ClintonFitch.com

Over the course of the past few months, Google has been rolling out a new bright & white look to many of their apps and services.  Gmail and Google Drive are two such examples and it all seems to be tied to the Mountain View company’s efforts to refresh everything and bring more Material Design into their sites and apps.  The latest site to get this new bright & white update is the Google Support site.

Ditching its compact now seemingly dated look, the Google Support site reflects the change in site layout and philosophy from Google.  With a bright white background, the new site has large icons for you to select to get to support information for various Google apps and services.  These naturally look more touch friendly for touchscreen devices like the Google Pixelbook.

The Android team at Google has released Beta 4 of Android P today.  The update is considered a Release Candidate version of the next major version of Android with the feature set complete as well as the API set.  Those who have devices registered in the Android Developer Program should see the OTA update to this build over the course of the next few hours.

Beta 4 marks the last update to beta cycle for Android P as it is prepared for release to the general public.  That release should happen in August but Google has not confirmed that officially.  Nor do we know what it will be named, but Android Pistachio Ice Cream seems to be the odds-on favorite right now.

YouTube TV has added a seventh premium add-on option to their lineup, AMC Premier.   The more immersive version of AMC can be added to your YouTube TV account for an additional $5 per month.  It joins the likes of Stars, Showtime, and Sundance Network in the premium services lineup of Google’s streaming television service.

AMC Premier is a more user controlled and immersive experience over AMC, which is part of the standard YouTube TV package.  With Premier, users can get ad-free watching, additional show content and other membership benefits.  AMC is the home of shows like The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, and Preacher to name but a few.

Google Drive is expected to hit a critical milestone this week:  1 Billion active users.  The news came from Google Vice President of Cloud, Diane Green during her keynote at Google Cloud Next in San Francisco.  When Drive does pass the one billion mark, it will make it the 8th Google service or app that has reached the milestone.

Currently the “Billion User Club” consists of the following from Google:

• Google Search
• Google Maps
• Google Play Store
• Android
• Chrome
• Gmail
• YouTube

It is an important milestone for Google Drive but in a broader context, it is critically important for Google.