Hacking Emperor

Taking a cue from Apple and its Health app for iOS, Google has created a central hub to collect health and fitness data on your Android device. With it, you can share and sync health and fitness data, such as steps, heart rate, water intake, sleep quality, and calories burned, between different apps and devices and use your favorite app to view all the information. Google's new health and fitness service, Health Connect, is still in beta but widely accessible on Android devices. Once installed, it dramatically improves how your ecosystem of health and fitness apps work together while... more http://dlvr.it/Sp5CvL

For all intents and purposes, Google could have called its 2023 developer conference A/I instead of I/O. Capitalizing on the artificial intelligence hype, Google devoted most of its keynote address to AI research, experiments, and developments. But there's some substance behind the hype in the form of new features in the Google services you already use on Android, iOS, and desktop. We've rounded up the ten most interesting AI-powered features you can use now and in the near future across Google apps and services. 1. Bard Google has lifted the waitlist for Bard, its experimental AI chatbot... more http://dlvr.it/Snvc6Y

Spotify lets you customize some aspects of your experience, whether on the desktop, web, Android, or iOS app. And one of the simplest yet coolest customizations you can perform is changing your playlist cover images. However, it doesn't work on all playlists. Usually, if there are more than four albums in a custom playlist, you'll get a two-by-two grid of album artwork from the first albums within. That may help you remember the types of music inside if you can't tell by your playlist's title, but it's not as smooth and shareable as a one-image custom picture. Don't Miss: 5 Wild Things You... more http://dlvr.it/SnBfbT

One aspect of Android's interface that remains clunky is its gesture- or button-based navigation bar, mainly because app developers aren't fully utilizing the tools available to them. But a new feature Google is working on may finally make your nav bar more uniform across your apps. Since its introduction in Android 10, the gesture navigation system has become the default method for switching between apps, jumping to the home screen, and tapping back through apps. But the three-button navigation bar is still there if you want to use it. Either way, Android app developers have tools to make... more http://dlvr.it/Sn7LRt

Android has a new security feature that every Android smartphone user needs to start using — even you. It won't change how you use your phone, but it will make life harder for nearby thieves. One of the oldest tricks in the book of smartphone thieves is watching someone within eyeshot enter their passcode or PIN to unlock their phone. There's no high-tech hackery involved. It's just eyes and memory. And the phone becomes a target in the thief's crosshairs as soon as the code is known. If they successfully snatch it, they can wreak all kinds of havoc. A report by The Wall Street Journal... more http://dlvr.it/Sn1KGs

Compared to Apple's iOS, the Android operating system has earned a reputation for giving smartphone users more customization options up front — but there are even more Android features to customize hidden from plain view behind secret menus like the developer options. Despite its name, Android's developer options can benefit everyone, but you have to unlock them first. The hidden developer options menu on Android can be helpful in a wide variety of uses, from forcing all apps to work with split-screen mode to trying upcoming features before everyone else. You could even unlock tablet-only... more http://dlvr.it/SmmgYY

Because our smartphones are ever present, frequently used apps become the topic of conversation in social situations. This often leads to sharing app links via messages, either by copying/pasting an app's URL or sending it through the sharing menu. However, there's another way to share an app, and it's most valuable when you need to share multiple apps and app updates without an internet connection. For instance, I rediscovered Pokemon Go and several companion apps that aide in Pokemon capture. When I'm out and about, I'll pop open the game to see what's available to catch or if there are any... more http://dlvr.it/SmSMv9