Category: Google

Google Support:

If you have the G Suite legacy free edition, you need to upgrade to a paid Google Workspace subscription to keep your services. The G Suite legacy free edition will no longer be available starting July 1, 2022.

To maintain your services and accounts, review the information below and upgrade by May 1, 2022. Upgrading to Google Workspace takes just a few steps with no disruption to your users. After you upgrade you can use your new subscription at no cost until at least July 1, 2022.

If you choose to wait, Google will begin upgrading subscriptions automatically on May 1, 2022. We will upgrade your organization to a new Google Workspace subscription based on the features you currently use.

Inevitable, but probably a bummer if you are still holding onto one of these accounts.

These prototypes look great, and the fact that Google designed its own system on a chip for them is really interesting and I bet those new cameras will be a big upgrade over the old sensor in the latest Pixel models, but I’d be a lot more excited if they were up for ordering today.

If you had told me a decade ago that this platform would have grown to the size it is today, especially in education, I’m not sure I would have believed you.

Google / Nest in an email to customers:

In response to community issues caused by COVID-19, we’re temporarily adjusting your camera quality and bandwidth in an effort to conserve internet resources.

With so many people working and attending school from home, we’re stretching our resources in ways we haven’t before—including the internet. As local internet resources are stretched past their limits, you and many others may have noticed interruptions like dropped video calls or frozen screens. During this time, it’s critical for us to work together to ensure we find ways to help the community at large.

To answer the global call from ISPs to prioritize bandwidth for learning and working, in the next few days we’re going to be adjusting the quality and bandwidth setting on Nest cameras to the default setting.

This can be changed back manually on a per-camera basis.

Frederic Lardinois, writing at TechCrunch:

After Facebook canceled its F8 developer conference and Google itself moved its Cloud Next event in April to a digital-only conference, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that Google is canceling its I/O developer conference in Mountain View for 2020 as well. The company has sent an email to attendees informing them of the cancellation. The event was originally scheduled to run from May 12 to 14, but because of concerns around the coronavirus, it is now canceling the show.

“Due to concerns around the coronavirus (COVID-19), and in accordance with health guidance from the CDC, WHO, and other health authorities, we have decided to cancel the physical Google I/O event at Shoreline Amphitheatre,” Google said in a statement. “Over the coming weeks, we will explore other ways to evolve Google I/O to best connect with and continue to build our developer community. We’ll continue to update the Google I/O website.”

Unlike with its Cloud Next conference, Google hasn’t announced any plans (yet) to still go ahead with its keynotes and sessions in the form of a remote conference. Google’s statement leaves that option open, though.

I think WWDC is probably next. Over the last few years, Apple has announced the conference in the middle of March, so I bet we hear about it soon, one way or another.

Myke and I are in Chicago, where we are doing a live episode of Upgrade with Jason tonight. We both wanted to check out the Pixel 3 and Google’s other new hardware, so Myke and I dropped by Google’s pop-up store here yesterday.

The store is temporary one, and will only be open to the end of the year, but Google did an incredible job with it. As you walk in, you are greeted with a wooden bookcase, populated with products and paint cans showing off the subtle colors the company is using on its hardware.

Once in, the shop is really nicely put together. All of the interior, from the paint colors to the shelves and other fixtures are cohesive, and resonate with the design of Google’s hardware.

Downstairs, we checked out the Pixel 3 and 3 XL, in addition to the Pixel Slate and Home Hub. All of these products are displayed neatly, as you would see in an Apple Store.

The phones seem terrific. A few test shots next to my iPhone XS Max left me impressed, but that notch on the XL isn’t great. When I pick one up, I will do the smaller Pixel 3.

The Pixel Slate, Google’s new ChromeOS tablet, is pretty buggy still. Scrolling was janky, and even opening the app drawer made the device stutter and pause. It was pretty shocking to see it next to the year-old Pixelbook, which took everything I could throw at it.

The Home Hub is much, much smaller than I expected. The 7-inch screen is mounted on a tiny base, making the whole thing hunkered down near the countertop. It looks nice, and I’m sure it would be cool to have my photos float by as we spend time in the kitchen, but I left feeling a little underwhelmed by my time with it.

What was not underwhelming was the rest of the space. Upstairs, Google has built several different experiences. There’s a swing to show how the Pixel 3 can focus on a moving target with ease, and a treehouse outfitted with loads of smart home stuff. Walk in, shut the door, and you could talk to the Home Hub to turn on light, raise blinds, play music and more.

There was also a tiny kitchen for some reason. It made me look like a giant, and I think it was there just to be a Instagramable spot.

The only real downside to the shop was the knowledge of the staff. Myke purchased an unlocked Pixel, and they were confused about what that meant, and how to ring it up. The salespeople eventually worked it out, but it was surprising to me to see. I’m sure it is difficult to staff something what will be open just a few months, but there needs to be some more training on that front.

All in all, I left impressed. Google is making really interesting hardware, and they are starting to branch out into retail in a way that is markedly different from where Apple is now. In the early 2000s, the Apple Store was a destination for learning and exploring, and some of that has been lost, despite the company’s ever-changing roster of programs and talks at Apple Stores. Google may just be starting down this road, but it is on a good path.

Josh Constine at TechCrunch:

A security bug allowed third-party developers to access Google+ user profile data since 2015 until Google discovered and patched it in March, but decided not to inform the world. When a user gave permission to an app to access their public profile data, the bug also let those developers pull their and their friends’ non-public profile fields. Indeed, 496,951 users’ full names, email addresses, birth dates, gender, profile photos, places lived, occupation and relationship status were potentially exposed, though Google says it has no evidence the data was misused by the 438 apps that could have had access.

Google should have disclosed this when the bug was patched in March, the company didn’t do that, because it didn’t want to draw comparisons to Facebook, according to an internal memo, shared by The Wall Street Journal:

The document shows Google officials knew that disclosure could have serious ramifications. Revealing the incident would likely result “in us coming into the spotlight alongside or even instead of Facebook despite having stayed under the radar throughout the Cambridge Analytica scandal,” the memo said. It “almost guarantees Sundar will testify before Congress.”

I bet that last line is true here before long.