Google continues to fine-tune its native apps on Android, this time with Google News. This follows the big redesign to Google Maps that happened earlier this year. So what’s new in Google News?
Basically, the newly redesigned Google News makes things simpler in terms of the bottom bar. Previously, there were four sections in that bottom navigation bar: For you, Headlines, Following, and Newsstand. The revamped version now combines For you and Headlines into a new Home tab, which acts as the default feed for content. The other two tabs — Following and Newsstand — still remain.
There is also a new categories carousel along the top of the app, where you can access: Headlines, Local, U.S., World, Business, Technology, Entertainment, Sports, Science, and Health. All of these categories were previously found in the Headlines section. This change eliminates unnecessary steps and streamlines your content feed.
When you view the category carousel, the selected feed will no longer show an underline. Instead, it basically highlights the category to make it easier to see which feed you’re in. One-handed reachability is not affected by this, but navigation is simplified with the change.
Consolidating the Google News bottom bar from four to three tabs is not a new decision from Google, as it also made this change to Google Photos and Google Maps. Not only does reducing the number of tabs in the bottom bars make things simpler but it also looks better due to the minimalism, and feels more elegant for Material You.
The Google News redesign is rolling out with version 5.120.x on Android through a server-side update. For iOS Google News users, the new look is not yet live, but should be coming. Unfortunately, though, if you like dynamic color theming on Android, that feature won’t be used in the Google News redesign since it continues to use the blue accent color.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.