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YouTube Kids is now available in eight more countries
All the latest additions are in the Middle East and North Africa
YouTube Kids has proven to be a popular way for parents to give their children access to a limited collection of YouTube content, even if that collection occasionally includes videos depicting suicide and cannibalism (oops!). The service has slowly been expanding its global reach, and now Google has added 11 more nations to the availability list.
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- Google has announced today that Assistant's support for Arabic on phones is expanding to 15 more countries besides Egypt and Saudi Arabia. These are:
Google Assistant's language support was expanding quickly toward the end of 2018, but since the beginning of this year, the rate of additions slowed down considerably. As Google I/O nears, we're sure to see those pick up pace a little. Case in point, Assistant now supports Arabic (Egypt) and (Saudi Arabia). The former appears to be in open beta and available to all, while the latter is in closed beta and only showing for a few people.
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- Spotify is now live for everyone in the countries mentioned above. Some users received emails telling them they can now sign up, but even if you didn't, you'll find the app on the Play Store in your country. Both the free service with ads and the Premium subscription are rolled out, with the latter costing approx. $5 in all countries. You can get the app and register directly from it, or go to spotify.com to get started. Thanks, Eduardo Andrade!
Earlier this year, it was rumored that Spotify would arrive in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) sometime in Q4 2018. It seems the speculation was true, as Spotify has now launched in a handful of MENA countries — but only to those with invites.
For years, governments around the world have tried to block various web services. This has often proved tricky in recent times, as the recent Telegram bans in Iran and Russia revealed. For example, Russia broke countless other sites while attempting to block Telegram, because they shared the same infrastructure (AWS, Google Cloud Messaging, etc).
People in eight countries across the Middle East can now subscribe to magazines in the Play Store. Google has updated its list of supported countries with eight additional names:
On a new Android device (or an old one), opening up the Play Store is the quickest way to get your hands on a digital book. Thing is, that's only the case if you live in a supported country. Today Play Books are making their way to nine countries throughout the Middle East.
Amid talks of a complete reboot and much cheaper hardware in Android One's original Indian market, Google's economical partnership with regional handset manufacturers continues to expand. Today the company announced Android One's first availability in Africa with the Infinix HOT 2. The phone will be sold in Nigeria for N17,500 (about $88) starting today, after which it will expand into more countries: Egypt, Ghana, The Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Morocco.
Dear Egyptian readers: yes, we know you're out there. We're sorry to report that Google Street View still isn't available for the vast majority of your country. And while you'd surely prefer Street View in Cairo or Alexandria for the sake of convenience, at least Google has made a small stop in Egypt... at the place where all the other Americans go first, the Giza Necropolis. Street View is now available in and around the pyramid complex.
Google Play Paid Apps Are Finally Available In Egypt - Music, Movies, And Books Are Still Off Limits
Egyptian Android users, the day you've been waiting for has finally arrived... assuming that you've been waiting to hand over some pounds to hard-working app developers. Google has updated its list of paid app territories to include Egypt, so open the Play Store and gorge yourself on ad-free indulgences.
Jelly Bean Updates Arrive To Unbranded Galaxy S IIIs In Nordic, Middle Eastern, And GME Countries
Jelly Bean Updates Arrive To Unbranded Galaxy S IIIs In Nordic, Middle Eastern, And GME Countries
Samsung is definitely on a roll with the Galaxy S III updates - not a day goes by without a massive rollout of Jelly Bean to devices all over Europe, and now the Middle East as well. The company began sending Android 4.1.1 OTAs to the following territories:
While we still wait for newer products like Play Movies or Play Books to reach a wider audience, Google's been hard at work bringing a slightly more useful product to additional countries: Google Maps with Navigation. After bringing voice navigation to India, nine more new countries are being added to the supported list for the Navigation beta. Including the following: