Well, the tablet-side of Android is finally getting some love from Google, as many of the company’s productivity apps are receiving fairly substantial overhauls for those who prefer to work with larger screens. First up, Docs, Sheets, and Drive will get updates to support drag and drop, so you can pull texts and images from one app to another, helping to sustain a single ecosystem across all software. Google is beefing up Drive even further, adding the option to open up two files side by side....

What Are the Dates for Google I/O? Google I/O 2023 will take place in person in May 2023, but the exact dates have not yet been announced. After canceling the event in 2020, Google I/O returned virtually in 2021 and in person again in 2022. How To Register to Attend The event is free and open to all, but if you register, you can save content and chat in I/O Adventure, a virtual event that launched in 2021....

When Google suggests cycling routes, the routes are listed in order of shortest to longest, some of which may lead you up a hill or into an area with traffic. Before you make your choice, preview the route with Google Street View so you can be aware of rough terrain, inclines, or traffic. When you choose a walking route, access Live View for an augmented reality experience. Right from your map, you’ll see details about the restaurants and shops surrounding you, including photos, reviews, and how busy they are....

According to Google, the estimated prices you will see are taken from local toll jurisdictions and vary according to certain factors. Navigation maps will now include the finer details of a route, like stop signs. And Google Maps on iOS will be further integrated to make it easier to use while traveling. Factors that influence toll booth prices include the day of the week, the cost of a pass, and what time you arrived....

Google’s original Nest Hub showed why a smart assistant with a screen might be a good thing, packing a fair number of features into a compact, attractive form. The Next Hub Max takes things to another level, however, with a larger display, a Nest Aware camera on the front, and better sound quality—with a larger footprint, as well. Still, Google’s scaled-up smart display can blend in well with its surroundings and provides a litany of nuanced benefits that make it a welcome addition to any connected home....

Google Pixelbook Design The Pixelbook features high-end hardware and a premium design that incorporates an aluminum chassis along with Corning Gorilla Glass detail. The Pixelbook offers several configurations for a choice of processor, memory, and storage. At 0.4 inches (10.3 mm) thick when closed, the Pixelbook is strikingly slim, rivaling a 13-inch MacBook Pro. The Pixelbook has 360-degree flexible hinges, giving it a hybrid convertible design similar to the Microsoft Surface or Asus Chromebook Flip....

Chromebook users can access their email through Gmail on both the web and the app, and users who rely on the app should notice a new design and icon soon. According to 9To5Google, version 2021.09.10.397347674 introduces the Material You design and the newest logo for the application. Unfortunately, this update doesn’t bring a dark theme toggle to Gmail for Android on Chrome OS, but it does introduce a new accent color to the label list, search field, and compose button....

Touch is everywhere. It’s on our phones and tablets, but also thermostats, appliances, and now even an earbud charging case. In large part, one might say phones are so successful because of this flexibility, allowing them to be cameras, musical instruments, and even drawing pads. But this also means designers are never really forced to finalize a user interface. You can add a touchscreen and code a basic UI design, with the promise that any shortcomings can be fixed later....

Back in 2019, I bought my very first gaming laptop, and I’ve been sold on the idea of a portable writing and gaming computer ever since. As much as I love my gaming laptops, both of my models, an Eluktronics and an MSI, both feel like they’re about to catch fire whenever I’m playing a heavy-hitting game like Division or Destiny 2. A couple gaming sessions later, and I realized I needed a laptop cooling pad....

Most people associate hashtags with social media. These cyber appendages that internet users tack on to keywords are here to stay—at least into the foreseeable future. Hashtag History Metadata tags have been around for quite some time. Tags were first used in 1988 on a platform known as Internet Relay Chat or IRC to group messages, images, content, and video into categories. The purpose is so users can search for hashtags and find content associated with them....

The first thing to understand about Home Designer Pro by Chief Architect is that it’s the combination of all of the features and tools found in the Home Designer line of home, interior, and landscaping design programs. It has everything from floor plans and interior design tools to topography designers and plant encyclopedias. There’s literally nothing about your home’s physical manifestation that can’t be put into this program. A program this comprehensive is massive and takes a significant commitment in time and effort to learn how to use effectively....

