Android 6.0 Marshmallow added a new permissions system that can make your digital life much more secure. Unlike previous versions, apps now have to ask for your consent before they can access certain data, which puts you firmly in the driver's seat.
An app can request a wakelock to prevent your Android device from entering sleep mode so that it can sync data in the background. This obviously drains your battery, because instead of running in low-power sleep mode, your processor is fully activated while it performs its tasks.
It's the biggest day of the year for all things Google. Their developer conference, dubbed Google I/O, gives us a peak at what the guys at Mountain View have been working on over the course of the past year, and this year, Android was center stage.
Computer vision is a key component in enabling augmented reality experiences, but now it can help give sight to the blind as well. In this case, that assistance comes from Envision, developers of mobile apps for iOS and Android that use optical character recognition (OCR) and object detection to provide an audio description of the user's surroundings.
Samsung has the Bixby key, Pixels have the Google Assistant squeeze gesture. It's nice having a hardware button just for your assistant so you don't have to say "OK Google" or press an on-screen button. If your phone doesn't have such a shortcut, though, you can remap an existing hardware button to trigger the Google Assistant.
Samsung's big reveal of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ at Mobile World Congress revolved around its "reimagined" camera and augmented reality capabilities.
Now that Google Assistant is coming to all devices running Android Marshmallow or higher, roughly one out of every three Android users will no longer be able to access the old Google Now interface. The Assistant, which was previously exclusive to Pixel devices, takes over your home button long-press gesture and completely replaces all of the old Google voice search functionality.
By default, the Play Store app on Android is set to automatically update your apps in the background. This definitely makes it easy to ensure that you're always running the latest versions, but it does come with some downsides.
Being able to customize the look and feel of your device is the main reason a lot of folks choose Android over iOS. And perhaps the single biggest way to visually overhaul your phone or tablet's UI is to apply an icon pack, which can liven up your home screen with bright colors or make things look a bit more classy with a sleek, minimalist style, for instance.
Make no bones about it—Google is an advertisement company first and foremost. Nearly everything they do is geared towards targeting the right people with the right ads.
For some odd reason, the Chrome Browser on Android doesn't allow you to search selected text when you're in Incognito Mode. This must have been an oversight on Google's part, because the feature is definitely present with the browser in its normal viewing mode, allowing you to highlight text and quickly perform a Google search.
At its core, the Chromecast is essentially a web browser on a stick. When you cast content from your computer or smartphone, all you're really doing is telling the Chromecast which website to load.
While the Quick Settings feature on Android is great, manufacturers like HTC, LG, and Samsung took it a step further in their custom skins. For instance, on Samsung devices, you can access the most common toggles at the top of the Notification tray, and you can tap once to access more tiles. This makes toggling cellular data, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi a fast and painless process.
I'm sure you've been there—halfway through typing something out, you realize that one word you've been using more than any other has been misspelled. Perhaps it's a single word, acronym, or line of code that you find yourself typing quite often at work, but this one requires complicated hand gymnastics that you'd simply rather not perform over and over again.
Welcome back, my fledgling hackers! The database is the hacker's "pot-of-gold," as it contains information that is very valuable to both the business and the hacker. In this, the second of my series on hacking databases, we're on the "hunt" for Microsoft's SQL Server. Although far from the most commonly used database (Oracle hold's that title), Microsoft's SQL Server is very often found in small-to-medium sized businesses. Even a few big businesses use it.
Google Earth is a great tool of the web, if you know how to use it the right way. Learn everything you need to know about using Google Earth in this powerful video series set to show you all the basic maneuvers and tricks to using the well known application. Google Earth is a cross-platform program, so the steps shown in this video series will work on Windows operating systems, as well.
NJStar is a program which you may purchase online, and which will allow you to translate individual Chinese characters. This tutorial shows you how to use the software, and explains the limitations of the progam (it cannot translate whole paragraphs, for instance).
We're not saying that we don't like Rihanna's current red fauxhawk, but back when the curvy diva had longer hair she pulled off some major trendsetting hairstyles.
QR codes are supposed to make life easier, but having to install potentially shady third-party apps just to scan one is more trouble than it's worth. Thankfully, there's a QR code reader built into all Google Pixels, but you wouldn't know it unless you stumbled across the feature.
