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WWDC proves that Apple has replaced Google as the fun tech giant
Can we get back the Google that made us laugh?
As Android enthusiasts, many of us have become accustomed to watching Apple announcements that bring in new products and features that look awfully similar to things Google did first—not to say Android hasn’t borrowed a few things too. But in recent years, there seems to be another thing Apple has borrowed from Google—is willingness to have fun.
Take a look behind Google's corporate curtain with a former employee's critical comics
Yeah, we're definitely saving a few of these for Android Police headers
Recently a Googler who went on to better (if not bigger) things shared a massive collection of comics and doodles that he'd created during his time at the Googleplex. His art has the feel of political cartoons, even if they're only ever on one broad topic. Taking a look at them can give us some humorous insight into the culture that's brewing just under Google's corporate surface. Manu Cornet worked for Google for over a decade as a software engineer on Search and Gmail. He quit earlier this year, telling The Information that Google's continuing slide into moral ambiguity left him feeling disillusioned with the company famous for its early "do no evil" years. During his tenure at Google, Cornet's frequent cartoons lampooning the company's culture and decisions became a notable part of his fellow employee's work lives, a sort of private in-joke in an employee population of more than 100,000.Several of Cornet's comics made their way out into the internet at large, including his most famous doodle comparing the corporate structures of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, and Facebook. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella even credited Cornet's cartoon on the first page of his book, crediting him with shifting up the CEO's thinking into a phenomenally successful restructure.Cornet self-published a series of his comics as a book in 2018 as Goomics, with a second volume going out last month. You can buy both volumes on Amazon, or look at all of them for free on his site Goomics.net. They're an interesting look at the inside of one of the world's most powerful tech companies, albeit limited to a single critical perspective.Cornet accepted a job at Twitter. He's now starting up a new round of internal company comics, "Twittoons."
Seven months have passed since we published the last installment of the AP Files. In that time, the Android world has seen some pretty interesting additions. Way too many flagships, including the latest from ASUS, Huawei, LG, and OnePlus, are being leaked/revealed with notches (thanks, Apple). Android P made its debut in developer preview form, and it looks like Google may be adding gesture navigation as well. LG unveiled the successor to the V30, the nicely-named V30S ThinQ, which is just a V30 with more RAM and some AI features you'll play with once and never touch again.
Welcome back to the Android Police Files, your #1 source for the brilliant stuff that the AP staff receives in our mailboxes. Since we last convened, a lot has happened. The latest version of Android shares a name with a branded product for the first time since 4.4 KitKat. The Galaxy Note8 was released, and it doesn't catch fire. And most recently, a Canadian 17-year old and his "youth leadership coach" tried to pass a Chinese ODM's phone off as their own and crowdsource it on Indiegogo.
It's been over half a year since the last installment of the AP Files was published, and the world has undergone some drastic changes. There's a squeezable phone. Bezel-less phones now dominate the world. And the newest LG phones haven't had any major reports of bootlooping. I'm sorry, I had to.
Welcome back. Last we gathered here, the Pixel phones were only a rumor and Google's Home invasion had only just appeared at Google I/O.
You can't swing a dead cat on the Play Store without hitting half a dozen point-and-click adventure games. That's not a bad thing, of course: between the relative ease of porting old adventure games to the platform and the way touchscreen controls are eminently suited to the genre, it's hardly surprising that they're getting a renaissance in the mobile age. The latest original adventure game to make its way to Android from Steam is Randal's Monday, a crass sci-fi romp that's heavy on humor and even heavier on pop culture.
Much has changed since the last installment of the Android Police Files. The 5X and 6P are the latest Nexus devices. We know a great deal about Android N. Google's founders formed a new company and made Google a subsidiary.
No one would mistakenly believe that T-Mobile wants the competition to succeed, but it does tend to take things to the next level. The carrier has been very vocal about its dislike of the other guys, and today brings two more proofs of that.
Attention citizens of Earth dimension... uh, which dimension is this one again? Anyway, all you lower carbon-based life forms down there. This is Archie Florboops the 68th, the sector representative of the Galactic Government, and I have a very important announcement to make. By the way, life on other planets exists. Try not to let it distract you.
Any time we talk about a service that lets you watch other people play games, some folks who still don't seem to understand the appeal behind watching games as opposed to playing them inevitably show up in the comments. There is a reason Amazon acquired Twitch for close to $1bln and Google's recently released YouTube Gaming app has already racked up over 100,000 downloads.
Earlier today, Verizon (and very likely Verizon Wireless in the near future) changed its logo. Someone asked John Legere about it, and, as usual, T-Mobile's CEO did not disappoint:
Longtime readers of the Android Police Files will know that a couple things never change. Someone always mistakes us for the police. Someone else thinks we can fix any and all software-related problems. But then there's always a person that asks a question we never expect.
Now that the hustle and bustle of Mobile World Congress 2015 is behind us, we have time to address some of the comments and emails we've received over the past several months.
Following on the success of the original xkcd Phone (which featured a blend of Android and iOS, a side-facing camera, and the ability to scream when falling), a successor has arrived that offers some of the best tech that 2014 has to offer.
This is a guest post by Manzi. Manzi is a UX Designer for the University of California, Irvine. He also moonlights doing Social Media for iO West, an improv comedy club in Hollywood. This article was originally posted on The Verge Android forums but has since been edited and enhanced with illustrations created for Android Police.
[The Android Police Files #9] I'm Very Happy To See Liam! And That Artem Loves To Sleep On The Floor
Greetings, loyal readers. Several months have passed since our last installment of the Android Police Files, and a few gems have piled up in that time. People have come to us with vague messages about Minecraft, stalkers, in-app purchases, and really weird dreams. Seriously, we're not sure what to make of that last one. Give it a read and let us know what you make of it.