So apparently Google finally provides this functionality as an opt in privacy option in your Google account. The thing is though.. the check box and line "Include visual search history" isn't there in my account settings. It's supposed to be under Data & Privacy => Web & App Activity. Is this still in AB testing or being rolled out per region or...??

Thanks for anyone who can help me find an answer. I've been wanting this feature for a long time and google can't provide me with an answer to this question.

I'm tired of these places coming up in all my searches because I will never go back to these places again.

How are they not trying to fix their search?

I've been cleaning out my drive and photos lately because I've been on the edge of having no storage for a year. I removed A LOT of photos yesterday and now I am again out of storage.

Upon investigation, 'Device Backup' is now taking up a third of my storage space. Delving into that further, MMS messages backup is taking up 6 gb total.

I do not have Google One.

I don't see any way to remove the MMS without deleting the entire backup.

Anyone have experience with this?

Full list of coming changes: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2563044

!

I have no particular love for Google as a company in its current form, but I've got to admit that as an ecosystem of tools (particularly for work) they get a lot right. I'm new to the fediverse, but one thing I liked about the forum-that-should-not-be-named were the strong communities around sharing knowledge relating to Google Workspace. Does such a community, even a small one, exist anywhere out here?

Funny how it is the worker bees that have to pull the over time to fix issues that are probably the result of demands from some management stooge that didn’t appreciate the outcomes of their demands.

I was gonna share this report I wrote for school with a friend. I remember throughout college I kept my school files organized on Drive, but when I went to look for it nothing seemed right. The rule is that I have a folder for every class I had organized by semester and year and alot of them are gone. Classes I know I took I have no record of anything I did there.

It's kind of a bummer. I found some record of me writing this report, I wrote it in December 2020.. Has there been some files loss in Google Drive that I didn't know about? It's kind of a bummer that I can't look at these old things I did but, I'm just hoping for the best.

Google Maps redesigning directions search, drops fullscreen UIs, more

https://9to5google.com/2024/02/07/google-maps-directions-search-redesign/

@google

Gotta love how companies can remove features after you've bought them. Should be grounds for being eligible return imo

The latest navigation, apps and entertainment updates for Android Auto and cars with Google built-in announced at CES 2024.

Do more with Google on your Android devices with new ways to help your devices work better together.

How do they do it and how much does someone pay to get their name/business to show up on Google maps when a random googler is navigating to an entirely unrelated destination?

It’s currently limited to 2M which is really tough. I know I’m lucky that they haven’t outright killed google voice but I still think it would be reasonable to keep up with the times.

Maybe one day we’ll get proper support for video

Time to get out of Google Podcasts for anyone that is still using it.

I don't think I've ever had Workspace and yet when I try to open a drive document that was emailed to me, I get this: >We are sorry, but your 14-day trial for Google Workspace has ended. Please subscribe in order to continue using Google Workspace.

I just tried to open Drive from the same email account and I get the same message. This is a business account. Is there any resolution to this?

Long story short about how I naively and foolishly set up 2FA using that account's GVoice number for verifications and also knew nothing about needing to save GAuthenticator tokens externally, and later on, that device went permanently MIA:

With correct passwords and confirmation of the 2FA phone number (but no access to that 2FA phone), without any lockout imposed, and even though the 2FA account recovery security AI is devastatingly limited in its verification options, I verify the correct contact number and it forwards the SMS over, but I can't access the text until I use the back email — I can and therefore should be able to verify with other legitimate means one-on-one with live homeland (Palo Alto) personnel who understand the injustice of it and are willing to manually assist in the recovery process, even if perhaps off the radar.

The third-party overseas Google One paid subscription-based tech "support" personnel I've thoroughly exhausted are entirely unequipped to correct anything, they're totally incompetent, apathetic, and dismissive very slyly, barely within the parameters of their employee tech "support" scripted responses (pretty much the same shady behavior as most cellular company's overseas tech "support"). They aren't real tech support, nor even Google employees, and have no backend access like Google's unavailable homeland security team does. They even lie about scheduling a follow-up with a supervisor because there is no hierarchy of managerial phone support personnel. The important details are that they work for a third-party subcontractor that imposes a different employee policy in a country far from Palo Alto, California. The whole organization is a skeleton in a closet.There's just nothing there for customer support. Paid subscriptions to One are worse than worthless because those Filipinos can't afford to be moral in that role in that country.

