Android P: Features to Look Forward To
Fans of Android mobile devices look forward to each new version of Google’s operating system as it shows off new features. Aside from being easier and more efficient for developers to create applications on it, there are some improvements for consumers to look forward to when they update or buy a device that runs the new Android P. App Actions and Slices App Actions aim to anticipate the next thing you may do on your smartphone. Actions such as beginning a workout or giving your spouse a call will appear in notification bubbles on top of the screen as suggestions for what activity it thinks you will do next. It uses machine learning techniques to predict your actions according to your usage habits. For example, if you go jogging at 7:30 am each day, your phone will suggest that you use an installed fitness app during that time. Slices offer a smaller version of an installed app when you do a Google Search, providing you with various app functions without activating the full app. For example, if you type “I want to book a flight” in the search bar, Search will display a basic version of an installed travel app. If you type “Philippines” in the search bar, Google Search will dig through your Google Photos for related images. These functions will not work if the developers do not implement them on your favorite apps. App Timers and Android Dashboard Android P comes equipped with App Timers which help you control how long you use certain apps (especially games and social media) so that it reduces the compulsive need to check the phone often. Once the time limit expires on an app, it changes the launcher icon to a grey color for the rest of the day. In line with App Timers, the Android Dashboard shows you how long you’ve been using your phone to help you with your “digital well-being.” It keeps track of the apps you often use, how many notifications you get, and how many times you unlock the device during the day. Android Shush and other silent modes Android P adds a new “do not disturb” mode in the device known as Shush. Place your phone on a flat surface with the screen down. Only notifications and calls from contacts that you specify will show on-screen. Another way to activate this feature is to push the power and volume up buttons simultaneously. There is a setting that lets you choose between placing your device in “vibrate” mode or keeping the phone quiet. Android P also introduces Wind Down, a “do not disturb” mode that turns on a night light in dark areas. Once the device detects that it’s time for bed, Wind Down forces the screen to enter a gray-scale mode while silencing notifications and phone calls. Battery-saving features Adaptive Brightness learns the apps you use and the level of light in your current location. This makes sure that the screen is not too dim or bright at all times, helping the battery last longer. Adaptive battery uses artificial intelligence to anticipate what apps you may use in the next hour and those you will not. This should save processing power as well as battery power as the CPU of the device will not be used often. App Standby Buckets groups installed apps into which ones you use more and cleverly sets aside battery power for them. This will basically cut down on device resources like the battery and the CPU according to your usage patterns. If you need more information on how the latest version of Android and its functionalities can fit into your workplace, give us a call today! Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Highlights from Google I/O 2018
The Google I/O event brings major executives, engineers, and platform developers together to talk about the latest features and developments. This year’s conference just ended, and it looks like consumers have plenty to look forward to. What happened at Google I/O 2018? While the primary focus of the Google I/O conference was on the developers, every tech enthusiast in the audience had the opportunity to see what the future holds for their favorite Google products and the upcoming Android P. This year’s developer conference focused on software and new mobile technologies that will be released later in the year. Machine learning and artificial intelligence The keynote was kicked off by CEO Sundar Pichai, who talked about Google’s mission and how it is linked to AI. He stated that AI will help industries like healthcare predict certain events. Pichai also stated that machine learning will play a major role in enhancing closed captioning’s ability to figure out who is talking when there are multiple people speaking on-screen. However, tech enthusiasts were extremely excited when the Google CEO announced the following features and upgrades: Google Assistant will soon get 6 new voices, including one from singer and songwriter John Legend. Users will only need to say “Hey Google” to start a conversation with the product, instead of each time it is addressed. Google Assistant can now process more than one request at a time, and it can make phone calls to book reservations and appointments for the user with a feature called ‘Duplex.’ Google Maps can now suggest restaurants and other noteworthy locations for the user, differentiate between car and motorbike routes, and add businesses to the map by combining satellite images and AI. Augmented reality will be integrated into Street View so that users can easily track the direction they are facing or heading toward. Google News will display its top five stories as soon as the app opens. Advanced AI will push stories that it thinks are relevant to the user. Google Photos will have the Suggested Actions feature which offers to add color to images that are black and white, convert documents to PDF, tweak the brightness on underexposed photos, and instantly share images with the people who are in the picture. Gmail will get the Smart Compose feature that will utilize machine learning to suggest phrases when writing an email. Public beta of Android P The test version of Android P is currently available on Oppo, Sony, Mi, OnePlus, Essential Phone and Google Pixel handsets. The search engine giant announced that they will release the first retail version around summer this year. Beta