Granular permissions control to be announced at Google I/O
Confirming a Bloomberg report from earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reports that Google is finally going to give users control over exactly what permissions they want to grant to each app.
According to two persons familiar with the matter, the feature will be introduced during the Google I/O keynote today. The WSJ report lacks details, but the feature should reportedly bring the Android app permissions system in line with the more user-friendly approach of iOS.
Separately, Android Police reports that app developers will have to adhere to the new granular permission system by asking users to approve each category of permissions when first using the app. Besides in-app permission granting, the permission settings for each app will also be available from a new section in the Settings menu.
It’s not clear yet how exactly Google plans to handle the transition from the current model, which sees users granting permissions in bulk, to the new, granular model. It seems there will be no easy way for developers to prepare their apps for the eventuality that the user denies access to certain permissions. In other words, devs will have to figure what to do if a certain permission is denied – in some cases, only some features will be disabled, but what happens if the user denies a permission that it’s needed for the core functionality of the app?
Granular permissions have actually been available in Android before, albeit for a brief while. The feature, dubbed App Ops, was hidden in Android 4.3, but Google removed it with the Android 4.4 update, claiming it was just an internal debugging tool.
We should find out everything about this cool new feature later today. Stay tuned with us for our extensive Google I/O coverage starting today at 9:30AM Pacific/12:30PM EST!
Chrome for Android version 43 brings Touch to Search and quicker checkout [APK Download]
If you’ve been using the beta version of Chrome for Android, then like me, you’re used to seeing the ‘touch to search’ option appear whenever you highlight some text to copy & paste. If you’ve been content using the stable channel of the Chrome for Android browser however, you’ll be happy to find out that this ‘Touch to Search’ feature is present in the latest version that is rolling out, Chrome 43.
As you can see from the images above, the ‘Touch to Search’ option appears in the same bar as the Select All, Cut, Copy and Paste functions. Chrome 43 also brings improved performance, the ability to securely complete checkout forms as well as some unspecified bug fixes. This update brings chrome up to version number 43.0.2357.78, and you can either update the app via the Google Play Store or you can download from APK Mirror and install it manually.
Source: Chrome Releases Blog
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Google’s experimental 3D-scanning tablet goes on public sale for $512
If you’re fascinated (or baffled) by Google’s spatially aware, three-dimensionally scanning Project Tango tablet, you can now buy and try one yourself. The in-development tablet is now (still?) $512, invite-free at the Google Store. While the device is no longer a conceptual toy, it’s still expressly aimed at developers, as Google looks to them to add functionality — and ideas as to what to do with those spatial sensors built inside. Perhaps the most unusual part is that this wider retail release was dropped a mere day before Google I/O kicks off. Don’t get too aggrieved if Project Tango 2 suddenly appears.
Via: Android Police
Source: Google Store
Google’s URL shortener deeps links directly to iOS and Android apps
You know those goo.gl shortcuts you regularly come across on Twitter or Facebook and other places online? They now open the exact pages they link to either on the website’s official app or on your browsers. For instance, if you click on a shortcut that links to a Google Maps page showing how to go from San Francisco to LA by land, it will automatically launch the navigation app if it’s installed and load those step-by-step directions. If you haven’t downloaded the app to your device, it will launch a browser instead. This change affects both new and old goo.gl shortcuts, so long as the website or app developer took steps to set up App Indexing for Android and iOS. Yup, that means the new feature works on both iOS and Android devices, and you can try it out for yourself right here: https://goo.gl/BpMdqp
Source: Google
Google adds app deep linking to goo.gl short links
Google has added a useful new trick to their goo.gl short link service; app deep linking.
Deep linking allows a URL to open up a specific page within a designated app instead of just pulling open a new browser window on your phone. Clicking a Twitter link on a website opens up that tweet in your Twitter app, and so on. Google makes indexing apps for this kind of deep linking very easy, and in a world driven by mobile applications and smartphones, it makes sense. Up until now, though, it hasn’t worked with Google’s own goo.gl URL shortening service.
Now any shortened links through goo.gl can deep link into apps so long as the developer has properly indexed their application. Google offers some pretty detailed instructions for that, though, and in many cases the apps are probably already set up for it. Plus, it works cross platform with both Android and iOS.
This new feature has been rolled out retroactively, so developers won’t need to update any short links they may have floating around the internet.
source: Google
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Android Pay’s arrival means a new direction for Google Wallet
As we suspected, you’ll be hearing more about the new Android Pay setup — announced a couple of months ago during Mobile World Congress — during the Google I/O event this week. According to a New York Times report, Android Pay will let retailers take payments from inside their mobile apps, use it at brick-and-mortar retail locations, and automatically update the customer’s status in store loyalty programs. Like Google, retailers are interested in using those loyalty programs to track trends among their customers, and the report goes on to claim that Apple Pay will add a similar tie-in within the next month or so. So what will become of Google Wallet? Apparently, it will be reintroduced with a focus on sending money directly between two people to go along with being preinstalled on carrier phones. The mobile payment wars are just beginning, and potential competitors like Facebook and Samsung have their own plans too — expect more details from all sides soon.
