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It's been a long time since Google Now disappeared from your phone's home screen, but fans of contextual feeds and informational cards haven't been without a replacement. Google launched Snapshot back in 2018, and although it's gone through various changes since, it's always been accessible through Assistant. Unfortunately, its days have come to an end, finally leaving the legacy of Now in the rearview mirror.
Assistant Memory looks like it's about to pick up some great new ways to keep track of stuff
Keeping track of everything from photos to reservations
Google Assistant has been able to "remember" things on your behalf for years now, with voice memos saved across any supported device. It's one of the most valuable tools any voice assistant can offer, and Google's looking to make it a lot more powerful. A whole new visual layout for Assistant Memory is now in testing, designed to improve how reminders work on your phone.
Weekend poll: How often do you use the Google Assistant's 'Snapshot' feature?
Or do you even know that it's there?
Back in 2018, Google introduced a "visual snapshot" for the Google Assistant, essentially bringing back some of the functionality that was lost from the old (and much loved) Google Now. Since then, it's seen a handful of tweaks and iterations, with several new features landing in just the last few months. With it built right into the Assistant and Google Search app, how often do you use the feature?
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It's been years since Google started migrating the good ol' Google Now functionality into Assistant. Over time, the feed of relevant contextual cards has had many official names ranging from Your Stuff to Upcoming to Snapshot, and even more unofficial names (inbox, updates, dashboard). One thing remained unchanged though, and that's the fact that you couldn't customize a thing about it. This has changed now.
Towards the end of last month, Google announced some new features for its Snapshot Assistant interface which bring it closer to what we always hoped Google Now would become. Among the new capabilities was a birthday reminder, said to be coming soon to English-speaking markets along with a notification so that you can't miss it. These appear to be functional now, so keep an eye out for them.
Google reveals new Snapshot features, plus a 'show me my day' shortcut
Look for fresh 'top 5 news' and 'write your to-dos' cards
Google has taken today to make a handful of new and recently spotted changes in Assistant's Snapshot interface official, while also revealing a whole new way to access it. Just say "Hey Google, show me my day" to see your Snapshot, loaded with cards showing timely details from your agenda, weather, commute, and to-dos, plus restaurant, podcast, and recipe recommendations — all among an even bigger list of potentially useful stuff.
Assistant Snapshot spotted with two new cards and YouTube Music tweaks
Sports, a "do it again" Assistant card, and some "fresh audio picks"
Snapshot in the Google Assistant is picking up a handful of new cards, according to our friends at 9to5Google. Additions include a more widely expanded "audio pics" card with playlists from YouTube Music, news, and podcasts, a card for upcoming sports events, and a "do it again" card for Assistant commands you commonly perform, similar to the suggested actions notification which rolled out earlier this summer.
Custom ROMs used to be associated with speedy updates. That's not necessarily the case anymore. Technically, yes, someone somewhere will probably release an unofficial build with the latest update that you might feel comfortable using if you're very trusting and have nothing to lose if your phone malfunctions. But for those well-tested versions, you generally have to wait a bit longer.
While many users of CyanogenMod have moved on to the nightly Marshmallow-based CM13 releases, the more stable snapshot builds are still on CM12.1 (Lollipop). It's been more than two months since we got a new snapshot build, but now one is starting to roll out.
If you've been waiting for a more stable version of the CyanogenMod ROM to become available before upgrading to Android 5.0, now's your chance. Snapshot builds of CM 12 are now rolling off of the build server and onto the CyanogenMod download page, going in their usual alphabetical order by codename. These are the first snapshot versions of CyanogenMod 12, and according to members of the CM 12 team, they'll also be the last.
Google's general intent with Google Play Games is simple. Google wants to provide a solid backend with common game features to developers who want to make more compelling games. Once developers integrate these features, Google's user base offers a cohesive score/competition experience.
If you used to play around with CyanogenMod Nightlies, but switched to the more stable M-series releases, it has probably felt like forever since M6 hit the scene. Well, M7 is hot off the compilers, just in time to fill that insatiable need to flash your phone or tablet. Don't forget, the M-series has officially taken the place of Release Candidates and Stable builds, so this is considered the most reliable version of CyanogenMod available.
When we posted the latest "M" build for CyanogenMod 11, I wondered when the release candidate of the popular custom ROM was coming. It's going to be a while, since apparently they're now a thing of the past. According to the latest CM blog post, that doesn't indicate any real change - they're just moving things around a bit. M builds are now the top tier of CyanogenMod, with nightly builds occupying a lower and more risky level of ROM, followed by pre-alpha "experiments."
No one could accuse the team at Cyanogen of rushing anything to market. Six months after KitKat debuted, the CyanogenMod team is still perfecting its modified release for dozens of devices. The sixth snapshot or "M" build is rolling out on the buildbox right now. Custom ROM fanatics, you know what to do.
The folks at CyanogenMod take a long, long time to develop a custom ROM before they'll slap a "stable" label on it. They don't make any apologies for this, but if you're particularly impatient for a more reliable version of CM 11 (Android 4.4), you can check out the latest snapshot builds. The "M5" builds are rolling out for some of the better-supported devices at the moment, and more should be available throughout the day.
We're getting closer and closer to a stable KitKat release of the popular aftermarket Android ROM, CyanogenMod. The "M" snapshot releases are more stable than a nightly, but not quite as final as a release candidate. The fourth M build for CyanogenMod 11 (Android 4.4) includes a wide range of updates that hadn't yet made it to the KitKat builds, according to the official CyanogenMod blog.