Category: News

Google announced that it has upgraded its beta app for Android. With this upgrade new shortcuts have been added for frequently used features to the Google Now home screen.

Now, when you tap inside the Google Search box, you can view widgets for the weather, nearby restaurants and more features. A report from Venture Beat explains it in detail.

According to their report, a user with Google’s new Pixel or Pixel XL phone can swipe right on the home screen to display the shortcuts, since it is updated on frequency of use.

The updates are only available for Android users, who have the beta version of the Google app.

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Google has officially informed advertisers that call extensions would begin to generate automatically in Mobile Ads on February 6, 2017.

According to Google, call extensions will automatically pull phone numbers featured on landing pages. This update would be useful for those advertisers using landing pages featuring a phone number.

Here is a copy of the email sent to the advertisers

 

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Google has recently updated its iOS app with version 22. With this upgrade, the app has become more user friendly.

According to Google, the upgraded app includes features such as Native Youtube Support, Built-in Gboard and many more.

Here are some of the some of the benefits of the upgraded app:

• Native Youtube support allows you to play Youtube videos instantly from cards in your news feed. So, you don’t need to open the Youtube app or a new web page.
• Booking info and rates can be seen right in search results for hotels.
• Instant view of open restaurant menus from restaurant search results.

Built –in Gboard is an unannounced feature. With this feature of Google’s iOS app, users are able to change their keyboard to Google’s Gboard without having the third-party keyboard installed on their phone.

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Google has launched a new mobile interface for recipe search results done over a smartphone device. Google adds this new mobile interface on December 29, 2016.

When you search for a recipe, it shows a variety of recipe cards, with a link to “view all.” A list of tappable keywords can be viewed at the top of the search results after searching for a particular dish. When the users click on the link “view all”, they will get the view on the basis of the selected filter.

Here are the screenshots of the mobile search results page:

 

This update will be useful for finding new ways of putting a twist to good old recipes. Currently this feature is available only for US mobile searches.

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Google has announced that it is going to change AMP display in order to find and share publishers’ direct URLs easily. The change is for the header in the AMP content and will be upgraded by early 2017.

Currently, AMP content — accelerated mobile pages — are loaded differently by Google than regular content. Clicking on regular content, generally takes people away from Google and to publishers’ sites. Clicking on AMP content keeps people at Google, with a Google URL appearing for that content.

This upgrade will be helpful for users viewing AMP content in Google search results to find and share URLs that lead directly back to publishers, rather than to Google itself.

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After the recent announcement of Live 360 videos, Facebook continues to enhance its live experience. Now, they introduced Live Audio as well to provide amazing user experience.

Facebook explained the possibilities of Live Audio like this:

“We know that sometimes publishers want to tell a story on Facebook with words and not video. We’ve even seen some Pages find creative ways to go live and reach audiences with audio only by using the Facebook Live API or by adding a still image to accompany their audio broadcast. Our new Live Audio option makes it easy to go live with audio only when that’s the broadcaster’s preferred format.”

Facebook envisages Live Audio as a new way to connect with audiences in areas with weak network connections.

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The recent trend shows that video is rising as the king of content. Facebook has recently launched 360 video feature to the Facebook Live experience. It is reported that Facebook introduces the first live 360 video in collaboration with National Geographic.

In fact, Facebook has introduced Live video feature in 2015, which was primarily accessible to celebrities and public figures. Later it was available to all users with several updates. Facebook has also launched their 360 videos last year.

Facebook felt that incorporating these two new features was inevitable. According to them:

“Live video on Facebook gives people an immediate, authentic window into what’s happening in the world right now; 360 video immerses viewers fully into the scene, letting them explore on their own and experience a new environment. We’re excited to combine these two formats with Live 360 video. Live 360 transports people into new experiences—right as they happen.”

It is also noted that YouTube had been supporting 360 live streaming since April 2016. They had also launched 4K 360 live streaming last month. It seems, the battle for live streaming and 360 videos is ongoing.

So, let’s wait to know how marketers and advertisers will make use of Facebook’s live 360 video to attract customers in coming years.

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It seems Google Maps is planning to add new features in the near future. According to a new report, a recent internal test build from Google Maps shows that it might include some location sharing features.

As per the report by Ausdroid, the new internal Google Maps version includes a “friends” section in the menu so that users can show their friends where they are currently located. The app also permits you to add new friends and others to be removed from the list. Additionally, there is a “navigation sharing” option in the app’s settings.

Ausdroid added that there is a “hands free faster route “ option available, it will ask users to say “Yes “ or “ No” in order to find an easier route to reach the destination. It is reported that Google is working to store searches and direction data offline, which could make Google Maps run faster.

Remember, this report is based on an internal test build of Google Maps. Anyway, it would be great news for users if the future updates include all these features.

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Google Search Console has updated property sets feature with more reports. Now you can see more reports for your property sets, comprising mobile usability report, apps, review your AMP implementation, internationalization mark up and many more.

Google added that now users are allowed to merge more properties into one set. Only verified properties are permitted to add to a set.

Google Search Console has added a property set feature back in May of this year , which helped users to view a snapshot of Search Analytics reports for all canonical versions of their sites.

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Google has announced that they have replaced the “In the News” box with the “Top Stories” box. With this update news box on desktop will become more in line with the mobile version of search results. In fact, this update happened with the introduction of new  Google desktop user interface this week.

When enquired whether there were any algorithmic changes made to which stories are eligible to appear in the box, Google did not give a clear reply. They just answered this update is to make the desktop version match the mobile version.

Business Insider reported that this change was to tackle the fake news issues. But Google would not comment about this.

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