rethink if you really need that service.