Android

• Google has announced that it will focus on quality and reliability for its voice assistant, Google Assistant, by removing almost 20 features starting January 26.
• The features being removed include controlling audiobooks, setting media alarms, managing stopwatches, and sending emails. Google suggests alternative methods for these tasks.
• The company is also changing how users can access Assistant on their phones, with the microphone button in the Google search bar starting a search instead of pulling up Assistant.

Nearby Share was officially announced in August of 2020 to let Android users locally send files from one device to another. Google is now “collaborating with Samsung” to create a “singular cross-Android solution” called “Quick Share,” and it begins rolling out next month.

• Google announced the terms of a $700 million settlement that alleged it overcharged customers due to Play Store policies.
• As part of the deal, third-party payments will be allowed for in-app purchases. Previously, these were part of a limited pilot program. (USA users only)
• Google will also make sideloading easier and change the wording used to warn users about potential risks.

In the barely two weeks since its debut, Beeper Mini and its sibling, Beeper Cloud, have experienced several major outages to iMessage support on Android and other platforms by Apple’s hand and, this evening, it’s happening yet again.

Google is working on a feature that will scan apps for signs of phishing or other deceptive behavior.

It’s all too common to want to keep Android apps hidden, with quite a few launchers offering a way to hide or disguise an app from onlookers. OnePlus and Samsung both even offer a built-in way to stash apps into a “Hidden Space,” ensuring your privacy stays intact if you ever need to hand your phone to someone else.

The Epic vs Google court battle has come to a verdict, with a jury unanimously voting in Epic’s favor, and declaring that Google has an “illegal monopoly” with the Play Store and Google Play billing.

As reported by The Verge, the jury voted that Google has a monopoly over Android app distribution and in-app billing, that Google has engaged in anticompetitive practices around its markets, and that Epic was injured by Google’s behavior. The case seems to have particularly come down to the multiple reveals throughout the case that Google’s practices and deals were deemed as anti-competitive.

While the verdict is in, the case isn’t over just yet. Judge James Donato still hasn’t announced what Epic has won or what changes Google will be required to make.

Epic, in a blog post, says that the verdict is “a win for all app developers.”

Today’s verdict is a win for all app developers and consumers around the world. It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovaion.

This afternoon, Beeper Mini is back, thanks to a new app update which indeed does restore service. The update, which currently requires sideloading as it’s still being reviewed by the Play Store, removes phone number support and leaves users to continue with iMessage via their Apple ID. That takes away several of Beeper Mini’s biggest selling points – no Apple ID sign-in and using the phone number on your Android phone – but it’s impressive to see it working at all, nonetheless.

Speaking to 9to5Google, Beeper’s Eric Migicovsky confirmed that, yes, this is still using the reverse-engineered method to connect to iMessage. It’s not using Mac server farms.

Phone number registration is not working yet. All users must now sign in with an AppleID. Messages will be sent and received via your email address rather than phone number. We’re currently working on a fix for this.

Beeper has also, given the chaos, made Beeper Mini free to use. The app will no longer require a $2/month subscription, though users are allowed to leave that on as a donation. The app won’t be free forever, but that leads to the next question.

How long will it last this time?

• Just days after Beeper Mini was launched, it seems that Apple has pulled the plug.
• Beeper Mini users have reported being unable to send messages, with the company stating it's "investigating reports."
• In a statement to TechCrunch, CEO Eric Migicovsky surmises that Apple was able to "cut off Beeper Mini's ability to function."

• Meta is pulling the plug on the cross-platform integration between Facebook Messenger and Instagram.
• This means that cross-app chatting between the two platforms will no longer be possible.
• The integration is being removed in mid-December.

Turn any image into an emoji.

• Google announced a handful of new features to Google Messages last week to celebrate one billion RCS users, with Photomoji being one of them.
• Photomoji lets users create a custom emoji from any image and save them within Google Messages.
• The feature is now rolling out to beta testers, but not everyone will be able to use it just yet.

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/3842271

Personally I don't care about this since apple is adopting rcs next year. But its a great thing for people who want iMessage.

Any accounts lined up for deletion should have gotten warning emails by now.

• WhatsApp's Chat Lock feature gets additional protection with a new Secret Code feature.
• Users can set a unique password as an extra layer of privacy for their locked chats.
• The feature's rollout has already begun and should roll out globally in the coming months.

• Telegram is expanding its voice and video message transcription feature beyond Premium users, allowing free users to convert up to two messages per week into text.
• Joining a channel just got more interesting with Telegram's improved channel discovery feature, offering recommendations based on similar subscriber bases.
• Users can also now include video comments or reactions in their stories, with the ability to resize and reposition the video message on the screen.
• Telegram also introduces profile color customization for Premium users, custom wallpapers for individual chats, and reaction emoji customization for channel admins.

Hi,

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/3638310

Samsung might want to salvage its chipset operation by rebranding its Exynos SoC and renaming it Dream Chip next year.

• Spotify secured an unprecedented payment deal with Google, paying a mere 0% commission for in-app purchases made through its own system, as revealed during the Epic v. Google trial.
• For purchases made through Google's payment system, Spotify still enjoyed a reduced fee of 4%, significantly lower than Google's standard 15% cut.
• Spotify's popularity and influence on Android users served as the justification for Google's "bespoke" deal.

• The latest Play Store version sheds more light on an upcoming complimentary "Cubes" app for better content discovery.
• The app will have a main feed for content and customization for users looking to fine tune which apps should be displayed in their respective categories.
• Another discovery seems to have unearthed Google's plans to let users purchase items from the Play Store through the Cubes app.

• Nothing Chats, a rival to apps like Beeper and AirMessage, advertised itself as a secure platform for sending messages to iMessage users.
• However, less than 24 hours after its launch, investigations into the app revealed that Nothing Chats logged every message in plain text and stored unencrypted data, including text messages, images, videos, and more, making it a significant privacy and security risk.
• The company removed the app from the Play Store following these complaints, citing "several bugs" that need fixing.

• Apple will enable RCS support on the iPhone in 2024.
• The company says it will enable better interoperability between iOS and Android.
• Google has been publicly pestering Apple about the lack of RCS support for some time, arguing that SMS is less secure.
• Regulators have also been looking into iMessage and whether or not Apple should open it.

Cooperative Android manufacturers only get 12 percent of search revenue

How much more does Google pay for an Apple user than an Android one? A lot. It was recently revealed in the Epic v. Google trial (Google has a few monopoly lawsuits going on) that the highest tier of search revenue share for cooperative Android OEMs is only 12 percent, a third of what Google pays Apple. In terms of total cash amount, it's reasonable to assume Apple gets more total money than many smaller companies but to see the direct breakdown that each Apple user is worth three times more than an Android user is a new insight.

• Threads has rolled out two updates for users, with the first involving a complete change to how users can delete their Threads account.
• Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, states that users can delete or deactivate their Threads account without risking the deletion of their Instagram.
• The second update lets users opt out of their posts having the chance to appear on Facebook or Instagram.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/8304541

I'm sure most people here hate ads in games, I do at least. So I searched around for a little while and found this neat website. A collection of some really nice games with no ads and as the title and website suggest, no bullshit.

Sharing in case more people were in the same boat as I was.

Have a nice rest of your day 🌻