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Google Maps’ futuristic AR walking navigation is now in testing by Level 5+ Local Guides

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal got a hands-on with Google Maps' upcoming artificial reality-based walking navigation feature. Local Guides were said to be getting access to this as well, though very few had actually gotten the feature. AR navigation has now rolled out to Local Guides level 5 and up, and it looks pretty cool.

You can see how the AR navigation works in the video above. By default, the AR and camera view will only show up when you're holding your phone up, and it'll go back to the regular view when you put it down.

Google Maps’ futuristic AR walking navigation is now in testing by Level 5+ Local Guides was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:37 AM No comments

Google Duo audio calls are coming to Home speakers

It's already been four months since Google unveiled its own smart display, the Home Hub. When it was discovered that the Home Hub would still be capable of Duo video calls despite not having a camera, Google reached out to let us know that the Home Hub also supports audio calls over Duo. As we had speculated back then, it looks like Duo audio calls will also be coming to Home speakers.

Google Duo audio calls are coming to Home speakers was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 8:17 AM No comments

Chrome experimenting with 'back/forward cache' that speeds up web browsing

When you navigate to a new page in a web browser, the previous page you had open is usually discarded from your computer's memory. There might be cached images and other data left over, but if you press back, your browser has to load most of the page again. Google Chrome's developers are experimenting with a new 'back/forward cache' that would make loading the previous page instant.

In a post on the Google Developers site, Chrome engineering manager Addy Osmani wrote, "we are exploring a new back/forward cache to cache pages in-memory (preserving JavaScript & DOM state) when the user navigates away.

Chrome experimenting with 'back/forward cache' that speeds up web browsing was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 5:17 AM No comments

[Bonus Round] Plunder Kings, DISTRAINT 2, Squeelings, The Castles Of Burgundy, Pocket Mini Golf, and Reflections

bonusround Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a top-down space shooter, a continuation of a pixel-based psychological horror puzzle game series, a faithful digital adaptation of the physical board game The Castles Of Burgundy, a completely free casual puzzler, a delightful mini-golf game, and a reflection-based puzzle game.

[Bonus Round] Plunder Kings, DISTRAINT 2, Squeelings, The Castles Of Burgundy, Pocket Mini Golf, and Reflections was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 3:31 AM No comments

Fortnite season 8 is here, and it brings two new locations and a bunch of pirate booty

The eighth season of Fortnite is here. It brings along a new Battle Pass with 100 new levels and rewards, but it also contains two new locations, a monstrous volcano, pirates, ninjas, cannons, and of course a bunch of new loot. The start of a new season also means you should say goodbye to vaulted items like the and X-4 Stormwing plane, but luckily the new arrival of hot air vents make for an acceptable transportation substitute.

Fortnite season 8 is here, and it brings two new locations and a bunch of pirate booty was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 2:27 AM No comments

Android Security Improvement update: Helping developers harden their apps, one thwarted vulnerability at a time

Posted by Patrick Mutchler and Meghan Kelly, Android Security & Privacy Team

Helping Android app developers build secure apps, free of known vulnerabilities, means helping the overall ecosystem thrive. This is why we launched the Application Security Improvement Program five years ago, and why we're still so invested in its success today.

What the Android Security Improvement Program does

When an app is submitted to the Google Play store, we scan it to determine if a variety of vulnerabilities are present. If we find something concerning, we flag it to the developer and then help them to remedy the situation.

Think of it like a routine physical. If there are no problems, the app runs through our normal tests and continues on the process to being published in the Play Store. If there is a problem, however, we provide a diagnosis and next steps to get back to healthy form.

Over its lifetime, the program has helped more than 300,000 developers to fix more than 1,000,000 apps on Google Play. In 2018 alone, the program helped over 30,000 developers fix over 75,000 apps. The downstream effect means that those 75,000 vulnerable apps are not distributed to users with the same security issues present, which we consider a win.

What vulnerabilities are covered

The App Security Improvement program covers a broad range of security issues in Android apps. These can be as specific as security issues in certain versions of popular libraries (ex: CVE-2015-5256) and as broad as unsafe TLS/SSL certificate validation.

We are continuously improving this program's capabilities by improving the existing checks and launching checks for more classes of security vulnerability. In 2018, we deployed warnings for six additional security vulnerability classes including:

SQL Injection
File-based Cross-Site Scripting
Cross-App Scripting
Leaked Third-Party Credentials
Scheme Hijacking
JavaScript Interface Injection

Ensuring that we're continuing to evolve the program as new exploits emerge is a top priority for us. We are continuing to work on this throughout 2019.

Keeping Android users safe is important to Google. We know that app security is often tricky and that developers can make mistakes. We hope to see this program grow in the years to come, helping developers worldwide build apps users can truly trust.

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Android Developers Blog 1:29 AM No comments

Blizzard announces Hearthstone's next expansion will begin the Year of the Dragon

Blizzard has announced the new yearly rotation for Hearthstone, and it's called the Year of the Dragon. The next expansion to release in 2019 will signal the beginning of this newly-announced year. Over the next twelve months, three new 130-card expansions will be coming our way, and each one will be tied to the last thanks to a continuous story that will span across all three.

The above video goes in depth about what you can expect from the Year of the Dragon.

Blizzard announces Hearthstone's next expansion will begin the Year of the Dragon was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 1:07 AM No comments

Sling is offering new subscribers 40% off their first three months of service

Internet TV services are already a cost-effective alternative to traditional cable, and Sling is making its offering even more so for new customers. For a limited time, new subscribers get a 40 percent discount on their first three months of service.

Sling's Orange and Blue packages — Orange has more sports channels, notably ESPN; Blue has a wider variety of other content — are normally $25 per month, but are currently $15 for the first three.

Sling is offering new subscribers 40% off their first three months of service was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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