Tag: Google

Google Chrome delays third-party cookies plan yet again

Post author By lisa nichols
Post date April 24, 2024
No Comments on Google Chrome delays third-party cookies plan yet again

[ad_1]

In a frankly unsurprising change of course, Google has once again delayed the end of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser.

The decision arrives two days before the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will release its joint quarterly report on the matter with Google.

The tech giant blames feedback from the industry, regulators and developers for the latest delay, following other setbacks that have plagued the project.

The announcement, posted on the company’s Privacy Sandbox website, states: “It’s also critical that the CMA has sufficient time to review all evidence including results from industry tests, which the CMA has asked market participants to provide by the end of June.”

Consequently, the deprecation of third-party cookies in the browser, which was originally slated for a launch in the second half of Q4 2024, has been postponed.

Although the company has not yet been given a new deadline, this marks the third time that Google has pushed back its target, which had initially been set in January 2020 with a two-year time frame. The vague hope for a launch in 2025 leaves plenty of uncertainty surrounding the deprecation of third-party cookies, and at this point, the industry is well-primed for yet another setback.

The project on the whole has been met with an unenthused response, and the CMA has previously raised concerns about Google’s replacement APIs on competition.

Nonetheless, the online ads industry finds itself yet again in limbo as it prepares for a world without third-party cookies, only for the whole plan to come grinding to a halt.

Google commented: “Assuming we can reach an agreement, we envision proceeding with third-party cookie deprecation starting early next year.”

Galaxy phones start getting April 2024 Google Play System update

Post author By miranda cosgrove
Post date April 23, 2024
No Comments on Galaxy phones start getting April 2024 Google Play System update

[ad_1]

Last updated: April 23rd, 2024 at 12:47 UTC+02:00

Google’s April 2024 Play System update is now rolling out for Samsung Galaxy devices, including the Galaxy S24 flagship lineup. The latter, as you might remember, was a bit late to receive the January 2024 Google Play System update a couple of months ago, but now it appears to be back on track with the schedule.

Google started rolling out the April 2024 Play System update a few days ago, on April 17. Now, you can download it on your Samsung Galaxy phone by opening the Settings app, accessing “About Phone,” tapping “Software information,” followed by “Google Play System update.”

You will then need to wait for the phone to finish checking whether a new Play System update is available for download. Assuming the new update reached your phone, it will install it and reboot.

Once done, you should access the Play System update menu again and double-check if everything is up to date, seeing how Galaxy phone users have sometimes received “fake” Play System updates in a loop due to a bug.

We tested the new update’s availability using a Galaxy S24+, and it all worked as expected. The phone now runs the April 2024 Play System update, as seen in the screenshot above.

As to what new features this update brings, Google’s changelog is a bit sparse. It only mentions a change for the Google Phone app, claiming that “With this new feature, you’ll be able to connect with your contacts immediately after you set up your new phone.”

An April 2024 Play service update also appears to have landed on Wear OS devices. The changelog states that supervised users will now be able to use a new dashboard to view parental control settings. We tried downloading the April 2024 Play System update on a Galaxy Watch 5 but had no success. It could start rolling out at a later date.

All in all, your mileage as far as the availability of the April 2024 Play System update will differ based on your location, Galaxy phone, and other factors. Nevertheless, you can always check for these types of updates manually using the steps we described above.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Tags April, Galaxy, Google, phones, Play, Start, system, update

Featured

Can’t find your pics amongst a sea of GIFs and memes? A Google Photos update could fix that

Post author By lisa nichols
Post date April 23, 2024
No Comments on Can’t find your pics amongst a sea of GIFs and memes? A Google Photos update could fix that

[ad_1]

An update to Google Photos could help you better organize pictures and make it easier to find your photos among all those saved memes, WhatsApp pics, and GIFs.

Reliable Tipster AssembleDebug spotted details of the update in the code for Google Photos version 6.79.0.624777117, which seemingly lets you view and organize all the pictures on your phone. However, the main ‘Photos tab’ currently displays not only photos you’ve taken with your phone, but also any downloaded image.

Even with careful folder use, the main Photos tab can easily become a mess of screenshots, album covers and silly GIFs. Add to this images downloaded from social media apps like X, Facebook, and WhatsApp, and it can be difficult to find specific pictures.

