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Wordle guide — From novice to expert in an afternoon
Don’t miss out on the latest word game trend sweeping the web
Since the most popular Word game flooded social media posts in 2022, plenty of Wordle posts remain in the spotlight today. Sharing and discussing daily puzzle results online has become a routine for millions of players. Once you've got a hot streak going, it becomes tough to call it quits.
Mixed in among the Pixels, Chromecast, and speaker yesterday was another important tidbit. Google is essentially rebranding Android TV to Google TV over the next few years. But "Google TV" is more than just a software skin, it's also the new name for Google Play Movies & TV. That's makes it the second Play-branded service to get the boot in the next month if you consider Play Music, and I don't think this change goes far enough. It's been eight years, and it's time for Google to kill the "Play" branding across the board.
A new pause gesture for the Pixel 4's Motion Sense is rolling out as part of the Android 11 update. This change isn't intrinsically tied to Android 11, but the new Developer Preview does come with an updated version of the Motion Sense app (which controls the Soli radar-based gesture system on the Pixel 4), which allows you to pause and resume media with a "tapping" gesture in the air Motion Sense uses for gestures.
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- The new layout is now rolling out to everyone as part of v2019.10.13833 (APK Mirror) of Play Games. Thanks, Toni Damiani!
The design of Google's Play apps is like a neverending story, although not a very interesting one. Play Games has seen less flux than the Play Store, at least, but Google still tweaks its interface more often that is probably necessary. The latest change to be tested moves some of the core navigation around.
Earlier this month, Cody discovered evidence for a loyalty program in a teardown of the Google Play app, and now we're seeing the first official word about it. The rewards scheme is called Play Points and has gone live in Japan, according to a support page for the app.
On the list of manufacturers with fun and quirky commercial spots, LG doesn't usually come near the top. As far as I can recall, it has always served functional videos, but that strategy wouldn't fly with the "Play" theme of the G5. So it was that Jason Statham, the badass actor who can make your heart drop to your knees with a frown, was cast as the face of the G5 and a sort of psychedelic commercial was born with Jason's face plastered across all the main characters and background actors.
[Copy All The Things!] You Can Now Copy Changelogs And App Descriptions Using Android Play Store App
Earlier today, Kirill Grouchnikov, the face behind the Play Store Android app, detailed a set of relatively substantial design tweaks and RTL language support destined for an upcoming update. Unfortunately, the APK uploaded to APK Mirror shortly after did not seem to have the majority of these changes live just yet, but Kirill, who also announced his departure from the Google Play team, managed to sneak in one last parting gift.
If you own a Chromecast or Nexus Player and grabbed a free rental from Play Movies last time the deal was offered, it looks like you can head to chromecast.com/offers and grab another.
Over the last few weeks, we've heard of a feature popping up for Google Play Music All Access users here and there (thanks for the tips!), whereby the app or web interface would link users to relevant music videos inside the app. When listening to or browsing music, the app would show a YouTube icon, sometimes in the center of the screen, sometimes weirdly positioned in the "now playing" bar. It was clear Google was still testing the feature but it looks like now, with the publication of an official change log for Play Music's latest update, Google may be flipping the switch on a wider basis.
When we first wrote about Quantum Paper (the internal name for the material in Material Design), we noted that Google was anticipating a series of updates to its own apps between the introduction and completion of the new design direction - updates which would bring the apps a bit closer to the new design style in a progressive fashion, so that the apps wouldn't undergo fundamental transformations overnight.
Update Wednesday held at least one more treat this week - a bump to Google Play Movies & TV, bringing the app up to version 3.2.25. Google hasn't published an official change log yet, but so far the only user-facing change we've found is the presence of applicable wishlist content (from your Play Store wishlist) inside the app, both on the "Watch Now" screen, and in the slide-out navigation bar.
Kiwanuka is a Lemmings-inspired physics puzzler that we've been looking out for on Android since we heard about it on iOS. Thanks to a partnership between original devs CMA MegaCorp and the developers at Jakyl, the game has finally made its way to our favorite platform, and it's awesome.
A few days ago, it was confirmed that Google had started asking manufacturers to brand boot animations with a specific "Powered by Android" lockup as part of Google's Mobile Services license. Samsung's Galaxy S5 and HTC's new One M8 both carry the branding, and today Motorola's Moto X and Moto G have joined the party, but Motorola has something else in store as well - a new boot animation just in time for April Fools Day. The animation features a UFO, bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster, all exposed by Motorola's spotlight. Check out the full sequence below.
Hey look, everyone - Google sent us all a treat tonight in the form of the first Play Store update in over 3 months. And we just love new things (hi, Kirill!). As usual, you'll find the apk for v4.6.16 towards the bottom of this post.
Free-to-play Android games aren't difficult to come by, but this one has a little more going for it than mere affordability and simple play mechanics. CastleStorm made quite the name for itself on consoles this past fall, and now a touch-friendly adaptation is hitting Android as a private beta. The game combines tower defense with destructive physics, crisp graphics, fully voiced characters, and over 100 quests. The game isn't entirely free, as you need to spend money to get your hands on some in-game items, but with any luck, this won't hinder gameplay too much.
There comes a time in every Nexus device's life when it must leave the Play Store. For the Nexus 10, that time began earlier this week, when reports began surfacing that the tablet may be permanently out of stock (from the US Play Store, anyway). Since then the device's availability has flipped from available to "out of inventory" again and again, but at the time of writing, the original 10" Nexus' 32GB variant has been out of inventory in the US for two days (since January 16th), meaning we likely won't be seeing it again. The 16GB flavor, as readers probably know, has been out of stock since October.
Amid the flurry of new devices quietly launched recently, Google released a new Nexus accessory - a folio case for the Nexus 7 (2013). Despite my varied experiences with Nexus accessories, I'm always eager to see what Google thinks will work best with their devices. I'm particularly interested in tablet accessories. Tablets are meant to be super portable and usable anywhere, so making an accessory that retains the appeal of the device's form factor while also adding some utility is an interesting challenge.
It's that time again - Google has pushed out an update to the Play Store with plenty of enticing new features. We've got the APK, so after a brief rundown of some of the more notable features (we'll scour the APK in the coming days for any hidden goodies), we'll give you a link to download the app for yourself.
A few weeks ago we found some Newsstand-related goodies in the Play Store APK, hinting at the possibility that the upcoming news service is poised to absorb Google's Play Magazines.
