Category Archives: Google

A new handy feature has made its way to both Google Pay as well as Paytm. The feature lets users split the bill with their contacts when theyre splitting the bill at a restaurant, for a gift or any similar use-case.

The feature eliminates to manually open up your calculator app to see how much each friend must pay and then have one person pay the main bill, while receiving equal sums from the other members. Heres how you can easily split the bill with your friends on both Google Pay and Paytm.

Open Google Pay and tap on the New Payment button on the main page. In the subsequent screen, below the Transfer Money tab, users will find the New group option. Click on this option.

A new screen will open up where you can add contacts to the group to split the bill with. You will see all your recent contacts and Google Pay contacts below. Tap on the contacts you want to split the bill with.

In the next screen users will be able to give the group a name and create it. Once the group is made, you will be able to enter it and see a Split an expense button on the bottom.

After entering an amount to split among the members, you will be able to either split the amount evenly or enter a custom amount that a certain user must pay. You can also uncheck someone in the group if that member need not pay for the particular expense.

Once the parameters are set, tap on the Send Request button to raise the payment request. You can then track the progress of the payment split from the main screen of the group and check which friends have paid the amount.

To split an expense on Paytm, open the app and swipe right to go to the conversations page. Among the two options on the bottom look for the Split Bill option.

Tap on the option to enter a new page where you can enter the amount to be split as well as choose the contacts you want to split the bill with.

In a subsequent page you can either tick the Auto-split equally option or manually tweak how much each member will pay, following which you can send out the request.

Tapping on the amount on the main group page will then give you further information on the split, including which members have paid and which are yet to pay.

Read more:

Google Pay, Paytm: How to split bills and expenses with your contacts - The Indian Express

Non fungible tokens (NFTs) are all the rage and one of the most popular search item in 2021. Data from Google Trends reveals that for the first time global searches for the term NFT appear to have surpassed that for Crypto.

According to Google Trends, a service that tracks the most popular combinations Google users are searching for NFT more than everand crypto is not the most popular search on Googles search engine anymore.

For those who dont know, NFTs enable users to own rare digital artifacts through the blockchain network that backs cryptocurrencies. All forms of art, tweets, music, GIFs, and more such digital assets can be owned through NFTs. The possibilities of buying and selling digital assets are endless.

People are bidding thousands to own these collectibles, and some are even selling for millions. A recent report by Cointelegraph revealed that people have spent over $9 billion in NFT sales so farand total sales are expected to reach $17.7 billion by the end of 2021. The research states that sales of NFTs have grown from $41 million in 2018 to $2.5 billion in the first half of 2021, representing a 60-fold growth in three and a half years.

Compared to 2020, the growth is staggering. Total sales in 2020 reached $340 million and in 2021 so far, the sales have already surpassed $9 billion which is more than 25-fold growth, according to data from NonFungible.com on NFTs.

A breakdown of transactions by popular NFT categories, discussed in the report, reveals that early sales were dominated by collectibles such as CryptoKitties and CryptoPunks. Elevated interest in NFTs has coincided with the overall uptrend in the cryptocurrency market, which indicates that NFT prices will drop if cryptocurrency prices drop, the research added.

Meanwhile, not just collectors or investors, but Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Sunny Leone are also jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

Amitabh Bachchans recently launched NFTs which included his autographed vintage posters, a recital of his fathers famous poem Madhushala, were sold for roughly Rs 7.18 crore ($966,000). And bollywood fashion designer Manish Malhotras NFT series of 5 digital sketches was sold for roughly Rs 2.8 lakh.

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Google Trends data shows interest in NFT is now greater than crypto - The Indian Express

This Tuesday, Google decided to celebrate the beginning of the winter season 2021 with a Doodle celebrating the longest night of the year as well as the shortest day, which happens in the upper half of the Earth, the northern hemisphere.

In the Google Doodle for this Tuesday, December 21, you can see a hedgehog walking on snow, a clear reference to the beginning of the winter season and the winter solstice.

The winter solstice, also known as the December solstice, hibernation solstice or hiemal solstice, starts just today and happens when one of the Earth's poles moves away from the sun at its maximum distance.

