Tag: Google

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Mobile Syrup

Google delays plans to change Chrome’s extensions standard

Google postponed plans to start turning off its old extensions standard in January and hasn’t set up a new timeline for the plan.

Google previously planned to test turning off its Manifest V2 (MV2) extension standard in some versions of Chrome starting January 2023. The search giant is currently trying to switch to the new Manifest V3 (MV3), which aims to improve the performance and security of Chrome extensions. However, critics have taken issue with MV3 over changes to features used by ad-blocking extensions.

According to a Google Groups post from Chrome Extensions developer advocate Simeon Vincent, Google postponed removing MV2 from pre-release versions of Chrome, like Chrome Canary, Dev, and Beta, in January to give developers more time to update their extensions and prepare for the changes:

“We’re committed to providing developers solutions to migration challenges with new functionality, bug fixes, and adequate time for adoption. For this reason, we’re postponing any January experiments to turn off Manifest V2 in pre-release channels of Chrome and changes to the featured badge in the Chrome Webstore, and we’ll be evaluating all downstream milestones as well. Expect to hear more about the updated phase-out plan and schedule by March of 2023. Our guiding principle will be to give developers sufficient time to update and test their extensions after the launch of these new capabilities before turning off Manifest V2.”

The original plan was to test the removal of MV2 in pre-release Chrome, expand the tests to stable Chrome releases in June 2023, and then stop running MV2 extensions entirely in January 2024. Now those future plans, like stopping using MV2 entirely, are “under review.”

Others have written extensively about MV3’s potential impact on ad-blockers, but the short version is that MV3 swaps the Web Request API — commonly used by ad-blockers — for the ‘Declarative Net Request’ API. It gives ad-blockers less power in an effort ot minimize security risks but critics argue the changes restrict actions extensions can take to protect user privacy.

Worse, Google’s changes don’t just apply to Chrome — Chromium will be impacted as well. That means the MV3 changes will likely trickle down into other Chromium-based browsers, such as Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi. Firefox, however, plans to support MV3 and as well as the Web Request API.

Source: Google Groups Via: The Verge, 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

How to use Apple’s Camera Continuity with Google Chrome

Apple’s new iPhone Camera Continuity feature makes setting up shots for video meetings a lot more fun, but unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work well with Google Chrome. However, I’ve found it works great in the beta version, Chrome Canary.

This suggests that the situation will improve with standard Chrome soon, but if you’re like me and want to jump on things early, this workaround is fairly seamless. You can also try these steps in your Chrome version since I have seen reports online of it working in the standard build.

To start, you need to ensure that you have macOS Ventura and iOS 16 downloaded on your iPhone. Once those updates are finalized, you should be able to select your iPhone from the dropdown menu of any webcam software as long as your phone and Mac are close together. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to work that seamlessly yet, but I expect that most major apps will update to support it.

What to do in Chrome?

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Once you’ve downloaded Chrome Canary, open the app’s Settings page via the three-dot menu in the top right-hand corner. From there, open the ‘Privacy and Security sub-menu and choose ‘Camera:’

Settings>Privacy and Security>Camera

Sometimes it takes a few seconds to appear, but a dropdown menu should be at the top of the page, allowing you to choose your preferred camera. If your iPhone isn’t on the list, try opening up FaceTime and seeing if it’s available there.

Once FaceTime is activated, you can open the ‘Video’ option from the Menu bar, and your iPhone should be listed as a camera.

Does it work in other browsers?

Reports show it works well in the Brave browser and Microsoft Edge. Surprisingly, I’ve had little success with it in Safari.

Apple also notes on its support page that if the feature isn’t working, you can try the following troubleshooting steps;

  • Make sure that your iPhone and Mac meet the system requirements.
  • Make sure that your iPhone is properly mounted.
  • Install the latest macOS updates, iOS updates, and updates for your video app.
  • If you haven’t unlocked your iPhone since it last restarted, unlock it, then lock it again.
  • Plug your iPhone into your Mac.
  • Restart your iPhone or Mac.
Source: RiversideFM, Apple Support 
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Mobile Syrup

Google Camera app update adds macro mode to Pixel 7 Pro

Google Camera is receiving a software update that introduces new settings for the Pixel 7 Pro’s ultra-wide camera. Users can now toggle whether they want to use its macro mode automatically or not.

