“Spotify is sweetening its family plan subscription offer for the holidays. Starting tomorrow, November 1, family plan account holders in the U.S. can get a free Google Home Mini smart speaker for their listening (and voice-searching) pleasure.”
Google Drops Bid for Massive Military Cloud Computing Contract Amid Employee Pressure
“Google has dropped out of the competition for a Pentagon cloud computing project that could be worth as much as $10 billion and last up to a decade, citing a possible clash with its corporate values, Bloomberg reported on Monday.”
Consumer Reports: Most notable iPhone XS improvement is battery life, but Note 9 is still #1
“Consumer Reports this evening has published its full review and testing results from the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. The site says the “most notable improvement” this year is battery life, while camera technology is a “bit better.”
Amazon debuts Fire TV Recast DVR and Echo Auto in-car system
“Amazon, not content to wrap up a hardware event with all-new appliances and a host of high-end audio products, debuted something of a surprise today: the Fire TV Recast, a DVR for over-the-air television, and the Echo Auto, an Alexa-powered in-car speaker.”
2016 Pixel XL owners experiencing issues with quick chargers after Android Pie update
“Over the past few weeks, some owners of the 2016 Pixel XL have reported problems using quick chargers on Android P. For most of that time, Android P was still in beta, so bugs were to be expected. Unfortunately, issues with quick charging are still present in the final 9.0 release.”
Upgrade to Google One to get more out of Google
“As a Google One member, you can easily get in touch with a team of Google experts 24/7 to answer your questions—whether you need help recovering a file you accidentally deleted or want to learn how to use Gmail when you’re offline. With Google One, you’ll also get extra benefits across Google.”
Google allows third-party developers to access your account data — here’s how to disconnect apps you don’t trust before they read your mail
“The three groups are apps that allow for “Signing in with Google,” “Third-party apps with account access,” and “Google apps.” It’s obvious what Google apps are — things like Chrome and Drive.”
How to enable Google Home’s Continued Conversation
“Continued Conversations is a new Google Home feature that allows users to ask the Google Assistant follow-up questions without having to repeatedly say the “Ok/Hey Google” hotword.”
Google demands Cerberus anti-theft app to be less stealthy
“While Google provides its own tracking and anti-theft service through Android Device Manager, some users prefer third-party tools. One of these is Cerberus, a powerful and customizable anti-theft app that has been around for years.”
Apple should be afraid of Google. Very afraid
“Google revealed a cascade of exciting innovations to its Google universe this week at the annual I/O developer conference. Apple should be quaking in its boots.”