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Adieus to Google mid-range phones since the company confirmed the discontinuation of Pixel 3A and 3A XL

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Very disappointing news hit the tech market yesterday as Google confirmed that there won’t be any further production of Pixel 3A and 3A XL. Google provided a statement to the Android Police about the discontinuation of these mid-range Google smartphones. The company said that there will be no more stock available for these phones on the Google Store.

Where can you still get Pixel 3A and 3A XL?

Google has completed selling all its Pixel 3A and 3A XL through its inventory. But, some of the units might be still available and one can get them from third party retailers. Google said that though they are completed sold through its inventory some of its partners might still have 3A. So, anyone who is still interested in grabbing one of the last pieces of Pixel 3A, hurry up. If you are lucky enough you can still manage to find a retailer with a few last units of these amazing smartphones.

Before Google confirmed that it won’t produce any more units of 3A or 3A XL, the official Google Store marked the product 3A as “Out of Stock”. But, eventually, after the statement was released yesterday, the company changed the status to “Unavailable”.

And, if you are looking for any third party retailers, go and check up in Amazon as well. In Flipkart, it is still showing out of stock instead of unavailable. People who were eyeing 3A for a long time now must be heartbroken especially when this model became a big hit for its amazing camera at a comparatively lower price.

Pixel 3A was a big hit

When Pixel 3A was released, it went off the “mediocre” level and gave a strong competition to the expensive smartphones as well. The best thing that attracted most of the buyers was the Pixel 3A camera. For $399, Pixel 3A was giving away camera quality that could outrun even some of the most expensive smartphone’s camera. The outlook of Pixel 3A was also similar to the high-ranking Pixel 3 models.

The camera with a 12.2-megapixel sensor with f/1.8 aperture made Pixel 3A’s camera even better than the camera on iPhone XR. What can a user ask for when he or she is already getting a smartphone with a camera than can surpass iPhone’s camera in a lower budget?

The Pixel 3A phone came with an 8-megapixel front camera and many advanced features such as Night Sight, Dancing AR Cartoons, Time Lapse, etc. Apart from the general audience, this might be one of the best choices for any photography enthusiast out there. Because, whenever it’s not possible to carry that heavy big gear and other equipment, the phone can easily capture some great shots.

But, with Pixel 3A and 3A XL disappearing from the market, people will be talking more about Pixel 4. Also, words have been floating on the air about the successor of Pixel 3A, Pixel 4A might come anytime soon.

Is Pixel 4A coming anytime soon?

With Google’s phone becoming a big hit after the release of Pixel 3A and 3A XL, Google was about to launch the new Pixel 4A this year. But, many big plans have been altered after the pandemic has hit our world. And, due to the harsh consequences of COVID-19, many products launched are delayed which also includes the cancellation of Google I/O 2020. So, it has been a long time since Google made any official announcement about Pixel 4A.

Last month when the company Android 11, it didn’t make any statements about the release of Pixel 4A. But, even before a company makes an official announcement, some of the details get leaked over time. So far, the specifications we have come to know about Pixel 4A are a display of 5.81 inches with a Snapdragon 730 processor. Pixel 4A will have 6GB RAM with a questionable internal memory (64GB or 128GB). The video recording capabilities of 4A will be as same as Pixel 4 with the camera specifications of Pixel 3A.

Kulwant-Nagi

Google disabling Kulwant Nagi’s Adsense account was the turning point of his life

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True and potential marketers have a different view of everything around us. They try to find a strong marketing opportunity every time a normal person fails to notice it. But, don’t worry as marketers or bloggers aren’t born with this talent. The biggest example for us is Kulwant Nagi, a successful affiliate marketing expert, and famous inspirational blogger. Kulwant Nagi’s hardworking and motivational life story teaches everyone how to survive in the darkest of time and not give up on yourself.

Who is he?

Today, Kulwant Nagi is the founder of Blogging Cage and the Managing Director of AffloSpark. Throughout all these years after passing engineering in 2010, he has mastered the art of digital marketing and every other aspect of it. A couple of years earlier, he’s daily income summed up to around $500$800. Kulwant believed that living in this era of digitalization you either benefit from it or become its prey.

