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Google's been updating a ton of its services with new looks recently, including the modern new Gmail UI that landed earlier today. But this year's spring cleaning isn't just about refreshing things for consumers. Developers are also getting a bit of love. Google has just updated its Android Developer site with a new design.
One of the more annoying aspects of the Play Store is that you can't manually check for app updates. We already covered how Google is testing a new installed apps screen, but we didn't get a look at one of the best aspects of it - a refresh button.
Back in Chrome 54, Google introduced changes to the way pages are reloaded. The change was partially thanks to Facebook, who has been working with various browser vendors to improve browser caching. While the change isn't brand new, Google and Facebook are eager to share how well it has been working.
Adoption of material design appears to be on an upward trend. It seems that every few days we hear news about another app refreshing its design with some inspiration from Google's new aesthetic, with some apps using the design language at launch. This is great for users who have been hungry for a more unified, cohesive design language on Android.
Earlier this week a report surfaced about a successor to NVIDIA's high-powered SHIELD Tablet coming "within a couple of months," to be announced at the GPU Technology Conference starting on March 17th. The report claimed that the new SHIELD Tablet would be using NVIDIA's next-gen mobile chipset, the Tegra X1, which was announced at CES 2015 without any accompanying smartphone or tablet.
Secret is a social network that doesn't connect you with other people, it connects you with their semi-private thoughts. People send their musings out into the Internet anonymously, where folks in their community or the far reaches of the globe can respond. It's intended to be a safe place to communicate about things you may not want to associate with your name.
Out of the box, so to speak, Google+ users must manually refresh the site to see new posts. This may not be a problem for the average Joe, but there is no shortage of people who want the latest posts injected straight into their feed with no effort from their part. Some may even want to have a spare tablet that they use to monitor the network 24/7. If you're such a person, you've come to the right place. We understand, and we're here to help.
There comes a time in the evolution of every tech company where things just need a refresh. For Foursquare, that time is now. Last month the company branched its core app into two separate offerings, with the friends-hanging-out portion taking the name of Swarm. Now the mainline app's refresh has arrived, and it's all about delivering personalized recommendations. Think more Yelp and less Twitter.
As promised, the companion app to Google Glass, MyGlass, got a big update today. The bump from version 2.2 to 3.0 allows for sharing from Maps directly to Glass, but is otherwise purely aesthetic. Users will enjoy a slick new interface centered around a slide-out menu, which breaks out the Glassware Gallery, your active glassware, device info, and selected contacts into separate views.
If you use the official Twitter app for Android... dear God, why are you using the official Twitter app for Android? Stop reading this story and go download a better client. If you simply can't be torn away from mediocrity, you'll find a few new options the next time you update Twitter in the Play Store. Chief among them is a new crop tool, with easy shortcuts to Square ("Instagram mode"), Wide, and Original.
Do you remember when Google and Yahoo! were similar brands? Both had search, mail, news, and instant messaging services. Sure, there were technical reasons to prefer one platform over the other, but it was all predominantly a matter of preference. Now, that difference could hardly be starker. One now manages not one but two operating systems, challenging the dominance of the likes of Microsoft and Apple, and has even planted the seeds for a gaming ecosystem that could someday challenge both handheld and tabletop consoles. The other, well, they've just updated many of their web properties to bring about a more integrated mobile experience. Check it out.
In an update to version 4.2.16, Google's YouTube app has received a (thankfully) refreshed UI for ten-inch screens, along with some bug fixes. The "revamped" UI seems to be the only thing of note in this update (though if there are any hidden goodies, you can be sure Ron will tell us about them soon), but it makes for a great refresh. For the sake of comparison, we'll take a look at a few before and after shots.
To say that literally every person on the entire planet is playing Draw Something right now would be an understatement. So, when OMGPOP updates its beloved drawing game, we take notice. Now, users are able to comment on drawings, undo their last line, and can use the now-familiar "Pull down to refresh" gesture to update their list of current games. Great!
Continuing with the numerous Android Market updates, Google just refreshed the categories that users can use to filter and browse Market apps and games. The changes are now live on both the backend Developer Console and the live Market.
Having found the jump to top function in TweetDeck for Android yesterday, which I didn't know existed for who knows how long, I got excited and shared the tip via Twitter. You see, what we take for granted in other clients, such as Twidroyd, where this feature is accessed via a button in the Menu, is not so obvious in TweetDeck. To my surprise, so many of you responded, thanking for uncovering this obscure feature in your favorite Twitter client, that I decided (since not everyone is on Twitter nowadays [:gasp:]) to put the tip up for everyone to see. No longer will you have to scroll up for miles after a day's worth of messages.