ClintonFitch.com

An unexpected sixth beta build of Chrome 67 has been released to the Chrome OS Beta Channel today, indicating that the Chromium team within Google are still sorting out a few last minute bugs.  The new build is 67.0.3396.78 (Platform version: 10575.54.0) and should be available to devices that are in the beta channel.  You can check for it by typing chrome://help in the browser bar and checking for the update.

The build likely contains a fix for a bug found in the Chrome 67 version of the browser, which has already been released and was patched yesterday.  The bug found was a significant security flaw.  It is probable that the Chrome OS team wants to make sure it is stable in the platform prior to releasing to the Stable Channel.  Chrome 67 was expected to go to the Stable Channel on June 5th which clearly hasn’t happened yet.

As expected based on the timelines provided by Google, Developer Preview 3 of Android P has been released for those in the Android Beta Program.  The release of this second public beta is an important milestone for the next version of Android as it finalizes the API set for the build so developers can begin in earnest testing and updating their apps to be compatible with them.

There are not a significant number of changes between the first beta build and this one overall.  Most of the updates are fixes behind the scenes as well as updating some security permissions, particularly how the phone call log is accessed.  There are also 157 new emoji in this build.

A new, cloud-side update is currently rolling out to Google Calendar that is going to make it much quicker to see when an event has been declined by all invitees.  If you have sent out an invite and all attendees have declined it, you will now see a small exclamation point next to the event in Google Calendar.  You can then tap on that event and will see a prompt to reschedule the event given it has been declined.

The idea is that at a glance, you can look at your calendar on your phone and see the decline without having to actually open up the invite on your calendar to see who has accepted and who has not.

Google has made it easier for parents to manage their children’s phone usage by adding Family Link support on Project Fi.  Now parents can add their children to their Fi account for the same $15/month and can manage the amount of data they are allotted each month as well as when their phone can and cannot be used.

Aimed for parents who have kids under 13, Family Link is designed to help parents manage everything from sites available for their kids, to which apps can be installed, and now their phone usage through Fi.