When the Pixel 7 Pro launched, users found the camera array’s macro setting to be a bit unintuitive. Google is now hoping to mitigate that with a new Macro Focus setting, giving user’s more control of their device. Google Camera ‘version 8.7.250’ adds Macro Focus to the app’s quick settings. Delving into this option, users can swap between three available preferences: ‘On,’ ‘Auto’ and ‘Off.’

Previously, Google Camera’s use of the macro mode was automatic. This means that if a user tried to get a close-up shot of a subject and moved too close, it would automatically initiate the mode. The only way around this was to swap to Google Camera’s regular mode setting manually. The Auto option closely resembles the previously mentioned method of using the macro mode.

However, a dedicated On/Off option gives users way more agency when they are taking photos. Before, users could only toggle the automatic mode off and on within the Camera app’s settings. However, to lock the use of Pixel 7 Pro’s macro mode, users had to hit the icon that appears in the middle of the viewfinder. Overall, it made for a very unintuitive process.

Google Camera Version 8.7.250 also removes the ability to double tap the viewfinder to zoom in or out for 2x. This gesture is slowly being removed from other Pixel devices. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Google is removing it from the Pixel 7 series as well. Instead, users can do a pinch-to-zoom gesture or hit the on-screen button near the shutter to replicate this feature.

The update is steadily rolling out across the Play Store for users. Double-check that it’s available and see if you have access to the new Auto settings for macro mode.

Via: Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

More Pixel Fold renders surface online with specs

Leaker OnLeaks is back, this time with details about Google’s long-rumoured foldable Pixel. In combination with the website Howtoisolve, OnLeaks shared renders showing off the so-called Pixel Fold along with some specs.

First, the site notes that the Pixel Fold is expected to release in May 2023 sporting a design similar to Google’s current series of Pixel phones. Per the renders, the Pixel Fold will feature a large camera bar with three cameras, although it won’t be connected to the edges of the phone like on the Pixel 7.

Howtoisolve reports that the phone’s dimensions will measure roughly 158.7 x 139.7 x 5.7mm (8.3mm with the camera bump) when unfolded. The foldable will reportedly sport Google’s Tensor G2 chip, come in ‘Silver’ and ‘Black’ colours, USB-C charging, and will have a 5.79-inch cover display with a hold-punch selfie camera and a 7.69-inch inner display with a hole-punch selfie camera on the right side.

Moreover, Howtoisolve suggests the Pixel Fold might support a pen, sport 12GB of RAM, run Android 13, and cost $1,799 USD (roughly $2,443.27 CAD).

While all these details line up well with previous Pixel Fold leaks, suggesting they’re accurate, I’m not sure I buy Howtoisolve‘s claim of “~100% accurate rumors.” As with any leak, take a healthy dose of skepticism.

Source: OnLeaks, Howtoisolve

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Mobile Syrup

Quickly search Chrome tabs, history, more with new ‘@’ shortcuts

Google Chrome is getting new, helpful shortcuts for searching your tabs, bookmarks, and history right from the ‘omnibox.’

Enabling in Google Chrome version 108 for desktops, Chrome users can type ‘@tabs,’ ‘@history,’ or ‘@bookmarks’ into the omnibox, which is Google’s name for the search bar at the top of Chrome. After typing in one of these shortcuts and pressing the spacebar or clicking the corresponding pill-shaped button with your mouse, you can then start typing a search query.

The tab search shows results right below the omnibox that you can quickly access using the arrow keys or your mouse. History and bookmarks, on the other hand, open the respective page with the results of your query.

