Category: Google

Google has published their 2nd annual security report for Android as the company continues to fight malware and other end user harming apps in the ecosystem.  The report highlights some of the activities that Google has gone through in the last year to protect customers, including some 6 billion scans on installed apps per day.  When it comes to security, there is always room for improvement but clearly Google is taking the safety of users serious on their mobile platform.

Today in Brussels, the European Commission formally laid out charges of antitrust against Google for the Android mobile operating system.  In the complaint, the EC outlines that Google has made several anti-competitive moves with the Android operating system with regard to how apps are bundled with it, using Google search as default and prevented phone manufactures from building competitive operating systems based on Android.  If the charges are upheld, Google faces significant fines including up to 10% of their revenue in the EU.

In what has become a pretty regular trend, Google has released an updated version of a standard app that is now standalone.  Google Calculator is hitting the Google Play Store today as an independent-of-the-OS app, following apps such as Google Messenger and Google Calendar as apps who have made the same migration.  The news, for users, is great because it means that you can get updates for the app without having to wait for general Android updates.  I wrote about this in detail back in July of last year and how moving apps from embedded to standalone is a benefit not only to users but to Google themselves and manufactures.

The rebirth of Google+ continues with another update coming to the social & community site app for Android.  This latest update, version 7.5.0 for those keeping score at home, was announced by Googler Luke Wroblewski on his Google+ page and amongst the bug fixes in the update, there are also new feature to retry failed posts in the app.  In all, there are 34 specific bugs fixed in this release and 12 additional accessibility issues that are addressed so the team is certainly knocking them out at a pretty good clip.

Google has announced that the Chrome App Launcher for Windows, Mac and Linux is being retired with it being completely eliminated by July of this year.  Citing the lack of use and the preference for users to launch apps from within Chrome itself, the launcher will be slowly phased out over the coming weeks with apps no longer being able to be added and warning messages that the app is going away in July.  By the time July hits, it will no longer be available or supported.

March 16th marked the six month anniversary of my move from AT&T to Project Fi as my main carrier service.  It is a move that I admit I approached with some trepidation.  I had been with AT&T since 1998 (seriously) and the thought of moving from the albeit expensive known to the inexpensive unknown was a concern.  It was a big change and one I hoped would work out.  It has, in spades.

For those interesting, you can read my original review of the service here on the site.

Not only have I seen a massive reduction in my mobile bill each month, I have also found that Project Fi works well in just about every area I have traveled here in the United States and abroad.  I regularly find that I have a solid, fast data connection when I need it but with Wi-Fi assistant on my side getting me connected up to fast, secure wireless networks, I have found my data consumption has dramatically gone down with no real changes in my usage behavior.  It’s not perfect this Project Fi thing but it is improving constantly and clearly Google feels confident in it given they just eliminated the invite system to get started on it.  I’ve put together some thoughts around the service to help those of you who are considering it.