Hasta La Gadget!

Google Now’s a solid product, but it’s reach is also fairly limited… compared to Google Search, anyway. Now, the company’s voice element in Search — which was updated in a major way back at I/O in May — is gaining some of that Now flair. In the coming days, Google will be rolling out a smarter Search to all US, English-speaking users on desktop, tablet and smartphone, regardless of platform. You’ll need only to tap the microphone icon instead of typing in a search query, and then ask humanistic questions about your upcoming flight(s), reservations, purchases, plans and photos.

Naturally, you’ll need your flight confirmations sent to Gmail and your photos stored in Google+, but if you’re already neck-deep in Google’s ecosystem, the newfangled functionality ought to serve you well. For a few suggestions on questions to try, check out the company’s official blog post. (Hint: don’t ask what your Facebook friends are doing tomorrow.)

Filed under: Software, Google

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Source: Official Google Blog

If you spend much time on Google+ for Android, then we hope you follow the app’s Tech Lead, Virgil Dobjanschi. He’s just shared that version 4.1 will be available on the Play Store today, and brings — he claims — five big hitting updates with it. First on the list, account and page switching gets even easier, much like it did in Android’s Gmail app. There’s also full support for Google Apps for Business, which brings public sharing when enabled. For regular users, the ability to access files from Google Drive, and additional location controls will be welcome additions, with the last update being a bit of house keeping — Messenger is out, Hangouts remain. Beyond the “big five,” there’s a tease of other updates for you to “discover.” Or you could just read the “What’s new” tab when it rolls out starting today.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google

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Via: Virgil Dobjanschi (Google+)

Source: Google Play

If you’re one of the Box faithful who also happens to wield an Android device, you’re about to snatch up a number of new features in the latest app update. The outfit has taken advantage of the navigation drawer that Google officially announced back at I/O — the one that we’ve seen in a number of recent software updates (Gmail comes to mind). You’ll also encounter a reconfigured updates feed with document previews for keeping track of file changes between you and your fellow collaborators. The Box app’s home screen widget has been redesigned to allow resizing and scrolling within its confines. Other tweaks include revamped folder sorting / viewing, prompts to download updated files after a period of offline use and the ability to switch between user accounts. A quick look at the new features awaits in the video clip that lies just beyond the break.

Filed under: Storage, Internet, Mobile

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Source: Box, Google Play

It’s a big day for Glass. Google’s pre-production wearable just scored a variety of additional features, including a video player, improved voice control, voice-activated Path and Evernote updates, #hashtags, boosted SMS support and additional Google Now cards. Let’s break them down.

With the new video player, you can tap a video to play it, tap again to pause, and swipe backward or forward to rewind or skip. Path and Evernote users can update those apps by saying “okay glass, post an update” for Path or “okay glass, take a note” for Evernote. Speaking of which, voice controls are improved across the board, so you can now chat with Glass a bit more naturally. Instead of saying “okay glass” and waiting for a cue, you can speak in complete sentences, without pausing.

On the cards front, there’s a new method for adjusting volume controls, even while you’re on a phone or video call. There are also Google Now cards to remind you of upcoming hotel or restaurant reservations, identify movie showtimes, or catch an emergency alert. Today’s release, XE8, is expected to roll out to users over the next few days. Catch the full release notes at the source link below.

Filed under: Displays, Wearables, Google

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Source: Google

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

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