These quick search options sound very handy, especially for anyone who keeps a ton of tabs open and needs help finding them again later.

Image credit: 9to5Google

9to5Google first detailed these new ‘@’ shortcuts back in September, but they were hidden behind a Chrome flag. However, with the Chrome 108 update, they should be widely available for all, regardless of the flag.

The features are part of Google’s larger ‘Chrome Actions’ project, which has added several ways to quickly access various Chrome features and settings from the omnibox. Google started adding Chrome Actions back in version 103 of the browser — so far, it includes things like ‘Clear Browsing Data,’ ‘Open Incognito Tab’ and ‘Set Chrome as Default Browser.’ Typing those into the omnibox should surface a shortcut to activate the respective action.

Source: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Android updates set to get faster with improvements to seamless updates

Android updates may soon get a little faster for people using devices that support seamless updates.

Seamless updates, for those unfamiliar with the feature, were introduced back in 2016. It manages updates across multiple partitions, allowing Android to download and install new updates in the background without disrupting the user. Once everything’s ready to go, users simply reboot the smartphone, and Android starts up on the new, updated partition.

Google’s Pixel phones use the seamless updates feature, but not every manufacturer has gotten on board. Notably, Samsung hasn’t adopted seamless updates.

Anyway, Esper senior technical editor Mishaal Rahman spotted some changes coming to the seamless update system that should help speed things up. Per Rahman’s tweets, Googe is moving the writing of COW operations to batches, which means they will finish faster. Second, seamless updates will start using two threads for running compression.

With those two pieces in place, seamless updates should happen significantly faster. For example, the installation time for a ‘full’ 2.2GB update would drop from 23 minutes to 13 minutes, while a smaller ‘incremental’ update sized at 376MB would drop from 22 minutes to 16 minutes.

Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear when these changes will hit Android devices. Regardless, it’s good to see Google improving on basic systems like this. These updates may not be flashy, but they’re important.

Source: Mishaal Rahman (Twitter) via: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Google shutting down Duplex on the Web starting December 2022

Google will shut down its Duplex on the Web service. Duplex on the Web was an offshoot of Google’s call-automating technology, Duplex, intended to help people progress through common online forms — for example, ordering food or booking theatre tickets.

Per a note added to the Duplex on the Web support page, Google has “deprecated” the service and it will no longer be supported as of December 2022. “Any automation features enabled by Duplex on the Web will no longer be supported after this date,” reads the notice.

A Google spokesperson offered some additional detail to TechCrunch in a statement:

“As we continue to improve the Duplex experience, we’re responding to the feedback we’ve heard from users and developers about how to make it even better. By the end of this year, we’ll turn down Duplex on the Web and fully focus on making AI advancements to the Duplex voice technology that helps people most every day.”

The spokesperson also said that Google notified Duplex on the Web partners to help prepare for the shutdown.

Google first introduced Duplex on the Web at its 2019 I/O developer conference. Initially, the service could handle a few narrow use cases, like booking movie tickets. However, Google expanded Duplex on the Web over time, adding features like helping users automatically change passwords that were exposed in a data breach, assistance with checking out from online retailers, flight check-ins, and automatically finding discounts.

The core promise of Duplex on the Web was that people would be able to issue a command to Google Assistant, and Duplex would go ahead and do it. For example, someone could say, “book me a car from Hertz,” and Duplex would pull up the relevant webpage and fill in the user’s details like name, car preferences, tip dates, and payment information.

It’s not entirely clear why Google chose to shutter Duplex on the Web. TechCrunch suggests it could have been too difficult to maintain since it relies on a special user agent crawling websites for several hours each day to ‘train’ Duplex against them. That process could be easily tripped up if a site chose to block the crawler. Likely, Google’s cuts to the Assistant side of the business likely had a factor too. For example, a report from The Information said Google plans to reduce investments in Assistant for devices not made by Google as it pivots to a focus on hardware.