As a result, the day is shortened by the reduction of daylight, followed by the longest night of the year, an event that happens every year in December, between the 21st and 22nd, around the world in countries such as the United States, India, United Kingdom, China, Russia and Canada.

In the northern hemisphere, the winter season starts this December 21 and ends on March 20, 2022, three months long.

On this day, with the winter solstice, the sun travels the shortest path, while the day receives the least amount of sunlight and the night is the longest.

Even in certain regions of India dawned with very low temperatures as in its capital, Delhi, registering 4 degrees Celcius, four levels below normal.

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Winter Season 2021 Google: How does the search engine celebrate the shortest day of the year? - Marca English

Every so often, it's good practice to clear the cache and cookies off of your phone's web browser. Pictured here is the Galaxy S21.

Your Android phone's web browser app may be filled with data accumulated every day when you browse the internet. This data serves a few different functions, typically filing your web browser's cache and cookies. It can help improve how quickly your browser loads by saving assets from websites you frequently visit as well as saving preferences, such as letting you stay logged into websites.

However, cookies can also be used by websites to track your browsing history, often with the intention of serving up personalized advertising nearly everywhere you go. (I've recently been seeing ads for eyeglasses after visiting a few online stores to compare prices and styles.)

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Plus, the larger your browser's cache, the more bloated your browser app becomes with data from websites you might not even be visiting anymore -- and yet some of their assets and possibly a few tracking cookies could be sitting in there.

As a result, it couldn't hurt to occasionally clear this data out in order to keep your web browser lean, running efficiently and ideally, storing as few tracking cookies as possible.

On Android, the steps differ slightly depending on the type of phone and web browser app you are using, and as such below we will go over how to clear this data on Google's Chrome (often the default for many Android phones like the Google Pixel), Samsung's Internet browser (often the default on the Galaxy phone series) and Mozilla's Firefox browser. You can also check out our separate guide on how to clear your cache from an iPhone web browser in case you have a few Apple devices to clear out, too.

Clear browsing data menu in Chrome on Android.

You can delete your cookies and cache from within the Android version of Google Chrome by first tapping the More button in the top-right corner of the browser, symbolized as three vertical dots, then tapping History, then Clear browsing data. You can also access this from the Chrome Settings menu, tapping Privacy and Security and then Clear browsing data.

Chrome then offers Basic and Advanced settings for clearing your Browsing history, Cookies and site data and Cached images and files. You can also use the Time range drop-down to pick out whether you want to delete the entire history, or anywhere from the past 24 hours up to the last four weeks. Tapping Advanced will also give you access to deleting Saved passwords, Autofill form data and Site settings if you would like. After selecting what you want to delete, tap the blue Clear data button, and it will then delete without any other prompts, so just make sure you are zapping exactly what you want to zap.

Read more:Ditch Google Chrome and use this privacy-focused browser instead

The Clear data and Clear cache options for Samsung Internet.

Unlike Google Chrome, Samsung's process for deleting your cache and cookie data involves a visit into your phone's settings app, as opposed to opening Samsung's Internet browser app.

After opening Settings, tap on Apps, then scroll down to and tap Samsung Internet. Then tap Storage.

At the bottom of Storage, you get separate options to Clear cache and Clear data. Tapping Clear cache will immediately delete the cache, but Clear data brings you a prompt that warns you that all of the application's data will be deleted permanently, including files, settings, accounts, databases among others. While it doesn't specify cookies, this more nuclear approach should zap out all remaining data, letting you start the Samsung Internet browser as if it were brand new.

Read more: Change these Android settings to get the most out of your phone

Much like Google Chrome, you can clear the cookies and cache from within the Mozilla Firefox Android app. To access, tap the More button on the right of the address bar, again symbolized by three vertical dots. Then tap Settings and scroll down to Delete browsing data.

The Delete browsing data menu in Mozilla Firefox on Android.

Of the three browsers we are reviewing, Firefox gives you the most options under the Delete browsing data menu, allowing you to also delete any existing Open tabs, your Browsing history and site data, Site permissions and even your Downloads folder alongside Cookies and Cached images and files.

