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.
Google explains why its Pixel wallpapers are for the birds
Google has a good reason for including feathers on the Pixel 7
When it comes to smartphone wallpaper, your options are most often geometric shapes and colors or maybe, if you’re lucky, some sort of landscape view or artist rendering. For the Pixel, the Google design team wanted to try something a little different, specifically something that “viewed technology through a living lens,” leading the team to focus a set of wallpaper on birds.
Nothing Phone 1 is getting an update, but maybe not the one you're hoping for
You’ll have to wait a bit longer for Android 14 beta
In January, Nothing’s first smartphone, the Nothing Phone 1 officially made its way to the United States. The highly anticipated phone offers a clean Android skin with no bloatware and a unique, premium design that sets it apart from its competition. We’ve also already started to hear things about the company’s second phone, Nothing Phone 2, which is expected to carry over the transparent rear glass design while adding a larger battery and better camera, ultimately making the device a more premium offering than its first release.
The newest Waze voice tries to Keep it Real with the Jonas Brothers
The Brothers may Live to Party but they’re also letting you know when your exit is coming up
Over the years, Waze has done some limited-time fun voice integrations with everyone from C-3PO to zombies. If you haven’t tried one before, the voice experiences typically replace the traditional navigation voice in your car and change up your vehicle icon. In some cases, the unique voice also offers a little commentary on your travels. Today, Waze is bringing another one of those fun integrations to users with a new Jonas Brothers driving experience.
WhatsApp starts letting users auto-share their status updates on Facebook
Now it's even easier to tell all your friends what you’re up to
It’s sometimes easy to forget that WhatsApp is actually owned by Meta, just like Facebook and Instagram. While the latter two are often used to share things with the world, WhatsApp messages are usually a bit more private. It looks like soon, however, WhatsApp users might have the opportunity to share their status updates on Facebook as well.
Google Meet starts supporting 1080p calls — time to upgrade your lighting
The upgrade from 720p is only available for some Workplace accounts
Back in February, Google added 360-degree video backgrounds to Google Meet for mobile, giving you the ability to convince your coworkers you’re on the beach or working outside when you’re actually pantless and still in bed. Today, it's adding another video improvement to the service, this time improving the resolution of your call.
BMW drivers can start unlocking their cars with Android phones
BMW’s Digital Key Plus is finally available for Android
Last year BMW debuted Digital Key Plus for the iPhone, a feature that gives BMW drivers the ability to lock and unlock their car and remotely start it from their iPhone or Apple Watch. When it launched, there was a promise of bringing it to Android phones, and today that promise became a reality for some devices.
Samsung’s summer Galaxy Unpacked event might come a little early this year
The Galaxy Watch 6, Galaxy Z Flip 5, and Galaxy Z Fold 5 are all expected to be on the agenda
Each August, Samsung typically holds its second Galaxy Unpacked event of the year to show off its newest devices. It's usually a big show, with everything from new phones to smartwatches on the agenda. This year, it sounds like Unpacked might be coming a little sooner than we'd thought.
Withings Body Smart debuts with 'eyes closed' mode that takes the pressure off of weight tracking
Electrical pulses measure your body composition, too
We might not necessarily like looking at them, but scales are an important thing for all of us to use to monitor our health. Fresh off the launch of its newest health tracker, Withings Sleep, Withings added a new smart scale to its product lineup this week with Body Smart, which is able to provide not only your precise weight, but also measure things like your heart rate, visceral fat, metabolic age, and basal metabolic rate — and there's even a feature for those of us that would rather not hear what the scale has to say.
Citizen’s space technology smartwatch is finally available for preorder
After hitting some delays, the watch is expected to ship May 1
This past January at CES, Citizen introduced its second-generation CZ Smart smartwatch, featuring some interesting-sounding NASA-derived tech. Sales were supposed to get underway in March, but after a bit of a false start, the wearable is now finally available for preorder, ahead of a May 1 release.
Twitter will now tell you when it suppresses a hateful tweet
You might start seeing a new 'Visibility Limited' label soon
Twitter announced an update today on how you might see tweets displayed on your timeline. Specifically, the company has implemented a new enforcement philosophy called “Freedom of Speech, not Freedom of Reach," which is less a new policy and more just some extra transparency around an old one.
Last month we saw some of the first big changes since Google officially took control of Fitbit, with the demise of the app’s popular community features called Challenges and Adventures. The company also eliminated Deezer and Pandora support in March and reiterated plans just last week to force all existing Fitbit app users to transition over to using their Google Account to log in. It’s a lot, which might have you asking what the future of the Fitbit app looks like. Now we have a bit of an answer thanks to new screenshots of the app on the company’s website.
Google Maps wants to help you not get lost in national parks
Now you can download an entire park’s maps at once
Just in time for summer, Google has dropped a few updates to Google Maps to make navigating national parks a lot easier. Four new features are coming to Maps this month — specifically, new tools to help you figure out what to do while you’re visiting a park, as well as improved features for navigating around the park once you are inside.
Fitbit's transition to Google accounts starts heating up this summer
Existing Fitbit users have until 2025 to port their accounts over
Google completed its acquisition of Fitbit back in January 2021, and now we’re expecting some of the more noticeable results of that acquisition. Last month, Google killed off some of Fitbit’s fun community features like adventures and challenges, and this summer, it’s starting the process of killing your Fitbit login.
The OnePlus Pad is finally available for preorder today, but there’s a catch
We still don’t know what the tablet’s final price will be
At long last, the OnePlus Pad is available for preorder, there’s just one hitch: we don’t actually know how much it’s going to cost yet.
WhatsApp’s multi-device ‘companion mode’ is now available for all beta users
The messenger is finally getting cool about juggling multiple devices
There are lots of great reasons to use WhatsApp, but for all the secure messaging service offers, it's been a bit of a headache trying to keep track of your conversations as you move from phone to phone, or phone to tablet. The good news is that the app is now making it a lot easier to use it on multiple devices, with a new companion mode that allows you to access your account across more than one smartphone.
Google Find My Device could someday track phones even when they're off
The feature would work similarly to Apple’s ‘Find My' service
Losing your phone is the absolute worst, but the next time you misplace your smartphone you might have a slightly improved chance of finding it. Google is reportedly working on a new feature for Find My Device that will allow you to locate your missing Pixel even if you lost track of it while it was powered off.
Expedia’s new ChatGPT integration uses AI to help you plan your next vacation
It can help you book hotels, activities, and more
Next time you’re planning a trip using Expedia you can get a little help from AI. This week, the travel site announced the launch of a new in-app trip planning experience that is powered by ChatGPT. The feature works a lot like talking to a travel agent might. For instance, if you’re thinking about traveling to Ireland this summer, you can start an open-ended conversation within the app about the Emerald Isle. When you do, Chat GPT will make suggestions on things you might want to do on your trip, places you might want to visit, and where it thinks the right place for you to stay is.
Google now guarantees some flight prices or your money back
It’s also making it easier to explore hotels and actives for your next vacation
Summer is right around the corner and Google is making it a bit easier to find that perfect flight or vacation hotel. Mobile search got an update today adding new features for researching hotels and booking plane tickets.
One small step for LTE: Nokia plans to bring 4G to the moon this year
E.T. might get a better signal than you do
As you point your phone's camera to the heavens, snapping some totally real shots of the moon, do you ever think about what life might be like up there? When we finally do inhabit the moon, Nokia is making sure you’ll be able to get a signal. During Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March, Nokia principal engineer Luis Maestro Ruiz De Temino told reporters that the company plans to launch a 4G network on the surface of the moon later this year.