Top five searches on Google included the iPhone 8 at second place and the iPhone X at third, being surpassed by only the Hurricane Irma disaster. Consumer Tech category reveals that the third most searched gadget was the Nintendo Switch which already sold 10 million units.
In other categories, Meghan Markle is the most searched actor, Matt Lauer was at the top spot in the People list, while Tom Petty and Chester Bennington were the most mourned people. According to Google, many questions started with “how”. Coincidentally or not, the most searched meme was “Cash me outside, how bow dah?” THE NEW PHOTOGRAPHY APPLICATIONS ARE STORYBOARD, SELFISSIMO! AND SCRUBBIES. Google has introduced three photography apps which are part of a new series that it has dubbed as photography "appsperiments". "We're launching the first installment of a series of photography appsperiments: Usable and useful mobile photography experiences built on experimental technology. Our 'appsperimental' approach was inspired in part by 'Motion Stills'," the company wrote in a research blog late on Monday. These apps use several technologies, which are now in development at Google, including those focused on object recognition, person segmentation, stylization algorithms, efficient image encoding and decoding technologies. "'Motion Stills' is an app developed by researchers that converts short videos into cinemagraphs and time lapses using experimental stabilisation and rendering technologies," Google added. The new photography applications are "Storyboard" (available on Android only), "Selfissimo!" (available on iOS and Android) and "Scrubbies" (available on iOS only). The "Storyboard" app takes video clips and automatically pulls out six frames that it lays out in a comic book-style template. To get new layouts and frames, a user has to refresh the app. Google claims that there are over 1.6 trillion combinations. "Selfissimo!" is an automated selfie photographer that snaps a black and white photograph each time the user poses. Once a user taps the screen to start a shoot, Selfissimo! will snap a picture every time you pose. The idea is to move around into different poses, with the app taking a picture every time you stop moving. "Scrubbies" lets the user easily manipulate the speed and direction of video playback to produce video loops that highlight actions, capture funny faces and replay moments. It lets you remix videos by quickly scrubbing back and forth through a clip to create video loops.
The tech giant has also urged users to try out the new apps and provide feedback via the in-app feedback links. The three apps are currently available on iOS and Android. Starting March and music lovers will hopefully be treated to YouTube’s music streaming service, Remix. In an attempt to catch up with music streaming apps Spotify and Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc. will give a third shot at launching YouTube's new music streaming service. This service is all set for launch in March, and has been named Remix. The new service will offer both music and video.
According to a popular tech portal, Warner Music Group has already signed up to be a part of the service and YouTube is in talks with two other label giants — Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. One of the objectives behind the launch of the service is said to be the lack of revenue that comes from YouTube as a video streaming site. The music service will help raise revenue for music labels. YouTube has not had a successful run like Spotify, which has nearly 140 million monthly users or Apple, which has over 30 million subscribers, when it comes to paid music service. Alphabet Inc. has in the past launched Google Play Music, YouTube Music Key, and its failure lead it to launch Youtube Red in 2015, which had just 1.5 million subscribers a year. The new service will be a mash up of both audio and video services. Though the focus will be on 'audio-only', users can access video clips. Since YouTube is yet to sign up two major music labels, one has to wait and watch if the launch of this new service will take place in March. Google says that the feature is initially being piloted on mobile with a handful of celebrities for now. It seems that Google is taking another step to make its core product — Search, more interesting and cool. The Search engine is working on a feature that allows you to have your queries answered by celebrities and other notable figures in form of featured snippets in search results.
The company says that the feature is initially being piloted on mobile with a handful of celebrities for now that includes Priyanka Chopra, Will Ferrell, Tracee Ellis Ross, Gina Rodriguez, Kenan Thompson, Allison Williams, Nick Jonas, Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Seth MacFarlane, Jonathan Yeo and Dominique Ansel. Evidently, the celebrities aren’t answering user’s queries on the real-time basis; instead, Google has had them pre-record their videos. These self-recorded videos share their perspectives and answers to some of your most-asked questions. The short videos will provide answers to questions like “How many languages does Priyanka Chopra speak?” or “Can Tracee Ellis Ross sing?” and so on. "When you search for your favourite personalities, whether they’re rising stars or well-known celebrities, their answers will appear in the form of selfie-style videos with a uniquely personal, authentic and delightful touch," the company said. Google has also hinted that this is just the snapshot of what is coming and but soon more innovation and videos will be added to Search. GOOGLE ANNOUNCED ANDROID OREO (GO EDITION) FOR ENTRY-LEVEL SMARTPHONES, A NEW SET OF PRE-INSTALLED LIGHTER GOOGLE APPS AND MORE. Firming up its commitment to connect the next billion Indians, Google on Tuesday announced several India-first products and features that will be rolled out in other developing countries in the coming months.
