Google is preparing to integrate Docs, Chat, and Meet more deeply with Gmail

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot of things in the technology world. Video calling, for example, became a much more popular feature in a blink of an eye. Companies have been scrambling to adjust to the new demands and we’ve seen Google do a lot of shuffling with its messaging platforms. Last month, Google rolled out a dedicated tab for Google Meet in the Gmail app. It turns out that was only the beginning.

Software engineer Tahin Rahman (@tahins) found some slides from a presentation for Google’s upcoming Cloud Next ’20 event. The slides show Google’s plan to integrate Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Rooms, and Google Docs more deeply into the Gmail app. The former three services will each get their own dedicated tab in the mobile app.

The four tabs at the bottom will be Mail, Chat, Rooms, and Meet. Mail is the typical Gmail interface, Chat is for instant messaging conversations, Rooms is Google’s Slack-like team/group messaging service, and Meet is for video calling. The integration is deeper than just tabs, too. Chat and Rooms will also send follow-up reminders if you don’t respond in time.

These four tabs will make their way to the web version of Gmail as well. They will be in the left sidebar and each service will get its own section with shortcuts to folders, conversations, rooms, and calls. The web version will also get additional integration with Google Docs, meaning you can collaborate on documents from inside Gmail. Essentially, Google is hoping to turn Gmail into a one-stop-shop for productivity.

Docs integration

Most of the services mentioned are primarily used by G Suite users, so it’s not clear if this new integration will roll out to consumers as well. Meet is already available in the public Gmail app, but a service like Rooms is really more focused on enterprise users. If Chat and Rooms do show up as tabs in the Gmail app, we expect them to be hidable just like the current Meet tab. Stay tuned for more information later this week/month.

Gmail (Free, Google Play) →

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Source: Tahin Rahman | Via: 9to5Google

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This CompTIA Linux and Network Training Can Help You Launch a Career in SysAdmin

Pretty much every business over a certain size has its own IT system and networks. For this reason, engineers and SysAdmin experts are always in demand. If you would like to start a career in either of these areas, The CompTIA Linux Network Professional Bundle can help. This learning library contains 62 hours of essential training, working towards two important certifications. You can get it now for just $29.99 at the XDA Developers Depot.

While some industries are struggling right now, the world of IT continues to grow. Both certified network engineers and SysAdmin professionals can earn over $100k, and there are plenty of opportunities for new talent. The only thing you need to land a job is a few key certifications.

This training helps you grab two of the most important ones: CompTIA Linux+ and Network+. Through two separate courses, you learn how to configure, administer, and troubleshoot systems in a business environment.

In the Linux+ course, you discover how to set up Linux hardware, maintain the system, and keep everything secure. The Network+ course looks at the various protocols for LAN, WAN, and other wireless networks. You also learn about TCP/IP, networking threats, and troubleshooting techniques.

The training is delivered by expert instructors from iCollege, which has been educating students online for 17 years.

Worth $590 in total, the training is now only $29.99 with this deal.

 

The CompTIA Linux Network Professional Bundle – $29.99

See Deal

Prices subject to change

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Today’s OnePlus Day deals include the OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 7T McLaren, and more

OnePlus has been sharing deals every Wednesday for the last few weeks, and this week is no different. This week’s “OnePlus Day” includes deals on the OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 7T series, and the Bullets Wireless Z earbuds. The deals below are available only today, July 15th, on OnePlus.com, so act fast if you see something you like.

United States:

• Purchase a OnePlus 8 Pro 12GB version ($999, including Black and Blue version both), get a $150 accessory coupon
• Purchase a OnePlus 8  12GB Interstellar Glow version ($799), get a $100 accessory coupon
• Purchase OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z Black ($49.95), get $20 OFF, making the price $29.95
• Purchase a OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren ($899), get 50% off on OnePlus 7T T-Mobile Version OR get a $150 accessory coupon
• Purchase a OnePlus 7T T-Mobile Version ($499), get a $100 accessory coupon

Canada:

• Purchase a OnePlus 8 Pro 12GB version (CA$ 1549, including Black and Blue version both), get a CA$200 accessory coupon
• Purchase a OnePlus 8 12GB Interstellar Glow version (CA$ 1249), get a CA$150 accessory coupon
• Purchase OnePlus OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z Black (CA$ 69.95), get CA$ 30 off, making the price only CA$ 39.95

OnePlus 7 Pro Forums ||| OnePlus 7T Forums ||| OnePlus 7T Pro Forums

OnePlus 8 Forums ||| OnePlus 8 Pro Forums

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Reliance Jio and Google partner to develop entry-level smartphone for India

Earlier today, Google revealed that it had signed an agreement with Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio to invest ₹33,737 crores (~$4.5 billion) in Jio Platforms Ltd. for a 7.73% equity stake in the company. This marked the first investment from Google’s recently announced Google For India Digitization Fund, which aims to accelerate India’s digital economy by funding ₹75,000 crores (~$10 billion) in the region over the next five to seven years. Alongside the investment, the two companies have announced a commercial agreement to develop an entry-level smartphone for the Indian market. Curiously, at the Reliance AGM held earlier today, Reliance announced that it will develop an OS in collaboration with Google.

