Articles by Michael Allison

Microsoft’s Surface Duo is now available in 15 countries.

What you need to know

Microsoft today has brought the Surface Duo to ten new countries.
These include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
This expansion is aimed at business customers.

Alongside the announcement of the new Surface Laptop 4 today, Microsoft also announced an expansion of the Surface Duo in an additional ten European markets. Announced via the Microsoft blog, these include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

As reported by Windows Central, Microsoft’s Microsoft’s Pete Kyriacou said:

Across the breadth of form-factors and price points available, from our largest Surface Hub, to our pocket-sized Surface Duo, we remain committed to delivering innovative devices that keep people productive. To this end, we’re pleased to share that Surface Duo is now available for business and education…

Spotify’s dabbling in hardware a little now.

What you need to know

Spotify today launched Car Thing, its first hardware product.
It’s a voice and touch-optimized Spotify player for your car.
Car Thing is currently available in the U.S. on an invite-only basis while supplies last.

Spotify today launched its first hardware product, a smart player for your car. It’s appropriately named Car Thing and is meant to augment your car’s infotainment system, not replace it.

Spotify presents it as a way to bring the Android Auto or CarPlay experience to people who have older or less modern cars, stressing that “no matter the year or model of your vehicle, we feel everyone should have a superior listening experience.”

Car Thing can be controlled with voice, touch, or its dial. If you’ve got Hey Spotify on your Android phone, you should expect a similar experience with voice on Car Thing. On the other hand, touch is used for more granular navigation. Like with Amazon’s newly released car m…

Google One just got a lot more important.

Update, Apr 12 (11:45 am ET): New video editor is rolling out on Google Photos

What you need to know

Google has improved Google Photos editing capabilities.
It’s rolling out a new video editor to all Android users.
Google is also releasing Pixel-exclusive features to non-Pixel users under a Google One paywall.

Google last year rolled out a slew of Pixel exclusive editing features to Google Photos on Android. If you had a Pixel 4a or a Pixel 5, Google’s AI would be able to apply select tweaks to your photos based on whether the subject was a person or a landscape.

Now, the company is making them available to non-Pixel owners — for a fee. You’ll need to have Google One access to try out some of these features as Google announced back in 2020. These include the new Portrait Blur and Portrait Lighting tools, as well as the ML-powered suggestions. You’ll need to have an Android phone with 3GB of RAM running Android 8.0 and above, but as e…

A small update to be sure, but a welcome one.

What you need to know

Chrome OS’s media controls might soon look a lot like Android’s.
Google last revamped them with the big Chrome OS 89 update.
A new change may seem them gain a more advance scrubbing bar as well as a background matching color theme.

Google is working on a revamp of Chrome OS’s media controls shortly after redoing them for Chrome OS 89. The company had given them a modern overhaul in the latest Chrome update and allowed users to pin them to the taskbar alongside its new tote feature.

Now, the company plans to go a bit further as spoted by users on reddit (via Android Police). There are a few things to note. First, there’s the scrubbing bar. While you can skip forward or backward on a Chromebook currently, you can’t currently scrub like you can on Android. That’s going to change.

Second, Google is going to make the background color dynamic and have it match the color of the album being played. This used to be th…

Google’s out. Work’s canceled.

What you need to know

Google users are reporting an outage early on Monday morning.
The outage appears to effect essential services like the Drive suit of apps and Classroom
Reports spiked around 9am ET, the start of the work day.

You’re not the only one suffering from Monday blues. Google’s Workspace services have also crashed for users worldwide, preventing people from getting work done. Users all over social media and Down Detector have reported that Google Docs, Slides, Classroom, and other services have gone down, a state of affairs that we’ve confirmed. Likewise, Google’s Workspace status page concurs.

When loading up an affected app, users report that the service displays an error message:

Google Docs encountered an error. Please try reloading this page, or coming back to it in a few minutes.
To learn more about the Google Docs editors, please visit our help center.
We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
– The Google Docs Team

Wit…

Google’s contact tracing API has prohibited location tracking since its inception.