Kulwant was born in a town called Fatehabad located in Haryana. He didn’t belong to a financially affluent family. But, his dream to go and study abroad made him work hard. After he received his engineering degree from the Institute of Technology and Management, he wanted to appear for GRE and TOEFL. The tuition for his preparation and exam fees didn’t come easily to his family. But, Kulwant got results of his hard work when he scored 1300/1600 in GRE and 99/120 in TOEFL.

But, his dream to go and study abroad shattered into million pieces when he was supposed to show at least a bank balance of Rs. 22 lakhs to receive a U.S. visa. His father didn’t have ample money so he turned to his relatives for help. But, life taught him lessons the harsh way when he realized he was on his own. Kulwant had withdrawn the applications from foreign universities.

Also Read: Search Engine Land, Success Story Of A Publication Company Pioneering In The World Of Search Marketing

How Kulwant entered into the blogging world?

He gave up after trying for another year and failing to arrange sufficient money. Kulwant started working for a company but resigned out of frustration within a year. It is then one of his friends; Ravinder Kumar pushed him to try out blogging and digital marketing. He tried writing an article in his friend’s blog and it received more than 200 comments within a day. This made him realize that he can start his blog and start making money.

Kulwant eventually got deeper into it and turned the course of his life. In 2011, he launched his first blog, KulwantNagi.com, and next year he created BloggingCage.com and invested his time in affiliate marketing. But, this was just the beginning of the 18months struggle.

Survival and motivation

Kulwant earned his first dollar after seven long months whereas most people give up after three or four months when they can’t make money. Earning a little money after seven long months made his passion stronger. He said that, for the first eighteen months of his blogging, he used 2G internet. It is nearly impossible for us to have patience and work with 2G internet. But, he proved that if one has a strong vision nothing is impossible.

He started using Fiverr and made enough money to keep himself motivated. He sold his first blog for $30 only to meet his costs extremely needed for survival. But, eventually, his monthly income started increasing and now he is a successful affiliate marketer earning millions. In 2017, he earned around $9000 just in four days doing email marketing.

Kulwant’s secret mantra of keeping himself motivated is reading tons of inspirational books. He prefers reading biographies of people who have become successful in the entrepreneurial world. 

Also Read: Brian Dean : The Founder of Backlinko, ‘the Future of Modern Day’s SEO’

Kulwant’s advice to people

According to Kulwant, blogging, or in simpler words content writing is on high demand these days. But, the problem with our generation is we are overloaded by information. We cannot set a fixed goal as we keep switching from one opportunity to another. Kulwant says that if we find an interest we should do research and start working on it. Sitting and watching other people achieving success won’t get us to that place automatically. He also says that, once we start working we should work diligently for the first six months without expecting any fruitful outcome. One just needs to find a niche and keep working for it.

Spellcheck with google and microsoft

Spellcheck experience gets better in Windows with the collaboration of Google and Microsoft

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Any software should regularly monitor its updates to up with the fast-changing world. Skipping the tiniest change can also shake the stability of user experience thus resulting in negative feedback. Keeping that in mind, Microsoft Edge and other Chromium browsers didn’t have an impressive spellchecker until now. Yesterday, the company decided to introduce a new spellcheck experience, Windows Spellcheck. As the name goes, it is exclusive to all the Windows users with OS Windows 8.1 or above.

What has replaced Hunspell?

Hunspell is one of the most popular spellcheckers that was previously used by Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. It is an open-source program written in C++. But, Windows Spellcheck has finally replaced it in an attempt to wipe out the existing problems with acronyms, customized dictionaries, etc.

The new Windows Spellcheck for Microsoft Edge and Chromium browsers will have several benefits. Apart from the support for acronyms, abbreviations, and a shared custom dictionary, the new tool will also support additional languages, dialects, URLs, and email addresses. Previously, a red underline appeared in all of these which won’t happen anymore.

Microsoft’s opinion

Microsoft’s Edge team said that the collaboration of Google with the company has benefited Windows users in several ways. The user experience for both Edge and Chrome has improved especially since Microsoft decided to work with Google last year. Many big changes are yet to take place apart from the Windows Spellcheck.

