Your next trip to an unfamiliar destination could be made much smoother thanks to upcoming Google Maps updates.
The app will soon be able to give you more in-depth details about where you’re traveling, both before you set off and while you’re on the move, according to a Google blog post.
We’re most excited about Google Maps finally being able to estimate the cost of toll roads you might want to use on your journey. Thanks to the feature you’ll be better able to weigh up the pros and cons of choosing to ‘Avoid Toll Roads’ on your route.
Right now the feature is restricted to around 2,000 toll roads across the US, India, Japan, and Indonesia, but over time new roads and regions will be added. We’ve reached out to Google to find out when countries like the UK and Australia will get this feature.
Another update will add new details to the digital map, including upcoming traffic lights, stop signs, and details about buildings you’re passing, which should help you get a better feel for a location you’re visiting for the first time.
(Image credit: Google )
Improved iOS support coming soon
Last but not least, Google is bringing several improvements to Maps on its Android OS rival in the coming weeks and months.
iPhone users will soon be able to take advantage of new widgets offering quick access to the most important details of your upcoming trip. In addition, if you wear an Apple Watch you’ll be able to start navigation using the Google Maps app without needing to pull your phone out – a new ‘Take me home’ complication will also enable you to quickly open directions home.
Google Maps will also be integrated with Siri, Spotlight, and the Shortcuts apps directly on iOS. Once the update has been rolled out, installed, and set up, you’ll be able to ask Siri for directions using your voice. Google says this feature will start to appear “in the coming months”, with enhanced Siri search functionality being added after the initial rollout.
Google is rolling out an upgrade for Docs that could help users improve the quality of their writing.
As explained in its latest blog post, the company is adding a number of new “assistive writing features” to the word processing software, including synonym and sentence structure suggestions.
The service will also flag up any “inappropriate” language, as well as instances in which the writer would be better served by using the active rather than passive voice.
Google Docs update
In the form of the Smart Compose feature, which offers autocomplete suggestions as the user types, Google Docs has long been equipped with a measure of intelligence.
However, the company has recently ramped up efforts to introduce artificial intelligence-powered functionality to its Workspace suite, with the goal of boosting user productivity and the quality of work.
In addition to this latest update, Google recently announced that Docs is now capable of summarizing the most salient information in any document, eliminating the need to wade through lengthy reports.
Separately, an update for Google Drive allows the cloud storage service to intuit which documents a user may want to work on at which time of day, cutting the time spent hunting for specific files.
The arrival of further recommendation features for Docs is another step in the campaign to make the company’s product suite more intelligent.
“Suggestions will appear as you type and help guide you when there are opportunities to avoid repeated or unnecessary words, helping diversify your writing and ensuring you’re using the most effective word for the situation,” Google explained.
“We hope this will help elevate your writing style and make more dynamic, clear, inclusive, and concise documents.”
When the tools are active, suggestions will be underlined in purple. Selecting the underline will bring up a small pop up that prompts the user to accept or decline the change.
These suggestions will be switched on by default, but can be deactivated under the Tools menu at the top of the page.
The new Google Docs features are currently in the process of rolling out and should take effect for all premium business customers by the end of the month. The updates will not be available to Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, nor Enterprise Essentials customers.
Google has announced that its Privacy Sandbox proposal is one step closer to becoming reality as the company is preparing its next stage of trials which will focus on ads relevance and measurement.
For those unfamiliar, the search giant first unveiled its Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) plan to replace third-party browser cookies before announcing Google Topics as part of its Privacy Sandbox initiative as a replacement following backlash on the move.
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As the name suggests, Google Topics splits the web into different topics and divides users into groupings depending on their interests. Meanwhile, FLEDGE is dedicated to facilitating remarketing or showing ads on websites based on a user’s previous browsing history.
Now though, Google is moving ahead with testing its Privacy Sandbox and developers will be able to begin testing the Topics, FLEDGE and Attribution Reporting APIs in Chrome Canary.
Privacy Sandbox testing
Google plans to begin testing Topics and Fledge with a limited number of Chrome Beta users before making API testing available in the stable version of Chrome once things are working smoothly in Beta according to a new blog post.
The company also plans to begin testing its updated Privacy Sandbox settings and controls that will allow users to see and manage the interests associated with them or turn off the trials altogether.