Currently, there are some limited filtering options in the In the Library tab, including shortcuts like Favorites, Utilities, Archive, and Bin. However, the update could allow you to filter the photos section with a toggle called ‘Hide clutter,’ which would filter results by hiding unwanted files and making your phone’s storage appear less messy.

According to AssembleDebug, the feature would be located in the photos tab under the ‘Personalize your grid’ section, which is accessed via the three-dot settings menu. However, pictures will still be available in their associated album in the Library tab once filtered and hidden.

New memories

The Memories feature may also be in line for an overhaul. Memories generates auto-playing collections of related pictures set to music, such as those from a day out, and you can edit and customize these selections before easily sharing them.

AssembleDebug claims that an upcoming UI update may change how memories are displayed from the current collection of grouped thumbnails, to a rounded rectangular single image taken from the album, providing a cleaner layout.

Another change AssembleDebug found was a new setting allowing you to disable the AI memory title suggestions, which can sometimes be inaccurate or wrong, for example labeling a friend or sibling in a romantic context.

You should be able to access the new option in Google Photos settings under Preferences > AI features by Labs. Look for ‘Help me title,’ which you will be able to toggle on or off. Google has also updated its Support Page with this information on how to enable and disable this feature.

While the Google Photos app is a convenient tool for managing your phone’s image library, the current cluttered view could significantly benefit from options like the addition of a ‘Hide clutter’ option and disabling the AI memory title suggestions, and updated UI changes could further streamline and improve the user experience.

However, according to AssembleDebug these features are apparently in the early stages of development, so it may be some time before we see some or all of them on our phones.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Tags Find, fix, GIFs, Google, memes, Photos, pics, Sea, update

Business Industry

Google fixes Android 15 Beta’s NFC bug, working to improve notification channels

Post author By miranda cosgrove
Post date April 23, 2024
No Comments on Google fixes Android 15 Beta’s NFC bug, working to improve notification channels

[ad_1]

A few days ago, Google released the first Beta version of Android 15. It is available for compatible Pixel phones and tablets. While it was considered generally stable for smartphone enthusiasts, it had a critical NFC-related bug that could impact day-to-day usage. Google has now fixed it with a new Android 15 Beta update.

Android 15 Beta 1.1 update fixes bugs

Google has released the Android 15 Beta 1.1 update. It is a minor release that fixes a few known bugs, including the one that rendered NFC useless on Pixel devices. It also fixed the bug that sometimes caused the Developer Options screen to crash. Google mentioned that it also fixed a bug that prevented devices from properly updating to Android 15 Beta 1.

There was also a text clipping issue while typing, which has now been obliterated. The new version of Android 15 Beta should now be mostly usable for Pixel users. However, we still advise waiting for Google to release the stable version of Android 15 before installing it on your primary smartphone or tablet.

Android 15 improves app notification channels

Android has always been great with notifications, and Google introduced Notification Channels with Android 8.0 Oreo. When implemented well by an app developer, this feature allows users to turn off app notifications for some functions but not others. For example, you could keep delivery notifications for an online shopping app while turning off notifications for unwanted deals and promotions.

However, most Android users don’t know this feature exists. Moreover, accessing and managing notification channels could be daunting due to their design. With Android 15, Google is trying to simplify it. Android Authority has spotted that Google now only displays active notification channels for a particular app. Notification channels that aren’t active are automatically hidden.

Users can still see all the available notification channels in an app by clicking the Show Unused Channels option in an app’s notification settings. This feature could come to Galaxy smartphones and tablets with the Android 15-based One UI 7.0 update later this year.

Until then, watch our video below to learn everything about the One UI 6.1 update that recently landed on some Galaxy phones.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Tags Android, Betas, bug, channels, Fixes, Google, Improve, NFC, Notification, Working

Business Industry

Google’s Gemini might soon replicate Google Assistant’s music streaming integration

Post author By miranda cosgrove
Post date April 22, 2024
No Comments on Google’s Gemini might soon replicate Google Assistant’s music streaming integration

[ad_1]

Last updated: April 22nd, 2024 at 12:30 UTC+02:00

Google Assistant has been here for a long time, but now it’s time to move on from Google Assistant to Google Gemini. Gemini is Google’s brand-new, more intelligent digital assistant that better understands natural language and can keep a conversation going. It launched on Android phones and tablets a few weeks ago but hasn’t completely replaced Google Assistant yet.

