Author: Clinton

The available movies on YouTube TV just got bigger – a lot bigger.  The cord cutting streaming service has announced that Starz is now available on the service for $9 per month.  As usual, it comes with a 7-day trial so you can check it out prior to your first billing.

What’s cool about this is that it isn’t just one Starz channel.  In all, you get the entire 16 channel lineup from Starz with all of the benefits that you have with YouTube TV such as a cloud-based DVR.

After several leaks and some speculation, Google pulled back the covers on their latest app, Google Podcasts.  The app has an index of some 2 million podcasts for you to listen to on your Android device – and it works great on a Chromebook too.

The app is fully supported by Google Assistant, allowing you to begin listening to a podcast on your phone then finish it up at home on your Google Home.  Further, thanks to Google’s AI, recommendations are given to you based on your listening habits.

If you are running Chrome 67 on your Chromebook, there is now a flag available to you that will allow you to enable the still under construction new wallpaper picker.  The new picker replaces the old style picker which has been in the platform since, well, forever.  It brings a refreshed, Material Design look to the picker and eventually will marry up with the backdrop wallpaper changer that is found in Chromecast.

That’s where the under construction part comes into the equation.  Right now there is a commit in the Chrome OS Gerrit that points to a new wallpaper that is enabled by default and that it will marry up with Chromecast.  The idea is that your Chromecast and your Chromebook will have the same look and feel and will be drawing from the same service in the background to give you your wallpaper options.

After being announced last month, literally in the middle of the night, Google has now pulled back the covers on the rebooted YouTube Music subscription service as well as the YouTube Red rebranded YouTube Premium.  The two services combined are $11.99 per month and bring you a wealth of music and video content on your Android phone, tablets, PCs, and Chromebooks.

The updated services bring ad-free music and videos to your devices with both original content and official music channels for artists that you can subscribe to and follow.

The features and abilities of Google Assistant, both on Android and on Google Home, continue to impress and one of the latest is incredibly handy.  You can now tell Assistant where you parked your car, then ask where you parked and get directions to your car.

Isn’t living in the future cool?

How it works is pretty straightforward.  When you park your car, just open up Assistant by saying, “Hey Google, remember where I parked my car.”  You will get a confirmation and there is a special “P” pin that is put into Google Maps.

Google has made a small but important change to Google Maps, no longer allowing you to book a ride sharing service like Lyft or Uber directly from within the app.  The change appears to be recent and is reflected in the support pages for the feature.  Now, instead of being able to book from within Google Maps, you have a link to go to the ride share apps from the providers.

The feature got a lot of hype when it was launched early last year and a way to prevent users from having to move around from app-to-app to book a car to pick them up.  You could also see ride share options to a destination you picked in Maps, such as a restaurant, from your location.