Daily Archives: September 1, 2021

Google is adding a new Time insights panel to Calendar on the web, showing users how much of their working week is spent in meetings. According to Googles blog post, the feature is rolling out gradually over the next month on select plans. It was first announced back in March as part of a raft of new features coming to Google Workspace.

Time Insights arrives a couple of years after both Google and Apple added similar breakdowns into Android and iOS respectively to show the amount of time spent using different apps. But while these OS features included the ability to set per-app time limits, Google Calendar wont let you set similar boundaries on meetings. Instead, it provides you with the information you need to hopefully curb any meeting-obsessed colleagues.

A screenshot published by Google shows what kind of insights the panel will provide. Up top theres a Time breakdown pie chart, showing how much of your working hours are spent in meetings, which is subdivided into meeting between just two people, versus bigger groups of three or more. Below theres a snapshot of time spent in meetings on a week-to-week basis, as well as highlights of which days are busiest, and the average hours per day spent in them. Calendar entries where youre the only attendee dont count towards these meeting totals, Google notes in a support page.

Google emphasizes that this information is visible to you, not your manager. However, it adds that it might be possible to see another persons breakdown if you have permission to manage their calendar. The feature will be on by default, and while it can be turned off by Workspace admins, it can only be minimized, not disabled, by end users.

Time insights is available for users on the Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits subscription tiers. However, it wont be accessible for G Suite Basic and Business customers, or those on Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, and Frontline tiers.

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Google Calendar will break down how much of your work is spent in meetings - The Verge

The Pixel 5a with 5G launched just this month with stellar battery life and a solid price point, but it does seem to have one flaw. As many have pointed out, heat seems to cause trouble for the Pixel 5a, but Google is looking into overheating problems on the device.

Its been reported by quite a few people in recent weeks that the Pixel 5a has an overheating problem. Specifically, the issue seems to take place when recording 4K video. In our own testing, Kyle Bradshaw found that the Pixel 5a would stop recording after about 4 minutes of recording 4K video with heat as the cause.

In Android Centrals case, the problem also kicked in after shooting some simple photos and 1080p clips, with the overheating message kicking in after 30 minutes. The publication also noted some touchscreen issues with the bottom half of the display, something that Android Polices Ryne Hager also had problems with.

Google has confirmed that the company is investigating both issues. With the touchscreen problems, the issue apparently goes away when using the phone in safe mode, implying its likely a software issue that Google can patch up. The company says its looking into it. As for the overheating problems on Pixel 5a, Google is investigating the problem with the thought it may be tied to the Camera app.

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Google is looking into Pixel 5a video overheating issues and touchscreen problems - 9to5Google

In the midst of Hurricane Ida, Ive found that RCS is not ready to be depended upon, while Google Messages has not thought out all the edge cases for the future.

As I sit down to write this post, my immediate family and I having safely evacuated to Texas have a million things on our minds. How did our homes fare in the storm? Has there been any major damage? When will power be restored to New Orleans? When is it safe to go home? And most importantly, are the friends and family members who stayed behind all okay?

In the US in 2021, theres no single agreed-upon way to keep in touch with people unless everyone you know has an iPhone. Some friends prefer Discord, others Facebook Messenger, and I can reach a select few with RCS an up-and-coming replacement to SMS messaging being championed by Google. On Sunday, with Hurricane Ida only just having made landfall, I was using three different apps to check in on friends and family.

Come Monday morning, the storm having ravaged Louisiana overnight, the situation had changed. All across the state, cell towers were damaged, taking out some carrier networks and making an internet connection essentially impossible in most areas. Worse, there was no way to really know any of that until local news outlets reported it hours after the fact, leaving us worrying all morning about those who stayed behind.

Thankfully, we found that, in some cases, a simple text message could get through, assuming the cell towers functioned at all. Now, what does any of this have to do with RCS?

In trying to reach out to my dad, I opened Google Messages and tried to send him a quick text to make sure everyone was okay. A few minutes later, I realized that it was trying to send via RCS. Googles current RCS system is built on the assumption that the internet will always be accessible, but thanks to the destruction caused by Ida, I knew internet access would be essentially non-existent.

Knowing my way around Google Messages, I was able to use the per-contact toggle to Only send SMS and MMS messages and try to send my message again.

Ultimately, when cell service began to be restored to the area in the afternoon, I received a call from my dad a full 39 minutes before the RCS message was marked as received. In times of crisis, 39 minutes could make a significant difference.

