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Posts tagged "Google"

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Google Chrome steals one of the best new Edge features
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Although Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, Google has highlighted several new features in Chrome designed to make your last minute holiday shopping easier.

According to a new blog post, these features will make it easier to keep track of price drops, search for deals, manage items in your shopping cart and simplify the checkout process when using the search giant's browser on your mobile devices.

If you're waiting on a good deal for an item but don't want to constantly keep refreshing a page, Chrome for Android now allows you to see an item's updated price right in your open tabs grid. This means you can leave the page for an item you want to buy open in Google's browser and easily see when its price has dropped. While this feature is now available for Chrome on Android in the US, it will be launching on iOS in the coming weeks.

Have you ever spotted an interesting item while window shopping and wanted to learn more about it? Now you can search your surroundings with Google Lens in Chrome on Android to do just that. From the address bar of Google's browser, you can now tap on the Lens icon to start searching with your camera. It's also worth noting that this feature will soon be available in Chrome for desktop. When it launches, you'll be able to right-click on an image and select the “Search images with Google Lens” option to learn more about a product.

Shopping carts, passwords and checkout

Sometimes we add items to our shopping carts for later and lose track of them which is why Google has added a new feature to Chrome that allows you to quickly rediscover the items in your shopping carts across multiple online stores.

Beginning with Chrome on Windows and Mac in the US, users can now open up a new tab and scroll to the “Your carts” card to quickly see any site where you've previously added items to a shopping cart. At the same time, some retailers like Zazzle, iHerb, Electronic Express and Homesquare might even offer a discount when you come back to check out.

Keeping track of all the logins and passwords for various online stores can be a pain which is why you can use Chrome's built-in password manager to store and access them instead. Finally, by saving your address and payment information with Autofill, Chrome can automatically fill out your billing and shipping details to make online shopping even easier.

Whether you're already finished with all of your holiday shopping or just looking for some last-minute gifts, Chrome's new shopping features can help you make sure you've crossed off everyone on your list this year.

We've also rounded up the best shopping cart software, best ecommerce platforms and best browsers

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Google is facing a major video conferencing issue
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Google will no longer be merging its two video conferencing software products as the company has decided to prioritize Google Meet for enterprise users over Google Duo for consumers.

As reported by 9To5Google which first broke the news of a merger of the two products last year, the software giant initially set out to have a single video calling service aimed at both personal and business users. Following this decision, Google created a “unified team” to work on both its consumer and enterprise-focused video conferencing services.

The undertaking was originally billed as a merger with the code name “Duet” which 9To5Google points out is a portmanteau of Duo and Meet (Du + et). Although the combined team worked for most of last year under the impression that Duo and Meet would merge, Google's interest in building a dedicated video calling service for consumers waned.

Instead, the company shifted its focus to have Google Meet be primarily an enterprise product. This is because there was no longer a desire to build a video calling app that works equally well for consumers as it does for enterprise users.

Prioritizing Meet over Duo

Over the course of this year, Google's combined Meet/Duo team spent a majority of its time working on Meet and its enterprise features while Duo saw minimal development.

When 9To5Google reached out to the software giant regarding its upcoming plans, a company spokesperson said that there was “no change in our plans to continue investing in our consumer users”. Google also highlighted the new features added to Duo this year which include expanded tablet and foldable device support, HD screen sharing, new video effects, Google TV support,  improvements to quality and reliability and more.

The biggest change to Duo this year though was a refreshed UI that replaced the old homescreen, that showed a live feed from a smartphone's front-facing camera, with a new simplified list of a user's call history and a “New call” button. However, a similar redesign was rolled out to Meet in October of 2020 which helps make the case that Meet and not Duo was the company's main priority.

While Google says that it has a “rich roadmap next year for both consumers and business users”, the company didn't expand on whether Meet or Duo will be the service receiving new features and upgrades next year.

We've also rounded up the best video conferencing software and the best online collaboration tools

Via 9To5Google

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Google wants to help you set up a unique online store
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Google's Area 120 incubator has launched a new website builder and ecommerce platform called Qaya which is now available in beta in the US.

