Google lists over a 100 'must-have' Android apps

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/google-lists-over-a-100-musthave-android-apps/520647-11.html

Google has now published another list of apps that it thinks you must have on your Android devices. The list on the Google Play Store features 122 apps when accessed from India. It includes popular apps like Evernote, Pocket, CamScanner, YouTube.

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The $5 eBook Bonanza is here!

Treat yourself to the eBook or Video of your choice for just $5 and get as many as you like until January 6th 2015. To get you started, we've put together the Top 20 Titles of 2014 for you to pick up here. 

https://www.packtpub.com/packt5dollar/?utm_source=dysond&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=5D2014

Device Assist

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/googles-new-device-assist-app-helps-you-fix-smartphone-issues-suggests-better-phone-usage/516943-11.html

Google's new Device Assist app helps you fix smartphone issues, suggests better phone usage

A new Google app, Device Assist, has been launched to detect problems with smartphones and help people use phone features properly.

The app is designed to help first-time users get the best out of their phones and fix issues that it detects, for instance, with the battery, connectivity and GPS. Tips "to explore new features and improve the performance of your device" are also on offer, says the app description on Google Play Store.

For users of the Nexus, Google's flagship phone and Google Play edition devices, there is also an option of live Google support.

The Device Assist app is designed to help first-time users get the best out of their phones and fix issues that it detects, for instance, with the battery, connectivity and GPS.

The app is currently available to US-based Nexus, Google Play edition and Android One devices running Android 5.0, Lollipop.

"Great for people who aren't quite so tech savvy! I'm suggesting this to all my family who constantly ask me to help them with their devices," a user said.

There are explanations of features that first-time Android users might not know about, like "screen brightness setting is battery intensive", to help users get the hang of their devices.

Google Drive now lets you edit Microsoft Office attachments right from Gmail

http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/02/google-drive-now-lets-you-edit-microsoft-office-attachments-right-from-gmail/

Google today announced a very useful new addition to Gmail: editing Microsoft Office documents that arrive as email attachments. A new Google Drive edit icon has been added to Gmail attachments that you can click to automatically convert Office files to Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.

Google notes that the new feature means you can turn Microsoft Office documents into a Google Drive file so that you have a single document to keep track of, as well as get access to revision history. This document can be accessed “from anywhere” since it resides in the cloud, and you can choose to make it available for offline access as well.

Here’s the new feature in action:

Google Drive today also gained support for importing 15 new Office formats, though they’re not very widely used ones: presentation show files, macro-enabled files, and template files. Here’s the full list:

• dot, dotx, dotm*, docm* conversions to Google Docs
• xlt, xltx, xltm*, xlsm* conversions to Google Sheets
• pot, potx, potm*, pptm*, pps, ppsx, ppsm* conversions to Google Slides

Google is also promising “improved charts, images, and tables support” for these file formats, but didn’t go into detail.

Being able to access documents in the cloud, with revision history, is of course not unique to Google Drive. Microsoft offers the same functionality in its own Office Online offering, but naturally not from within Gmail.

Today’s announcement is a prime example of how tightly Google ties its services together. Even if you prefer using Microsoft Office and OneDrive, or even Microsoft Office and Dropbox, they’re a hard sell if you’re a user of Google’s other services.

This is exactly why you will continue to see Microsoft using the same strategy as Google to bringOutlook, OneDrive, and Office Online closer together. In the cloud file storage wars, Microsoft has the advantage of Office and Google has the advantage of Gmail.

Some would argue that Dropbox is ahead with its cloud file storage service, but the company is playing catch-up in other areas (hence its acquisition of Mailbox and its document editing partnerships). This battle is far from over.

Google releases list of 68 best Android apps of 2014; 61 free, 7 paid

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/google-releases-list-of-68-best-android-apps-of-2014-61-free-7-paid/516093-11.html

With the year-end approaching, Google has published a list of the best Android apps of 2014 available on the Play Store. The list includes total of 68 apps - with 61 of them free and 7 paid. Popular apps including Swiftkey Keyboard, IFTTT, Groupon, CNN, Bitmoji, and Google Fitfeature in the list.