Worse, at no point did Google Messages try sending the original RCS message through SMS as a fallback or directly notify me of its inability to reach the recipient. It just silently failed to deliver that message during those five hours that my dad was without internet access.

In the end, this was a minor issue I was able to work around. However, Im a tech enthusiast, and its literally part of my job to know how to change settings like that. Putting myself in the shoes of the average person, someone who may not understand what enabling Chat/RCS features means, I would have no way of knowing why my message wasnt being delivered. If the roles were reversed, and I was the one in harms way, I dont know that my parents would know to turn off that toggle.

Importantly, this is a failing of Google Messages as an app, not RCS itself. As Google Messages is capable of sending both RCS and SMS messages, it seems obvious that the app should automatically try to resend undelivered RCS messages via SMS instead. By comparison, on iPhones, iMessage automatically sends an SMS if it cant get through via Apples network.

Google is working hard to make RCS the next de facto messaging standard to replace SMS, with their own Google Messages app serving as the primary gateway and flagship experience for RCS. However, its important to remember that the internet cannot always be available, no matter how much infrastructure we put in place. In those moments, a backup method is critical.

Clearly, Google Messages has no backup plan for when an RCS message fails to be delivered. At a bare minimum, it would be useful to get a notification about the problem and offer to send your message another way, like Google Voice and Signal both offer. Or, in order to help those who are not tech-savvy, simply send the fallback SMS message without anyone needing to think about it, like iMessage does.

For now, though, Google has publicly called out SMS fallback as a distinct disadvantage of iMessage, as you immediately lose any encryption and security. That said, considering SMS is far more tried-and-tested, it will likely continue to serve a purpose for the foreseeable future, even if only as a backup plan.

When a natural disaster strikes, getting information out is absolutely critical, and from what little Ive experienced this week, I dont think Messages and RCS on which Google is basing its consumer communication strategy are prepared for that responsibility.

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Opinion: Google Messages and RCS werent ready for the complications of Hurricane Ida - 9to5Google

Google officially announced the Play Stores Material Theme in August 2019, while a dark mode came that October. Since then, pages like Manage apps & devices, settings, and navigation have been significantly revamped. A Material You redesign with Dynamic Color is whats next for the Google Play Store, and heres an early look.

About APK Insight: In this APK Insight post, weve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), were able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. Well try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how theyll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

At the top, we see a pill-shaped search bar replacing the previous rectangle with slightly rounded corners. The circular profile avatar at the right fits much better this way. The bigger change, of course, is how the Play Store leverages Dynamic Color to tint that field.

That hue extends to the bottom bar, which is now much taller. Pills are leveraged to highlight the icon, specifically what tab youre currently viewing. This appears to be a common convention in MY, as seen with the Files app. Its all very tappable and touch-friendly, but the added size makes it seem slightly out of place.

At the moment, this is the extent of the Material You redesign, but we fully expect it to extend to every part of the Play Store. That said, this will raise interesting questions about how to theme app listings and the balance between MYs Dynamic Color and allowing developers to customize their pages.

Another small feature we enabled is a Google Play Store Feedback menu in Settings. Youll be able to Periodically respond to surveys to help improve the Play Store experience.

Meanwhile, the Manage tab adds a high-level tick box to select everything in a list for quick deletion and/or updates, as well as to get a storage total. Its unclear when these trio of changes will go live, as the redesign still requires work.

Dylan Rousselcontributed to this article

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Heres a quick peek at the Google Play Store with Material You and Dynamic Color [Gallery] - 9to5Google

Posted: Aug 29, 2021 12:46 PM CDT

by Alabama News Network Staff

Youve probably looked at your house on Google Earth or Google Street view. Maybe youvevirtually walked down your street to see the neighborhood.

Initially, you might have thought it was pretty cool. But to someone looking to break into houses, those images give the bad guys a lot of information to help them decide which house to hit.

Google sends its Street View cars down every street in America. That means almost every home is viewable by anyone going to Google Earth or Google Maps. Not just the front of the house but the sides of the house too.

Google Earth also maps the globe from above so anyone with a computer and internet connection can see your house from every vantage point.

We have seen instances where people have used Google Earth to identify neighborhoods they want to hit, said Investigative Commander Scott Ryan. Particularly car burglaries and car thefts.

Criminals can effectively case a house without raising suspicions by driving down the street. They can see what cars are in the driveway, is there a dog in the backyard? How far away are other houses in the neighborhood. They can also zoom in on the driveway or sides of the house.

That could provide information so they know where floodlights are. The accessibility of windows and doors. They know if there are bushes or tree lines that can hide their approach or getaway, Ryan said.

