Google Play Store now has Android Excellence collections

After Apple revamps the App Store, Google is kind of following in their footsteps with its new Android Excellence collections. This new program is going to highlight collections of apps that deliver “incredible user experiences on Android,” take advantage of Google’s best practices, or have “great design, technical performance, localization, or device optimization.” Google launched the collection today and split it into two groups: apps and games. You’ll be able to see these collections in the Editors’ Choice section, where the other featured apps and games are curated by Google’s editorial team.

The section seems to benefit developers more than users, though, as the apps will only be refreshed quarterly. So, if you go through all the apps and the quarter isn’t done yet, you’d have to wait. Developers are given extra exposure, though, for that length of time.

Source: Tech Crunch

Audi shows off self-parking capabilities of the A8

Audi is unveiling its next-generation A8 on July 11^th and before that the German car maker is showing one of the new features of the vehicle: its self-parking capabilities. The video shows how easy it is to park the new vehicle. It just needs you to press the key fob once and the car will park itself. As CNET points out, there seems to be less human interaction with this A8 compared to Tesla’s Summon feature and BMW’s remote-parking system. The car is capable of SAE Level 3 autonomy. The A8 itself and all the other features will be revealed fully on the 11^th and before that on July 7^th in a bit of a product placement in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming premiere.

Google hires veteran Apple mobile chip designer

Google Pixel XL review

There has been rumours going around that Google is looking to design its own processors for its Pixel smartphone line and there might be some truth behind it with its recent hire. The company has brought on Manu Gulati, a veteran chip architect at Apple. Gulati, who has worked for Apple for the past eight years, is now the lead system-on-chip architect at Google. According to MacRumors, Gulati has been “instrumental” for the Apple’s development of its custom chips for the Apple TV, iPad, and iPhone. It’s expected that his expertise in the field will help Google create its own custom chips. Job listings from Google have also been spotted online for a “mobile SoC CPU architect” and other similar roles.

Google Pixel XL might get a size upgrade

Google Pixel XL review

Looks like Google wants to make a Pixel XXL, at least according to the latest rumours. It’s being reported that Google is shelving one of its upcoming Pixel smartphones in favour of releasing a bigger version of Google’s flagship device. A gadget codenamed Muskie was supposed to be the follow-up to the Pixel XL but Google is supposedly opting to release a device codenamed Taimen. It’ll supposedly have a larger screen and chassis compared to the Muskie. Walleye, which is said to be the second-generation Pixel device, will reportedly still be debuted. In case you didn’t know, Google has a thing for naming its upcoming smartphone and tablet releases as a water-dwelling creature. Keen-eyed reporters and Android followers have spotted these monikers on Android Open Source Project’s code repository.

Source: Android Central