2023’s top Google Assistant advice for Android

One of Android’s most underappreciated advantages is its tight integration with the excellent and ever-evolving Google Assistant voice command genie.

It’s easy to take Assistant for granted, being a person who carries around an Android phone every day. It’s just always there, usually quietly waiting. And it’s certainly not perfect.

But Assistant can do some spectacularly useful stuff. And all it takes is 10 minutes with an iPhone to remind yourself just how good we’ve got it.

These bits of advanced Google Assistant knowledge from Android Intelligence over the past year will help you tap into some of the service’s most advanced and out-of-sight possibilities. Check ’em out, store ’em deep in your brain’s internal storage, and be sure to come sign up for my Android Intelligence newsletter when you’re done to get even more off-the-beaten-path knowledge in your inbox every Friday — direct from me to you.

Your 4-part Android Assistant power-up

15 little-known Google Assistant tricks for Android

Google Assistant can do more than you’d realize, especially on Android.

5 hidden settings for a smarter Google Assistant Android experience

Give your favorite phone’s helper an extra injection of intelligence with these easy-to-miss advanced settings.

5 more out-of-sight options to supercharge Google Assistant on Android

Keep the good times goin’ with these awesome options for efficiency enhancement.

How to unlock Google Assistant’s most advanced Android shortcuts

Some of Assistant’s best time-savers on Android are up to you to dig up and activate. 

Hey Google: Keep the good stuff comin’ in 2024, won’t ya?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Come get my Android Intelligence newsletter next and get three custom bonus tips on your favorite Googley topics.

Copyright © 2023 IDG Communications, Inc.

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Google banned 13 infected Android apps, so delete them from your phone

For what will hopefully be the last time in 2023, we have a few more malicious Android apps to warn you about. The McAfee Mobile Research Team recently uncovered 25 apps infected with Xamalicious malware, several of which were distributed on the Google Play store. Google has since removed the apps, but they might still be on your phone. If so, you should delete them as soon as possible and keep an eye on your accounts.

These are the infected apps that have since been removed from Google Play:

  • Essential Horoscope for Android – 100,000 downloads
  • 3D Skin Editor for PE Minecraft – 100,000 downloads
  • Logo Maker Pro – 100,000 downloads
  • Auto Click Repeater – 10,000 downloads
  • Count Easy Calorie Calculator – 10,000 downloads
  • Sound Volume Extender – 5,000 downloads
  • LetterLink – 1,000 downloads
  • NUMEROLOGY: PERSONAL HOROSCOPE &NUMBER PREDICTIONS – 1,000 downloads
  • Step Keeper: Easy Pedometer – 500 downloads
  • Track Your Sleep – 500 downloads
  • Sound Volume Booster – 100 downloads
  • Astrological Navigator: Daily Horoscope & Tarot – 100 downloads
  • Universal Calculator – 100 downloads

As the McAfee researchers explain, Xamalicious is an Android backdoor built on the Xamarin open-source mobile app platform. Apps infected with Xamalocious use social engineering tactics to gain accessibility privileges, at which point the device begins communicating with a command-and-control server without the device owner being any the wiser.

That server then downloads a second payload on to the phone that can “take full control of the device and potentially perform fraudulent actions such as clicking on ads, installing apps among other actions financially motivated without user consent.”

“The usage of the

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Android Auto to summarize messages with Google Assistant and AI

Google is working on a new feature for Android Auto that will use Google Assistant and artificial intelligence (AI) to summarize messages.

This revelation comes from 9To5Google, who decompiled version 14.52 of the Google app uploaded to the Play Store with lines of code for this feature.

This new feature will use AI and Google Assistant to summarize messages in Android Auto, which could make constant notifications from group conversations less annoying and disruptive when driving.


Android Auto settings for message summary
Android Auto settings for message summary

Android Auto settings for message summary

Google says the “summaries will be generated by artificial intelligence, so it’s possible there could be mistakes,” and you will be able to turn it on/off in Android Auto settings when you want.

Since the strings for this feature were spotted in a beta version of the Google app, it’s unclear when it will be available publicly and get a worldwide release.