I know this is possible because articles have been published, specifically by Ron Miller at Tech Crunch (see link below) stating privileged connection for members of the media who use their publicity to leverage justice — which has been evident for him in the form of relayed access to informal backend tech support personnel — through someone who knows someone at Google.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/22/that-time-i-got-locked-out-of-my-google-account-for-a-month/

>"On December 5th, I sent a note to a PR contact who I work with on Google-related news and I told him about my problem. He said he had gotten my case escalated and I should hear within 24 hours."

> "The Reset command never came."

>"On December 18th I contacted the poor beleaguered PR contact yet again and he wrote back. They wanted me to go through the process again except using my TechCrunch email instead of my other alternative. I pushed back that I already had an open case, but he suggested I do it and see it what happens."

>"Reunited and it feels so good I started the process entered my Techcrunch email and was simply asked to enter a new password and I was back in. After all that, that was all it took. I was ecstatic to have my digital life back, but I’m still shocked at a) how easy it was to lose access and b) how little recourse there was to get it back."

So this is possible, and given the multitudes of dissatisfied Google employees and ex-Google employees, especially in this dawn of the degoogled Fediverse, I envision real possibilities.

TL/DR So I'm here to request connection with anyone and everyone who can connect me to some real backend support before my account becomes scrubbed from the server.

=============

Verification I can provide: • Access to the GVoice number with its voicemail password. With that, it should be made possible to confirm an audio verification code sent as a voice message instead of the default SMS I cannot access — if an audio verification message could be generated by Google support personnel. Good idea really. • Password histories • Temporary security Codes which the recovery process was supposed to prompt but did not • Email addresses of incoming and outgoing emails ° Screenshots of Drive filesystem and filenames • Screenshot of IP address of connected Chromebook • Chromebook browser bookmarks

==============

Recordings and Documentation onhand:

• Emails and chats with Drive personnel

• Emails and chats with Google One's Philippines subcontractor which includes attachments proving the Chromebook that was connected to the account is still in my possession connected to an alternative Google account, and those emails include screenshots of the IP address of the Chromebook with the Google Play Services Security Codes, which collectively prove my ownership of the limbo account. They ignored it. The emails also include attachments of my photo ID. Bad idea, but I'd probably be fortunate if they abused that or jeopardized it anyway.

• Phone conversations with dozens of fully incompetent subcontracted, third-party Google One personnel based exclusively in the Philippines The recorded calls exhibit their discriminatory call center tactics and complete lack of any corrective resources are all whatsoever (not an embellishment).

=================

I want to know exactly who will present real password reset options because this is extremely important. I can't contact twenty years of contacts anymore or ever again until Google just grants a password reset to me.

Only controls one of two blinds and doesn't change the lights at all.

Any way to make it control the lights by default? This command used to work until i installed smart blinds so it's deep in my family's muscle memory.

So my sister bought a Google Home pod for her use in her bedroom, but it picks up my voice whenever I ask Google Assistant on my phone to play my podcast.

I've discussed this with her, and she won't budge from not using the Home pod as she will consider it a waste of her purchase. I use the google assistant on my phone when I am busy and can not use the phone without breaking my rhythm.

So, as a workaround, I'm looking to change the Google assistant trigger on my phone to my sister's name, or at the very least, to another trigger that will only trigger the google assistant on my phone, and not her Home pod.

Any guidance?

Google is looking to change the policy of the Chrome Root Store (used by Chrome to verify TLS certificates that protect websites and other services) to require "that applicants seeking inclusion in the Chrome Root Store must support automated certificate issuance and management". They can still provide a manual method for sites that want to get certificates the old way but they will need to have some kind of automated method available.