Apple, Google, and other tech companies have announced the formation of a new project to set up new common communication standards for smart home devices. Project Connected Home over IP will allow smart home devices from different manufacturers to communicate with one another using an open standard with built-in security.
Tag: Google
Google Drive and Gmail free storage limited to 15 GB
Google accounts start with 15 GB of total storage spread across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. Once this limit is exceeded, users have the option of upgrading to a Google One plan.
You may check the total amount of storage currently used for your Google account at google.com/settings/storage. Google also provides instructions on how to free up additional storage.
Dynamic email coming to Gmail on July 2nd 2019
Google announced the upcoming general availability of Dynamic email for Gmail on July 2nd 2019. AMP for Gmail allows email users to use emails like web pages for data entry and other purposes. Users who wish to send this type of email must be approved by Google first.
Google offers free replacement BLE Titan Security Keys for security issue
Google issued a security notice on its Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Titan Security Keys and is offering a free replacement for affected keys. A new key may be requested at google.com/replacemykey.
Google Duo video phone call app
Google Duo is a high quality video phone call app that works with smartphones, tablets, and computers. It is available using web access with a Google account, and is also available at iTunes and Google Play.
Online help for Google Duo, including setup and making calls, is available here.
Google urges users to install security updates for Chrome browser
Google has requested that its Chrome browser be updated as soon as possible due to a security vulnerability logged as CVE-2019-5786. Users should make certain that the installed Chrome version is 72.0.3626.121 or higher.
Google releases new accessibility apps Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier
Google has announced the release of accessibility apps Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier to help users with hearing issues.
Live Transcribe transcribes live audio in real time using Google’s speech recognition technology. This feature is installed on Pixel 3 smartphones under the Accessibility settings and will soon be available in a limited beta release to users worldwide via the Google Play Store.
Sound Amplifier amplifies microphone sounds while reducing unwanted or distracting background noises and is available now at Google Play.
Google expedites shutdown of Google+ consumer version
Google will move the shutdown date of the consumer version of its Google+ (Google Plus) social network from August 2019 to April 2019. Google still plans to support Google+ for enterprise customers.
Update: Google+ will no longer be available for consumer (personal) accounts on April 2, 2019. Google also provided instructions on downloading Google+ data and deleting a Google+ account.
This announcement was a follow-up to their October 2018 security notice on Google+.
Google+ social network will no longer be available for non-enterprise users
Google announced the scheduled end of the Google+ social network for non-enterprise users. Users have the next 10 months to move their data from Google+.
As part of this announcement, Google also stated that there was a bug in one of the Google+ People APIs that could have allowed data access to user data marked as private. This bug was noted and fixed by Google in March of 2018 and there was no evidence that this data was misused. Some of the optional user fields in this bug included name, email address, occupation, gender and age.
Google+ users who access it through G Suite will not be affected by this change. More information is available at the Google+ FAQ page.
Google Titan Security Key offers additional device authentication
Google announced the release of its Titan Security Key, a physical device used as an additional authentication method on devices. The Titan Security Key is built according to FIDO Alliance specifications and will be available soon at the Google Store.
Google released more technical details on how the new security key works at https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2017/08/Titan-in-depth-security-in-plaintext.html.
Update: the Titan Security Key is now available at https://store.google.com/product/titan_security_key_kit.
Setup for Google account two factor authentication can be done at https://www.google.com/landing/2step/.