In a blog post regarding the matter, Google notes that it will develop an entry-level affordable smartphone in partnership with Jio Platforms which will feature “optimizations to the Android operating system and the Play Store.” While the company hasn’t revealed exactly what optimizations will be made for the new smartphone, the idea behind these optimizations leads us to believe that this is Android Go that is being talked about here. Android Go has been designed from the ground up for entry-level hardware and is tailored for devices coming in with low RAM and low storage.

“Google and Jio Platforms have entered into a commercial agreement to jointly develop an entry-level affordable smartphone with optimizations to the Android operating system and the Play Store. Together we are excited to rethink, from the ground up, how millions of users in India can become owners of smartphones. This effort will unlock new opportunities, further power the vibrant ecosystem of applications and push innovation to drive growth for the new Indian economy.”

Google

Thus, Google’s and Reliance Jio’s collaboration on this end would signal an upgrade for Jio as well as for the Indian masses. Jio has already tapped the absolute entry-level market with devices like the JioPhone and JioPhone 2 feature phones, but both of these are KaiOS-run feature phones. Collaboration on the Android platform will open the doors for Android apps on these low budget devices, marking their users as potential consumers to Google and increasing their data consumption for Jio. For the users, they do get a cheap and optimized smartphone that isn’t just a feature phone with Google Assistant. Jio further plans to leverage the learnings from this program and apply it to the 5G ecosystem, once it makes an entry.

As we mentioned earlier, Reliance Jio’s AGM event spun this announcement into Google and Jio collaborating on a new OS. However, we could not uncover further details on a “new Operating System” just yet. Whereas on the other hand, Google’s simultaneous announcement in written format talks about a phone more than an OS. Hence, in the absence of further details, we believe that Google and Jio are collaborating on a low-budget, entry-level, heavily optimized Android device. We’ll update the article with more details once they become available.

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Reliance Jio set to enter India’s 5G market as early as 2021

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL, or Reliance in short) just concluded its 43rd Annual General Meeting. Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Mukesh Ambani used the opportunity to drop a whole host of announcements centered around Reliance Jio, one of RIL’s subsidiaries. Reliance Jio is one of the world’s fastest-growing telecom operators, which has grown to occupy the number 1 spot in India in a span of just four years. The telecom company has just picked up sizeable investments from the likes of Facebook, Intel, Qualcomm, Google, and others in the past few months, and now, the company has set its eyes on the impending 5G push in India.

Reliance Jio is best known for its 4G push in India, as its advent into the telecom industry provided millions of Indians access to cheap, affordable, and abundant 4G data for the first time. Fast forward four years, and what was once a sector that saw more than 12 operators jostling for a share of the pie now has just four players: Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and BSNL. We have even predicted a monopoly for Reliance Jio in India’s telecom sector, riding on the minimal impact from AGR judgment that has deeply wounded Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel.

With 5G, Jio aims to continue playing its pivotal role in India’s data revolution. Mr. Mukesh Ambani has mentioned in today’s AGM that “Jio has designed and developed a complete 5G solution from scratch“. Further, this solution will be ready for trials as soon as the 5G spectrum is available in India. And if this spectrum allocation happens soon enough, Jio 5G will also be ready for field deployment next year.

“Jio has designed and developed a complete 5G solution from scratch. It will be ready for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available and can be ready for field deployment next year.”

Mr. Mukesh Ambani

This announcement is important for India for a few reasons. One, this indicates Jio’s confidence in scooping up 5G spectrum in India even within a fast-tracked timeline. The country was expected to defer 5G spectrum auctions to 2021, and new reports suggest that it indeed has decided to do so. The auctions in October 2020 are largely expected to be focused on 4G, with 5G (3.3GHz to 3.6GHz) deferred to 2021 in light of the poor health of the telecom sector. Jio’s confidence indicates that it is ready for the auction process. Other telecom players were bargaining for a lower base price for the spectrum, but Jio’s recent capital acquisition spree puts it into the best position to emerge victorious even if the 5G auction proceeds at the high base price (estimated to be ₹4.92 billion ($64.9 million) per MHz) for spectrum in the 5G band.

Further, Mr. Ambani also mentioned that upgrading Jio’s 4G network to 5G would be easy, thanks to its converged all IP network architecture. The company also plans on exporting Jio 5G solution to other telecom operators globally as a completely managed service. Jio is also working on expanding its 4G network further with a collaboration with Google to build entry-level smartphones, and we reckon this partnership could easily spill over to 5G too, once that becomes a reality.

Long story short, Reliance Jio might just become the face of 5G in India, a country with 1.3 billion people.

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Google buys 7.73% stake in Reliance Jio for ₹33,737 crore ($4.5 billion)

At the Google for India live event earlier this week, Google announced a $10 billion Digitization Fund to help India become technologically self-reliant. This fund is intended to aid in the easy availability of internet and mobile phones to India’s 1.35 billion-strong. Although Google has designated this fund for the next 5-7 years,  it has already made its first – and massive – investment. Google has already exhausted 45% of the amount, as it has bought a 7.73% stake in Reliance Jio, India’s youngest yet largest telecom operator, for $4.5 billion (₹33,737 crores).