It might not necessarily make your house an easy target. But the criminals might skip your house if they cant see it first.

If this is a concern, you may want to make things more difficult for the bad guys by blurring out your house from Google Street View.

To do that, search for your address on Google and find your house. Place the little man icon on the street in front of your house which will give you a view from the street. You can frame up your house in a red box and click report a problem.

Google then asks about the problem. Theres no option there to request privacy so when prompted choose Misplaced image. Google will contact you by email for more information.

There really isnt a good reason for your house to be pictured on Google. Keep in mind, its a good idea to check it from time to time as Google updates images of all streets fairly frequently.

You may also need to follow the above steps for the multiple angles of your house so move up and down the street to identify any other photos where your house appears.

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What the Tech? How to Blur Your House from Google Street View - Alabama News - Alabama News Network

Google mayreduce the salaries of employees who choose to work at home full-time, based on the cost of living where they live, according to an internal calculator viewed by Reuters. It's an idea that's gaining traction in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. It may seemsensible, given that a salary that barely covers a San Francisco studio apartment might get you a mansion in, say, Topeka. That's the logic Google says it's using. "Our compensation packages have always been determined by location," a spokesperson told Reuters.

But cutting pay for existing employees who opt to work from home is a terrible idea and it shows a complete lack of emotional intelligence. If Google is smart, it will shelve this idea. So will Facebook, Twitter, the UK government, and any other company considering a similar move. Here's why:

1. A salary is about more than just paying the bills.

A Google employee interviewed by Reuters commutes two hours each way to the company's Seattle office. That employee was considering switching to remote work permanently when the company reopens its offices in October. But then the employee looked at the location-based pay calculator and realized the switch to full-time remote work would mean a 10 percent pay cut--in effect, rescinding the raise that came with this person's most recent promotion. "I didn't do all that hard work to get promoted to then take a pay cut," the employee told Reuters.

So when Google's office reopens, that employee will go back to commuting. That's bad for the employee, bad for the environment, bad for other Seattle-area commuters, and even bad for Google, since some of the four hours the employee spends traveling every workday could likely be used for work instead. I'm guessing that if this employee did the math he or she might find that working from home would gain back some of that lost salary in savings on gas, wear and tear on the car, clothing, perhaps child care, and so on.

But the math doesn't really matter. In real life,a pay cut will feel like an insult to most employees, even if it has nothing to do with their performance or their value to the company. You're literally telling them that they're worth less. Is that the message you want them to hear?

2. Google is beinggreedy.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, countless employees have accepted pay cuts, furloughs, and other painful measures when their employers suffered severerevenue losses. Those employees understood that their organizations were facing tough choices and a threat to their very survival.

None of that is true for Google. Like other tech giants, it's thrived during the pandemic. Cutting people's salaries when your share price has more than doubled, your revenues are up 62 percent, and your profits are up even more seems like the pinnacle of corporate greed. Not a good look.

3. It will make Google even more unequal than it already is.

Google has already faced very vocal criticismover itsgender pay gap.And aStanford professor and remote work expert has already predicted that simply allowing employees to choose full-time remote work will make the gender pay gapworse for most companies. Why? Because surveys showthatwomen--who most often provide care for small children or ailing relatives--are likelier than mento choose full-time remote work. And there's evidence that working from home full-time puts youat a disadvantage when it comes topromotions and raises.

With more women than men working remotely full-time, female salaries will likely fall even further behind those of their male colleagues than they already are. But apparently that's not bad enough, so now Google will tack on a pay cut that disproportionately affects its female employees.

You can see why location-based salary cuts for current employees who choose remote workis an awful idea for any company that isn't facing dire financial pressures. In theory, it might seen logical, and even fair. In practice, it's likely to be a disaster.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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Google's Plan to Cut Remote Workers' Pay Is a Dumb Idea. Here's Why - Inc.

Google Photos is one of the most preferred cloud storage options for backing up your photos and videos, especially for Google Pixel phones and other Android users.This platform can be used to archive old photos and access them anytime using any device that lets you sign you in to your Google account. Google Photos neatly categorises photos based on faces, places, time, and several other album options. Even the photos and videos you delete from the Google Photos app are kept in the Trash folder for 60 days before they are erased forever. And it's possible to recover them before they are gone. However, this is only if the Google Photos Back Up and Sync feature is enabled.