According to a new blog post, co-founder and GM of Qaya, Nathaniel Naddaff-Hafrey came up with the idea while working from home during the pandemic after spending time with creators who said it was difficult and time consuming to build an online business around their content.

This led to the creation of a new product called Qaya which provides web storefronts for creators that want to sell products and services directly to their audiences.

The company has a small and agile team that believes creators are the next generation of entrepreneurs. As the CEOs of their own businesses, they require the same commercial tools as any successful founder.

Building your creator businesses

Qaya first began live testing its new service in early 2021 and since that time, the company has learned a lot from the creators on its platform, their fans and other creator economy projects.

Creators on Qaya can sell everything from workout guides to photo filters, productivity templates, knitting patterns and more. The company currently supports both pay-gated and free products with new features like tipping, subscriptions and other monetization types coming soon.

By signing up for Qaya, creators can use the service as the hub for all of their business activity across the web. Many link to their storefronts from their social media bios and showcase digital products they upload or products and services hosted on other sites. The company provides all of its users with a custom yourname.channel or qaya.store/your-name domain with payment functionality built-in.

At the same time though, Qaya has also developed customer management and analytics tools that creators can use to connect with their fans and understand sales and content performance. The company has also started to integrate with other Google products including YouTube's Merch Shelf and eligible YouTube creators can now promote products from Qaya directly below videos on their YouTube channels.

Qaya is currently in beta in the US though the company hopes to expand to other countries soon.

We've also highlighted the best web hosting, best ecommerce hosting and best website builder

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Google Calendar update will prevent disastrous scheduling mishaps
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Keeping your work and personal lives seperate should soon be easier than ever thanks to a new update to Google Calendar on mobile.

The company has revealed it will be adding account profile pictures in the top corner of Google Calendar on mobile, whether you're on Android or iOS. 

This should mean that users are able to quickly and easily spot  which account you’re currently using and easily toggle between accounts – and hopefully not spam your work calendar with birthday parties and hospital appointments.

Google Calendar accounts

In a blog post announcing the update, Google said the change should also make it easier to work out which account you're using when creating an event – and you can switch easily by clicking the profile picture displayed, much like in other Google apps.

It adds that users will still be able to see events for all accounts you’re logged into in your calendar, as well as still seeing events in any other calendar account you may have added.

Your active account will always be listed at the top of the accounts in the overflow menu, hopefully minimizing any possible confusion.

Google calendar switch between accounts

(Image credit: Google)

The update is rolling out now to iOS and Android users, with all Google Workspace customers, G Suite Basic and Business customers, and users with personal Google Accounts able to download.

The news is the latest update to Google Calendar as the company looks to help employees embracing hybrid working that are splitting their time between the office and home.

Recently, it revealed a tool that means Gmail users will now be able to specify whether they will be attending a meeting either virtually or in-person in their email RSVP.

The news comes shortly after the launch of a new “Focus time” feature in Google Calendar that will allow users to block out periods of time where they can avoid meetings and get their heads down for actual work.

Setting such a marker in your Google Calendar will also allow users to automatically decline meetings, meaning no last-minute rush to finish off work.

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Google Calendar update will stop people clogging your day with needless meetings
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Google is rolling out improvements for its calendar app that should help people better manage their busy schedules.

As described in a blog post, Google Calendar users will soon benefit from the ability to prevent unwanted invitations from being added to their calendar.

Under the updated system, users can choose for meetings and other events to be added to their calendar only after they have responded to the email invitation. The effect, says Google, is a less cluttered calendar interface and less time spent on administration.

The new Google Calendar feature should go live for all Workspace users (both business and personal) within the next two weeks.

Google Calendar invitations

Since the transition to remote and hybrid working, many more meetings have taken place over video conferencing and VoIP services. Managers have also been encouraged to check in more frequently with employees, in the absence of a quick chat or coffee break at the office.

