Tag: Google

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Google will not allow you to sign in with extremely old Android versions after September 27th

Reddit clients and 91mobiles have discovered that Google will at this point not let you sign into the organization’s applications on gadgets running Android 2.3.7 (Gingerbread) or lower from September 27th forward. You can in any case sign in on the web, yet you’ll need to update to at least the tablet-just Android 3.0 (realistically, Android 4.0) assuming you need to keep away from significant issues while checking Gmail or exploring with Google Maps.

The cutoff is important to ensure account privacy, Google said in an email to clients. We’ve inquired as to whether can expound on its thinking.

This will not influence everyday phone use for some individuals, as you may figure. Gingerbread and prior Android releases have so little utilization share that they’ve been lumped into the “other” category for years, and the hardware as of now battles to deal with numerous modern tasks. Be that as it may, it denotes an uncommon case of Google removing fundamental usefulness for older Android versions, not simply OS updates or Play Services features. Consider this Google setting a standard — you’ll require a gadget updated within the last decade to get at least rudimentary support.

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Technology

Google affirms Wear OS 3 upgrade for a small bunch of current smartwatches

Since Google and Samsung declared a relaunched version of Wear OS at I/O two months prior, anybody with a current-gen smartwatch has contemplated whether their gadget will get an update. Samsung and Fitbit have both been open in regards to whether more seasoned wearables will move to Wear OS — the appropriate response is a strong “no” — yet Google has stayed unclear in its language throughout the most recent two months. At last, we’re learning significantly more about the fate of wearables on Android, and it’s not all uplifting news.

In another help page, Google has clarified that not very many presently accessible watches will take the leap toward Wear OS 3. The GPS and LTE variations of Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 3, just as the as of late dispatched TicWatch E3 and Fossil’s forthcoming gadgets, will all get new programming, pretty much affirming that a Snapdragon Wear 4100 is required.

Before you run out and purchase another smartwatch, take a gander at the schedule for refreshes. As per Google, none of these gadgets will get Wear OS 3 preceding mid-to-late 2022. That is longer than a year to sit tight for programming that could be dispatching on new equipment when one month from now, accepting that Samsung’s record of wearables is prepared for early evening.

It’s not by any means the only catch. Google expresses this system update will “bring the benefit of many of the new experiences, and in some limited cases, the user experience will also be impacted.” The second half of that sentence seems like it could bring about lower battery life or moderate stacking times, however we’ll need to delay until late one year from now to discover. Wear OS 3 will likewise require a full plant reset of your watch once it opens up.

Clearly, Google is concerned this update could cause issues with current-gen equipment, which is the reason Wear OS 3 will be altogether select in. The organization intends to share more subtleties at some point one year from now to help shoppers make an “educated choice.”

For those who are excluded from this restricted bunch of upheld wearables — or on the other hand in the event that you wind up deciding not to refresh — Google is as yet encouraging to help Wear OS 2.0 gadgets, utilizing late updates to Gboard and Google Play for instance. Security patches will likewise keep on being upheld at least a long time from the gadget’s dispatch.

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Technology

Google provides its cookie substitution FLoC a more exact timetable

Last month Google modified its target time period for FLoC, the new privacy-focused replacement technology for advertising and other tracking cookies, into 2023. Presently the organization has a more exact timetable of events for its multi-staged plan to implement the Federated Learning of Cohorts tool for Chrome, which is currently in the early stages of testing.

Recently intended to be completely implemented in Chrome later in 2022, Google is currently aiming (through 9to5Google) to get all Chrome clients changed to FLoC in the second from last quarter of 2023. At that point the organization desires to have weaned itself off of conventional cookies, following the web traffic and usage patterns of individual clients, to totaled tracking that permits advertisers to track groups of anonymized individuals instead. Google says it’s a method to ensure individual privacy while saving the systems of advertising that let the web work, however now they’ve figured out how to persuade basically nobody that FLoC will be an improvement.

The new timetable site, some portion of Google’s extending Privacy Sandbox, spreads out what parts are as yet in conversation, which are in testing, and when every one of them will (ideally) be carried out. FLoC specifically will not get far reaching testing until the second from last quarter of this current year, however few clients are now in testing. That will stretch out into the summer of 2022, with the initial transition period into full adoption in Chrome starting somewhat more than in about a year.

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Technology

Google’s first folding Pixel is obviously still on target for 2021 uncover

Google may have avoided a Pixel Watch, however a Pixel Fold still particularly is by all accounts in transit — following a release last August that uncovered the organization was wanting to release its first folding Pixel phone in late 2021, Korean industry site TheElec is presently announcing that Samsung will start productionof folding OLED panels this October for Google, Vivo and Xiaomi’s forthcoming folding phones, all of which will purportedly be uncovered recently.

