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News and notes from Android team
Introducing Magazines on Google Play for the UK
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Following hot on the heels of the recent launch of music on
Google Play
in the UK, we’re pleased to announce that from today, you’ll also be able to
buy digital versions of your favourite magazines for reading on the go
.
Popular titles from some of the world’s leading publishers such as Condé Nast UK, Dennis Publishing, Future, Haymarket, Hearst UK, Immediate Media and IPC Media are now available for purchase on your Android phone or tablet.
Get in shape with
Men’s Fitness
, cook up a storm with
olive
, work off all that turkey and Christmas pudding with
Slimming World
, catch up on the latest must-have gadgets with
T3
and read a preview of The Hobbit in this month’s edition of
Total Film
.
You can stay abreast of the week’s key events with
Hello!
,
New Statesman
and
The Spectator
and keep on top of the latest lifestyle news with
Cosmopolitan
,
Glamour
and
Tatler
. Petrolheads can pick out some new wheels with
What Car?
, while domestic goddesses can take their inspiration from
Good Housekeeping
.
Browse the Play Store to find your favourite magazines, discover new titles with a 30-day free trial, buy single issues or purchase a money-saving monthly or annual subscription to leading titles such as
Elle
,
Harper’s Bazaar
,
Vogue
and
Wired
. New Nexus devices even come pre-loaded with free issues of Men’s Fitness, .net and Vogue to get you started.
All your latest issues will be instantly available on your Android tablet or phone, or online, using our web reader, and organised in your collection in the cloud. You can flip through your magazine carousel to quickly decide what to read next or simply search for a specific title in your magazine collection.
Magazines are available today to enjoy on the sofa or on the go via your Android devices and on
play.google.com
, so please take a look.
Posted by Avi Yaar, Product Manager, Google Play
Sound Search for Google Play widget, now available on Google Play
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
“What's this song?” Starting today, the
Sound Search for Google Play
widget is available to download from the Play store, so you can start identifying music playing around you, directly from your Android device’s homescreen.
Sometimes, you hear a song you like while you’re out and about but don’t want to download it right at that moment. The Sound Search widget syncs across all of your devices, so that song you recognized with your phone in the coffee shop can be quickly purchased from your tablet at home.
For devices running Android 4.2, you can add the widget directly to your device’s lockscreen, letting you recognize songs without even unlocking your phone, making it even easier for you to catch that song at the club.
The Sound Search for Google Play widget is available on
Google Play
for devices in the U.S. running Android 4.0 and above. After you’ve installed it, go to the widget picker and drag the Sound Search widget onto your homescreen. You can click on the widget at any time to start recognizing music around you.
Posted by Annie Chen, Software Engineer
New in Google Currents: Scan through your favorite categories, editions and breaking news
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Keeping up on the news out there can be overwhelming. That's where Google Currents comes in—an app that allows you to discover, share and read your favorite news outlets, blogs and online magazines (what we together refer to as “editions”) on your smartphone or tablet—even when you’re offline. Currents is filled with great editions like
The Los Angeles Times
,
CBS Sports
,
Android Central
,
The Guardian
,
Shortlist
, and
Forbes
. Today, we’re revamping Currents to make it even easier to scan through all your favorite categories and specific editions with just the swipe of a finger. And, we’re using some of the technology behind Search to bring you breaking stories on those celebrity scandals, that fiscal cliff negotiation or hottest holiday gift.
Scan through categories
We’re now grouping editions into categories to help you keep track of your existing subscriptions and discover new ones. Check out editions related to your interests through categories like Entertainment, Sports, Lifestyle and more. All of your content will be grouped in these categories, accessible from a sidebar. And you can organize your editions in each category with favorites on top.
We’ve also made it easy to quickly browse through top articles from all your favorite editions in a category—just swipe horizontally. If you subscribe to more than a dozen News editions like
The Atlantic
,
ABC News
and
The Telegraph
, you can quickly swipe through the entire category and dive into editions with articles of interest.
Scan through editions
We’ve also made it easier to scan headlines in a particular edition—just swipe vertically. Want to see what’s new in
Popular Science
? Just swipe through through the headlines. After you view a story we’ll mark it as read, so it’s easier to see new content each time you use Currents.
Scan through breaking stories
To help you stay up-to-date with the latest news, Google Currents now uses some of the technology behind Search to deliver the hottest breaking stories in categories such as World, Entertainment, Sports, Science and more. You’ll find new articles from hot topics that interest you, while discovering existing Currents editions you can subscribe to. Breaking stories are customized to your country and language—so we’ll only show you relevant news.
Currents optimizes editions to look great on whatever type of device you're using. Now articles shine, with larger images and layouts that are intelligently optimized for your device, whether you're on a phone or a tablet. Check out some of our newest featured partners like
Cars.com
,
Voice of America News
and
New Scientist
.
Back in April we
expanded Google Currents internationally
. Since then millions of readers around the world have downloaded Currents, reading over
700 publisher editions
and tens of thousands of self-produced editions. The updated app is now available for
download
on Google Play and coming soon to iOS. We hope that today’s updates make keeping up with the latest news fast, easy and fun no matter where you are or what device you’re using.
Posted by Mussie Shore, Group Product Manager
New Google Now: the perfect travel companion for the holidays
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen! For Santa’s holiday travel this season,
Google Now
is just the prescription.
As you head off this holiday season, the latest update to Google Now makes it even more useful for traveling. Before you even leave your house, Google Now will tell you what the weather will be like at your destination (just in time to make sure you remember to pack those mittens). At the airport, your boarding pass is automatically pulled up, helping you breeze through to the gate (launching shortly for United Airlines, with more to come). And once you've arrived at your destination, Google Now can help you uncover some great activities, by showing you events happening around you, suggesting websites for you to explore as you research things to do, or allowing you to learn more about specific pieces while you’re at a museum (using Google Goggles).
All of this builds on top of some of the other cards designed for travel, like the currency conversion, translation, and flight status cards -- hopefully taking a little bit of the stress out of holiday travel so you can focus on family and fun.
We're also making Voice Search even more powerful: you can find out the name of the song that’s playing (“What’s this song?”), quickly find product info (“Scan this barcode”) and post updates to Google+ simply by using just your voice.
These goodies are waiting for you in the updated
Google Search
app, available on
Google Play
for devices running Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, or higher.
Posted by Baris Gultekin, Product Management Director
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