Google is bucking the trend of expensive flagship smartphones with its new Pixel 3a phone that debuted at Google I/O this morning.
The new Pixel 3a looks a lot like the Pixel 3 that debuted last year. It has some of the Pixel 3’s best features, like its fantastic camera, only its made with the budget-conscious consumer in mind.
Google debuted its big Android Q update that will arrive on phones later this year. The company has a bunch of new features that focus on accessibility and privacy. There are also some new navigation gestures and it looks like they’ve been stolen straight from the iPhone’s UI.
Google brought its wireless phone service, Google Fi, to iPhone late last year. Now it’s given it an update — bringing Visual Voicemail to the iOS app for the first time.
That means that you can get information on the caller, call date, call length and preview of the transcribed message inside the app. This interface easily allows you to expand the preview to read the full message or hear the audio.
Everyone who uses Google services, whether on iPhone or Android, will soon be able to have some of the data being collected about them automatically erased after a span of time.
It’s already possible to order Google to erase everything it stores about your search history, but this new feature will allow for on-going deletion.
Google’s rival to Apple Health just made the hop across platforms. Google Fit can now be installed on an iPhone, making it easier to participate in challenges with Android users.
Even better, the software can connect with the Health app to pull data from an Apple Watch.
Spotify’s efforts to avoid paying higher rates is giving Apple Music a big advantage, according to a new report.
Apple is the only major music streaming company that isn’t appealing a decision to increase the rate paid to songwriters. As a result, Apple Music is getting all the love on social media.
One of Google’s top AI experts has left the company to join Apple’s special projects group.
Ian Goodfellow, who created an AI approach called general adversarial networks (GANs), was hired by Apple as a director of machine learning, adding another prominent Google AI expert to its growing team.
Microsoft has banned employees from participating in April Fools’ Day pranks.
The stunts “have limited positive impact and can actually result in unwanted news cycles,” an internal memo explains. This comes just days after Microsoft resurrected Clippy, the famous Office assistant, only to remove it a day later.
Cardhop, the polished contact management app for Mac from the makers of Fantastical, has finally made the leap to iOS.
The app makes it easier than ever to find contacts and, more importantly, keep your contact lists in order. It looks great, is incredibly fast, and works with all of your existing contacts on iOS.
Some macOS users are unable to sign into Gmail inside the Mail app after installing Apple’s most recent update.
The version 10.14.4 release, rolled out on Monday, puts many in an endless sign-in loop when trying to sync their Google accounts. The problem affects new accounts, as well as existing accounts that were already set up in Mail before the update arrived.
Stadia will run top-tier games on Google servers and stream the video to users’ computers. This means that any device that can run the Chrome browser will have access to some of the best titles available.
iOS and macOS devices will be able to take advantage of Stadia. Chrome OS, Windows, and the Chromecast dongle will be supported as well.
It’s nearly the end of the road for Google Inbox.
A new popup that has started appearing inside the Inbox app confirms it will be closed down on April 2. Fans of the email client have just two weeks to find an alternative, but Google recommends another of its own.
Gboard has gone beyond helping you enter text. It can now be used to translate your words into a myriad of other languages on the fly.
This free add-on from Google can be used in any application where an on-screen keyboard is available.
Google Chrome now supports official Nintendo Switch controllers.
The console’s included Joy-Cons and optional Pro Controller are compatible. The surprise update comes just days before Google is expected to unveil a brand new game streaming service at GDC 2019.
Apple is one of a larger number of big companies that has been inadvertently leaking sensitive data through Box, the cloud storage service.
Security researchers found that staff were exposing data by sharing public links to files and documents that can be easily discovered. It’s thought more than 90 companies, including Box itself, are affected.
It’s not easy to give up your iPhone. Even if you’ve already decided you want to switch to another handset, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to let go. Apple has you locked in. And for some iPhone owners, there is no way out.
That’s because it’s not just your iPhone that you’d be saying goodbye to. Many other apps and services you use every day — some without even thinking about it — make switching to another platform nearly impossible.
Here are all the ways Apple makes it hard to jump ship and switch to Android.
Every major music streaming service is joining together to appeal a controversial ruling that increases payouts to songwriters. Everyone except Apple Music that is.
Spotify, Google, Pandora and Amazon have teamed up to fight the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board’s decision to increase payouts to songwriters by 44%. Apple is the only major streamer not planning to fight the ruling, causing some artists to heap praise on the iPhone-maker for its stance.
Google’s Project Zero team has discovered a “high severity” flaw in the macOS kernel.
The issue, which potentially allows attackers to perform malicious actions on a mounted filesystem, was reported to Apple more than 90 days ago. No fix has been made available yet, but Apple has acknowledged the issue and is working with Project Zero on a patch.
Apple has pulled all but one third-party SDK from Shazam in its latest update.
The move wipes out analytics firms, ad networks, open-source projects, and more — including Google AdMob, Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, and DoubleClick. Only HockeyApp, a Microsoft platform for beta testing, is still available.
Google has updated its excellent Gboard keyboard for iOS to add haptic feedback.
You will now feel subtle vibrations when you type, which help make on-screen keys feel more physical. Gboard is one of just a handful of third-party options on iOS that offer this feature.
Google is following Apple’s lead in investigating a controversial Saudi app which allowed men to follow the locations of their wife or daughters.
Tim Cook said yesterday that Apple was looking into the app to find out whether complaints made about it were accurate. Google has now told the New York Times that it plans to do the same.
With sales of iPhones plateauing, money from its Services sector is playing an increasing role in Apple’s bottom line. There’s a significant source of this type of revenue many might not expect: arch-rival Google.
As part of its advertising business, Google pays Apple a huge sum every year to stay the default search engine in the Safari web browser. And it’s expected to grow.
A U.S. senator is asking Apple and Google to pull an app in Saudi Arabia that men use to track and restrict the movements of women.
Sen. Ron Wyden wrote a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google boss Sundar Pichai asking them to “immediately remove” the app Absher, from their app stores.
We love Apple products. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be even better. In this week’s issue of Cult of Mac Magazine, you’ll get the lowdown on our pet peeves about working with the iPad and MacBook Pro.
Plus, get some killer tips for boosting your Google searches (and learn how to ad stickers to your next “megaselfie”). Read up on the rest of the week’s best Apple news, reviews and how-tos in the latest issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. It’s yours for free in the iOS app store now.
How many time have you tried to remember that site where you read that thing last week? A million, probably. And how many times have you found it? Less than a million, for sure. But did you know that you can use Google to search only sites that you have visited?
You can, and it’s awesome.