Google Photos, like many storage services, offers a data export tool that allows users to download all of the photos and videos they have stored on Google's servers. Officially called Google Takeout, Google has started notifying users about a security flaw that was present in the export tool late last year. It's a big one too, as it included videos belonging to other users in some export archives.
Overcast, the podcast app that was introduced in 2014, has been updated with some major new features that'll appeal to people who regularly listen to podcasts. In addition to making the entire listening experience more pleasant by normalizing audio, Overcast now also makes it easier to get directly to the meat of each episode, scrubbing the obnoxious parts of the audio track.
In February of 2020, Apple initiated a self-takeover of its website with a promotional sort of design invasion. They used characters from some of the biggest names in video games that were part of the Apple Arcade universe, allowing them to jump over, drive by, and swing through their hardware products on their main Apple.com webpage. We've done a little documentation here so you can see this invasion in the future.
Google Maps has changed the way we navigate the world but its influence actually goes beyond just locating and navigating. A whole flood of new businesses, experiences, and mentalities have grown up around the ability to zoom and pan around more than just a digital version of a map. But, as the cliché goes, with great power comes great responsibility, and one "hack" showed just how easy it was to game Google's system and literally change the flow.
Stop panicking, football fans. Roku and Fox have worked out a new deal that brought the network's apps back to the streaming platform. This means you'll be able to download the Fox Sports and Fox NOW apps and use them to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow as you may have planned to do before the carriage dispute caused a blackout. Other apps remain an option for streaming the game as well.
If you're a Roku user, you may have noticed that Fox apps disappeared from the platform within the last 24 hours or so. That's due to a carriage dispute, it turns out, though the companies are arguing over whether the loss of the apps was actually necessary. The change happened just ahead of Super Bowl weekend, but Roku owners shouldn't panic -- they'll still be able to watch the big game on platforms like Hulu.
On Wednesday, messaging platform Discord announced that it was cleaning house by getting rid of some older features that people weren't actually using. The company said this decision was based partly on feedback and likewise on its goal to introduce new features only if they 'don't make it bulky and take away from the core chat experience.' With that in mind, the Library and Activity Feed have both been canned.
Starting today, all Apple Maps users in the United States now have access to the redesigned service. With this, users will see more comprehensive views of landscapes and will receive more accurate navigation instructions. Now that the US deployment of this redesigned Maps experience is finished, Apple says it will turn its sights to Europe over 'the coming months.'
Google Maps has unsurprisingly dominated the market when it comes to navigation and mapping to that point that it is too easy to forget that Google has one other way to view the world. While Maps is more for getting around places, Google Earth is more focused on letting people discover the Blue Planet. And that happens to include that blue marble's place in the cosmos, which is why Google is now placing a more accurate backdrop of the stars when viewing the globe from afar on your mobile device.
There are only so many things you can cram into a phone dialer app but sometimes you tend to forget some of the essentials. Google's own Phone app, for example, has a lot of smart features like rich caller ID but misses out on something as basic as call recording. That, however, will soon be addressed with Google Phone version 44 or later which will finally bring what looks like an easy-to-use recording feature to hopefully more than just the Pixel phones.
How much can you do in 60 seconds? Maybe you can quickly hammer out a tweet (back when they were 140 characters only) or quickly take an impromptu selfie on Instagram in that short span of time. Or you could learn how to do something new instead. It's exactly those small chunks of time that Google's Area 120 skunkworks group is taking advantage of with Tangi, a new social platform that offers 60-second video clips that deliver more substance than a looping TikTok or Boomerang.
Today we're taking a peek at the first round of details about the upcoming Pokemon GO Battle League Season 0 (preseason), starting on Monday, February 10, 2020. This is just ONE PART of the roll-out of this system - four dates make this first season and "preseason" clear. Pokemon GO Battle League is a triathlon-style player vs. player Pokemon battle contest in which Pokemon GO gamers will be able to battle other real people in Pokemon battles online - neat!