Moreover, apart from the new spellchecker that rolled out yesterday, the scrolling experience of Microsoft Edge also improved last month. The company is also currently working on the Chromium Project to improve the same for Chrome. Microsoft has also helped Google back in January to improve the management of Chrome.

The Chromium Project

Microsoft introduced Microsoft Edge to the Windows users in 2015 and since then it didn’t make any major progress. It was after a couple of years that Microsoft’s team spoke to Bill Gates and decided to switch to Chromium. This was a big step for the company and also the engineering concept was different for both Edge and Chromium. So, at first, they were a bit nervous but after they made the news public in December 2018, the company received mostly positive feedbacks. Mozilla didn’t approve the change though and said they will “fight for a truly open web”.

The engineering team put a lot of effort to create a better ecosystem for both the users and the two companies. Over the years, the relationship between these two companies went haywire at certain points. But, the recent development of this new feature might bring back peace as is advantageous to both the companies.

How to enable spellcheck in Microsoft Edge?

Remember, for most of the users they don’t need to enable the spellcheck exclusively. The tool will automatically inherit the preferred language from Window settings. But, you can always visit the edge://settings/languages page to make the changes according to your language preference. 

To install additional languages to evaluate it with Windows spellcheck, here are the following steps.

  • Go to settings in your Windows PC.
  • Under settings to the section of Time & Language.
  • Click Language and then select on Add a preferred language.

If the user is unable to install the preferred language, then Microsoft will automatically start working with the spellchecker powered by Hunspell. Also, the new version of this Windows Spellcheck will be available for Edge version 83 and above.

How to enable spellcheck in Google Chrome?

Though the feature of Windows Spellcheck is the default for the Edge users it is not the same with Chrome users. The Google Chrome users need to follow these steps mentioned below to enable the Windows Spellcheck.

  • Open Google Chrome of version 83 or above.
  • Go to chrome://flags.
  • A search bar will appear. Type “Use the Windows OS spell checker” in the search bar.
  • From the drop-down menu select Enable. 
  • Re-launch the browser to implement the feature of Windows Spellcheck. 

Conclusion

Always remember to turn on the Windows OS spellcheck. Windows is providing another additional option of spellcheck, that is, Hybrid spellcheck. It allows the user to use both Windows spellcheck and Hunspell. The change is instead of typing “Use the Windows OS spell checker” in the search bar, go for “Use hybrid spell checking on Windows”.

Encryption

Google’s end-to-end encryption for messages may finally be rolling out anytime soon

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Google has been working on its messaging system for a while now. The company’s target is to establish end-to-end encryption for RCS. Yesterday, Google decided to bring the latest news of its messaging system under the spotlight. And, there are high chances the company might be finally achieving end-to-end encryption for RCS.

Since, RCS has the true potential to wipe out the existence of SMS and MMS, providing end-to-end encryption will be cherry on the cake. Google, in 2018, has launched a chat platform with end-to-end encryption for RCS which reached the U.S customers next year. In 2019, many companies like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile also assured its customers of new RCS standards. But, currently Google is up to some real change for RCS.

What is RCS end-to-end encryption?

RCS stands for Rich Communication Services and is the future of messaging. Though it can replace SMS and MMS, the adaptation rate for RCS is relatively slow. If en-to-end encryption is incorporated in the RCS it will give a strong competition to iMessage. For all these years iMessage has provided end-to-end encryption unlike RCS. End-to-end encryption means the message sent will be encrypted from the sender’s device and can only be decrypted from the receiver’s device. This ensures privacy and a secure system to reduce the chances of leaking information.

For this purpose, Google has built Google Messages 6.2 which will ensure end-to-end encryption for RCS. The app includes 12 new strings that refer to encryption. The question that still lies unanswered is if both the sender and the recipient need to use the Google Messages app. The exact requirements to use this feature are yet to be revealed.

Google mentioned that a good internet connection is mandatory for both the sender and the receiver. If a strong internet connection is not established, Google Messages will offer you an alternate option for sending the message. It can be in the form of either SMS or MMS which won’t be encrypted. Hence, the app will ask for your consent before sending the message without encrypted RCS.