Google Gemini might soon get Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music integration

Gemini currently lacks a few skills that Google Assistant has, including music streaming integration. However, that feature appears to be in the works. Android enthusiast @AssembleDebug has found (via Piunika Web) that Google is currently testing music streaming service integration for Gemini. They were able to make some changes to the app and find its Settings screen that shows music streaming options.

Google Gemini Settings Music Streaming Integration Screen

Google Gemini Settings Music Streaming Integration Options Leak

When the ‘Music’ settings page is accessed, it appears blank but says, “Choose your default music provider.” This is similar to Google Assistant’s music streaming integration page. So, it is likely that Gemini will feature integration with Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music, among others (depending on the country).

Hopefully, Google will soon finish its testing and roll out music streaming services integration to Google Gemini to fully replace Google Assistant.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Tags Assistants, Gemini, Google, Googles, integration, music, replicate, streaming

Featured

Circle to Search could soon get new features on Google and Samsung phones

Post author By lisa nichols
Post date April 21, 2024
No Comments on Circle to Search could soon get new features on Google and Samsung phones

[ad_1]

We’ve been enjoying being able to play around with the AI-powered Circle to Search feature since it arrived – first on the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Google Pixel 8 phones – and it seems it could be getting some new capabilities in the near future.

According to well-known tipster @AssembleDebug (via PiunikaWeb), hidden snippets lurking in the Circle to Search code seem set to boost the feature with options for capturing parts of the screen and sharing them with other people.

Sections of the screen can be selected with a tap, a circle, or a scribble with Circle to Search, and you’re then able to tweak the area that’s been selected. As it stands now, you can then run a search based on the highlighted pictures or text.

What’s apparently coming soon are new Copy image and Share image buttons that’ll pop up whenever something is selected. It’s effectively a quick and easy way of capturing part of the screen, to go alongside the existing screenshot options on Android.

More AI to come

🔥 Circle to Search on Pixel will soon let you copy and share selected areas as images📝 Read – https://t.co/J0EOtc6Rgt#GooglePixel #Google #Android pic.twitter.com/CCUljuTq4qApril 20, 2024

As yet there’s no indication of when this might roll out to smartphones – and of course there’s always the option that Google software engineers will change their minds and decide not to add the extra Circle to Search capabilities after all.

However, considering that the source of this leak has been able to get the feature working – complete with new-look blue handles at the sides of selections, rather than white brackets – it can’t be too long before this feature gets introduced (if indeed it does).

Circle to Search and various other AI features have slowly been rolling out to older Pixel and Galaxy phones, after making their debut in the latest flagships. It’s not clear exactly what kind of hardware performance is required to get the tool to run smoothly.

We’re likely to get even more artificial intelligence tricks with the Google Pixel 9 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 over the next 12 months too – with more of the AI likely to be running locally on the devices themselves as they get more powerful.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Tags Circle, features, Google, phones, Samsung, search

Business Industry

Google Drive gets new filters on Android phones for better usability

Post author By miranda cosgrove
Post date April 20, 2024
No Comments on Google Drive gets new filters on Android phones for better usability

[ad_1]

Last updated: April 20th, 2024 at 23:11 UTC+02:00

Google Drive is among the best cloud storage solutions for a reason. It is extremely reliable, and Google keeps adding new features to the app on all the popular platforms. In a recent move, Google added new filters to the Google Drive app on Android. However, this feature was released a month after it was released to the iOS version of the app.

Google Drive gets new filters to find files quicker

Google has released a new update to the Google Drive app for Android, offering users a more straightforward and intuitive way to search for files. Filter categories are located just below the search bar at the top of the screen. You can filter files by File Type, Owners, and Last Modified. This will make finding files more accessible than ever. You can choose even more filters on the search results page to narrow down the file you want to see.

This updated version of Google Drive should be available to all Google Workspace users in the coming days. Some people might have received this new version already. You can search for the update on the Google Play Store by navigating to the My Apps section of the app and then hitting the Update button.

Google has added many new features to Google Drive over the past few years. Last year, it significantly improved Google Drive on foldable phones and tablets through a multi-column UI and a navigation rail on the left side of the screen. It also introduced Dark Mode to the app and a document scanner.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Tags Android, drive, filters, Google, phones, usability

Business Industry

Google confirms Galaxy F55 is a rebranded Galaxy M55

Post author By miranda cosgrove
Post date April 20, 2024
No Comments on Google confirms Galaxy F55 is a rebranded Galaxy M55

[ad_1]

A couple of months after launching an M-series smartphone, Samsung usually introduces an F-series variant of that device. The company is doing the same with the recently launched Galaxy M55. Last month, the brand confirmed the existence of the Galaxy F55. Now, the tech giant has started getting the phone certified on various platforms.

