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Google has announced it won't be replacing cookies with FLoC, the web browser tracking protocol it created to help deliver users personalized ad content — and had been maligned by privacy advocates — after all. Instead, the company will attempt to fulfill the same mission without as much intrusion with a new API dubbed Topics.
Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are coming to the web with big Chromebook implications
Take that, Windows
Chrome OS has a ton of great things going for it, but access to familiar software tools has long been a sore point. We've got Android apps, sure, and more recently Linux programs, but for a large part users on Chrome OS are restricted to using whatever's available on the web. That's meant no programs like Photoshop and Illustrator for Chromebooks ... at least, until now. Chromebook users (and web users in general) will be glad to know Adobe is launching a web edition for both Photoshop and Illustrator, so your Windows friends can finally stop mocking you for not having a "real computer."
Our eyeballs have been patiently waiting for a darker version of Search on the web for years. While a few users got a peek at it earlier this summer, as of today the option for a dark-themed Google search should be coming to everyone. You can try it out now. Right now! Go! Do it! Why are you still here?!
Google Podcasts on the web is picking up a welcome feature from the Android app
The episode listening queue is now available via desktop browsers
Google's Podcasts client is surprisingly good. It's a nice alternative to the more established options, especially if you're looking for something simple and straightforward. Podcasts is available either on the web via desktop browsers, or as a dedicated mobile app on Android and iOS, with your audio subscriptions and progress saved in both. But before now, the saved playlist of episodes available on the app wasn't visible on the web. Now it is. Neat.
Samsung's free TV Plus service is now available on the web and Chromecast devices
Samsung TV Plus is making a major push to appear on non-Samsung screens
Samsung is one of the only super-giant international tech companies that's pretty much all about hardware, with all of its ancillary business categories supporting its devices. So of course it's the next technology company to ... let me just check my notes here ... launch an ad-supported TV service. Okie dokie. Samsung TV Plus, previously available on the company's smart TVs and phones, is now up for general viewing on the web.
Everything is Workspace now, even your free Gmail account
Even you. Look in the mirror. You're Workspace now.
It seems like Google is kind of bullish on its "Workspace" label lately. Originally a replacement for G-Suite, as in the paid upgrade to standard Google services for companies and corporations, the Workspace label is now apparently being applied to everyone that uses Gmail. That's an odd expansion, since previously we've seen that you need to opt into the Workspace interface on Chat and Meet.
PWAs can start building fancier install screens, making them feel more like traditional apps
Starting today with Twitter for Android
Progressive web apps are great alternatives to installing applications from the Play Store, offering many of the same features at a fraction of the size. Google is constantly working to improve the experience of using PWAs on Chrome across all platforms, aiming to match what most expect from traditional apps. Going forward, developers can start including content for an all-new installation screen for their progressive web apps, with Twitter being the first to implement the changes.
Flutter 2 is coming with support for Windows and macOS, foldables, and a ton more
Write once, run everywhere
The great unicorn of software development is to have one language and framework that enables devs to code an app once and run it on any operating system and any type of device. Flutter has been aiming to do this since its inception, and today it gets quite a bit closer to that goal with the announcement of Flutter 2. The latest major update brings major enhancements for mobile platforms, adds support to desktop, and massively extends its capabilities on the web — among other things.
Chrome might automatically use desktop mode on Android tablets soon
Android-powered slates with large enough displays won't have to manually tap the 'Desktop Site' button
There aren't many big, high-powered Android tablets coming out these days. But if you're one of the happy few who have one, you could soon see the Chrome browser default to the "Desktop site" version of web browsing. That's the little button in the menu that allows you to force the page to render as if it were on a laptop or desktop PC.
Many Google websites are already Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), which allows you to easily add them to your desktop or taskbar and use them in their own tab-less windows like native apps. Following YouTube Music and YouTube TV, the regular YouTube website is now also one of these PWAs, as 9to5Google spotted.
Chrome 85 Beta for Android to display 'fast page' labels for high-quality web pages
The faster the better
For a long time now, Google has been trying to make the web faster and more consistent for mobile devices. Earlier this year, it introduced Core Web Vitals as a new benchmark for making fast websites. Core Web Vitals has been playing a role in search rankings since May, and soon Chrome will use those statistics to directly label high-quality web pages, starting with how fast they are.
Google Calendar web gets improved event creation and printout enhancements
Small improvements making a good web app even better
Even though many Google desktop web apps are already pretty capable and easy to use, there are always things that can be improved, and as such, Calendar on the web has received an update. It's now possible to add more details in the pop-up event creation dialog, and you can finally create fully colored printouts, in case you still like to see your agenda in a physical form.
Every piece of software that Google makes is being reworked to get design uniformity across the board under the new material guidelines. Then why should the poor account switcher be left behind? The Google account switcher on the web is undergoing a redesign after its mobile counterpart got switching gestures and direct access to account settings.
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Google began a Material Theme refresh of its desktop search UI last fall comprising tweaks all users see now, including a search "box" with rounded corners, more white, and a persistent search bar. The next step may be nigh, as the search engine is testing the addition of Material Theme icons that sit beside each search menu filter (e.g., News, Maps, Images, etc.) and are colorized when their corresponding filter is active.
Following a slew of second-generation Material Design updates for the web over the past month or so (namely Calendar, Classroom, and Google Accounts), Google is bringing its modern design aesthetic to several more G Suite platforms on the web. Material Design is hitting Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites beginning today, January 15.
Slowly but surely, all of Google's products are being updated to the latest evolution of its Material Design theme. The whiter, more rounded look came to the Google Account settings on Android back in the summer, and now it's now arrived at myaccount.google.com on the web.
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- The 1.75x playback speed option is now showing up for us on Android in YouTube v13.50.52 (APK Mirror) though it's possible older versions of the app are showing it as well. Thanks, Johny Hongkong!
I would have never thought that a single YouTube playback speed setting would be requested or would get noticed this much, but today I've learned that you can't make assumptions like this without researching them first. It seems that the 1.75x speed setting has been asked about, not once, not twice, not even thrice, but even more times, and when it showed up a few days ago on the YouTube desktop site, many users did indeed notice it.
It took a little longer than some other products, but the recently renamed Keep Notes Android app was updated in line with Google's new Material Theme last week. The same new stylings are now starting to roll out to Keep on the web, and it looks much cleaner than before.
I've been noticing it pretty much since I arrived in Germany for IFA 2018, and now we've had a few tips from readers to confirm it. Google's desktop search UI is being updated to more closely follow the latest evolution of the company's Material Design guidelines — this means rounded corners everywhere, more white than a snowstorm, and a persistent search bar.