Honor’s smartphones are known for their screens, cameras, and battery life. This pattern continues with the company’s latest Magic Vs and 80 Series devices and is bolstered by the release of the MagicOS 7.0 operating system. The Magic Vs may not be Honor’s first foldable flagship device—that distinction goes to the Magic V— but Honor CEO George Zhao says it will be its “first foldable flagship to debut in overseas markets....

A recently developed algorithm can predict planetary orbits without having to be told about Newton’s laws, according to a recent paper by Princeton University physicist Hong Qin. Qin’s research shows how the technology of a simulated universe could work in practice, experts say. “If an AI algorithm is able to predict the motion of planets, for example, using discrete field theory, this suggests that the universe, itself, may consist at some level of discrete elements—if you will, that the universe is pixelated,” computer scientist Rizwan Virk, the author of “The Simulation Hypothesis,” who was not involved in the research, said in an email interview....

CareCall is a new artificial intelligence (AI) system that checks in on seniors by giving them a call. It’s part of a burgeoning industry of AI tools and robots that could help assist people who are aging. However, there are concerns that AI-guided robot companions could end up replacing human contact for the elderly. “Robots must be sensitive and empathetic and compassionate, accompanying care acts with genuine concern and conveying feeling,” said Ron Baecker, an Emeritus Professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, where he founded the Technologies for Aging Gracefully Lab, in an email interview....

AI-generated content could mean many things today, including personalized news feeds catered to readers’ interests and written articles gleaned from a data set. With so much information available 24/7 at our fingertips, it makes sense to have AI step in and help curate some of the news we consume. “It just doesn’t make sense for humans to be going in and generating and putting together certain types of content because there’s no creativity—it’s just mind-numbing, and AI systems are good at the mind-numbing thing,” Ronald Schmelzer, a managing parter and principal analyst at Cognilytica, told Lifewire over the phone....

Employees are planning ways to handle the public under these conditions, as well. Some felt they had to leave the company for fears of contracting the highly contagious virus after plans to reopen were cemented in a company-wide open letter posted in May. “I just had to go; I couldn’t put up with it,” said former Apple Store employee Nicole Turner. “I’m around my older family members on a pretty regular basis and my six-year-old niece… it was just not something I could risk....

While it may not necessarily have been the “golden age” of gaming, the Atari days helped make what the gaming world is today, experts and former Atari diehards say. “I don’t know if I’d say it was the golden age, and I might reserve that for when the Nintendo Entertainment System came out and took gaming to the next level, but I‘d definitely say that the Atari days kicked it off,” said Chris Spear, the host of the podcast, Chefs Without Restaurants, in an email interview with Lifewire....

“The last two years have been a rollercoaster. I keep yelling at all the friends who come back to the stream like, ‘Why are you here?’” Allard said in a phone interview with Lifewire. “I’m still so shocked by this journey every single day. I can’t believe the amount of people who continue to come back and be so supportive.” Humble Beginnings Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, Allard takes the nice Canadian stereotype and morphs it into reality....

The tech giant is restricting “broad app visibility” to specific apps to provide more security for Android users. While Google’s new policy is a step in the right direction for better security on your device, experts say it is an overall huge win for customer protection. “Users should feel much more secure under Google’s new restrictions,” wrote Ravi Parikh, CEO at RoverPass, to Lifewire in an email. “Google taking a stance about this is a big deal, especially since Android users represent a wide swath of the smartphone user market....

In a typical home network setup, you could have multiple computers and other devices connected to a switch, the switch connected to a router, and the router connected to a modem through the router’s wide area network (WAN) port. Small home networks can function without a switch by connecting devices directly to the router’s LAN ports and Wi-Fi, while business and school networks often have multiple switches. Overall Findings Routers connect local devices to each other and the internet, while switches only connect devices locally....