Product director for Privacy Sandbox, Vinay Goel also provided some sample images of the settings the search giant plans to test in his blog post. In the Privacy Sandbox Beta menu, users will be able to toggle the trials on or off as well as customize their choices for Browser-based ad personalization, Ad measurement and Spam & fraud reduction. Here they’ll be able to remove interests from Topics and edit the list of sites that Privacy Sandbox users to infer their interests.
While Chrome users in the US will be opted in to the latest Privacy Sandbox trials, those in the EU will have to opt in by changing the position of the toggle in settings. This is due to GDPR and other data protection laws that apply to Europeans.
We’ll likely hear more from Google once its initial trials are complete and the company expands them to the stable version of Chrome.
Some of the upgrades are small, like the ability to react with emojis during video meetings, but others could have a major impact on the way in which workers collaborate on shared documents, presentations and spreadsheets.
Most significantly, Google says it will integrate Meet directly into Docs, Sheets and Slides in the coming weeks, which will allow Google Workspace users to quickly spin up a meeting when collaborating on a project. Unlike traditional screen-sharing, video feeds will be housed within a dedicated sidebar, positioned alongside the content the team is working on.
Google Workspace for hybrid working
Since the birth of G Suite in 2006, Google has competed directly with Microsoft in the office software space, going up against the famous Microsoft 365 suite, which houses the likes of Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc.
One of the defining features of Microsoft’s offering is tight integration between apps and services, extending all the way out to the Windows operating system on which most business computers run. And although Google stole the march on Microsoft when it came to the cloud-based model, individual G Suite apps have historically felt much more isolated.
When Google rebranded its productivity suite as Workspace in 2020, however, the company announced it would make a concerted effort to create a more “deeply integrated user experience”, by improving the level of interoperability between its various productivity apps.
Google Meet will soon be integrated directly into Docs, Slides and Sheets. (Image credit: Google)
The latest round of Google Workspace updates take strides towards achieving this goal, capitalizing on the full breadth of the suite to create functionality that should help workers improve their productivity in a hybrid working setting.
In addition to new synergies with Workspace office software, Google Meet will also receive a new picture-in-picture mode next month, which will allow Chrome users to bring up a floating meeting window that sits on top of other browser tabs.
And from a security perspective, Google is set to launch client-side encryption for Meet calls in May, with optional end-to-end encryption to follow by the end of the year, bringing the service on-par with Teams and Zoom.
To support asynchronous collaboration, meanwhile, Google is preparing a number of updates for its Spaces messaging platform. Most notably, the company is improving the search functionality to help users surface the most relevant conversations and rolling out Slack-like inline message threading, which is apparently a highly requested upgrade.
(Image credit: Google)
“One of the hopeful signs of a return to normalcy is seeing many of our customers make plans to come back into their offices. And they’re asking for strategies that will make hybrid work a more equitable and productive experience for everyone. We’re also beginning our own transition to hybrid work in early April,” said Google.
“As we gear up for that, it feels like a time of optimism for new ways of working together and the potential for hybrid models to become the sustainable norm. When designed well, a hybrid model gives employees the flexibility to deliver their best from anywhere, while bringing them together thoughtfully for the power of in-person collaboration.”
Some of the upgrades are small, like the ability to react with emojis during video meetings, but others could have a major impact on the way in which workers collaborate on shared documents, presentations and spreadsheets.
Most significantly, Google says it will integrate Meet directly into Docs, Sheets and Slides in the coming weeks, which will allow Google Workspace users to quickly spin up a meeting when collaborating on a project. Unlike traditional screen-sharing, video feeds will be housed within a dedicated sidebar, positioned alongside the content the team is working on.
Google Workspace for hybrid working
Since the birth of G Suite in 2006, Google has competed directly with Microsoft in the office software space, going up against the famous Microsoft 365 suite, which houses the likes of Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc.
One of the defining features of Microsoft’s offering is tight integration between apps and services, extending all the way out to the Windows operating system on which most business computers run. And although Google stole the march on Microsoft when it came to the cloud-based model, individual G Suite apps have historically felt much more isolated.
When Google rebranded its productivity suite as Workspace in 2020, however, the company announced it would make a concerted effort to create a more “deeply integrated user experience”, by improving the level of interoperability between its various productivity apps.
Google Meet will soon be integrated directly into Docs, Slides and Sheets. (Image credit: Google)
The latest round of Google Workspace updates take strides towards achieving this goal, capitalizing on the full breadth of the suite to create functionality that should help workers improve their productivity in a hybrid working setting.
In addition to new synergies with Workspace office software, Google Meet will also receive a new picture-in-picture mode next month, which will allow Chrome users to bring up a floating meeting window that sits on top of other browser tabs.