testers enjoyed the refreshing look of Android P, where most interactions such as switching between apps were done by gestures. A new Dashboard feature shows how long the user has been on the device, including the number of notifications received, how many times the phone was unlocked, and the time spent in a particular app. Users will also be able to set a time limit if they want to stop themselves from habitually staring at their phones. Availability of Google Lens In last year’s event, Google announced AI-powered technology called Google Lens which uses a mix of machine learning and the smartphone’s camera to detect a specific object, know what the object is, and provide results based on what it knows about the object. At the time, this feature was available only in Google Pixel phones, but the search engine giant announced that more smartphones will soon have this feature built in. Google continues to innovate and improve on its products, and we are here to help you make sense of all the tech so you can adapt it to your lifestyle. Get in touch with us today so we can discuss this tech and how you can benefit from it. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Setting up your G Suite activity dashboard
G Suite users can finally see which of their colleagues viewed a document on the new activity dashboard, along with a time and date. It functions as an added collaboration tool in Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets showing every file comment, change, or suggested edit. Here are two ways to properly configure it. Allow display views inside and outside your business Your activity dashboard typically allows only internal collaboration without any access to other details. As long as your G Suite administrator enabled view history, you can determine which of your teammates has read your shared Google documents. The tech giant takes this feature a step further by allowing you to view when people outside the office opened your files. For this to work, you have to… Open Google Slides, Docs, or Sheets Select Share Type in the email address of the person outside your business To ensure security, you can only see the view history for people outside your business with whom you explicitly shared the file. This means you don’t have access to external viewers if you chose to share files via Public on the web or Anyone with the link. Do keep in mind that view history is available only once you received an initial notice from your administrator and had the chance to edit privacy settings. Limit activity dashboard view monitoring If you’re using the most updated version of G Suite with the activity dashboard, your administrator can change the settings by: Logging in to in the Admin console where you’ll be redirected to the Apps section In the Apps section, press G Suite option In the G Suite option, select Drive and Docs Once there, click on Activity dashboard settings Within the settings, you can adjust the Access to Activity dashboard to determine whether or not users can see the activity dashboard. You can also modify Users’ view history if you want to monitor only files and accounts in your business, all user views, or none at all. If you’re unable to decide, we suggest allowing people to have access to the activity dashboard and enabling view tracking for all users. Google constantly adds new features to their G Suite platform, so stay in touch with us to know how you can use them to boost business operations and productivity. Give us a call today and we’ll introduce you to a suite of Google tools that can take you another step toward achieving your business goals. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Google Assistant: New features unveiled
At this year’s South By Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Google created a Google Assistant Fun House to display the many features of its AI assistant platform. Apart from the basic tasks it can perform on a smarthome, Google wanted to flaunt some of its unique uses, including a beer vending system and a sock sorter. But that’s not all that’s new with Assistant. Voice-powered motive You might think that the whole point of this spectacle is to show off their caliber as the world’s premier tech leader, but these geniuses actually have a plan brewing. They upgraded their Google Assistant primarily for developers and device makers who want to integrate voice commands onto their products. Brad Abrams, group product manager for Google Assistant platform, says their mission with this particular technology is to help people get their tasks done with the help of third-party devices and services. They wanted to start by making the syntax commands easy, so you can say “Hey Google, make me an Espresso.” instead of “Hey Google, ask [coffee machine brand] to make me an Espresso.” He explains that the digital world is advancing to a realm of ambient computing wherein your commands to Google are picked up by the nearest devices and executed by the most suitable one. Nagging commands Google Assistant already has the ability to notify users regarding daily news, traffic, and weather updates. This time around, the tech giant added more subscriptions, including daily fashion advice, horoscopes, factoids, and important events. Hearst Magazine is the first to offer the additional notifications, which they believe has increased user engagement. Audio choices (besides music) Google users who wanted to hear more natural sounds, like a crackling fireplace or heavy rain, could previously only listen to audio snippets with playback limits from third-party actions. Now, they can replay, resume, pause, and listen indefinitely. This is particularly beneficial for users who listen to news briefs, enjoy calming sounds, or meditate. Out of these new upgrades, none will have a huge effect on their own, yet together they could make Google Assistant more responsive to hardware brands and partners. These fun and unique Google Assistant features reflect the creativity this tech company always brings to the industry. Interested in spicing up your office space, too? Contact us today and we’ll discuss how you can take advantage of this feature-rich, voice-powered tech. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Google Introduces New Features for February