Google’s first RCS chat platform dates back to 2018

In 2018, Google launched some new features for making the messaging experience better for Android phones. For the first time, Google introduced RCS and named it “Chat” for the consumers. It didn’t release a new app but tried to modify the existing Android messages. Google has always been a fan of RCS and tried convincing other big companies in the world to do so as well. But, Google has to admit it is Apple that came up with end-to-end encryption for iMessage in the first place.

Many people might have confusion if Chat is different from Google Chat. The answer is yes as Chat is carrier-based service. But, back in 2018, Chat wasn’t end-to-end encrypted. After one year, in 2019, Google announced that the RCS chat will become Android’s primary texting app. But, this service only rolled out for the people of the U.S. One of the biggest advantages of the chat was that the users didn’t need to download an extra app to enable chat features. The Android users use the default messaging app so only a good internet connection was a pre-requisite.

Challenges faced by RCS

Previously, the challenges faced by RCS were there weren’t enough carriers who wanted to switch to RCS. Moreover, they were not end-to-end encrypted making it easier for the government to demand information. Throughout all these years with Google trying its best to establish RCS, Apple hasn’t spoken a single word in this matter. But, now the scenario is different.

In 2019, the four biggest U.S carriers namely Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint also announced that they will over RCS in 2020. But, RCS faced many problems in the past and still things might turn a little messy. The main reason to expect the probability of success for RCS to be low because these companies will release their app.

Conclusion

If the RCS for the app created by other companies intersects and generate conflict with that of Google’s RCS, everything will become a big mess. Fingers crossed that the Android users just don’t end up preferring iPhone over Android to avoid this chaos. If this happens Google’s attempt to establish secure end-to-end encryption for RCS will go in vain.

Google

Google puts the key of leadership on a single hand while unifying the teams of its communication apps

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Strategies, opinionated discussions, absorbing consumer feedback, and implementing changes are the basic steps of teamwork and product development. Also, not to mention leadership has always been the most precious element towards quality output. With that noted, Google dropped the news of bringing all its communication and messaging apps under one team. Yesterday, Google revealed the news and also added there won’t be any changes in the products for the time being.

The announcement

Google announced yesterday that Javier Soltero, VP, and GM of G Suite will be managing this new team. With already in charge of G Suite along with Google Meet and Google Chat, the additional products that came under his team are Messages, Duo, and the phone app on Android. But, the company also mentions that this won’t harm the position of Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP of Platforms and Ecosystems, and they will work side by side.

Users might expect some changes in the sphere of product development. But, Google clearly said that the company is unifying the team for communication products under one leader, Javier Soltero. The team will work under the mutual leadership of Soltero and Lockheimer while Soltero will still be a part of the cloud team.

Javier Soltero’s devotion towards G Suite

Javier joined Google as the VP and GM of G Suite on last October. Before that, he worked with Microsoft company for five years. After a few months of his time at Google, he was still not getting the hang of the working system like Google. In Microsoft, Javier was in charge of Outlook.

One of the most impressive things about Google that made him want to join the company is the constant innovation of products that creates a dialogue between the user and the tool. He said the tools of Google propel the users forward to learn something new instead of holding them back.

Since he has joined the company, Javier has devoted all his time and focus on understanding the demand and needs of clients. His team is very much focused on browser-based experience and native mobile experiences. He is focusing more on the implementation of AI, especially for a smart chat. Javier said the products of Google still need much more integration and coherent development.

Google Meet and Google Chat

It has not been a year and Javier successfully put behind the chaos of Hangout. The pace of development Javier has picked up after coming to Google is way faster than Google updating features on communication apps. Javier wants to give more clarity to the products and especially for the consumers. This made him rebrand Hangout to Google Chat which was followed by Google Meet. Every other product of Google comes with the brand name, but these two were left out. So, it was a brilliant move by Javier.

Moreover, at the end of last month, Google announced that Google Meet will be free for everybody. The demand for videoconferencing escalated during this pandemic. So, making Google Meet free attracted a lot of users. Also, people are trying to avoid the Zoom communication platform currently due to the zoombombing case a month ago.