Google hasn’t actually kept quiet; in 2019, it distributed patent applications for its own folding screens and let it out had been prototyping them for a long while, disclosing to CNET that it didn’t have “an unmistakable use case yet.” But now, it seems Google has a foldable, codename “Passport,” that could be almost prepared to declare. 9to5Google even detected another reference to it a month ago in Android 12’s code, close by other codenames accepted to be the forthcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 5a 5G. TheElec says it’ll have a solitary 7.6-inch panel that folds internal, while Vivo’s upcoming phone will have a 8-inch main screen and a 6.5-inch outer display. It didn’t make reference to the size of the new Xiaomi phone’s screen.

It’s not satisfactory whether a Pixel Fold would really accompany a display designed by Google itself, however it’s conceivable; Samsung goes about as an agreement producer for some, different organizations, creating a portion of Apple’s local processors as one model. In any case, one bit of the screen’s sandwich may in any case generally have a place with Samsung itself: ETNews reports that Samsung will supply its proprietary ultra-thin cover glass (which is actually made by German producer Schott) to other cell phone makers, and Google is relied upon to utilize it.

Xiaomi previously declared a folding phone recently, the Mi Mix Fold, however it seems as though it’ll have a subsequent one. TheElec additionally reports Oppo will postpone another foldable phone to 2022, with a 7.1-inch main screen and a more modest external one somewhere in the range of 1.5 and 2 inches diagonally.

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Technology

Google is parting with yet more Stadia Premiere Edition packs

On the off chance that you were going back and forth about getting one of the new OnePlus 9 cell phones, OnePlus trusts it can captivate you with its most recent promo. The organization, in partnership with Google, is offering Stadia Premiere Edition packs to clients placing orders on its online store in a few countries.

The pack incorporates a Stadia Controller and a Google Chromecast Ultra that typically retails for £90/€100. This is an awesome deal considering it’s even stretched out to older and less expensive OnePlus phones — the OnePlus 8T, the OnePlus 8 Pro, the OnePlus Nord. In any case, the pack does exclude a Stadia subscription, so you’ll need to pay for that using out of pocket.

The offer is presently accessible in the UK, Germany, and France. It’s significant that the pack will not transport with the phone: OnePlus will email you a promo code 15 days after you place the order in case you’re in Germany or France, and after 30 days in case you’re in the UK. You can then utilize this code to place an order for Stadia Premiere Edition on the Google Store.

The deal is accessible till September 30, or insofar as stocks last.

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Technology

Google is banding together with Shopify

Google will cooperate with e-commerce platform Shopify to allow dealers to show their products across Google’s platforms, the internet giant reported at its I/O conference on Tuesday.

Google didn’t say precisely how or when Shopify will incorporate with Google, yet its president of commerce, Bill Ready, said merchants would have their products included across Google’s 1 billion daily “shopping journeys” occurring on Search, Images, Maps, Lens, and YouTube.

Ready additionally said Shopify merchants would link to Google’s “Shopping Graph”, a new tool that utilizations AI to assemble costs, reviews, and product videos from various brands and retailers’ websites to more readily inform customers.

The Shopping Graph would connect “people with over 24 billion listings from multiple merchants across the web,” Ready said in a blog post.

In April a year ago, Google said it would permit shippers to sell their products on its platform free of charge. Ready said at the time that the change was being acquainted with assistance organizations battling during the pandemic.

“For retailers, this change means free exposure to millions of people who come to Google every day for their shopping needs,” Ready said in a blog post at the time.

Ready said the 2020 change had prompted a 80% expansion in sellers on Google, and the majority were small to medium-sized businesses.

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Technology

Google is at long last carrying YouTube Music to Wear OS

Enormous changes are going to the Wear OS platform. Google declared that it developed the next version of Wear OS with Samsung at its I/O developer conference, where it additionally uncovered that it’s (at last!) launching a YouTube Music app for the operating system.

The tech goliath began closing down the Play Music app back in September for YouTube Music, yet Wear OS clients lost access to it on their gadgets weeks sooner than that.

Google gave individuals a transfer tool to move their tracks from the old app to the upgraded one months before the closure. Notwithstanding, it executed off Play Music apparently before its swap was prepared for the masses, despite the fact that it’s been out for years.

Wear OS proprietors needed to stand by very nearly eight months for this declaration, all things considered, and the app doesn’t have an exact release date yet. Google just said that it’s coming out later this year. In the interim, Apple Watch clients have approached a YouTube Music application since October 2020, soon after Play Music’s closure.