While you cannot pick a time range as you can in Chrome, you can be more specific regarding what type of data you would like to remove, differing from Samsung's deleting everything when perhaps you just want to delete the cookies.

Read more:Browser privacy settings to change ASAP in Firefox, Chrome and Safari

And Firefox has an additional option for those who never want to keep their browsing data after they are done using the app. Inside of Settings is a Delete browsing data on quit option, which instructs Firefox to wipe any combination of these same settings every time you quit the application. It's a useful feature for those that would like to keep the browser tidy, and avoid accidentally handing off your browser history to someone that may have stolen or otherwise gained access to your phone.

For more, check outeverything to know about Google's new operating system, Android 12, including how tocheck when your phone will get the updateandhow to download. Also, take a look at CNET's list of thebest Android apps of 2021.

How often do you clear your browser's cache and cookies? And do you have a favorite Android browser that should get added to this Tech Tip? Tell us in the comments.

Now playing: Watch this: Pixel 6 Pro is the best Android phone you can get right...

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Clear your Android phone's browser cookies and cache already - CNET

Why this game is different

Monopolies have changed, along with what the biggest companies are buying. Google and Facebook dont charge consumers money for their most popular services but instead collect vast reams of data on their users that they then use to help target online advertising. Amazon charges low prices, sometimes below what the goods cost to manufacture, but boasts of its top-notch customer service.

And by the time new contestants make their way to the game board, they often find that the big players already occupy the most lucrative squares.

The companies approaches have made them among the wealthiest corporations on Earth, with market values exceeding many nations economies, as well as a stranglehold on the consumer data that drives much of modern-day commerce.

This school of post-1970s thought was once the young upstart on the antitrust scene. Today its the ruling establishment. And its main yardstick for measuring a companys effect on the markets is whether consumers pay high prices.

This idea, known as the consumer welfare standard, was created by Robert Bork, the conservative D.C. Circuit judge best known for his unsuccessful Supreme Court nomination battle during the Reagan administration.

Under this standard, the government should block corporate mergers that would lead to higher prices. But it should bless business deals that aim to increase efficiency, promote innovation or take other steps that would drive prices lower.

Based on this logic, federal enforcers and judges have OKd mergers and buyouts that have shrunk the number of competitors in markets ranging from airlines and cellphone companies to cat food and caskets.

Under this view of the law, monopolies arent necessarily bad. Achieving a monopoly legally and getting to charge high prices is an important element of the free market because it encourages businesses to improve their products. While that might seem inconsistent with their intense focus on consumer prices, the Traditionalists almost always oppose government intervention in pricing decisions, preferring to let the market decide.

The law seeks merely to prevent unlawful monopolization, Justice Antonin Scalia said in a key 2004 court decision. To safeguard the incentive to innovate, the possession of monopoly power will not be found unlawful unless it is accompanied by an element of anticompetitive conduct.

Scalias admonition has translated into an oft-repeated motto: Big isnt bad. Big behaving badly is bad.

For these Traditionalists, monopolies are often a sign of ingenuity and consumer preference. Antitrust enforcers and courts should avoid challenging businesses except in the most clear and egregious cases lest they stifle innovation.

Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission (R)

Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission (R)

Former Solicitor General of the United States

Editorial Board

Chamber of CommerceHeritage FoundationGeorge Mason University Law SchoolTech trade group NetChoiceComputer and Communications Industry Association

GoogleAppleAmazonFacebook

Policymakers and lawmakers in the Reform school believe the system has become too tilted in favor of big companies. They want to change the antitrust laws to make it easier once again to challenge monopolies though without radical changes to the existing order.

Our enforcement tools are getting rusty, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) wrote in a book published this year on the need for antitrust reform.

Klobuchar, the Senates top Democrat on antitrust, has introduced bills to change how courts interpret the law. Her Republican counterpart, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, has likewise made the case for tightening the standards for government reviews of mergers and making it harder for monopolists to excuse their problematic conduct.