Innovation shouldn’t come too fast

Javier is inclined towards bringing innovations but he doesn’t want to smudge the clarity between products. He said every product has a different job and a different goal. So, unlike Facebook, Javier is not planning to integrate all the Google chat apps. The clarity should be maintained for the sake of clients and their purpose of using it. And, this harmony will be disrupted if rapid changes are made to these products.

The integration hypothesis

Improvement can never take place if there is only one-sided opinion. While Javier says that rapid development might create difficulties for the users, Hiroshi believes in the perfect amalgamation of Google apps and Chrome OS. According to Hiroshi, it is a good idea to integrate G Suite apps and Chrome OS as the latter might work better due to the conjugation. He wants to broaden the platform for Google’s app.

But, paying importance to Javier’s opinion, he might keep the decision on hold. Because nothing can be worse than confusing the customers by making a mess which they are already trying to come out of.

Apple

APPLE AND GOOGLE GAVE AN IDEA ON HOW THEIR CONTACT TRACING SYSTEM WILL WORK

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With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, many big tech giants are trying to develop smart tools for tracking. Many websites are providing updated information about the coronavirus cases at both national and international levels. The development of apps has taken place that are marking zones with different colors to clarify the impact of the spread.

But, Apple and Google are trying to come up with something more innovative. From the beginning, these two companies are trying to help people in many ways to keep them safe during the outbreak. For example, Google launched new features in Google Maps to show the nearest takeaways, Apple is launching new products to help users stay connected, etc. This time, the two companies together have come up with a coronavirus tracking system for both IOS and Android.

Revealed more information

Yesterday, both Apple and Google have shared more information on their contact tracing system. The company explained the design of the user interfaces for potential applications. Thorough explanations were carried out on how the users will get automatic information. Also, how data will be shared between a large network of mobile phones without putting a person’s privacy in jeopardy. Yesterday, the companies have also shared a library of reference code, namely, an SDK toolkit (for Android) and an Xcode toolkit (for iOS). This will help the building of applications by health authorities with an embedded contact tracing system.  

How the contact tracing system will work?

The companies announced the contact tracing system in April. It is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of the disease. The idea is to notify people if he or she came in contact with an infected person and thus stopping people from transmitting further. And, to build this system, the companies decided to transmit data through short-range Bluetooth communication.

Since the application will get access to the user’s private data, the concern for privacy is obvious. But, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google confirmed that user’s privacy won’t be compromised. The system will be designed in such a way that it will protect the user’s privacy and notify them about positive cases as well.

The launch of the new app

When the joint venture started in April, the companies decided to launch the app for both iOS and Apple during mid-May. The companies wanted to make sure that the application of the health authorities can also use it. So, the users need to download the app and participate in the procedure of contact tracing. The most unique part of this system is using Bluetooth Low Energy Transmissions to share data.

So, the app won’t be tracking your physical location as GPS does. At an interval of 5 minutes, your phone will pick up the signals of the nearby phones and store it in a database. So, if any of these people are tested positive with COVID-19, then they can update it on their phone. Every other phone that was near it will be notified henceforth.

Rules for using this application

Apple and Google together have also set many ground rules that any applications should maintain while using it. For the private sector partners, they can use the system only for the response efforts of COVID-19. They will need prior permission or in better words opt-in consent to access the API or share a positive diagnosis. The app will neither allow using location services nor any targeted advertisement.

In case health agencies already have existing apps that use either of these mentioned above, they need to turn them off before accessing API.

UK’s contact tracing app without Apple and Google

Every nation is trying to build contact tracing applications to notify people and prevent the spread of the virus as much as possible. Recently, U.K has launched the beta version of an application that is built on the concept of contact tracing. But, the user interface of the app is very poor and the overall design is ineffective as well.

It will be hard to build a contact tracing system followed by an application without the help of tech giants like Apple and Google. Moreover, if the time taken is longer, the cases will increase rapidly. But, unfortunately, the U.K. is not a big fan of decentralizing data. Many experts have said that the app U.K. is planning to use is not so reliable for tracking COVID-19.