At the point when YouTube Music comes out for Wear OS, individuals will actually want to take advantage of the service’s features on their smartwatches. One of those is having the option to download music on their gadgets, enabling playback without WiFi or data connection.

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Technology

Google to automatically enable two-factor authentication on qualified accounts

Two-factor authentication — or two-step verification in Google parlance — is a base necessity for remaining safe online. Google today uncovered that it plans to automatically select clients with “appropriately configured” accounts into 2SV strategies, similar to the Google Prompt.

In the wake of signing in with your username and password in Gmail or other Google service, the Google Prompt shows up natively on your Android phone as either a notification or a fullscreen UI. It inquires as to whether you’re “trying to sign in” and lists the gadget, location, and time of where the attempt was made. Clients at that point tap “Yes” or “No, it’s not me” to continue. On iOS, a notification is shipped off either the Google or Gmail application.

It’s long been accessible as an option, yet Google on World Password Day declared it will “start automatically enrolling users in 2SV if their accounts are appropriately configured.” Other strategies accessible for 2SV incorporate utilizing a standalone or Android security key and having access to backup codes.

The organization will apparently allow clients to disable the option as it didn’t indicate today that 2SV is currently a necessity. Probably, Google’s expectation is that individuals stay with two-factor authentication whenever it’s enabled.

In general, this app and system-based (on Android) approach is a lot more secure than 2FA over phone numbers, which can be hacked is still broadly used by banks.

Google today likewise urged individuals to utilize a Password Manager, with the organization suggesting its own built into Chrome, Android, and iOS. It includes a Password Checkup feature to check for compromised credentials from past hacks. There’s additionally an import feature to permit individuals to upload up to 1,000 logins at a time from other third-party services.

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Business

Sundar Pichai spreads out Google’s new ‘hybrid’ workplace plan

With some Google representatives getting back to the organization’s offices voluntarily a month ago, CEO Sundar Pichai says the tech giant will receive a new hybrid work week. In a development of a pilot that began in December, most representatives will go through around three days working out of the office and the other two “wherever they work best.” How that split will work in practice will rely upon a laborer’s product focus and the team they’re a part of.

Moreover, Google will offer more freedoms for workers to move around. By mid-June, it will present a process that will permit laborers to apply to work from an alternate office. Also, all representatives will get the opportunity to work as long as about a month from their assigned office briefly.

Google additionally plans to grow more remote roles and even teams made up totally of individuals that aren’t all in one place. The organization will likewise permit representatives to apply for remote work within their product area. With regards to working out of an alternate office and taking on a remote role, the organization says it will think about the necessities of the representative’s team.

“Whether you choose to transfer to a different office or opt for completely remote work, your compensation will be adjusted according to your new location,” Pichai says of the policy. With the above changes, the executive estimates around 60% of the organization’s workforce will work onsite a handful of days every week. 20% will work from home, while another 20% will end up in new office locations.

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Technology

Google updates most recent Chromecast with more HDR controls and improved Wi-Fi performance

Google is carrying out another April update for the Chromecast with Google TV that launched a year ago. It’s a genuinely huge update for a streaming gadget — adding up to 166MB on Chromecast — yet incorporates various enhancements.

Whenever you’ve installed the new software and restarted your Chromecast, you’ll have the option to dive somewhat deeper into video settings than was beforehand conceivable. In the new “advanced video controls” area of settings, you’re currently enabled to pick your favored dynamic range format. Alternatives incorporate Dolby Vision, HDR, or even SDR in the event that you want to keep it there. You can likewise manually switch to a huge ton of resolutions at different refresh rates from this menu:

4K (60Hz / 50Hz / 30Hz/ 25Hz / 24Hz / smpte)
1080p (60Hz / 50Hz / 24Hz)
720p (60Hz / 50Hz)
1080i (60Hz / 50Hz)
576p (50Hz)
480p (60Hz)

Except if you have a good reason to roll out an improvement, keep it at whatever Chromecast selects as the default: that was 4K 60Hz for situation. Google says this update additionally improves the Chromecast with Google TV’s Wi-Fi performance on 5GHz networks and mesh systems. For the full list of enhancements. actually trusting that a way will clear the “continue watching” line, where shows and films can in some cases simply stall out — even after you’ve got done with streaming them.

Separate from this software update, the Chromecast with Google TV likewise as of late got certification for HDR10+. So on the off chance that you go over content on Amazon Prime Video that streams in that organization of HDR, it ought to before long be supported on Google’s streaming device.