24
May
Untitled

Google Services Bug Causing Location Issues For HTC Owners, Google Working On A Fix

Posted by in HTC, News

Sometimes, updates break things. That seems to be the case for some HTC owners who, upon receiving a silent update to the newest version of Google Play Services, are having trouble using apps that rely on location data. According to HTC phone users in this support thread, Google Now continually asks to turn Location Services on, location-dependent applications like Foursquare and WeatherBug don't function properly, and Maps is unable to lock onto a location.

The good news? Google's looking into the problem. The bad news? No ETA. And unfortunately, because Google Play Services updates in the background automatically, wiping data won't help.

17
May
AutomateIT-Icon

AutomateIt Becomes First App To Introduce New Activity Recognition Features

Posted by in Applications, News

The new activity recognition features introduced in the latest Google Play services update are just two days old, but SmarterApps has already released an AutomateIt update in the Play Store that takes advantage of the new functionality. The latest version touts the ability to make your phone smart enough to automate different tasks depending on if you're walking, running, biking, or driving.

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The new sync adapter brought in via Wednesday's Google Play services update introduces a location reporting API, a task that previously was performed within apps themselves locally. Apps can now request location data from the new, more efficient fused location provider that's a part of Google Play Services, rather than having to work through Android's built-in location APIs that call on GPS / Wi-Fi / network location.

11
May
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"Google Play Games" Leaks Out In All Its Glory Ahead Of Google I/O - Hello, Cloud Game Saves [APK Teardown]

Posted by in APK Teardown, News

Remember how we told you Google Games was coming, and how it's going to pack multiplayer functionality, leaderboards, achievements, and stuff like that? That's happening. There are going to be cloud game saves too.

Fresh out of Google HQ, we've managed to score a copy of the new Google Play Services v3.1.36, which is very slowly rolling out to devices right now. For comparison, the current Play Services that most people have is v3.0.27. 3.1 is a massive update - the strings file, for instance, has more than doubled from 300 to 700 entries. This is how Google is pushing out all the shared files for Google Play Games.

03
Dec
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Google Play Services Receives Two Awesome New APIs: Vector-Based Google Maps, And Photo Sphere Viewer

Posted by in Android OS, Applications, Development, News

OK, stay with me here - APIs are important. Case in point, ever notice how whenever one of your favorite apps uses a built-in Google Maps viewer, you suddenly want to open up the real Maps app? (Read: because the web maps viewer is old and ugly and terrible.) Today, that's all about to start changing. With Google Play Services 2.0[.10], Google's introduced a brand-new vector-based embeddable Google Maps view. That means that instead of sending you to a crappy WebKit browser map, apps can now directly call up the engine that powers the Maps app, and presto: native Google Maps in any app.