All of this means a larger volume of meetings and more unwieldy calendars, which is somewhat of a nightmare for anyone who already spent more than their fair share of time in meetings before the pandemic.

With this latest update, however, Google Workspace users will be able to manage their calendars more effectively with less manual effort, as well as highlighting the events and meetings most important to them.

Of course, the ability to divert invitations doesn’t address endemic problems with meetings culture in this new world of hybrid working, but it will at least go some way to alleviating the symptoms.

To activate or deactivate the new feature, use the following pathway in the Google Calendar web app: Settings > Event settings > Add invitations to my calendar.

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Google Chrome gets a speed boost for Windows 11 (and Windows 10)
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Google has tweaked its popular Chrome browser, making it perform faster in both Windows 11 and Windows 10.

While Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world by quite a margin, it’s also notorious for hogging system resources, especially memory, which can result in it running poorly.

Google is understandably keen to address these issues, and as Windows Latest reports, Google has been working on a project known as Native Window Occlusion, which aims to reduce the strain tabs you’re not looking at put on your PC. If a window or tab isn’t visible – for example if the window is minimized, or there’s another window open in front of it – the tabs in the window will be put into a state that takes up a minimum of system memory and resources, freeing up your PC to concentrate on the tabs that are visible.

Google has been working on this project for three years, and it’s now rolling it out to Windows 10 and Windows 11 users.

Promising results

According to Google’s blog post on the improvements, Chrome is now 25.8% faster on startup, and GPU memory usage has dropped by 3.1%. This has led to 20.4% fewer renderer frames and rendered crashes have also been reduced, this time by 4.5%.

By focusing resources on foreground windows, there’s now a 3% improvement in first input delay. Basically, Chrome now behaves faster and feels more responsive, especially when you first open it up on your PC.

The results are certainly promising, and hopefully Chrome users on Windows 11 or Windows 10 will see the benefits soon.

Calm female executive meditating in front of a laptop

(Image credit: fizkes / Shutterstock)

Analysis: Getting better

These improvements from Google are very welcome. Many of us use Chrome every day, but it’s increasingly becoming an app we begrudgingly use due to the fact that it hogs so many resources, slowing down even the most powerful of PCs.

By continuing to improve Chrome’s performance, Google could make this a browser people love to use once more. Microsoft has also been working on improving Chromium-based browsers, including Chrome, to help speed up its own Chromium-based Edge web browser.

With both Microsoft and Google working on improvements, Chrome may no longer be the notorious RAM eater it used to be.

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Google takes aim at Microsoft 365 with small but important update
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Google is taking the fight to Microsoft with an update for Workspace that introduces new synergies between its productivity and collaboration apps.

As detailed in a new blog post, Google Workspace users will soon be able to launch into various applications easily from within messaging platform Chat.

“While you’re having a conversation in Google Chat, you can now more easily take actions in other Google Workspace products. The options vary by context, and can include Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Photos and Calendar,” explained Google.

“This will make it easier to take action across Google Workspace and enable a faster and more seamless workflow.”

The update will begin to take effect for Android and desktop users over the next couple of weeks, but won’t land on iOS until the new year.

Google Workspace update

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 devices 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 last year, 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.

The latest Workspace update takes steps towards achieving this goal, but is just one of a number of improvements Google has made in recent months where interoperability is concerned.

In June, for example, the company announced an integration between Chat and Calendar, which helps users connect quickly with co-workers ahead of or after an upcoming meeting. This was later followed by a separate integration that allows users to share documents and messages with meeting attendees from within the calendar marker.

At its annual Cloud Next event, meanwhile, Google announced it will invest heavily in the Workspace Marketplace, the third-party app library that services its product suite. The goal is to create ways to expand the functionality of its services and cut the number of apps workers are required to juggle at once.

While these updates might appear insignificant in isolation, each contributes to the goal of stitching together Google Workspace in a way that will make the user experience feel less disjointed and more coherent.

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Android games are coming to Windows 11 with Google Play
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The Game Awards, hosted by Geoff Keighley, wrapped up last night, and it came with a fair share of surprises.

