Google Translate is getting an update today, but it looks pretty light on features. The main changes appear to center aro und properly labeling languages. Nine dialects are getting proper names, and it seems the term 'dialect' is going out of style, so Translate is now saying 'region' everywhere. A look through the APK also shows that we can look forward to app shortcuts in the future.
Version 7.20 of the Google app rolled out just a few days ago with an assortment of new features and minor changes. Today, a minor update to v7.20.16 hit the Play Store, and in typical fashion for an update without a major version bump, it looks a lot like a typical bug fix update. However, this one does include a few new strings that are slightly interesting. There are mentions of something called Google Temperature that might be worth watching out for.
Deeplocal is a Pittsburgh-based innovation studio that makes inventions as marketing to help the world's most loved brands tell their stories. The team at Deeplocal built several fun and engaging robotics projects using Android Things. Leveraging the developer ecosystem surrounding the Android platform and the compute power of Android Things hardware, they were able to quickly and easily create robots powered by computer vision and machine learning.
DrawBot
DrawBot is a DIY drawing robot that transforms your selfies into physical works of art.
"The Android Things platform helped us move quickly from an idea, to prototype, to final product. Switching from phone apps to embedded code was easy in Android Studio, and we were able to pull in OpenCV modules, motor drivers, and other libraries as needed. The final version of our prototype was created two weeks after unboxing our first Android Things developer kit."
- Brian Bourgeois, Producer, Deeplocal
Want to build your own DrawBot? See the Hackster.io project for all the source code, schematics, and 3D models.
HandBot
A robotic hand that learns and reacts to hand gestures, HandBot visually recognizes gestures and applies machine learning.
"The Android Things platform made integration work for Handbot a breeze. Using TensorFlow, we were able to train a neural network to recognize hand gestures. Once this was created, we were able to use Android Things drivers to implement games in easy-to-read Android code. In a matter of weeks, we went from a fresh developer kit to competing against a robot hand in Rock, Paper, Scissors."
- Mike Derrick, Software Engineer, Deeplocal
Want to build your own HandBot? See the Hackster.io project for all the source code, schematics, and 3D models.
YouTube Go, a version of the YouTube app designed for users with more restrictive data access, first launched in India last year and ended 2017 with 15 total countries. Today that number is being expanded significantly with over 130 countries now able to enjoy the benefits of YouTube Go.
The primary focus for YouTube Go is to provide the user with significantly greater control over the amount of data used, including the size of the app itself at under 10MB versus the almost 86MB for the standard YouTube app. When you tap on a thumbnail you are given a quick preview of the video and at that point you are able to decide if you would like to watch the whole video now or download it for later and how much data you want to use (basic, standard or high quality) to dictate the video resolution. The addition of high quality was made recently in response to user feedback.
YouTube Go also has a stronger localization component than YouTube proper with the home page of the app displaying videos that are popular or trending in your region rather than the YouTube community at large.
Finally, the app has gained some powerful new sharing features in the update accompanying today's expansion, including the ability to share multiple videos at the same time and sharing videos without consuming data.
Google hasn't released a full list of the countries added today, but if YouTube Go sounds like a good fit for you then take a look in the Play Store, as there's a pretty good chance it'll be there now.
If you have ever wanted to quickly share an Instagram story with something you had on your mind but didn't want to express that thought with a photo or video, a new text-only option might make that easier to achieve.
Today Instagram officially announced a new "Type Mode in Stories" feature which, as the name suggests, offers a text-only way to quickly share a story on the social network. This new feature doesn't require that you upload a photo or video to share your story, so if you just want to type out a quick line of text and share it to your Instagram crowd, you can do that.
To make it happen, you will swipe over to the camera as you normally would for a story, then select the "Type" option that's next to the record button. Once you do that you will be able to type in whatever you want, and select different text and background styles to spruce things up.
The new text styles that Instagram is adding in Type Mode is also available in the standard Stories, so you can add the new text flares to your photos and videos as you see fit.
The new version of Instagram is now available in the Play Store, and Type Mode is now available.
Verizon has launched a new promotion to welcome the first day of February, seeing a noteworthy discount on one of 2017′s best flagship smartphones and other devices and services.
Beginning today, February 1, Verizon is offering the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 for $200 off its original price tag. That means it costs $760 instead of $960, and with a device payment plan, the monthly cost breaks down to $31.66 per month rather than the standard $40.00 per month. The deal doesn't require a device trade-in to kick in the deal and is available for new and existing customers.
That $200 discount on the Galaxy Note 8 is certainly worthwhile, especially for someone who might be in the market for a new device and wants to save some money.
In addition, Verizon is also offering a $30 discount on the Lifeprint Photo & Video printer during the whole month, and $50 off the JBL Link 10 speaker until the end of February as well.
Finally, new or existing Verizon customers that sign up or upgrade to a Verizon Unlimited plan and also sign up for a Verizon Fios Gigabit Connection double or triple play bundle will get $20 off their bill: $10 off the wireless bill, and $10 off the Fios Gigabit bill.
Google launched Yo uTube Go late last year in India, and then it rolled the app out to a dozen or so other nations. Today, it's pushing YouTube Go to most of the world with support for more than 130 countries. No, the US still isn't included, but it wasn't really designed for the developed world. YouTube Go includes features to make the most of a limited mobile data package.
YouTube Go includes location-based trending videos on the home screen, and you can get thumbnail previews of videos before you load them.
