Category: Android

There is little question as we sit here at the end of July 2018 that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are critical parts of our lives.  Regardless of if you use a smart home device like Google Home, there are likely dozens of apps on your phone that have some AI or ML element to them.  Google apps, most certainly fit in this statement with apps like Google Gboard.

But every once in a while the AI goes awry and well, it can be kind of funny at times.  We’ve seen it before in Google Photos where some really scary photo stitching has happened.  Now we can add this little risque gem from Gboard.  Just type in “Sit on” while in a text message or Google Doc and watch the magic.

It has taken nearly a year to arrive but Chrome is finally available in VR on the Google Daydream headset.  The news came earlier today from Google and so long as you have the latest version of Chrome for Android, you can strap  on your Daydream headset and you will see Chrome as an app available to use.

Google actually started working on Chrome in VR way back with the Chrome 61 release.  That was back in September 2017 and to this point has only worked in the Chrome for Android Canary and Dev versions of the app.

In Chrome OS and Chrome for desktop (Chrome for MacOS, Chrome for Windows, and Chrome for Linux), if you long press the back arrow while you are on a browser page, you will get your recent browsing history for that tab.  It is a handy feature.  On Android however, when you long press the back button on your phone while in Chrome you get… nothing.  You can press the button as long as you want but it will just take you back to your previous page.

That looks to be changing in Chrome 70.

A new flag has popped up in the Chrome for Android Canary app, which is based on Chrome 70, that allows you to enable the back button on your phone to display you recent tab history.

After a bit of teasing and a roll out to the web, the YouTube for Android app is finally starting to get a Dark Mode.  The update is a cloud-side update which means as long as you have the latest version of the Android app on your phone, you will have the update pushed to you behind the scenes and not have to update your app.  For those that are curious, the latest build is version 13.28.54.

The YouTube team at Google appears to be slow rolling this update out so not everyone is seeing it just yet, me included.  This isn’t uncommon for these cloud-side pushes so if you aren’t seeing it yet, chances are good you will see it today or tomorrow.  You’ll know you got the update when you see a pop up in the YouTube for Android app letting you know it is available.

Microsoft has rolled out a new update to the OneDrive for Android app, bringing with it fingerprint authentication support.  The new update is version 5.14 for those keeping score at home and has been released to the Google Play Store.

When you update to this new version, under the app settings, you will have the option to enable a PIN code as you have been able to do for some time in OneDrive.  Once you enter that PIN, you will be prompted for your fingerprint.  You can either tap your fingerprint sensor or skip this if you want to continue to use your PIN to log in and not your fingerprint.

A new update to the Skype for Android app is rolling out, bringing end-to-end encryption for conversations and other improvements.  The update is version 8.26.0.70 for those keeping score at home and should be available to everyone in the Play Store by now.

The big new feature in this update is what Microsoft is calling Private conversations.  It is end-to-end encryption for your conversations that you have within the message app.  By encrypting it, you don’t have to worry about your text or video conversations being intercepted.  If they are, they are encrypted and protected.  It is a key feature that is important in this day and age for messaging apps.