22
May
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'Search With Camera' Has Been Removed From Google Search, And We Have No Idea Why

Posted by in News

At the end of last year, a Google Search update came out that added a "Search with Camera" feature. With Google Search, you could fire up your camera, snap a picture of something, and it would do an image search - it was basically Google Goggles integration. Besides the usual Goggles stuff, it was also really useful for scanning QR codes.

But, a few days ago, when the Search 2.5 update hit, "Search With Camera" got kicked to the curb.

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On the left is 2.4, on the right is 2.5. In 2.5, the "Search with camera" menu option is gone, and none of the voice commands work - camera search is completely disabled.

20
May
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Google Knowledge Graph Search Reminders Can Be Sent From Google Search On The Web To Google Now

Posted by in Google, News

You forgot Mother's Day. Again. With Father's Day coming up wouldn't it be nice to have a reminder among your often-used Google Now cards, in addition to the ones you've set in Google Calendar, Google Keep, and the sea of sticky notes attached to your monitor? It's possible to set holiday and movie reminders within Google Now on your device, but now you've got another alternative: setting reminders via a Knowledge Graph search on your desktop. Just make sure you're signed in, make a relevant search, and click that shiny new "remind me on Google Now" text.

father's day

At the moment there are a few limitations.

13
May
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PSA: Removing Or Adding Sports Teams Or Stocks In Google Now Currently Causes It To Crash Endlessly

Posted by in Applications, Google, News, Tips & Tutorials

Listen up, Android users. If you're using Google Now, don't go to its Settings -> My Stuff and try to modify sports teams or stocks right now, as doing so completely borks the whole app. As soon as you go back to the main screen or click into Search, you will experience a force close. Repeated attempts to restart it will result in a crash as well:

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The only thing that works is clearing out Google Search's data in Settings -> Applications, after which you need to re-enroll into Google Now. Changing your Home or Work locations does not seem to trigger the issue - it's just sports teams and stocks.

29
Apr
2013-04-10-16.09.19

Google I/O 2013: Google's To-Do List This Year

Posted by in Android OS, News
Last Updated: May 3rd, 2013

Google I/O is coming! We'll know about all of Google's new projects in just 2 short agonizingly long weeks. While we desperately count the days until May 15th, we thought it would be a great idea to take stock all of the things we've caught wind of lately.

Calling this an "I/O Preview," sounds a little too certain. I'm not predicting everything here will come out at I/O, this is just a list of everything we know Google is working on - their "To-Do" list. Just like any to-do list, Google could cross something off and release it, or endlessly procrastinate, or completely cancel something.

04
Apr
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[APK Teardown] Google Search 2.4 - Time And Location-Based Reminders! Plus Website Update Tracking, Mysterious Help Cards, And More

Posted by in APK Teardown, News

Google Search teardowns are always a huge mess, because there's really no way of knowing what is or isn't implemented. I'm up against a scary combination of Now's entirely context-based UI and Voice Actions, which has absolutely no UI. Rather than try and guess at what does or doesn't work, I'll just post everything that Google neglected to add in the change log. If you manage to see something working, send in a screenshot and I'll add it.

If you follow me on Google+, you'll know that APK Teardown has been in a bit of a dry spell lately, but wow, Google has made up for it today - there is a treasure trove of hidden things in this update.

13
Feb
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[APK Teardown] [Update: Art Project Is A Google Site!] Google Search 2.3 - New Features For Flights, And What The Heck Is 'Art Project'?

Posted by in APK Teardown, Features

The Google Search app just got updated, so that means it's teardown time! I still rip into every interesting Google update, but I only write an article when I find something interesting. Things have been slim lately, I know, but today there's good news! I found stuff.

Google Search is the hardest app teardown to do. You can never really be sure if what you've found is in the app or not, because everything is so predictive and context heavy. So I'll just aim for "new stuff that's not in the change log." If you find any of this in the actual app, let me know.

06
Dec
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[APK Teardown] Google Search - Reply To SMS With Voice, Post To Facebook & Twitter, An Android@Home Card, And More

Posted by in APK Teardown, Applications, Features, Jelly Bean 4.1, Jelly Bean 4.2

Ok - here's the deal. A Google Search update happened, which means it's teardown time. Normally I post about unreleased, work-in-progress stuff, but Google Now is so context dependent, that it's pretty much impossible for me to tell if something is implemented or not. The one thing I've learned from my months of using Now is that Google Now is in charge, and you're just along for the ride. So, for today's post, we're just going to shoot for "new things that didn't make it onto the 'What's New' list." If you can get them to show up, awesome. Send me a screenshot and I'll update.

05
Dec
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Google Search Update - Tons Of New Now Cards, Plus Voice Post To Google+ And Song Search

Posted by in Android OS, Apps/Games, News

Google Search received a pretty significant update this morning, adding yet more Google Now cards, speed enhancements, and three new voice actions. The now cards include nearby events, "suggestions to help you with your research" (whatever that means), QR code boarding passes (!) from Gmail, location-sensitive search by camera (aka Google Goggles), weather at places Now thinks you're travelling to based on Calendar and Gmail, and monthly summaries of your walking and biking activity. Wow.

Google Now - Travel Cards Update2

Here's the full changelog:

For Android 4.1+ (Jelly Bean), Google Search keeps getting faster, plus:

New cards:
- Events nearby
- Suggestions to help with your research
- Boarding passes from Gmail (United only, more to come)
- Search by camera when at museums or shops
- Weather at upcoming travel destinations
- Approximate monthly summary of walking and biking activity
- Birthdays (the cards now have new options, like post a happy birthday wish to G+ from the notification bar)

New voice actions:
- Post to Google+
- Say "What's this song?" to find the song you hear
- Say "Scan a barcode" to find product info

Barcode scanning is pretty neat, though it's been built into Goggles for ages - a product that, frankly, should be merged with Google Search at some point.

29
May
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The Ultimate Google I/O 2012 Preview

Posted by in Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Rumors
Last Updated: June 27th, 2012

Google I/O is coming and it's time to get excited! It's like Christmas in June! It will be here in just a few short agonizing weeks - and we need to prepare. There is background information you need to know, rumors you should have in mind, and past announcements and acquisitions that need to be remembered. Google always leaves little news breadcrumbs for those that pay attention, and I pay attention. Fanatically.

This post will be part news recap, part rumor roundup, and part speculation. The last time I did this went pretty well, and now it's time for another look at what the little elves at Google HQ are working on.

11
Jan
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Google Search For Android Receives Update That Speeds Up Searching And Offers Country-Specific Results

Posted by in Applications, News

If you haven't notice, the Google Search app for Android received an update a little bit ago. This update is for users running Android 2.2 or 2.3 and brings some UI and performance enhancements. Once updated, this is what you'll see:

  • New color scheme and simplified UI
  • Faster, more responsive searches
  • Enhanced suggestions and query editing
  • Better localized suggestions and search results for more countries
  • Long press to remove history items

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You can also tap that little arrow to the right of a search suggestion to add it to your search term before searching, making the whole process a little faster.

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