With the rise of OLED displays, Android users have been begging Google for a true system-wide dark mode for years. While a system-wide solution is still somewhat unlikely, Google has given in by providing a dark mode for certain apps, including Contacts.
If you own a Google Pixel, you'll soon have augmented reality versions of Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, and Childish Gambino on your camera.
Netflix is branching out into the comic book business, and it's summoning augmented reality via Facebook to make the first issue more magical.
Google Lens is a fantastic addition to Google Photos for Android and iOS that allows your smartphone to identify a number of things in your pictures, like landmarks and contact info. Using this power, you can even find out how to buy almost any product you've taken a photo of — you don't even need the barcode.
In the arms race between ARKit and ARCore, Google scored a big win with the announcement of its Cloud Anchors shared AR experiences platform at Google I/O on Tuesday.
As the go-to browser for millions worldwide, Chrome makes web surfing a breeze with its simple interface and Google integration. But many websites are starting to ask if they can send you notifications, and this can interrupt your browsing. Thankfully, you can completely disable these prompts if you prefer.
Chipmaker Qualcomm introduced the second generation of its Qualcomm Spectra image signal processor (ISP), which has gained capabilities that will enable smartphones to facilitate augmented reality apps.
The world around us keeps getting smarter. Not only do we have advanced AI services like the Google Assistant, but now we've got the Internet of Things connecting physical objects to the digital world. It's amazing when you think about it, but the real sci-fi stuff starts to happen when these two technologies intersect.
If you're on Instagram, you may start to see Babadook all dressed up this month. This beautiful monster is taking Instagram by storm by #babashooking it's way all around the world in its brand new Pride attire.
Chrysaor, a zero-day spyware believed to have been created by the Israeli "cyber war" group NSO, is an even greater threat to Android phones than it ever was to iOS.
When you're browsing the internet on a computer, you just need to hit Ctrl F (or Command F) and type something out to find all instances of that word in the webpage. It's a handy feature baked into most browsers (nearly all mobile browsers have a "find" feature, too), but unfortunately, it doesn't work with real-world documents, signs, and menus—or at least it hasn't, up until now.
Even today, smartphone text input leaves a lot to be desired. It's difficult to select specific words, the cut/copy/paste menu isn't always accessible in every app, and we're lacking undo and redo options, even though it's as simple as pressing Ctrl + Z on computers.
You'll have to forgive me if I sound a little overexcited about this, but in my opinion, Google's "Now on Tap" is one of the most innovative™ smartphone features that I've seen in years. Sure, Microsoft heard about the feature being in the works and rushed out a similar Android app so they could say they were first, but that solution pales in comparison to this one.
Mobile service providers have an uncomfortably strong grip on the Android platform as a whole. For instance, all four U.S. versions of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge play their carrier's obnoxious jingle every time they boot up. You don't get any say in the matter—if you buy your phone from one of the big 4, you're a walking audible billboard.
Whether it's for handling your business's social media account or just for personal reasons, like trolling an ex-girlfriend's page (not that I've ever done that) or posting on behalf of your pup, there are instances where having two different Facebook accounts on one device is simply easier than switching back and forth.
Being fixated on all of the great additions to Android 5.0 Lollipop, it can be a little difficult to take notice in the features that went missing. For instance, lock screen widgets. It's speculated that the lack of practical use for lock screen widgets and the implementation of the revamped Lollipop lock screen may have lead to their departure, but some of us want them back!
Google's original messaging service got a nice version bump today. Hangouts now sports stickers, video chat filters, an updated Material Design interface, and a few new features that should make the service a little more fun and easy to use.
Have you taken a photo that's perfect in just about every sense other than one? Like, for instance, that picture of you and your newly minted husband dancing at your wedding reception with your husband's drunken brother getting freaky with one of the waitresses on the side?
While neutral eye shadow colors flatter everyone and a tutorial for creating a neutral eye look will suit all eye shapes and colors, once you venture into more colorful options you'll get the best bang for your...eye color if you follow the color wheel.
The trouble with wearing makeup looks inspired by Halloween is there is a VERY fine line between festive and tacky. For instance, painting teeny little candy corns all over your face? Tacky. But painting a glittery candy corn inspired eye look with white, yellow, and orange on your eyelids? Very seasonally pretty.
Most ab workouts target your upper abdominals only. Sit ups and crunches, for instance, only work on that upper part of your abs without even touching the lower portion, where most of us have muffin tops and really need the work.