As the patience and attention span of web users decline, a minor flaw in a website can make or break a business. People want to be impressed the moment they load a website, and that rarely happens in the presence of annoying ads and videos. Google recognizes this, and has upgraded the Chrome browser accordingly. Ad Blocking Android users will be pleased to hear that the newly updated Google Chrome comes with an ad blocking feature. Gone are the days when they have to manually close pop-ups, because Chrome will now automatically stop sites from opening new tabs or windows without users’ permission. This won’t necessarily block all ads, but it should improve your internet browsing experience. Meanwhile, Chrome will begin restricting certain ads: sticky ads (which remain in the same position even as you scroll), and ads that go over a particular size limit. Moreover, they won’t block static inline photo ads that show up in between two paragraphs in an article. All in all, this feature will prevent nine kinds of ads out of 55 potential ones. Muting Autoplay Videos In line with the ad blocking feature, Google has also decided to prevent sites from automatically playing video ads whenever a page loads. You can usually find these types of ads in between paragraphs when reading through an article in the site. This time around, Chrome won’t block video ads, but it will keep them on mute. This way, users can still continue reading the article without any unnecessary background noise. Marking HTTP Sites as Unsecured This particular feature should get the attention of small- and medium-sized businesses, as it will affect them personally. Google warns all sites without HTTPS protocol that they will be marked as “not secure” come July. They want to emphasize the importance of HTTPS encryption for web security, stating that it keeps the channel safe between your browser and the site you’re visiting. This guarantees that someone in the middle won’t spy on browsing activity or interfere with traffic. At the moment, these users can already see a “Secure” sign and a green lock icon on HTTPS-encrypted pages. By July, Chrome’s address bar will be notifying those who enter HTTP sites that they are in an unsecured page. Staying ahead of Google’s constant updates can be tiring. In the end, you have to realize that these improvements are often in the best interests of your customers and web users in general. If you need a little help with the IT side of things — give us a call today! Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Take Google Search to the next level
Google has become so popular that its name is actually a verb in the dictionary. Despite people using Google every day, many don’t know that the search engine’s simple-looking interface is chock full of features that’ll help you find information faster. Include and exclude keywords Google will understand most of the search terms you type into it. However, at times the search engine will match only some of the words you typed, showing limited results. To avoid this, just point out which keywords are the most important by adding a plus symbol (+) in front of words you would like Google to include in the search results. And if the results you’re looking for get pushed off the page by similar yet irrelevant articles, adding a minus symbol (-) in front of keywords you don’t want to see will avoid them popping up in the first place. For example, “+cloud services -hybrid cloud” will provide search results about different cloud services while excluding results related to hybrid cloud. Additionally, searching a phrase within double quotation marks guarantees to retrieve results that include only the exact phrase that matches your query. Do a website search Ever need to look for information from a specific website? Instead of visiting that website and sifting through different pages, Google makes it a breeze by allowing you to add “site:url” to the end of your search query. For example, if you want to find what Forbes has written about security, simply head to Google’s homepage and type “security site:www.forbes.com.” This makes sure Google includes only pages from Forbes that are about security in your search results. You can also limit search results to university and government websites by adding “site:.edu” or “site:.gov” to your search query. Combining this with the keyword manipulation trick above will narrow your search even more. Search by time period Google has been indexing the web for decades in order to add web pages into its database. Because of that, it could be quite time-consuming sifting through countless search results to find an old website or page, or even recent stories, too. Time period search minimizes this headache by allowing you to specify a date range so you can find recent stories or archived news faster. Just run a search like you normally would. Then click on Tools under the search box and hit the Any time drop-down menu. From there, you can choose the time period parameter, such as past month or past week, or fill in an exact time period. Use Google to locate files While Google mainly focuses on indexing web pages, it also indexes publicly available files like PDFs and spreadsheets. To look for them, just type in “filetype:” after your search query. For example, typing “report filetype:pdf” will provide PDFs with “report” in the title. Advance your search Advanced Search can be accessed by clicking Settings from the toolbar located under the search box. This gives you more ways to refine your searches, such as by region or language. By default, search results are prioritized based on your location, so you should adjust that according to the topics you’re searching for. While these tips might not be the most exciting thing from the tech giant, they sure help businesses save time and work smarter instead of harder. And in today’s fast-paced business environment, little things like these make a huge difference. If you have questions about how to use Google products to streamline your daily routine and increase productivity, just give us a call. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Recruit talent using Google!
