services

Some, especially real estate agents, would say it’s all about location. That’s only partly true when it comes to location-based services and technology. Because as important as knowing the location of an object may be, it’s sometimes just as important to know its direction relative to you. That’s why in the latest core specification of the Bluetooth standard, the wireless technology is finally getting a sense of direction.

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Just when you thought Facebook couldn’t sink any lower, a new discovery might have just added one more nail to its coffin. Then again, it’s really no surprise and Facebook doesn’t at all concerned about keeping it a secret. It turns out that even after you’ve turned off all possible location-tracking features and removed all location data on Facebook, you’ll still get ads related to your location. What makes it worse, however, is that the social networking giant doesn’t and probably won’t provide a way for users to opt out completely.

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Android features come and go and when it's Google involved, it happens more often than not. In some cases, it causes both developers and users to groan when a favorite feature they've relied on is suddenly announced to be discontinued. This time, however, Android phone owners are probably breathing a sigh of relief. Google has just announce that starting December, the Android Nearby Notifications feature will no longer be sending spam messages to users nearby.

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Almost all businesses these days keep track of customers and even just visitors, especially online. Of course, not everyone agrees to this now common practice and disable online tracking, like what Mozilla just provided in the latest Firefox release. Now Google is turning the tables a bit on those businesses. With the new feature in Google Maps’ “For You” tab, users will be able to track stores, locations, and businesses, too. Of course, they’ll only see what store owners want to show them.

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Today Google launched the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL with a couple of pretty enticing freebies onboard. One was a half-year of YouTube Music Premium for free, the other was unlimited photo storage with Google Photos (including original size photos and video, etc). Let's talk about the limits to these enticing bits before you jump in headfirst!

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Most people take for granted that, almost by default, their smartphones send their location to manufacturers and app developers unless they explicitly say no. Sometimes, however, “no” doesn’t actually always mean no. That’s the rather sticky situation that Google has suddenly found itself in after Associated Press launched an investigation on how the tech giant keeps on tracking your location even after you turn certain settings off. Now Google is updating its policy not to change the feature but to just let people know what it really does.

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Google Maps is one of those conveniences of modern life that many can't imagine life without. But more than just helping us not get lost, Maps also has one other somewhat controversial feature: location sharing. Now more than just knowing where your friends and family are, you will also be able to see how much battery they have left. You know, in case you need to swoop in to their rescue with a power bank.

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Today we're taking a brief, momentary, tiny peek at a couple of lists that show how Google and Amazon own our daily lives. When I say "daily lives" I don't mean Google and Amazon own our bodies and control our actions and have all of our personal information stored safely on their many hard drives - but two out of three ain't bad. I'm referring instead to the servers Google and Amazon run, the servers on which many or most of the services we use every day rely on and run.

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Snapchat seems to need no help from third-party actors to stir up controversy. But, as they say, bad publicity is still publicity. Even before the widely unpopular redesign or the more recent unskippable ads, Snapchat had its always-on location broadcasting Snap Map feature. That potentially privacy-invasive feature eventually sagged after a brief surge of popularity but now Snapchat has found a compromise: a feature that lets you send or request a location when and where you need it and not forever.

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Google is all about automating things that you shouldn't have to manually do. Like unlocking and keeping your phone unlocked under certain conditions. Android calls this feature "Smart Lock" and those conditions can range from Bluetooth devices to networks to locations. That last one has been the subject of complaints by many users for months but now it seems that Google has found away to silence all of those. Ironically that's by actually removing Smart Lock's Trusted Places option completely.

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This morning Google One was introduced to the world by newly minted Google One VP, Pavni Diwanji. This is a new name for a new subscription system with Google - and it begins with storage. This system takes over what was consumer-faced data storage, and ramps up from there. As Diwanji suggests, Google One is "a simple plan for expanded storage that includes extra benefits to help you get more out of Google."

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As smartphones become more and more a common part of everyday life, so too do their potential to be used for harm. While we mostly rely on laws to protect us both criminals and less conscientious companies, sometimes the laws aren't exactly clear or up to modern standards and have just enough grey areas for some enterprising people to take advantage of. Case in point is the ability of some companies and individuals to track cellphone locations even without warrants, all thanks to a feature almost all carriers provide to aid marketing and advertising.

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