Spotify announced today that it has updated its curious Car Thing accessory with several useful new features, including phone call answering and support for other media. “With these updates, you’ll now be able to answer phone calls on Car Thing, queue songs and podcasts, and display and control other media,”…
WhatsApp will soon start rolling out several new features for voice messages, including the ability to pause and resume recording. Voice messages have been available on WhatsApp since 2013 and they’ve become a really popular feature, especially for people using languages where the typing process is not nearly as simple…
Roku today announced Roku OS 11, which adds some long-overdue personalization features, including a personal photo screensaver, that other living room platforms have had for years. It’s a bit limited in some ways—it appears that you have to upload photos from your PC or phone to a Roku device for…
Google today announced several major functional changes to Android, including updates to Messages, Photos, and more. “The Android team has been busy working on a suite of updates that add new dimensions to the apps you already love,” Google product manager Phil Ou writes in the announcement post. “From huge…
Google Chat is set to become the new default chat app for Workspace customers starting next month. The app will replace the classic Hangouts experience on Gmail on the web, and the Hangouts mobile apps will also start redirecting Workspace users to the new Google Chat app. “Beginning March 22,…
Twitter has started rolling out new Playback Speed controls for videos and voice tweets uploaded on the platform. The new controls are being tested first on the web and the Twitter Android app, and they will let users slow down or speed up videos on the fly. The different PlayPack…
Google alerted customers that it will remove features from its smart speakers and displays because they infringe on Sonos patents. The news comes in the wake of an International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling that found that Google’s products infringe on five Sonos patents. “Due to a recent legal ruling we’re…
Google this week announced improvements to Android Audio and an expanding list of Google-powered in-car capabilities. “Google’s vision of helpfulness on the road is to provide a safe and seamless connected experience,” Google product director Mickey Kataria writes in the announcement post. “Today, we’re introducing several updates for cars compatible…
This week, Apple released updates for iPhone, iPad, and its other hardware platforms. But it also quietly delayed a key iPad and Mac feature that it promised in June to deliver this year. That feature, called Universal Control, would allow users to control a Mac and/or an iPad at the…
Indie web browser maker Vivaldi has publicly lashed out at Microsoft’s user-hostile and potentially illegal behavior with Microsoft Edge. “Vivaldi is not afraid of competing on a level playing field,” Vivaldi founder and CEO Jon von Tetzchner wrote this past weekend. “Why is Microsoft?” Mr. von Tetzchner is referring, of…