Google was one of many companies to appear, announcing that Android apps from the Google Play Games store are coming to both Windows 11 and Windows 10 in 2022.

This is an effort being made by Google itself. While Microsoft has an agreement with Amazon to host Android apps from the Amazon App Store on the redesigned Microsoft Store in Windows 11, this is a different approach from Google.

This will be its own app, enabling users with a Google Play account to download their Android games without having to purchase them again. They can also resume where they left off in a game on their Windows device.

How will the app work?

Google was light on the details during The Game Awards, but the company did explain to The Verge that this will be available in Windows 10 and above.

If you’re playing a game on your Pixel 6 Pro for example, and you decide to switch to your Windows device, you can carry on your progress through this new app from Google.

“Starting in 2022, players will be able to experience their favorite Google Play games on more devices: seamlessly switching between a phone, tablet, Chromebook, and soon, Windows PCs,” Greg Hartrell, Product Director of Games on Android and Google Play explained in a statement. “This Google-built product brings the best of Google Play Games to more laptops and desktops, and we are thrilled to expand our platform for players to enjoy their favorite Android games even more. We’ll have more to share soon!”

It’s a surprising move, but one that’s always seemed inevitable ever since the Amazon App Store was announced to be coming to the Microsoft Store in Windows 11.

Analysis: It’s happening sooner than we expected

We have said before that it would be a matter of time before Google would be interested in bringing Android apps to Windows, but it’s much sooner than we were expecting from the company.

Granted, this is just games from the Google Play Store for now, but it could be the start of other categories of apps eventually arriving on Windows.

With Amazon apps already in testing on the Windows Insider developer channel, where you can test out features in development for Windows, it did seem that Google was the odd one out in this partnership. There were already unofficial efforts where you could run your Android apps in Windows 11.

Google Play Games could make an impact on Windows, but that depends on whether the most popular games will be available. On the Google Play Store, games such as Candy Crush, Coin Master, and Monopoly constantly appear on the charts, so it’ll be important to see these arrive in this new app for Windows.

It won’t be a stretch to see games such as Minecraft appear on the app as well, as it’s owned by Microsoft, but it does depend on whether developers want their games to appear on the app as well.

As with other storefronts that users can visit on their Windows devices, such as Steam and Epic Games Store, it may be a challenge to showcase to users what the benefits of having Google Play Games on Windows will be. Some may think it is just another store that will clog up their PC.

However, being able to resume your progress in Candy Crush may be a tempting feature for some. This effort could encourage Google to not only bring more games to this app but other categories from the Google Play Store in time as well.

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Google Docs is finally solving this major editing pain
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Google is currently working on a new update for its office software that will make customizing tables in Google Docs more intuitive and easier to do.

While Google Workspace includes its own spreadsheet software in Sheets, many people prefer to use Docs to add inline tables to their documents.

According to a new post in the Google Workspace blog, the search giant is adding several new ways to customize tables in Google Docs to give users more ways to present information to their readers. 

This new update is rolling out now and will be available to all Google Workspace customers as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers and even those with personal Google Accounts.

Customizing and editing tables in Docs

First off, Google is adding a new sidebar to Docs to make it easier for users to manage a table's rows, columns, alignment and other properties. Just like when editing an image in Docs, all of these edits are “reflected in your document in real time”.

At the same time, the company is adding a new, intuitive button for creating new rows or columns in a table that will appear as an overlay as you hover over a table in Docs.

When it comes to pages, Google Docs users can now pin a table header row to repeat on each page to make it easier to see column headers for long tables while navigating a document as well as designate that a row should not be split across pages.

Finally, Google is making it possible to sort the rows of a table in either an ascending or descending order. However, any pinned table headers will still remain at the top of your tables.

Now that Google is making it easier to use tables in Docs, we'll likely see more users incorporating them into their documents to present information as opposed to linking to a separate spreadsheet in Sheets.

We've also rounded up the best free office software and best online collaboration tools

Via 9To5Google

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