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Google Workspace users are finally getting the handy Maps shortcut in Calendar
Don't worry, you can get rid of it if you don't want it
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About two years ago, Google added sidebars to its web apps, enhancing its services with miniature versions of Calendar, Tasks, or Keep, and you can even integrate third-party applets. For the first time in ages, a web app has now received a new standard integration — you can now access an almost full-blown version of Maps right inside Google Calendar.
Apple Music finally has a home on the web. The service launched more than four years ago and quickly became one of the top music streaming platforms, but until now, it's only been accessible through dedicated applications. Now, it's got a web interface that should work in any browser.
Google Fit's home on the web will be shutting down next month. On March 19, the site will be no more, according to a big, bright banner on the homepage.
As of this week, after a long rollout, Android Messages' new web interface is finally available to everybody. Even better, it includes an Easter egg from Hangouts: emoticon shortcuts. You can send your friends shruggies, table flips, and even Finn and Jake from "Adventure Time," all with simple text commands. Algebraic!
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According to an email being sent to G Suite administrators, an Early Adopter Program will be available to Gmail users "in the coming weeks" that introduces a "fresh, clean look" for the service's web interface. The program is also set to bring new features like the ability to "snooze" emails to reappear in your inbox later, the way you can in Gmail's more experimental email client, Inbox.
It may be true that mobile devices account for more than 50% of all internet usage around the world, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to neglect the desktop segment entirely. Up until now, if your preferred music service was Pandora, you were out of luck if you wanted to listen to Pandora Premium on your desktop. Thankfully, Pandora has just announced they are finally launching their premium tier for the web, catching up with other services such as Spotify.
There's a new version of Android Messages rolling out to our phones. So far, we haven't seen any significant changes to the UI, but huge things are happening under the surface. A teardown reveals Google is getting ready to launch a web interface that would allow users to pair their phones with a computer for all of their texting needs. Google may also be planning to offer its own enhanced chat features to work with RCS messaging. And finally, it looks like we'll be able to buy things from companies right from within Android Messages. Grab the APK at the bottom of the post if you'd like to get your hands on it before everybody else.
If you use Google Calendar and have an eye for design you may have noticed that while the Android and iOS versions got material makeovers as early as 2014, the web interface has not been updated to match. A few months ago we got the fantastic news that many of us had long been waiting for. Thanks to a leaked roadmap for G Suite updates, we learned that a redesign for Calendar was penned for the fourth quarter of 2017. We've now been treated to screenshots of the new design in testing, and it doesn't look like it'll disappoint.
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Google's Keep had humble and simple beginnings, but it's become one of my go-to tools for organizing my life (such as it is). Today the web and desktop extension version of the service gets a revamp, with a new interface that takes more than a few hints from the Inbox layout. There's a brand new left pane to the UI that includes quick links to Notes, Reminders, user-set labels, the archive, and trashed items. It's dynamic, too: resize the window and it will hide in a pop-out dock, mobile app style.