Category: Google

Google has made a big change behind the scenes with Google Translate that is going to dramatically increase the accuracy of translations within the app.  In September, Google announced they had developed their Neural Machine Translation and discussed it in a bit more detail at the October event.  Now they have begun rolling it out to Translate with support 8 of the 130 languages that can be translated with the app and service.  This is a first step but the implications are huge simply because of now Neural Machine Translation works.

Today, Google Translate chops up whatever you are trying to translate and converts that into the foreign language.  It is good – really good – but it could be better as it doesn’t necessarily know local idioms and other speech traits.  Neural Machine Translation essentially looks at the entire sentence, looking at context and then coming up with a translation that more closely matches human speech instead of a machine.  It means that when you use the app it will give you far more natural results.  Equally as important, the app will learn as it goes to provide more accurate and better translations as time goes on and more people use it.

Google has announced that a major overhaul of their music streaming service, Google Play Music, is rolling out this week.  The update will bring a significant change to the user interface of the app but there are also a lot of changes happening behind the scenes to make a better overall experience.  What the company is doing is building in Google’s machine learning into the app.  The idea is for it to learn the music you like as well as when you listen to certain types of music so it can make better and more accurate suggestions.

Google Play Music uses machine learning to figure out what music you like and then mixes in signals like location, activity, and the weather along with hand-picked playlists to personalize music for wherever you are and whenever you want tunes. Starting this week on Android, iOS and the web, the new experience will roll out globally (62 countries, to be precise).

This should sound pretty familiar.  Google has been in the process of injecting their machine learning into all of their apps and services over the course of the past year with the aim to have their apps and devices understand you better.  While we tend to think of machine learning in big contextual things (like Google Home for example), having it in straight forward apps like Google Play Music will bring a much richer experience to users too.

Like most products and apps from Google, Google Home has a user-based help forum available for everyone.  The forum is a great place to go get answers to your questions, find out news and information and interact with experts both from Google and other users on Home.  While the Home forums are not as active as other forums like the the one for Gmail, Project Fi or Google Photos, it is getting there pretty quick as more people order the smart speaker device for their home.

Google Home

If you have a Home and are looking for some help or answers, head over to the forum and take a look around.  It is possible that your question has already been answered so be sure to do a search of the forum.  If not, you can easily post a question and one of the product experts or even a Googler will reply back with information if the answer is known.  If you are familiar with the forums for other products, you may be looking for who are the Top Contributors or Rising Stars.  Right now, because the product and the forum are both new, there are not any designated TCs yet.  That’ll change soon enough as more of us who are TCs in other communities (I am one in Google Photos) answer questions and, of course, new users who lend a helping hand to their fellow Home user.

Check out the forums to get help or to help others.  It’s a great community across a wide range of Google products and apps.

The Google Daydream VR headset has started to ship to those who have ordered it and Google, as expected, as released the Daydream app into the Play Store.  The app allows users with the new Google Pixel to have a full VR experience with the headset.  The VR UI for when you have your phone in the headset is very easy to navigate and if you have played with Google Cardboard in the past, it will look pretty similar to you.  Using the controller, you can look to an app you want to start and click the button to launch it.  Obviously content is still pretty limited at this point but more is on the way.  Google, in fact, launched YouTube VR today too.

Read more after the break

Google has officially started selling the Chromecast Ultra.  The speedier and 4K-supporting casting device just went live in the Google Store for $69.  Back in the October Google event, where the Pixel lineup and Google Home were announced, this new update to the Chromecast was also presented.  The biggest improvement is the support for 4K video.  With so many 4K televisions out there now, support for UltraHD is somewhat necessary at this point and it is good to see it come to the Chromecast which, to this point, has been limited to 1080P.

Chromecast Ultra in the Google Store

For those of you who were really wanting one of the Really Blue Pixel phones, there is good news for you this morning.  Google has confirmed to Android Police that the limited color variant of both the Pixel and the Pixel XL will be restocked at some point in the future.  The question is when and how many will actually be available.  That part of the equation is not known but if you are really wanting to get your hands on a Really Blue Pixel, it is suggested that you use the Google Store’s waitlist function to get in line.

Google Pixel in Really Blue

Functionally, as readers likely know, there is no difference in performance between the various color variants.  The Really Blue color however was immediately sought after as it was unique in this world of mostly black, silver (aluminum) and gold phones on the market.

If you want to join the waitlist for the phone, go to the Google Store and sign up to be notified on when it is back in stock.  Obviously there is no guarantee they will be there if you delay once you are notified.  These will go very, very fast (translation:  within minutes if not sooner).  If you want one, be prepared to pay the day they hit the store.

Good Luck!