What you need to know

The UK’s update to the NHS COVID-19 app was rejected by both Apple and Google today.
This is because the update would have requested location data from users.
This move would have counter to the policies of both technology companies.

Google and Apple have both blocked an update to the UK’s NHS COVID-19 app today over privacy concerns (via BBC). The update, if it rolled out, would have allowed users to share details of all their recently visited locations to the government, This was part of the UK’s strategy to keep track of contacts and prevent outbreaks as it lifted some COVID-19 restrictions on April 12.

However, the update was blocked by the Play Store and Apple’s App Store. This is because both Google and Apple restrict sharing of location data either via the contact tracing APIs to the companies themselves, or to public health agencies. The update itself would have brok…

Spotify may inadvertently fuel a conspiracy theory that had somewhat died out.

What you need to know

Spotify’s “Hey Spotify” hands-free feature is now rolling out to iOS and Android users in the U.S.
A contentious section in the company’s new privacy policy indicates it could use your voice and data to provide targeted ads.
Spotify also filed on a new patent for technology that’ll theoretically let the app monitor your voice to read your mood in service of relevant music and advertising.

Spotify today finally announced its new “Hey Spotify” feature, one that will allow users to verbally summon Spotify’s voice search feature without having the app open as if it were Alexa or the Google Assistant. It’s rolling out now in some parts of the U.S. to Android and iOS phones, though Spotify plans to expand availability going forward.

Writing in a blog post today, the Spotify team shared some tidbits on their approach to privacy, mimicking approaches taken by Google and Amazon:

Whe…

Samsung’s original Quantum was a variant of the A71 5G, but the Quantum 2 is said to be a variant of the as-yet-unreleased A82.

What you need to know

Samsung’s Galaxy Quantum 2 has leaked in live images.
This is said to be a variant of a possible A82, and would be the most powerful A-Series phone being sold on release.
It is expected to retail on April 23rd in South Korea.

Samsung is set to launch the Galaxy Quantum 2, a South Korean model of the rumored Galaxy A82 and a sequel to last year’s Quantum. When it launches, it’ll be one of Samsung’s most powerful A-Series phones, with a Snapdragon 855+ on board.

With a series of photos shared on social media site Naver (via Twitter user FrontTron), the phone will adopt the same standard design that we’ve seen on some of Samsung’s latest phones, including the A52 and A72. It’ll have the now-standard 6.7-inch 1080p screen, with a 120Hz refresh rate, continuing the trend of good cheap phones with high refresh rates. Alongside the Snap…

April’s security update rolled out to Pixels this week.

What you need to know

Google today rolled out Android 12 Deveper Preview 2.2 to Pixels.
It’s a bug fixing update primarily, so no new features are highlighted.
The company also included the April security patch which brings its own set of benefits.

Google today rolled out Android 12 Developer Preview 2.2. As called out in the description, it is a minor update mostly focused on fixing bugs. It also brings the April security update that rolled out this week, likely including the speed boost to the Google Pixel 4a 5G and Google Pixel 5 that were reported to arrive with that release.

As per Google, here’s everything that this update is expected to address:

Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the Settings app to crash when a user tried to access Bluetooth settings. (Issue #180962266)
Fixed an issue that caused widgets to be removed from the home screen after a user installed an OTA update.
Fixed an issue that caused notifica…

WhatsApp’s newest stickers want to make the vaccines experience a social one too.

What you need to know

WhatsApp is rolling out new vaccine stickers in collaboration with the WHO.
The company has also waived fees for health organizations that send messages through its WhatsApp Business API.
The new ‘Vaccines for All’ stickers are available today within WhatsApp.

WhatsApp today launched a new sticker pack, dubbed “Vaccines for All”, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, or WHO. The company is doing this to help users share their vaccine experiences with fun-looking stickers, and is likely hoping to encourage vaccine uptake.

In 2020, WhatsApp also launched a new “Together at Home” sticker pack, also in partnership with the WHO in an attempt to help people stay connected as lockdowns started. This new pack is a reflection of the current stage of the pandemic.

WhatsApp also spoke a bit more about its work with public health organizations which began in earnest la…