And from a security perspective, Google is set to launch client-side encryption for Meet calls in May, with optional end-to-end encryption to follow by the end of the year, bringing the service on-par with Teams and Zoom.
To support asynchronous collaboration, meanwhile, Google is preparing a number of updates for its Spaces messaging platform. Most notably, the company is improving the search functionality to help users surface the most relevant conversations and rolling out Slack-like inline message threading, which is apparently a highly requested upgrade.
(Image credit: Google)
“One of the hopeful signs of a return to normalcy is seeing many of our customers make plans to come back into their offices. And they’re asking for strategies that will make hybrid work a more equitable and productive experience for everyone. We’re also beginning our own transition to hybrid work in early April,” said Google.
“As we gear up for that, it feels like a time of optimism for new ways of working together and the potential for hybrid models to become the sustainable norm. When designed well, a hybrid model gives employees the flexibility to deliver their best from anywhere, while bringing them together thoughtfully for the power of in-person collaboration.”
Google Chrome has been updated to version 100, bringing with it bug fixes, the removal of lite mode, and most of all, a new icon.
In the 14 years since the web browser was released, Chrome has become an app that many use for anything else other than browsing the web. Partly thanks to the Chrome Web Store, you can play games, complete your school report and watch Moon Knight all without checking a web page.
Google has made a fun look back on 100 web moments since 2008's arrival of Chrome, but while this is a fun read, the more pressing matter is the new icon that version 100 brings.
It made me want to look back on another logo change from Instagram, and how its change in 2013 was so major.
An iconic icon
(Image credit: Elvin – Twitter)
Logos need to match the style of the time, and one example was when iOS 7 arrived in 2013. The design changed from skeuomorphism, which is a way of reflecting real-world objects, to a flat design that you use today on your Apple device.
This meant that the majority of apps had to change to fit this style, otherwise they would stick out sorely. The most prevalent for me was Instagram, which could have changed its logo from a camera to something that reflected part of the camera in a flat design. But instead, there was a change that set it apart from the other social platform apps at the time.
(Image credit: Instagram)
While the revamped logo reflects a camera, the colors were striking at the time, and still are today. When Instagram was celebrating its birthday in 2020, it added an easter egg to its app to bring back the classic icon.
Very smart Instagram. pic.twitter.com/6Wicd0JUWGOctober 6, 2020
See more
Oddly, the old icon fit in the world of iOS 14, so it was a shame to see it go in quick succession soon after.
But Google's efforts with Chrome's icon have been progressive. From something that looked like an evil Pokéball in 2008, to one that looks pseudo 3D for version 100.
But as tastes and trends change in technology, we may see a cross between skeuomorphism and flat design converge, with another major icon change by the end of this decade. And for me, I'm all for it.
Google Chrome has been updated to version 100, bringing with it bug fixes, the removal of lite mode, and most of all, a new icon.
In the 14 years since the web browser was released, Chrome has become an app that many use for anything else other than browsing the web. Partly thanks to the Chrome Web Store, you can play games, complete your school report and watch Moon Knight all without checking a web page.
Google has made a fun look back on 100 web moments since 2008's arrival of Chrome, but while this is a fun read, the more pressing matter is the new icon that version 100 brings.
It made me want to look back on another logo change from Instagram, and how its change in 2013 was so major.
An iconic icon
(Image credit: Elvin – Twitter)
Logos need to match the style of the time, and one example was when iOS 7 arrived in 2013. The design changed from skeuomorphism, which is a way of reflecting real-world objects, to a flat design that you use today on your Apple device.
This meant that the majority of apps had to change to fit this style, otherwise they would stick out sorely. The most prevalent for me was Instagram, which could have changed its logo from a camera to something that reflected part of the camera in a flat design. But instead, there was a change that set it apart from the other social platform apps at the time.
(Image credit: Instagram)
While the revamped logo reflects a camera, the colors were striking at the time, and still are today. When Instagram was celebrating its birthday in 2020, it added an easter egg to its app to bring back the classic icon.
Very smart Instagram. pic.twitter.com/6Wicd0JUWGOctober 6, 2020
See more
Oddly, the old icon fit in the world of iOS 14, so it was a shame to see it go in quick succession soon after.
But Google's efforts with Chrome's icon have been progressive. From something that looked like an evil Pokéball in 2008, to one that looks pseudo 3D for version 100.