Regardless of the reason, it’s a bummer to see Google shutter Duplex on the Web. It was a really neat idea, and it’s a shame we won’t see more come from it.

Source: Duplex on the Web support Via: TechCrunch

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Mobile Syrup

Google Recorder for Pixel gains speaker identification functionality

During the Pixel 7 series’ launch event, Google claimed that the smartphone would be able to access Google One VPN for free in December. December is now here, and as promised, users have started reporting that they’re able to use Google One VPN for free on their Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro devices.

During the flagship launch event, Google also touted the arrival of ‘Speaker Detection’ and ‘Speaker Labels’ to the Google Recorder app. That feature also seems to be rolling out now.

After updating to ‘version 4.2,’ the Google Recorder app displays a prompt that asks users to enable the “Detect and label speaker” functionality. Tapping on ‘Continue’ to enable the feature further explains how it works, as seen in the screenshots below:

According to Google, the Recorder app analyzes your audio recordings to detect and label distinct speakers within your transcripts. To do this, the Recorder app does the following:

  • Computes models of the voices detected in the recording,
  • Gives each voice detected a generic text label (such as Speaker1, Speaker2), and
  • Compares the voices throughout the recording so the transcript can reflect what each voice said and when.

Users can edit recording transcriptions and assign custom names to identified speakers, while there is also an option to create and add new speakers when editing the transcript.

Google also makes it clear that to process the identification of different speakers, the voice recordings and models are temporarily stored on the device until the speaker labelling is complete. Once done, the voice models are deleted, and no voice data is sent to Google’s servers.

Although Google has started rolling out Google Recorder version 4.2 via the PlayStore, it hasn’t been widely released yet, as no one at MobileSyrup currently has the update.

Via: Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

Android announced some new features in time for the holidays

Android is announcing new features that help users express their memories and connections.

One of the new features is artist-designed styles in the Google Photos collage editor from Australian husband-and-wife visual duo Dabsmyla and renowned watercolour artist Yao Cheng.

Google is also making it easier for emoji mashups. Google is calling it ‘Seasonal emoji mashups’ for Emoji Kitchen, available as stickers via Gboard.

There’s now a new ‘Reading mode’ for Android that creates more accessible screen reading experiences, with a focus on customizable contrast, text size, text-to-speech, page clutter and font types. The feature is useful for people who are blind, have low vision, or are dyslexic.

The YouTube Search widget can help users find videos directly from their device’s home screen. Plus, there’s tap to watch in Google TV, which gives users the ability to cast content directly from the Google TV app to compatible TVs with a single tap.

Wear OS Tiles makes it easy for users to get in touch with their favourite contacts. There’s also an Adidas running integration with Google Assistant, which lets users quickly jump into more than 30 types of workouts using their phone by saying, “Hey Google, start a run with Adidas Running,” which will start tracking a workout, noting the speed, distance and heart rate via the built-in sensor on smartwatches. Further, Wear OS’ Google Keep update shows a visual enhancement to your notes, like photos, co-authors, and background colours.

Further, over the next week, Google can use Assistant to jump into more than 30 types of exercises.

Header image credit: Google

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Mobile Syrup

A fix is coming for YouTube’s iOS crashing issue

If you’re an iPhone user and encountered YouTube crashing today while watching a video, it seems you aren’t alone.

In a recent Tweet, YouTube’s official @TeamYouTube account says that it’s aware of the issue and that it’s working on a fix that will be coming “soon.” It’s unclear if this is a server-side update or if YouTube plans to drop an updated app.

It’s unclear how widespread the problem is, but while trying to watch a recent video via YouTube with my iPhone 14 Pro, YouTube crashed twice. I assumed this was just a random issue, but according to YouTube’s recent tweet, it seems to be a widespread problem. I was able to open up YouTube and finish watching the video with no issues, however.

A spike in reports on Downdetector surrounding YouTube issues started today at 3pm ET/12pm PT but have slowly fallen since then.

Have you run into issues with YouTube’s iOS app? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: @TeamYouTube