91Mobiles has spotted the Galaxy F55 on Google Play Listing. It not only suggests that the F-series version of the Galaxy M55 is arriving soon but also reveals the key specifications of the upcoming smartphone. According to it, the Galaxy F55 has a display with Full HD+ resolution, Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset, 8GB RAM, and 5G connectivity, and the phone runs on Android 14, most likely with recently-released One 6.1.

These specifications suggest that the Galaxy F55 will be a rebranded variant of the Galaxy M55. Other features of the device could include a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display, a triple-camera setup at the rear with a 50MP primary camera, an 8MP ultrawide sensor, and a 2MP macro lens, a 50MP front-facing camera, a 5,000mAh battery with 45W charging, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and an under-display fingerprint scanner.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Tags confirms, F55, Galaxy, Google, M55, rebranded

Featured

Malicious Google Ads found promoting a fake IP scanner that just wants to steal your data

Post author By lisa nichols
Post date April 19, 2024
No Comments on Malicious Google Ads found promoting a fake IP scanner that just wants to steal your data

[ad_1]

Security researchers have spotted another malicious advertising campaign in Google Ads that sees hackers impersonating multiple legitimate software companies.

While definitely not the first of its kind, this campaign was said to be unique for distributing a sophisticated Windows backdoor.

The campaign was first spotted by cybersecurity researchers from Zscaler Threat labs, who noted between November 2023, and March 2024, unidentified threat actors registered at least 45 domains. All of them were typosquatted versions of port scanning and IT management software companies, such as Advanced IP Scanner, Angry IP Scanner, IP scanner PRTG, and ManageEngine.

New malware

Then, they somehow managed to create an ad campaign on Google Ads to promote these sites. Usually, hackers would do it by obtaining access to a legitimate Google Ads account, possibly one with a proven track record of “clean” ads.

Consequently, whoever would search for this type of software on Google would be presented with these ads in the top of the search engine results page, as well as in other locations reserved for ads. Those who would open the site, and download the programs offered there, would end up getting the MadMxShell backdoor.

This backdoor, The Hacker News reports, is a brand new piece of malware. Its infection chain is relatively long, and includes multiple DLL and EXE files.

“The backdoor uses techniques such as multiple stages of DLL side-loading and DNS tunneling for command-and-control (C2) communication as a means to evade endpoint and network security solutions, respectively,” the researchers explained.

“In addition, the backdoor uses evasive techniques like anti-dumping to prevent memory analysis and hinder forensics security solutions.”

So far, the researchers don’t know who the attackers are, or what their motives for the campaign might be. A backdoor has numerous use cases, from data theft and espionage, to unauthorized access, setting up persistence, and even remote control.

‘The party is over for developers looking for AI freebies’ — Google terminates Gemini API free access within months amidst rumors that it could charge for AI search queries

[ad_1]

It’s been rumored for a while now that Google is considering charging users for AI powered results, especially concerning the idea of a premium search option which leverages generative AI.

Whether that will happen remains to be seen, but Google is ending the era of free access to its Gemini API, signaling a new financial strategy within its AI development.

Developers previously enjoyed free access to lure them towards Google’s AI products and away from OpenAI’s, but that is set to change. OpenAI was first to market and has already monetized its APIs and LLM access. Now Google is planning to emulate this through its cloud and AI Studio services, and it seems the days of unfettered free access are numbered.

RIP PaLM API

In an email to developers, Google said it was shutting down access to its PaLM API (the pre-Gemini model which was used to build custom chatbots) to developers via AI Studio on August 15. This API was deprecated back in February.

The tech giant is hoping to convert free users into paying customers by promoting the stable Gemini 1.0 Pro. “We encourage testing prompts, tuning, inference, and other features with stable Gemini 1.0 Pro to avoid interruptions,” The email reads. “You can use the same API key you used for the PaLM API to access Gemini models through Google AI SDKs.”

Pricing for the paid plan begins at $7 for one million input tokens and rises to $21 for the same number of output tokens.

There is one exception to Google’s plans – PaLM and Gemini will remain accessible to customers paying for Vertex AI in Google Cloud. However, as HPCWire points out, “Regular developers on cheaper budgets typically use AI Studio as they cannot afford Vertex.”