Google revamps News app, taps AI to improve personalization

Google is going to be replacing its Play Newsstand and News & Weather apps to bring to Android and iOS users the new News app. It’s going to rely on artificial intelligence to scour the web for articles, videos, podcasts, and comments and bring you items based on your interests. According to Trystan Upstill, an engineer working on News, you won’t need to give your preferences for the app to provide you news items you might be interested in. Instead, it’s going to rely on what it learns from you as you use it. “Our AI constantly reads the firehose of the web for you,” Upstill said.

The app now offers a Full Coverage section, which will show you deeper insight into a specific event. You’ll see top stories from different publications, timeline, videos, and opinion pieces. On top of this, there is also a Headlines section for the biggest stories available, and Newsstand for finding reliable and credible sources to follow. This is also where you can subscribe to your favorite publications. For the paid subscriptions, you won’t need fill out a form or provide payment information, you can simply pay using your Google sign-in information. The new app has begun rolling to both mobile platforms and the web and is expected to come to 127 countries by next week.

Source: CNET

Google acknowledges we're on our devices too much, proposes some time management solutions

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

What was most impressive was the company's acknowledgement that we are spending too much time glued to our devices and that we're missin out on real life by being mired down by notifications and being distracted by social media, mobile games, infinite scroll experiences like Instagram of Facebook.

There were a lot of cool announcements today at Google I/O, the yearly pow-wow for all things Google. This is usually the time when we see the next version of Android as well as enhancements and improvements to the Google ecosystem, large as it is. Android is the world's leading smartphone platform with well over two billion user install base.

Google showed off smart functions of Google Assistant that can enable it to make calls and appointments just like a real assistant can. Improvement to the Photos app that can colour old Black and White photos using Machine Learning algorithms. Improved keyboard functionality and more intuitive Android OS features across the board.

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Shopify introduces new technologies and services for retailers at Unite conference

Today, Shopify the leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform, unveiled the latest in commerce technology at Unite, their annual conference that brings together their international developer community. Held in Toronto, Canada, Unite saw the participation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"We want to give a voice to all kinds of entrepreneurs around the world,” said Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke. “And that means making it easier for them to run a business and become successful. Unite is when we show the world our progress on this journey, and invite our developer and partner community to join us."

Product announcements focused on helping entrepreneurs in three key areas – selling more, working more efficiently, and making the most of the Shopify partner ecosystem.

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How websites add ease to users’ lives

Technology these days is advancing so fast that if you are not keeping up with it, very soon you may find yourself forgetting how even the most basic of functions work. There are very few who can truly be called the tech guru and know how exactly the functioning of various settings, options, and similar work. While the others use search engines to get the solution to their problems.

If you are not among those know-it-all tech gurus, then those websites and tutorials available on the internet always come in handy. There are several websites, blogs and YouTube channels available on the web to provide the information about latest technology and gadgets. They also offer various tutorials to teach the use of different available options on the apps as well.

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