The antitrust debate needs to focus less single-mindedly on prices, they argue.

Modern antitrust enforcement, and judicial decision making has become obsessed with [an] economic extravaganza, Lee said at a September speech before the Federalist Society. But economists will measure what is susceptible to measurement and will tend to forget what is not.

Most people in the Reform camp, including Lee, still embrace the consumer welfare standard. But they say the courts should broaden it to look at how mergers or business conduct affect values like choice, product quality or privacy arguing that the Traditionalists' approach helped lead to the growth of the mammoth tech companies.

The whole business model in Silicon Valley is built on the idea that this is untouchable by the competition laws, said Rebecca Allensworth, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt Law School who focuses on technology and competition.

The Reformers also advocate for keeping the enforcement-based antitrust system in which the Justice Department and FTC go to court against alleged monopolists though they want tweaks to the laws to make it easier for the government to win.

The tools arent broken, Allensworth said. We just havent been using them correctly.

Iowa (R)

Utah (R)

Minnesota (D)

Colorado's 4th (R)

Senior counselor, Department of Justice

Public Knowledge Equitable Growth American Antitrust Institute

SpotifyMatchYelpDuckDuckGo

An even more aggressive Anti-Monopolist school of antitrust law has gained prominence under President Joe Biden, who picked two of its founders Khan and new White House adviser Tim Wu for top roles in the executive branch.

Admirers sometimes call these people the New Brandeis School, after former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. Critics have derided them as Hipster Antitrust. Unlike both the Traditionalists and Reformers, this crowd argues that antitrust laws were enacted not solely to ensure fair markets but to prevent the consolidation of corporate power and protect democracy.

The Anti-Monopoly school grew as a reaction to the 2008 financial crisis and concerns about too big to fail banks. In their view, concentrated corporate power is always bad and the government should seek to break it up.

Fair dealing in the marketplace is a political right, said Matt Stoller, director of research for the advocacy group American Economic Liberties Project. The Anti-Monopoly movement seeks to make sure that people have rights in the marketplace, that they can enter lines of trade and have fair dealings with buyers and sellers.

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The new rules of Monopoly - POLITICO - POLITICO

2813 Ipswich Road inDarra is not officially an address anymore just a patch of grass beside the busy Ipswich Motorwayin Brisbane's south-west.

But delve into the State Library of Queensland's (SLQ) Corley Explorer website and you'll discover that in the 1960sit was the site of a cherished family home, built after work and on weekends by English immigrant George Brownfor his wife Margaret and their daughters.

Mr Brown made the bricks, built the walls, the floorsand did all the carpentry, electrical and plumbing work.

It isjust one of the stories sparked by a single black-and-white picture, taken by the late photographic duo Frank and Eunice Corley more than 50 years ago.

More than 60,000 of their images of Queensland homes are featured online, with the originals held in climate-controlled storage at the State Library.

But SLQ program officer Chenoa Pettrup said10,000 properties are yet to be identifiedand they are encouraging members of the public to add locations and their memories to the collection.

"You can really jump in and have a look on the platform and find your own home we're looking for stories behind the homes as well," Ms Pettrup said.

She describes the Corleys as an entrepreneurial couple who ran a number of businesses, one of which was the Pan American Home Photographic Company.

"Frank would drive the streets in his Cadillac and basically drive around and hang out the window and take a photo of every house in the street.

"His wife Eunice would park a mobile developing unit [in a Bedford delivery van]nearby and she'd develop the photographs and then they'd get a salesman to try to sell the photos back to the home owners.

"Cameras weren't really in the homes as much at that particular time, so it was quite a novelty to get a photograph of your house and a nostalgic thing for that they could share with their families," Ms Pettrup said.

The Corleys charged 50 cents for a print and 99 cents for a calendar or greeting card and it has beenestimated they took around 250,000 photos of houses from Bundaberg to Beenleigh in southern Queensland.

The SLQ has all the images the couple had not sold.

The pictures are a snapshot in time featuring older-style weatherboard cottages with wire mesh fences to more modern double-level homes with breeze block feature walls.