The last thing you want when hiring new candidates is your competitors poaching them. This is why you need to post your job listings quickly on the right platform. If you’re not already doing that using Google for Jobs, here’s why you should. What is it? Google for Jobs is a search feature that sorts and prominently displays job listings from career sites in Google Search. It allows anyone looking for a job to access listings using different filters such as position and city, and apply directly from Google for Jobs instead of having to visit different websites. How will it benefit your company? Since Google for Jobs lets candidates search for positions using filters like location and expertise, employers can in turn find people who meet their criteria quite easily. Along with your job listings, it also displays your company logo, reviews, ratings, and salary range estimates, which can be used by candidates. This not only boosts your company’s online exposure, but also helps persuade candidates to apply too. Other than Google for Jobs, applicants are also able to choose which service they want to use to apply. For example, if they’re interested in a job opening from LinkedIn and already have a profile there, they can simply apply via LinkedIn. Google has also revealed that a bookmark button that allows users to save jobs right in Google search will be introduced soon. These integrations might not seem so useful, but they’ll definitely help make the whole process easier for you and potential candidates. How to get your job openings on Google for Jobs? The first option is to use a third-party job site. All you need is to post on job boards that are integrated with Google job search engine. These include Facebook, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, Snagajob, Monster, and Jibe, among others. Once you have that, Google will automatically retrieve your postings and all the details to be shown in Google for Jobs. The second option is to integrate directly with Google, in which case you’ll need to edit the HTML of your job postings’ website so Google can index your postings. Here’s how: Make your web pages indexible Optimize your job descriptions for SEO by using relevant keywords, avoiding jargon, and using photos and videos Include structured data of your job posting in your listing Inform Google about changes to your postings by updating and using sitemaps Once your career openings are on Google for Jobs, tracking click rates and viewing analytics can be done easily using Google Search Console, the company’s free site monitoring and maintenance tool. It’s exciting to see what else Google has up its sleeve. If you have any questions about how you can use solutions from Google to enhance your business, feel free to give us a call. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Google enhances its website creation app
Google Sites, one of Google’s lesser-known applications, allows businesses to intra-company create websites in minutes. Previously, G Suite account owners used it to design websites using simple templates. But with new enhancements to Google Sites, users have even more design options and features. Simplified interface Previous editions of Google Sites had plenty of complex and unnecessary features, which overwhelmed some users. In the latest version, the interface is much easier to use, thanks to a single-column layout and no sidebar in the work area. It also has simplified navigation menu options (top or side menu) and page headers (plain banner, large banner, title-only) that display nicely on desktop and mobile devices. Easier content embedding The latest version makes it much easier to add links. When embedding external content, users have the option to show or hide the link’s featured image, link title, and description. In case a link doesn’t embed successfully, Sites will at least show the content’s URL. You can also conveniently add content from your Google Drive, whether it’s Docs, Videos, Forms, Slides, or Sheets. Visitors can preview this content while hovering their cursor over the link. And like the previous Google Sites, this feature is integrated with Google apps, Calendar, Maps, and YouTube. Simultaneous site creation If you’ve ever used Google Docs or Sheets, you know the convenience it offers when working on a single file. In the new version of Sites, multiple users can work on a single website project without having to deal with the complicated permission settings in the old version. This feature allows for easier collaboration and faster website completion times. More customizable sections It’s not a matter of if, but when you’re going to want to make changes to your website. For example, you might want to switch the position of certain images. Using Google Sites, you’ll be able to do this effortlessly. There are easy-to-follow grid lines that guide users in moving their site’s content sections up or down. It’s also easier to resize content frames so that a page’s elements (e.g., an image, a Sheets file) can be easily adjusted depending on your preferences. You can also make some changes on content images’ backgrounds either by adding an image or changing the background color to white, gray or black. What’s more, if you choose to implement the helpful auto-enhance feature, it will make quick adjustments to your backgrounds. The new Google Sites also introduces a significant improvement in its publish settings. Users now have to choose only either public or private. Previously, the app made users run through several options for setting access permissions on a page-level; now, an admin has to choose only between sharing the website publicly and sharing it internally. Needless to say, if you’re using G Suite, Google Sites should be in the list of tools. But regardless of which apps your company uses, there are plenty of little-known features out there that could help you work more efficiently and productively. Our technology consultants can help — call us today. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.