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Farlight 84 guide: A new hero shooter enters the ring
Winner winner chicken dinner, here's how to play the latest battle royale on Android
Another stylish battle royale enters the ring; this time, it's Farlight 84, a hero shooter battle royale set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Battle royales have been on the rise since PUBG, Fortnite, and Apex. Android has a fair share of impressive battle royales, and now Farlight 84 is here to make a name for itself, gunning for Apex Legends Mobile's vacant spot. But how does this title fare against the competition on your favorite Android gaming phone? We've created a beginner's guide breaking down Farlight 84's gameplay and systems you should expect to experience during your first few jumps.
Following all the AI announcements from Microsoft and OpenAI at the beginning of the year, Google joined the party with Bard in early February. The AI-powered chatbot was then made available for beta testing in selected countries through a waitlist in March 2023. However, in typical Google fashion, Workspace account holders were not invited to the party, with Bard being limited to regular Gmail users. That's changing now, as Google has opened up Bard's waitlist for Workspace accounts.
Google Tasks may be coming to the ChromeOS system tray
It looks like Google is working on giving Tasks a spot next to your calendar
Currently, there isn't a convenient way to access Google Tasks from a desktop computer. While Google services like Calendar and Keep have their own fully featured web apps, Google Tasks is squirreled away behind a side panel menu inside those other services. You've long been able to work around this on ChromeOS by using the Tasks Android app, but now, it seems Google's working on integrating your Tasks right into ChromeOS's system tray.
Bard AI in Google Messages could be the writing assistant you never knew you needed
Magic Compose may soon help you text with suggestions and style tweaks
Google Messages has tried to help users compose text messages for years with its Smart Reply feature, but in some instances, they're just not that great. In an effort to expand the usability of automatic replies, Google has been looking for ways to implement Bard into its messaging app and it could be nearing completion.
Waze kills most voice commands on Android Auto
We hope the only places you like to travel to are ‘home’ and ‘work’
Waze has always been a fun alternative to Google Maps. While both are owned by Google, the app has a cartoonish interface and often offers amusing voice integrations like this week’s new addition of The Jonas Brothers. Waze also recently added support for Android Auto’s “Coolwalk” view, which allows users to see things like info on the music they have playing and incoming text messages on their dashboard alongside maps.
WhatsApp upgrades polls and gets smarter about captions
Users can now create single-vote polls and forward media with captions
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Everybody knows WhatsApp as one of the world’s most popular communication platforms, and it's consistently made our list as one of the top encrypted messaging apps. However, there's still room to improve, and we're constantly seeing the service try out new features, like recent tweaks to make creating polls and forwarding messages easier. Those upgrades, which include the ability to create single-vote polls and add captions for context to forwarded messages, were initially only available to beta testers, but are now finally being rolled out to stable users.
Google Photos shines the spotlight on Memories as it dials up the nostalgia
Memories on the home screen make them hard to ignore
Google Photos is a convenient way of keeping all your photos in one place. While it started as a simple gallery app with smart search features, it's already become much more robust with Google having recently introduced a video editing tool in the app on Chromebooks. To make sure you don't forget about your fondest memories, Google could soon introduce a Memories feed baked right into the homepage.
For as useful as Gmail is, Google is always striving to make it a better experience. The company recently introduced a Twitter-like checkmark in the email app for companies to prove their legitimacy and began testing generative AI tools to help people write. Still, with every good feature comes a not-so-good one as more ads will now start showing up in every corner of Gmail.
Google Home's lighting control picks up a long-awaited facelift
Your 'Activity' tab is also moving to a new location
Google has made a number of improvements to the user experience of the Home app since its redesign was released for public preview last year, including changes to its look and feel as well as a slew of new features. One of the long-awaited tweaks that has yet to appear on the app is a redesigned lighting control, but that has changed with a new Google Home update.
As one of the world's most widely used messaging apps, WhatsApp has its ups and downs. Using the app to keep in touch with our loved ones regardless of distance is one of the benefits. But the barrage of telemarketing or spam calls has been an ugly side effect of the app's popularity. With millions using WhatsApp daily, one would imagine a feature to silence unknown callers would be built in. But that's currently not the case. Fortunately, the folks at WhatsApp are working on a way to silence all unknown callers with a simple toggle within the settings.