"They give us a sense of the time and place that they were taken and I think that continuing to add photos gives us more of an insight into how that place has evolved over time," Ms Pettrup said.

Michael Stone found a 1970s image of his Greenslopes housein the online collectionand managed to connect with the descendants of the Norwegian family who built itin 1915.

"We got to understand that it had a pretty good history that we wanted to capture when we did our renovation," Mr Stone said.

"The original house is pretty much intact we've done a lot of building around it certainly some of the cornices and pressed metal ceilings are all in place.

"We've got photos now that have them sitting in the same dining room where we sit and watch TV."

The Corleys'photographs were donated to the SLQ in 1995, before Mr Corley's death in October of that year.

His wife Eunice had died some time earlier.

Doug Spowart and his partner Victoria Cooper made initial contact with the SLQ after Mr Corley invited them into his Annerley home and showed them boxes of the prints.

"I saw this as history an amazing resource," Dr Spowart said.

"How could you pass up on a record of Queensland like this? It would have just been lost."

The couple befriended Mr Corley in the early 1990s, while Dr Spowart worked in a South Brisbane photographic gallery.

We offer tailored front pages for local audiences in each state and territory. Find out how to opt in for more Queensland news.

Dr Spowart even got to take a look inside the Bedford van where Mrs Corley had processed the film.

"It was a tight squeeze I have enormous respect for what Eunice did," Dr Spowart said.

As for Frank Corley, Dr Spowart and Dr Cooper agreedhe was one of a kind.

"He had this lovely glint in his eye everything had a story," Dr Cooper said.

Dr Spowart said Frank Corley also took photos in the Northern Territory and South Australia.

"I called him the man who photographed every house in Australia the original Google Street View,"Dr Spowart said.

See more here:

Is this your house? Corley photographic collection of Queensland houses needs your help - ABC News

Congratulations on your new Android device! After going through all the legalese to set up your Google account and services (and probably doing the same with your phone manufacturer and carrier), youre finally ready to make your phone or tablet your own. As you populate your email app with new emails and purge useless apps from your device, now is the time to install some better apps that will improve your life. Here are nine Android apps that made me happier and more organized, without being overly demanding of my user data or annoying with ads.

My home is full of post-it notes strategically placed on multiple surfaces: my desk, boxes, and even the cutting board. And they all serve different purposes: some are shopping lists, some are reminders to return an item, and some are just my to-do lists. The ColorNote app is basically a digital version of my sticky note addiction but organized into a single screen. You can create either a text note or a checklist and customize its color to help you differentiate one from another. The app has a calendar where you can note important dates, share individual notes with your friends and family, or even sync your notes across multiple devices.

ColorNote is basically a digital version of sticky notes but organized into a single screen.

Its handy to have a robust note-taking app on your phone: this way, you can jot down detailed notes, include relevant photos from your work meeting, and keep a journal, all on the same device. The free Notebook app from Zoho organizes your notes into digital notebooks with gorgeous digital covers and provides powerful tools to help you document anything and everything. You can embed multimedia elements like sketches, photos, and even audio files into your written notes to add context and can add as many pages as you need. Your data is stored locally, but you can sync your notebooks across multiple devices (including Windows, macOS, and iOS) if you have a Zoho account.

This free Notebook app from Zoho organizes your notes into digital notebooks with gorgeous digital covers and provides powerful tools to help you document any and everything.

Were coming up to year two of the pandemic, and everyone is feeling various degrees of isolation and exhaustion. Good thing Finch, the self-care pet penguin, is here to guide us to take better care of our mental health. He lives inside the app and prompts you to practice self-care each day: hell check in on your mood and will tell you to stretch and set goals periodically, which will earn energy points to help him on his adventures. There is plenty to do in the free version, but you can upgrade to Finch Plus for more self-care exercises; it costs $39.99 for a one-year subscription.

Finch, the self-care pet penguin, is here to guide us to take better care of our mental health.Finch Plus offers more self-care exercises: $39.99 for a one-year subscription.