[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Google
Source: New York Times
Google is adding a ‘buy’ button to its shopping ads
That rumor of Google adding a “buy” button to shopping ads? It’s true. The company’s Omid Kordestani has confirmed to Recode that this super-quick purchasing option is “imminent.” He didn’t describe how it would work in detail, but the leak described “Shop on Google” search ads that take you to a product page the moment you give in to that consumerist impulse. The real mystery may be who’s onboard with the program. Google reportedly went the extra mile to court retailers worried that they’d be cut out of the loop, but there’s no certainty that you’ll see a lot of big-name stores signing on right away.
[Image credit: Shutterstock]
Via: Ed Baig (Twitter)
Source: Recode
Google Spotlight Stories makes its way to the Play Store with support for more devices
Back when Motorola’s Moto X first launched, we got our first taste of the Motorola Spotlight Player app – an immersive application built by ATAP engineers that brings interactive short stories straight to your mobile device. That app is still only compatible with the Moto X, but since the ATAP team is now under Google’s ownership, a new version has just been published to the Play Store that brings support for many more Android devices.
It’s called Google Spotlight Stories, and it aims to bring more interactive content to many more Android smartphones. It’s not a huge departure from the original Motorola version of the app, though the UI is a bit more refined this time around. Here’s the full description if you’re interested:
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling made just for mobile. Engineers and critically-acclaimed filmmakers are bringing stories to life using the latest advances in mobile technology. Using 3D and 2D animation, 360° spherical cinema-quality video, full-sphere surround sound, and sensor fusion techniques, the screen is now a window into a story that unfolds all around you. Look anywhere, follow individual characters, watch it over again and again. It’s a little different each time. Google Spotlight Stories is your mobile movie theater.
Along with the launch of the new app, Google has launched “HELP”, the very first live-action Spotlight Story, which is free for a limited time. It comes in at a massive 1GB in size, though there’s an option in the app’s settings that lets you download new stories via Wi-Fi only.
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margin-top: 10px;
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Since the new story is marked as “free for a limited time”, that’s a pretty good indicator that Google will begin charging for these stories sometime soon.
The app is only compatible with a few different devices at the start, but Google says it’s working to bring support to more devices in the future. If you’re interested in checking it out, head to the Play Store link below.
Chevrolet’s 2016 models support both CarPlay and Android Auto
Apple’s and Google’s in-car efforts aren’t mainstream just yet, but manufacturers have given us a glimpse at how these features will work going forward. Soon enough, most automakers are expected to support CarPlay or Android Auto, even though others like Toyota won’t be playing along anytime soon. Chevrolet, meanwhile, announced today that 14 of its 2016 models, including cars, trucks and crossovers, will be compatible with CarPlay and Android Auto, making it easy for people to enjoy either platform based on which smartphone they own. What this means is that buyers don’t have to worry about choosing one over the other; instead, Chevy’s MyLink infotainment system is compatible with both simultaneously.
Let’s say you have an iPhone 6, for instance. All you have to do is plug it in via USB and, in a matter of seconds, the console will automatically recognize it as a CarPlay device, after which you’ll have access to select core applications. The same goes for drivers who own an Android handset (running Lollipop or above), but with Android Auto showing up on the 7- or 8-inch screen, depending on the vehicle. Obviously, one of the concerns here is data usage, so Chevrolet is letting users pick between what’s being provided by their carrier or one of its OnStar 4G LTE plans — if the latter option is chosen, you’d simply need to connect your smartphone to the car’s WiFi hotspot.
Chevrolet won’t be limiting the functionality to its cars in the US, either. The company says it will be available in the same places as Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto — great news for everyone who’s a fan of the recently introduced Spark or Malibu. Unfortunately, there’s no backward compatibility, so you’ll need one of the 2016 models if you want to have this on your Chevy.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Transportation, Apple, Google
New ‘Nexus’ devices to be handed out at Google I/O 2015?
Google has already reduced their Nexus player $20 from the price it debuted the Play Store at, and with the onset of Android TV units such as the Nvidia SHEILD and Razer Forge TV, Google may be set to introduce a second generation device at Google I/O 2015.
According to a very recent entry in an import/export sheet obtained from Zauba, three major shipments of what are listed as Google Chromecast have been made, suggesting that either the Chromecast is selling very well, or that this device is in-fact a device being handed out at Google I/O 2015.
Google had been rumoured to be offering up the next Nexus device at Google I/O 2015, and whilst this may still be the case, we could be seeing a second-generation Chromecast possibly badged under the Nexus banner too.
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