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Sometimes, the hardest part of getting where you need to go with a ride-sharing service is meeting up with your driver. The Uber app is adding a number of handy features to make pickups easier. You can send glanceable messages, create a color-coded signpost, and more.
Google emphasizes the online aspects of Chrome OS so strongly that local features have sometimes taken a backseat. For example, file management. Sometimes you just want a file on your Chromebook rather than in Google Drive. Google is testing a tweaked file manager app in the Canary channel that will make managing those files a bit easier.
It has been a weird couple of months for ZTE since the US Commerce Department imposed a complete trade ban on ZTE that cut it off from its US suppliers. ZTE was forced to shut down while it worked on a solution with the government, and now it's back in action. The Commerce Department has confirmed that ZTE followed through with the new settlement requirements, so the trade ban is no more.
The BlackBerry KEYone launched a year ago with Android Nougat, and today it still runs Android Nougat. Oh sure, there have been regular security patches over the months, but the lack of an OS update after more than six months of Oreo availability is embarrassing. TCL is taking the first step toward making the OTA happen, though. There's an Oreo beta for the KEYone, but you need an invite.
Odds are you won't have the chance to buy a Vivo Nex S. The company is only selling the phone in China despite the really neat pop-up camera. You can at least see how durable it is thanks to the latest JerryRigEverything video. It turns out, surprisingly durable.
You don't mess with soccer hooligans, so YouTube TV is looking to make it right after an outage during the World Cup earlier this week. Many of those affected by the outage say they've received emails from YouTube that promise a week of free service as compensation. That's not bad for a rather brief interruption.
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AT&T's landmark deal to acquire Time Warner might not be sailing through the courts after all. After getting approval for the deal in June, the US Justice Department has filed documents to appeal the decision, threatening to up-end AT&T's next big expansion.
One of the features Nest reserves for Nest Aware subscribers is activity zones. However, even subscribers had to go to the Nest web interface to add and edit their zones. Now, you can finally do it right from the Android app.
I think we can all agree at this point that the term "unlimited" has become utterly meaningless in the context of phone plans. Most unlimited plans include at least a few odd limits, but Sprint's latest offerings are really impressive in how many limits they apply to "unlimited" service. The old Unlimited Freedom plan will soon be replaced by Unlimited Basic and Unlimited Plus.
Sometimes you want to get your hands on the latest build of an app because it's faster or has some important new feature. Other times, it's just because there's some nagging quirk of the app that's driving you up a wall. For example, Instagram's disinterest in adding an adaptive icon. Well, that's finally fixed in the new alpha.
As part of Google's big 2015 reorganization, many of the divisions tucked away inside Google became their own companies under the Alphabet umbrella. For example, the Google X's self-driving car project became Waymo. Now, two more wacky former Google projects are getting the same opportunity. Project Wing and Loon are both becoming Alphabet businesses.
Google has worked to make Android apps feel at home on Chrome OS, and we've certainly come a long way. Your apps will be even more integrated soon with support for app shortcuts on the Chrome OS desktop. This feature is only in the dev channel right now, but it should eventually filter down to beta and stable.
A few weeks back, we decided to give names to the Google Assistant voices. Now, Google has said, "no, those are colors." Google is rolling out a new UI for the voice selection screen that gives each option its own color. It looks snazzier, too.
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The Pixelbook has been out for the better part of a year now, and it's still the best Chromebook money can buy. It does take a lot of money to buy it, though you might be able to save $479 on this device at your local Best Buy.
Mozilla's current catalog of Android apps consists of browsers, but there's something new today. Mozilla has a note-taking app called Notes by Firefox. It's encrypted and syncs automatically with Firefox on your desktop. Don't expect a lot of fancy features, though.
Netflix launched video downloads in 2016 after years of begging and pleading by subscribers. Unfortunately, a lot of content isn't available for download because of restrictions by rights holders, but Netflix is making downloads more convenient for the content that is supported. With the new Smart Downloads feature, the app can delete thing you've watched and grab the next episode automatically.
It was just a few weeks ago when NVIDIA announced it was ending paid subscriptions on GeForce NOW on the SHIELD. NVIDIA didn't talk about what it had planned, but we speculated it would move to a model like the one it was testing for PC. Yep, that's just what it's doing. NVIDIA is preparing to roll out an "upgraded" GeForce Now experience on the SHIELD that lets you play PC games you already own. This should happen in the next week.
You probably heard that Amazon's Prime Day is starting soon. Well, eBay heard that, too. It's launching a sale event of its own starting today. Over the coming days/weeks, more than 100 items will pop up on eBay for $119 with free shipping.
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Slow websites are lame, and Google knows it. Starting in July 2018, Google will use a page's speed in the ranking algorithm for mobile searches. That means slow websites will be penalized, moving faster ones up closer to the top.
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DISH subscribers who lose their TV remote might not need to tear the living room apart looking for it anymore. The TV provider has just rolled out the previously announced Assistant support in its family of Hopper DVRs. That means you can shout at the TV, and it will actually do something.