But as tastes and trends change in technology, we may see a cross between skeuomorphism and flat design converge, with another major icon change by the end of this decade. And for me, I'm all for it.
Booking appointments in Google Calendar just got even easier as Google is now rolling out a new appointment scheduling feature to its calendar app.
First introduced for paid Google Workspace users last June, the company's appointment scheduling feature allows users to share their availability through a booking page.
This booking page can be used by external stakeholders, clients, partners and others to schedule time to meet in-person or over video through Google Meet.
Creating a bookable appointment schedule in Google Calendar is just as easy as setting up a new event or task and on desktop, it can be done by clicking the plus icon. However, you will need a paid Google Workspace Individual account to test out this feature for yourself.
Appointment scheduling vs appointment slot
While Google Calendar's appointment scheduling may sound similar to its existing appointment slot feature, they have entirely different use cases.
The appointment slot feature in Google Calendar is intended for internal use cases where you don't know who needs to meet with you but want to make yourself available. For instance, professors can use it to hold their office hours while an IT department can make itself available for employees experiencing computer issues.
Appointment scheduling on the other hand is suited for external use cases and allows for people outside of your organization, including those who don't have a Google account, to schedule meetings. However, you won't have to worry about double bookings or rescheduling appointments as the feature also supports automatic conflict detection with existing Google Calendar events.
Now that businesses have begun implementing hybrid work policies, this additional flexibility makes it easier to schedule meetings and share your availability in a way that works for everyone.
In the mid-2000s, Google was known for announcing joke software for April Fools Day that we all knew wouldn't ever be made. So, when its new web browser, Google Chrome first arrived in September 2008, users had thought that the company had delayed the joke by a few months.
However, since its arrival, Chrome has seen many changes and revamps, to the point where it's the most-used web browser in the world. It's now also been made available on smartphones and tablets, further changing how we browse the web.
Google is now about to launch version 100, and as it's close to April 1, we wouldn't be surprised if there's a major new feature or two coming to the update, perhaps as a hint to its April Fool gags of yore, or to tie in with Google Mail's launch, which actually launched on April 1 2004.
With this in mind, we tracked down version 1.0 of Google Chrome and tried it in Windows 11 to see how it handles modern websites… or if it is even usable.
Using Google Chrome 1.0 in 2022
(Image credit: TechRadar)
The internet of 2008 was very different compared to what we use in 2022. It was a year when Apple's App Store launched alongside the iPhone 3G, and we were all still trying to get used to browsing the web on our smartphones.
Trying to play a 4K video on YouTube back then would have been an impossible task, and streaming Banjo Kazooie on Game Pass through Chrome would have been as likely as seeing Mario come to the Steam Deck in a sequel to Half Life.
After finding version 1.0.154 of Chrome, released on December 11 2008, we installed it and saw the familiar layout of the web browser, but in a shade of light blue that seemed to be a constant presence in these early versions. Tabs were still relatively new at the time, with Mozilla's Firefox, and Apple's Safari having had the feature for only a few years at the time.
But, it defined Chrome, encouraging you to press the '+' button to open multiple tabs for the sites you wanted to visit.
But this is where the troubles began for us.
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As the above screenshots show, loading up our Apple Studio review brought up the text, but it was the only aspect we could decipher. Chrome 1.0 couldn't render the photos or any sections correctly. Some would load up, but they would be stretched to the point that they would be pixelated. We thought we'd go to YouTube to see how this would fare, and not only did it show the mobile version, but nothing was displaying correctly anyway; only YouTube's logo.
There were other times when we would visit other sites, and we would receive a pop-up saying 'You're using an old version, please upgrade your browser.' Ignoring this would try to display the website in question regardless, but none of them worked. Ironically, searching for trees in Google was the one website that did show correctly, albeit in its mobile version.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Looking around Chrome 1.0.154's features, it's as barebones as you would expect for a web browser that was officially two months old at the time. There's a Preferences section, but nothing in the way of themes and web extensions that today's web browsers offer.
The idea of doing some work in this version of Chrome through Google Docs or Apple's Pages is impossible – this was an era of the internet where you'd be browsing the web to be rid of boredom or to find the answer to something.
While it was a short-lived trip using one of the first versions of Google Chrome, it's at least showed us how far Chrome – and the internet itself – has come.
In 2022, playing Sea of Thieves or watching the upcoming Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi in 4K, is seen as a normal task in Chrome. After 100 versions and almost 14 years of Chrome, it only makes us wonder as to what version 200 could bring, and the devices we'll be browsing the web on then.
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