If you rather track your mental wellness without the gamification of Finch, the CBT Companion app (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) is a more pragmatic alternative. It offers a safe (and free) space to document your thoughts and provide exercises to practice your CBT skills, whether youre working with a clinician or not. You can also pay $9.99 per month or $49.99 every six months to access additional exercises and content.

CBT Companion app offers a safe space to document your thoughts and provide exercises to practice your CBT skills. $9.99 per month or $49.99 every six months accesses additional content.

Given how brazen porch pirates are these days, its more important than ever to know the delivery status of all the packages youre expecting whether theyre gifts for friends and family or groceries that need to be refrigerated as soon as possible. AfterShip lets you manually enter each package youre expecting (rather than demand access to all your emails like other apps) you just have to provide the tracking number and name the courier delivering the package, and the app can figure out the rest. Itll show you where each package is on a map, as well as its current status (I usually have to tap on the name of the courier to see the latest update). This way, youll know when to expect a package to arrive, so you can grab it before a porch pirate can.

This app lets you know when to expect a package to arrive, so you can grab it before a porch pirate can.

Ever since Google announced that it will be shutting down Hangouts, a chat app that my parents know and love, Ive been on the hunt for another easy-to-use up chat app. Discord, the platform beloved by gamers, might just be the one. First, I like that you only need to provide your email address to sign up for an account, and you can invite specific people to join your server or room. Within your own private space, you can chat with your friends and family using text or GIFs or have the option to start a video or voice call, whether they have the app or use the web interface.

Within your own private space, you can chat with your friends and family using text or GIFs or have the option to start a video or voice call.

I got so fed up with the algorithmically generated news on the Chrome web browsers homepage that I started using the Firefox mobile browser on my phone instead. Like the desktop version, the mobile Firefox browser can block trackers and scripts such as social media trackers, cross-site cookie trackers, cryptominers, and fingerprinters. Without these sneaky little things following you around, you can just surf the web as usual, though some sites might break without being able to collect data on you. You can even customize your browser by changing it to Dark Mode or moving the search bar to the bottom of the screen to make it easier to use on the phone.

The mobile version of the well-known Firefox browser.

My current recipe management is a hot mess: I keep too many web browser tabs opened with recipes I want to find quickly, all on my phone. With Paprika, I can download the contents of my favorite recipes (as long as theyre available online and searchable by Google) and save the ingredients and instructions inside this little app. You can even tweak the recipe you import in case you have any tips or changes youd like to make to the original. The app includes an editable grocery shopping list, pantry list, and menu, as well as a meal planning calendar to keep your kitchen organized. Although the free version only lets you store a maximum of 50 recipes, you can upgrade to the paid version that enables syncing between devices and storage of an unlimited number of recipes for $4.99.

Download the contents of your favorite recipes and save the ingredients and instructions inside this little app.Paid version enables syncing between devices and storage of an unlimited number of recipes for $4.99.

Ever since IBM bought The Weather Company and, with it, Weather Underground a site I swore by but whose app experience has seen better days Ive been on the hunt for a new weather app that is similarly respectful of users privacy. The Weawow weather app is that unicorn. It asks you to enter your location rather than demand continuous access to all your GPS data, lets you opt out of sharing your location data with third parties, and doesnt serve ads along with its forecasts. I appreciate that this app makes it easy to change the units of measurement for those of us who need to, has a swipe-friendly interface, and lets me add it as a widget to my home screen with lots of options for customization.

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9 of the best apps for your new 2021 Android device - The Verge

Google Photos is introducing new and improved features, that will allow users to personalise the home screen and adds some updates to its existing features. As we near the end of 2021, the company has announced a new People & Pets widget which will allow users to personalise their homescreens with the memories of loved ones. Google has also updated its Cinematic Photos feature which was introduced last year by the company.

Google Photos already has a Memories Widget feature, available on both Android and iOS devices which allows users to view their memories right on their smartphones home screen.

Now the platform is getting a new People & Pets widget feature on Android, which will allow you to select your friends, family, and pets and view their images on your devices homescreen. Tapping on the widget of the same will take you into the Photos app where you will be able to view more photos and videos of them.

