Technology - Google News

How to get Samuel L Jackson's voice on your Echo (cursing optional) - KSL.com
Microsoft at it again, advertising Gmail in Windows 10 Mail points to Outlook - guru3d.com
Google's answer to iMessage is finally here - CNN

How to get Samuel L Jackson's voice on your Echo (cursing optional) - KSL.com

Posted: 16 Dec 2019 03:22 PM PST

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How to get Samuel L Jackson's voice on your Echo (cursing optional) KSL.com

Microsoft at it again, advertising Gmail in Windows 10 Mail points to Outlook - guru3d.com

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 12:28 AM PST

Perhaps you already have noticed it, Microsoft has started select advertising in the Windows suite. For example, in your Windows 10 mail app, you'll now see 'Get Gmail on your phone'. As if that by itself isn't already annoying, Microsoft is falsely advertising up-to a level that could be seen borderline acceptable.

See that 'Gmail' link, when you click it .. points towards Outlook.com and is once again proof that Microsoft willingly is making moves that are borderline acceptable, if even that. For years Microsoft has been forcing Internet Explorer and only after EU regulation and big fines that has changed. It seems that paying for Windows 10 isn't enough to be ad-free.

They have now injected links into their Windows 10 software suite on two evels, Mail and Calendar - and whatever you click, they are pointing to their own apps, even when you hit a 'get GMAIL' link you'll end up at outlook. Many users already have noticed this with a recent update, and they're not happy, as these obtrusive links cannot be removed or switched off either.

The advertisement appears for everyone and for the time being, appears in Windows 10 Mail and Calendar. If you are logged in with an Outlook account, you are encouraged to install the Outlook app. Not everyone is bothered by it. However, most people are annoyed by it as it is visual in a product for which they have paid.

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Google's answer to iMessage is finally here - CNN

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 06:39 AM PST

Google is calling its new service "Chat," and it contains an array of improved tools that mirror Apple iMessage. For example, Android users now have read receipts, an ellipsis symbol that indicates when people are typing and the ability to send higher-resolution images and videos.

Sanaz Ahari, Google's product management director, tweeted last week that people need to update both their Messages app and carrier services to receive the new tools. Chat first rolled out in June to users in the UK, France and Mexico.

Chat features read receipts and the improved ability to send high-resolution images.

Like iMessage, Android users can opt into the service or disable it if they don't want it. All Messages users in the US will be able to use the new Chat features with any phone that has Rich Communications Services (RCS, a successor to SMS) enabled. That includes people using Samsung (SSNLF) Messages and customers on Sprint (S) and US Cellular, both of which enabled RCS on their networks.

RCS has been promised for years, but carriers have been dragging their feet in enabling it on their networks. So Google decided to provide RCS chat directly through its own servers instead of waiting for the carriers to offer them.

But the rollout may not be as seamless as Google hoped.

For starters, there's a privacy issue. Unlike iMessage, WhatsApp and Signal, RCS doesn't offer end-to-end encryption. Google can still technically see messages as they arrive on its servers and may have to turn them over to law enforcement if asked. This could be a concern for Android users and security advocates.

Then there is the fact that the networks of the three biggest US carriers — Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), and T-Mobile (TMUS) — currently can't connect to each other via RCS. They recently announced that they will join forces next year, and Google said it is "willing to work with any carrier to connect their RCS users."

Dan O'Connell, an analyst at research firm Gartner, previously told CNN Business that Google has long needed to catch up with Apple's iPhone and RCS is a way for it to do so.

"They had been hoping that the service providers would work on supporting RCS themselves," he said. "But that was very slow to happen, so I think that [Google] decided to take the initiative themselves."

-- CNN Business' Evelina Nedlund contributed to this report.

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