Posts From Joe Fedewa

Joe Fedewa
Joe Fedewa

Former Managing Editor at XDA-Developers. Lover of all things with displays.

Google Search will rank websites based on “page experience” starting May 2021

Google Search will rank websites based on “page experience” starting May 2021

November 11, 2020
Google Search is responsible for a huge amount of web traffic. Anyone that runs a website knows how important it is to rank highly on Google. So it's always a very big deal when the company changes the way it ranks websites. Today, Google announced a new ranking algorithm that will start taking "page experience"...
[Update: Official] Google Calendar adds Google Tasks integration

[Update: Official] Google Calendar adds Google Tasks integration

October 2, 2020
Google Tasks was launched as a standalone app over two years ago and it has remained pretty barebones. It's slowly gained more features, like a dark theme, but the beauty of it is the simplicity and Google integration. The company has been working on integration with Google Calendar going all the way back to October...
[Update: Native Integration] Google releases new Chrome extension for linking directly to specific text on a page

[Update: Native Integration] Google releases new Chrome extension for linking directly to specific text on a page

September 29, 2020
It's not often that Google releases its own new Chrome extensions, but today it did just that (via The Verge). The company's latest extension is called "Link to Text Fragment" and it allows you to link to a specific section of text on a webpage. Rather than linking to an entire article, you can share...
[Update 2: New Lawsuit] Sonos is suing Google for allegedly stealing patented speaker technology

[Update 2: New Lawsuit] Sonos is suing Google for allegedly stealing patented speaker technology

September 29, 2020
The smart speaker space is one of the hottest battlegrounds in the tech world right now. These devices have slowly made their way into millions of homes across the globe, giving the companies behind them ecosystem lock-in power and access to tons of information. Google has become a major player in this market, but Sonos...
The Diesel On Fadelite smartwatch runs Wear OS and has a translucent band

The Diesel On Fadelite smartwatch runs Wear OS and has a translucent band

September 15, 2020
Fossil's sub-brands have been busy working on new Wear OS watches. Last week, we saw Skagen's new Falster 3, and now today at CES 2020, Diesel announced the Fadelite. These watches feature stylish bands and vivid color options along with some respectable specifications for Wear OS. The Fadelite (pronounced fade-lite) comes in one size meant for...
[Update: Rolling Out] Google Chrome adds tab groups to organize tabs by name and color

[Update: Rolling Out] Google Chrome adds tab groups to organize tabs by name and color

September 11, 2020
Everyone uses browsers differently and that's most apparent when you ask about tabs. Some people have almost a "hoarding" mentality as they keep dozens of tabs open at a time. Others go the "minimalist" route and close tabs as quickly as possible. Regardless of how you use tabs, Google Chrome is making it easier to...
[Update: Print Job Available] Chrome OS may soon get a native printing and scanning app

[Update: Print Job Available] Chrome OS may soon get a native printing and scanning app

September 4, 2020
Late last year, Google announced that Cloud Print will be killed off in 2021. Cloud Print was a service that allowed users to connect a local printer to the cloud to print to it from any device. This tool was especially useful for Chrome OS devices, which left us wondering if some sort of replacement...
[Update: Launched] Twitter is revamping its API with much-requested features for 3rd-party apps

[Update: Launched] Twitter is revamping its API with much-requested features for 3rd-party apps

August 13, 2020
Twitter is having an interesting week, to say the least. A day after numerous high-profile accounts were hijacked to promote cryptocurrency scams, leading to Twitter temporarily halting new tweets from many verified accounts, the social media company is announcing some big changes to its API. Twitter API v2, as they are calling it, is a...
How to download Android 11 Beta for Google Pixel and other Android devices

How to download Android 11 Beta for Google Pixel and other Android devices

August 6, 2020
Google has officially kicked off the Android 11 Developer Preview program, just five months after the stable release of Android 10. They're starting things a little earlier this year (the first Android Q beta dropped in March). If you're curious about the next version of Android, you can download Android 11 right now for the...
[Update 2: Pricing & Launch Date] Here’s our first look at the Nest successor to the original Google Home speaker

[Update 2: Pricing & Launch Date] Here’s our first look at the Nest successor to the original Google Home speaker

August 6, 2020
The Nest Mini (formerly known as "Google Home Mini") has become an incredibly popular little smart speaker. However, Google's ambitions with Assistant-enabled speakers started with the original Google Home 4 years ago. That device is long overdue for a successor and it appears one is on the way. A new Google device recently passed through the...
Google Assistant is testing a floating Chat Head bubble

Google Assistant is testing a floating Chat Head bubble

July 28, 2020
Android 11 is coming soon and one of the big new features is "Bubbles." The API for these floating Bubbles has been around since Android 10, though they're now available for all users and developers without toggling a developer option. Google is also testing a similar Chat Head-like bubble for Google Assistant. "Chat Heads" is a...
Google Stadia can now play games over 4G and 5G mobile data

Google Stadia can now play games over 4G and 5G mobile data

July 28, 2020
Google Stadia launched last year as the company's ambitious entry into the growing market of cloud game streaming services. Understandably, Stadia was limited to Wi-Fi networks at launch. After all, streaming games from the cloud racks up data usage very quickly. If that doesn't matter to you, though, it's now possible to play games over...