At Reliance Industries’ Annual General Meeting today, it was announced that this $4.5 billion investment will be used to realize digitization goals for India, including the revamping and expansion of the 4G network further as well as the co-development of an entry-level smartphone in India with an optimized Android and Play Store experience.

This is the second major investment that Reliance Jio has received from a global tech giant. Back in April, Facebook invested $5.7 billion (₹43,574 crores) in Jio for a 9.99% stake in the telco. Even before Facebook formally announced the investment, Financial Times had reported that both Google and Facebook were eyeing stakes in Jio.

After this investment from Google, Jio stands with $20.2 billion (₹1,52,056 crores) in investments and another $8.1 billion (₹60,753 crores) it raised through a right issue in which it offered shares at discounted prices to the existing shareholders. This brings the cumulative capital raised by Jio to $28.3 billion (₹2,12,809 crores).

Other than developing the smartphone together, Jio could also leverage Google’s software acumen to develop software solutions. The benefits of this software partnership could also be reaped by other arms of Reliance Industries’ multi-faceted business just like Jio’s partnership with Facebook did for JioMart. JioMart is a hyperlocal grocery delivery platform and users can place orders conveniently via WhatsApp.

Interestingly, Reliance Jio also launched JioChat last week and it looks like an apologetic replica of WhatsApp. The news came when Jio was already under criticism for blatantly ripping Zoom – although that seems to have been fixed now.

Qualcomm’s interest in Reliance Jio

Alongside Google, chipmaker Qualcomm is also investing in Jio. In an online statement, Jio announced that Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm Inc., has “committed to invest up to” $97.2 million (₹730 crores). This investment will be primarily used for establishing 5G infrastructure in India. It is also possible that as a result of this deal, Qualcomm becomes the vendor supplying mobile chips for the smartphone that Google and Jio jointly develop for the Indian consumers, though this is just speculation from our end.

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New European regulation could force Apple and Google to be fairer to app developers

Google and Apple are known for keeping a tight leash on what gets published on their respective app stores. However, at times, the companies have been found guilty of removing apps/games from their platforms without offering developers a clear reason behind the app’s removal. A new EU regulation aims to address this issue and promote a more transparent relationship between developers and the Google Play Store/Apple App Store.

The regulation in question was signed into law in the European Union on June 20, 2019, but per Article 19, it went into effect on July 12, 2020. As a report from gamesindustry.biz points out, the regulation brings new rights for European app/game developers and publishers against distribution platforms like the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The regulation pushes for a fairer process for removing apps/games from online stores, imposes new transparency requirements for the ranking criteria on such platforms, demands that any differential treatment for big-name developers and publishers be disclosed, implement better transparency for data access rights, and offer more understandable and predictable contract terms.

Fair app/game removal process

With the new regulation, platforms like the Google Play Store and Apple App Store will no longer be able to remove apps/games for arbitrary reasons. The platforms will be required to submit a statement highlighting why an app is being removed 30 days beforehand, thereby giving developers the opportunity to raise a complaint or make all necessary changes to avoid removal. However, the regulation doesn’t require app stores to provide 30-days notice to malicious, copyright infringing, or illegal apps.

Transparent rankings

The EU regulation also calls for a more transparent ranking system for online stores, however, the Commission hasn’t clarified how it intends to do so. The Commission is expected to publish more detailed guidelines on the transparency of ranking algorithms in the near future and we expect the guidelines to reduce the need for app store optimization services, thereby creating a more level playing field for indie developers and publishers.

Transparency of preferential treatment

There have been plenty of rumors in the past that accuse platforms of providing preferential treatment to big-name developers and publishers. In case there’s any truth to the rumors, the platforms will now have to disclose any such preferential treatment under the new regulation.

Improved transparency of data access rights

The new EU regulation will require platforms to be more transparent about what personal and non-personal data they collect from apps/games. They will also have to disclose what data they provide access to and what data they do not provide access to, which is expected to help evaluate data breach risks connected to the use of such platforms.

Simplified contract terms

The contract terms and conditions disclosed by online stores today can be difficult to understand, even for legal professionals. On top of that, platforms have the ability to change the terms and conditions without any prior notifications. With the new EU regulation, platforms will be required to draft their terms and conditions in plain and intelligible language, making it easier for developers and publishers to understand. Additionally, if the platform decides to make any changes to the contract terms, they will be required to notify developers 15 days beforehand to give them the opportunity to adjust their apps/games based on the new terms.

It’s worth noting that the new regulations only apply to platforms that facilitate direct transactions between developers and publishers, like the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The regulations will not apply to console manufacturers’ online stores as they enter direct transactional relations with players and don’t identify as “online intermediation services.” Similarly, the regulations won’t apply to services like Apple Arcade, where the contract between developers and the service provider are clearly negotiated.

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Source: EUR-Lex
Via: gamesindustry.biz

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