Google is also updating its Cinematic photos feature, which was introduced last year on the platform. The feature is said to make use of machine learning to create a video of an image in 3D, to experience the same in a more vivid fashion.

The feature entails a virtual camera panning and zooming automatically within the scene. Google has now upgraded the feature making use of machine learning to fill in any hidden background areas behind the subject with added details which results in the range of virtual camera movement getting expanded.

It is important to note, that you will still not be able to choose images to use the Cinematic Photos feature. The feature is only used on those pictures which are automatically chosen by Google Photos. The results will later show up as part of your Memories.

Google also started rolling out the event Memories feature last week which allows users to revisit special events such as New Years Eve, Halloween, birthdays, graduations, and more. Users can also rename or remove these Memories from their photo grid.

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Google Photos gets People & Pets widget, improved Cinematic photos feature - The Indian Express

Google is planning to bring Android games to Windows PCs next year. A Google Play Games app will be available in 2022, built by Google to allow games from Google Play to run on Windows laptops, tablets, and PCs.

Starting in 2022, players will be able to experience their favorite Google Play games on more devices: seamlessly switching between a phone, tablet, Chromebook, and soon, Windows PCs, says Greg Hartrell, Googles product director of games on Android and Google Play, in a statement to The Verge. This Google built product brings the best of Google Play Games to more laptops and desktops, and we are thrilled to expand our platform for players to enjoy their favorite Android games even more.

Google spokesperson Alex Garcia-Kummert tells The Verge that the company has built this app on its own, which means Google hasnt partnered with Microsoft, BlueStacks, or others here. The upcoming app will also allow players to resume games on a desktop PC, after playing them on a phone, tablet, or Chromebook.

For now, Google is simply teasing the app during The Game Awards tonight, with a promised release window of sometime next year. Its not yet clear what technology Google is using to emulate Android apps on Windows, but games will run locally instead of streaming from the cloud.

This will be a native Windows app distributed by Google, which will support Windows 10 and up, explains Hartrell. It will not involve game streaming. Googles app wont rely on any special integration with Windows 11, and the company will also distribute the app itself.

Googles announcement comes months after Microsoft started testing Android apps on Windows 11 PCs. Microsoft has built an underlying Windows Subsystem for Android, which is capable of running Android apps from a variety of sources. The software giant has partnered with Amazon to let Windows users natively install games and apps from the Amazon Appstore, but native Google Play support wont be available officially through Microsofts feature.

Since Microsoft is only officially partnered with Amazon for that feature, it has meant far fewer Android games and apps available for Windows 11 users to easily install than there might otherwise be. The door is open for Google, BlueStacks, and others to fill that hole.

While Microsoft, and now Google, work on bringing Android apps and games to Windows, BlueStacks has gone a step further and is now bringing Android games to web browsers. BlueStacks X is a free way to play Android games in your browser, and BlueStacks has been focused on Android gaming on Windows since it became the predominant use case for its main app in 2016.

Details on Googles plans for Android apps on Windows first appeared in a document from the Epic v. Apple trial earlier this year. Dated October 2020, the 70-page document described an ambitious effort to get Android games on Macs and Windows PCs. The document revealed Google would first bring emulated, native and streamed games to Windows, and at least part of that effort is starting in 2022.

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Google is bringing Android games to Windows in 2022 - The Verge

The share of Google searches about Black Lives Matter spikedshortly after Axios launched its Hard Truths series but those have been overtaken by searches about critical race theory in recent months.

Why it matters: The search trends provide a window into how the national conversation about racial justice has shifted over the course of this series.

The share of Google searches about Black Lives Matter spikedshortly after Axios launched its Hard Truths series but those have been overtaken by searches about critical race theory in recent months.

Why it matters: The search trends provide a window into how the national conversation about racial justice has shifted over the course of this series.

By the numbers: Over the past year, Google searches related to BLM peaked around the time of the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol, then slowly declined.

Interest in critical race theory started rising in March, as news outlets (especially conservative-leaning ones) began drawing attention to the issue.

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Critical race theory overtakes Black Lives Matter on Google searches - Axios