Source

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Android Auto will use Google Assistant to summarize your messages

Last updated: December 28th, 2023 at 05:07 UTC+01:00

When you receive a message while driving, Android Auto notifies you about it and even reads it aloud. It is okay if you have received a couple of messages, however, things get irritating when you constantly receive group messages. The read-aloud feature could be disruptive and annoy you, diverting your focus from driving.

Thankfully, Google seems to have acknowledged this issue, and Android Auto might be getting a new feature to help resolve this problem. In an APK Insight post, folks at 9To5Google spotted that Android Auto will make use of Google Assistant to summarize your messages. Notably, Android Auto will summarize the messages using AI, so Android Auto, during the setup process, will show you a warning message, “These summaries will be generated by artificial intelligence, so it’s possible there could be mistakes.

The codes for this upcoming feature were spotted in the Android Auto Android app v14.52

Google will give Android Auto users the option to turn off this feature at any time from the Android Auto Settings menu. The strings of codes that indicated this new Android Auto Google Assistant AI feature to summarize messages appeared in the Android app v14.52. This version of the Android Auto app is in beta, so there is no clarity on when this feature will debut.

Multiple other Google products offer you the option to summarize messages. However, as noted by 9To5Google, the closest comparison to this new upcoming Android Auto feature is Google Chat’s ability to recap Spaces to help you catch up to the speed of a group conversation.

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Prepare your Firefox desktop extension for the upcoming Android release

In the coming months Mozilla will launch support for an open ecosystem of extensions on Firefox for Android on addons.mozilla.org (AMO). We’ll announce a definite launch date in early September, but it’s safe to expect a roll-out before the year’s end. Here’s everything developers need to know to get their Firefox desktop extensions ready for Android usage and discoverability on AMO…

Firefox will become the only major Android browser to support an open extension ecosystem

For the past few years Firefox for Android officially supported a small subset of extensions while we focused our efforts on strengthening core Firefox for Android functionality and understanding the unique needs of mobile browser users. Today, Mozilla has built the infrastructure necessary to support an open extension ecosystem on Firefox for Android. We anticipate considerable user demand for more extensions on Firefox for Android, so why not start optimizing your desktop extension for mobile-use right away?

“There is so much creative potential to unlock within the mobile browser space. Mozilla wants to provide developers with the best support we can so they’re equipped and empowered to build modern mobile WebExtensions.” — Giorgio Natili, Firefox Director of Engineering

To support our ecosystem of extension developers, we will create additional guides, resources and host community events to support your transition to a managed multi-process environment like Android.

Transition background scripts to non-persistent event pages

We recently introduced support for multi-process in Firefox for Android Nightly. This means extensions are no longer hosted in the main process as Firefox’s user interface. This is a key consideration since Android is prone to shutting down resource-intensive processes, such as extensions. To mitigate the risk of unexpected extension termination, we’ve introduced event page architecture to be non-persistent and more resilient to process termination. Thus we strongly encourage developers to transition

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Google loses antitrust case over Android app store brought by Fortnite maker

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal court jury has decided that Google’s Android app store has been protected by anticompetitive barriers that have damaged smartphone consumers and software developers, dealing a blow to a major pillar of a technology empire.

The unanimous verdict reached Monday came after just three hours of deliberation following a four-week trial revolving around a lucrative payment system within Google’s Play Store. The store is the main place where hundreds of millions of people around the world download and install apps that work on smartphones powered by Google’s Android software.

Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game, filed a lawsuit against Google three years ago, alleging that the internet search giant has been abusing its power to shield its Play Store from competition in order to protect a gold mine that makes billions of dollars annually. Just as Apple does for its iPhone app store, Google collects a commission ranging from 15% to 30% on digital transactions completed within apps.

Apple prevailed in a similar case that Epic brought against the iPhone app store. But that 2021 trial was decided by a federal judge in a ruling that is under appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nine-person jury in the Play store case apparently saw things through a different lens, even though Google technically allows Android apps to be downloaded from different stores — an option that Apple prohibits on the iPhone.

Just before the Play store trial started, Google sought to avoid having a jury determine the outcome, only to have its request rejected by U.S. District Judge James Donato. Now it will be up to Donato to determine what steps Google will have to take to unwind its illegal behavior in the Play Store. The judge indicated he will hold hearings

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