If a user wants to recover deleted photos and video, they'll first have to check if the content is there in their Trash folder on the app. If a deleted photo or video isn't in Trash, then it can't be restored. Users won't be able to restore a photo if they had moved it to Trash more than 60 days ago, or if they moved it to Trash and then emptied the folder. In addition, the photo or video can't be restored if it was moved to the Trash folder more than 30 days ago on a device running Android 11 or later and it wasn't backed up. The restoration will also not happen if the Trash folder was permanently deleted or if the content was permanently deleted from the device's Gallery app, without backing it up first. If the photo or video is visible in the Trash folder of Google Photos, follow the steps mentioned below to recover it using your Android phone or a Web browser.

To restore a photo or video on an Android phone, Android tablet, iPhone, or iPad, open the Google Photos app.

At the bottom, tap Library, go to the Trash folder.

Find the photo or video you want to restore. Touch and hold the photo or video.

At the bottom, press the Restore option. The photo or video will be moved back to the phone's Gallery app, Google Photos library, and in the albums it was in.

On the left side of the window, click on Trash folder.

Place your cursor over the photo or video you want to restore, then click Select.

At the top right, click Restore. That photo or video will be restored to your Google Photos account and added back into any albums it was in.

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How to Recover Deleted Photos and Videos From Google Photos - Gadgets 360

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) A multibillion-dollar tech company will benefit from more than $54 million in tax breaks, to build a data center that will bring 20 jobs to Columbus.

The Columbus City Council overwhelmingly approved the deal in March by a 6-to-1 vote, months before learning that the company receiving the tax break was Google.

In its Economic Development Incentive Application, dated Feb. 18, 2021, lawyers for Magellan Enterprises, LLC described the company as a subsidiary of a U.S.-based technology company, without naming the parent company.

The application outlined plans for a $300 million data center at 5076 South High Street. The company promised the 150-thousand square foot center by the end of 2025.

Without the availability of the tax abatement, the site will not be a competitive location for the proposed project, attorney Scott Ziance wrote on behalf of Magellan.

Ziance declined to comment for this report.

Per the deal, Magellan will not pay property taxes on the site for 15 years, resulting in projected savings of $54,335,376, according to a project tax breakdown provided by the city to NBC4 Investigates.

In its application, Magellan said the data center would employ 20 full-time staff members, with salaries between $74,000 and $150,000.

20 jobs for a $54 million (!!!!!!) tax benefit. I dont understand, wrote Columbus City Council president pro tem Elizabeth Brown in an email to a staffer, less than two weeks before she ultimately voted in favor of the project.

Yeah, I had a lot of questions, Brown said in an interview with NBC4 Investigates.

She said she decided to support the deal after doing more research.

One of the things that was really important to me, was the not just the sort of jobs created by the company locating there, but the jobs created by the project itself, Brown said. I learned that there would be there will be 300 to 500 prevailing wage construction jobs. So these are really good, really middle class jobs.

Robert Dorans said he was also skeptical of the deal at first glance. Like Brown, he was swayed by the construction jobs.

The Columbus Building Trades Council and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers sent letters supporting the project.

Dorans said the $54 million tax burden would be spread across multiple entities. The citys share would be roughly $2 million over the course of the 15-year abatement.

The city recoups that those dollars right back on the income tax thats generated by those 20 jobs, Dorans said.

Projections in public records provided by the city estimate $750,000 in revenue from the 20 jobs over the initial 15-year period.

On Aug. 19, five months before the deal was approved, a press release from Google announced the tech giant had acquired land in Columbus to build a data center. The same day, a Forbes article called Magellan Enterprises a shell company for Google.

Brown, Dorans, and councilmember Emmanuel Remy said they found out Magellan Enterprises was owned by Google as a result of the Forbes article, but said that knowledge would not have influenced their vote had they known sooner.

This is a performance-based incentive. We didnt hand anybody any money to come here. And so, you know, if they never perform, they never get the benefit, Remy said. We felt very confident that itd be a very reputable, strong, publicly traded company. And of course, we were right.

Dorans said he wishes he and the people of Columbus would have found out sooner.

I certainly think that we can do a better job, from a transparency standpoint, of being very clear about who the city is doing business with, Dorans said.

Council president Shannon Hardin and members Mitchell Brown did not respond to emails seeking comment. Councilmember Priscilla Tyson was unavailable due to medical leave, according to a staff member in her office.

A city council spokesperson said councilmember Shayla Favor, who cast the only vote against the deal, was unavailable for comment.

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20 jobs, but $54 million in tax breaks for Google center in Columbus - NBC4 WCMH-TV