Even if you've never owned an iOS device, you may be aware of Apple Arcade, Apple's games subscription service on the App Store. While it's not as good a value as Play Pass on Android, Apple Arcade is still a worthwhile subscription for any iOS user.
Despite the fact that more Lego games have been taken off the Play Store than are currently available, they remain some of the most replayable and fun games available. Even if you're not playing one of Traveller's Tales massively popular tie-in games, you know that a Lego game is going to have a minimum level of polish and enjoyability. If you don't feel like digging through the Lego catalog on the Play Store to find the best Android games out there, don't worry, AP's got you covered. And if you need a new phone to play all these games, there are plenty to meet your needs.
Why am I getting a "Google Drive blocked by administrator" message?
Can't access Google Drive at work or school? Here's why
If you’re attempting to use Google Drive on a Google Workspace account, you may encounter a message informing you that your administrator has blocked Google Drive. This can be a frustrating message, especially if you’re trying to share Drive files or collaborate. If you’ve just picked up a budget Chromebook for work on the go, you’ll want to get this sorted immediately so you can use your new device!
How many characters are available in Genshin Impact in 2023?
Is this game's Pokédex getting out of hand?
Don't worry if you're a late bloomer recently uncovering Genshin Impact; the game has resisted power creep, meaning older, lower rarity units are just as viable to play today as they were in the beginning. Genshin Impact, one of the best gachas on Android, has earned billions of dollars and isn't slowing down anytime soon; the number of units coming out yearly is consistently impressive.
The internet is an excellent resource for keeping current on the latest news. However, fake news is still rampant despite ongoing prevention, monitoring, and cleanup efforts. That's why you need to learn about Google's fact-checking tool.
Google Chat will let you quote messages, making channels even more cluttered
The app already offers in-line threads
Google Chat has seen a big overhaul since it absorbed the beloved Hangouts app. The service enjoys all the conventional chat features, including groups and individual texts. One of the pet peeves of people who use Google Chat is the lack of messaging quoting in replies. This generally wouldn't be considered a major omission since the app already offers in-line threads. But it's always nice to have that extra option in a communications app, and Google will recognize that with a new server-side update to the app rolling out now.
Google wants to bring the AI power of Bard to your Pixel's home screen
Ask Bard anything, right from a widget
Google Bard may not be quite as powerful as OpenAI's ChatGPT, but new additions, like the ability to code, bring it one step closer to being proper competition. As Bard continues to mature, Google wants to expand its reach by attempting to bring it to Pixel devices through a widget.
Dashlane helps you ditch your master password for good
But Dashlane’s substitute solution isn’t the more secure passkeys
Passwords are the bane of our modern internet life — you must set one up for each service you use, remember them, and they’re prone to phishing and leaks, too. While passkeys are slowly bringing some respite, with Google being the latest to jump on the bandwagon, we still can’t seem to ditch the master passwords for our password managers. Dashlane wants to change that by bringing a passwordless login solution to its own password manager, but its alternate login method isn’t a passkey.
12 great Android games you can also play on PC
Dust off the mouse and keyboard for these amazing games
The PC and mobile platforms used to be very different in both scale and design philosophy. Popular Android apps like Vampire Survivors and Downwell are modern examples of the mobile platforms' stream-lined primary loops, eschewing graphics in favor of gameplay designed for portable devices. But as mobile devices became more advanced and mobile development grew more ambitious, some games designed for the best Android phones now have access to the complex and precise trappings of the PC platform. It can be a challenge to find the best of these little crossovers, so take a look at this roundup of the best Android games that have found new life on PC, and pick out your next mark.
Google Docs: How to add drop-down menus to your document
Google Docs dropdowns feature also works in Sheets to save time and prevent typos. Learn how to make menus, use presets, data ranges, and more
Google Docs is a fantastic online word processor, and it's easy to streamline repetitive tasks using dropdowns. With a few helpful tips, you'll be able to take advantage of this powerful feature in your documents.