Currently, there are nearly 400 million Internet users in India along with over 300 million smartphone users. "On average, a connected mobile Internet user in India today is consuming over 4GB of data per month. At the current growth rate and given the connectivity environment, we expect this number to reach 11GB per user per month in the next four years and Google is here to help connect all," Rajan Anandan, Vice President, South East Asia and India at Google, told reporters at the company's third annual "Google for India" event here. "There are 230 million Indian language users online on Google today and 170 million of them are using our messaging service. Yet, we have over 900 million Indians who aren't connected to Internet. Our mission is Internet for every Indian. We'll stay focused until every single Indian is connected," Anandan stressed. At the event, Google announced Android Oreo (Go edition) that will be available for entry-level smartphones, for which India is a huge market. Android Oreo (Go edition) is available for the Android ecosystem of developers, partners and carriers as part of Android 8.1 Oreo release on Tuesday. "Oreo devices with 512MB to 1GB of RAM will get all the optimisations that come with Android Oreo (Go edition), including a better performing OS with built-in data management features and security benefits," said Caesar Sengupta, Vice President, Next Billion Users Team at Google. The company also announced a new set of pre-installed lighter Google apps, including Google Go (a new app from Google Search) and Google Assistant for Android Oreo (Go edition). Google Go is light on storage and data and works efficiently on patchy connections. "It's less than 5MB to download, and search results in Google Go are optimized to save up to 40 per cent data," Sengupta added. Google also announced "Files Go," an app that will help free up space, find files faster and share files offline on smartphones that come with less internal storage. The company also brought bill payment facilities on its digital payment app "Tez". "More than 70 billers will be supported, including utilities and direct-to-home service providers, on Tez," Sengupta told reporters here. "Tez" will support bill payments for Tata Power, MTNL, DishTV, CPDCL and other utility providers that will include national and state electricity providers, water, DTH and gas recharges. Tez has processed over 140 million transactions from nearly 12 million active users. There are more than 525,000 merchants already on Tez. To help bikers find the most suitable route in India, Google incorporated navigation routes for two-wheelers with Voice Assistant capabilities in its Maps feature. "The India-first feature is the new "two-wheeler mode" in Google Maps. India is the largest two-wheeler market in the world, and the millions of motorcycle and scooter riders have different navigation needs than drivers of automobiles," said Sengupta. Two-wheeler mode in Maps shows trip routes that use "shortcuts" not accessible to cars and trucks. The two-wheeler mode will arrive in more countries later. In a move to empower feature phone users in the country, Google announced to bring its Voice Assistant on Reliance JioPhone. The Google Assistant for JioPhone will be available in English and Hindi. This is the first time Voice Assistant will be available in any feature phone. SEES 2X USER GROWTH IN THE COUNTRY The Indian market has been a major area of focus for Google, and the company has unveiled a new feature for Google Maps in the country. While earlier in the day, Google Maps (v9.67.1) for Android was spotted with a Two-wheeler mode, Google announced the feature at its Google for India event. The new mode is seen placed alongside the earlier alternatives – Car, Foot, and Train. We're seeing the new mode on the latest version of the Android app.
The new Two-wheeler mode in Google Maps features customised routing and voice-guided navigation, apart from enhanced landmark navigation. It has has been incorporated to help bikers in the country find the route most suitable for their vehicles. Launching such a product in India makes sense as a substantial chunk of the country’s workforce travels on motorbikes and there are quite a few routes that are not wide enough for a bigger vehicle to fit in. It's evident Google has a big focus on India. Google CEO Sundar Pichai's recently commented about India playing an important role in improving Google Maps and other Google products. At the Google for India event, Google also revealed that Maps has seen a 2x user growth in India in the past year. The mode is fairly intuitive, and informs bikers about all possible road closures along the way. It also gives information about the parking situation at their destination, a handy feature that was previously seen in the car mode. "IT'S LIKE A SPEEDOMETER FOR YOUR DATA," GOOGLE SAID. Google on Thursday launched an app designed to help Android phone users understand, control and save on their expensive mobile data.
This app, called Datally, allows users to track their data usage in real time, and get personalised recommendations on saving data along with notifications of public Wi-Fi spots available nearby. The app is now globally available on the Google Play Store for all phones running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher, Google said. Datally is an initiative of Google's Next Billion Users division that aims to make Internet services more accessible even in countries with limited technology infrastructure. "Mobile data is expensive for many people around the world. And what's worse, it's hard to figure out where it all goes. "That's why we built Datally, an app that helps you to control, save more and do more with your data," Caesar Sengupta, Vice President, Next Billion Users, Google, said in a blogpost. Tests of the app in the Philippines had shown that Datally could help users save up to 30 per cent on their data, Google said. Datally helps users do three things. First, it allows users to see data usage on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis and get personalised recommendations for how they can save more. Secondly, it also help users block background data usage and track real-time data usage while using each of the apps "It's like a speedometer for your data," Google said. And lastly, Datally also tells users if they are near public Wi-Fi so that they can save on data. App Link - Google PlayStore |
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