Closing the doors on Google Plus Daily

Google Plus Daily's website and associated social media pages will no longer be updated as of September 2016.

January 10th 2013 was an exciting day for my team and I. We launched googleplusdaily.com, a then brand-spanking new website built by Google+ enthusiasts, for Google+ enthusiasts. The years following, we kept you in the loop on product updates, broke news before official announcements and posted exclusive interviews with Google+ top dogs Vic Gundotra, Bradley Horowitz and even the cheeky notifications mascot, Mr. Jingles.

Sadly, as with all things in life, our journey as a daily news site for Google+ is coming to an end. As my personal life has seen lots of change and increasingly gotten busier, the more I had to push GPD into the background, which I've held tremendous guilt over, as I couldn't serve our readers and our loyal supporters who've been with us since day 1.

I have a lot to owe to Google+ and the people I've met through this wonderful platform. Without it, I wouldn't have found my passion for writing, and without my team members past and present, this project wouldn't have been possible. Google+ and the connections I've made has changed my life, and has given me skills and the motivation to enroll as a computer science student at university with the ultimate goal of being a software developer.

Although Google Plus Daily is shutting down indefinitely, I (+Lee Jarratt) will continue to use Google+ to share updates to the various collections I maintain (Student Life, Now Playing) and miscellaneous content I'd like to send out to anyone who has added me to their circles.

Before I sign off, I would like to thank the GPD crew for which this wouldn't have happened otherwise. A massive shout out to our wonderful readers, as well as the wider Google+ community. Thank you.

Google Photos Introduces Search with Emoji

Google Photos gets in on the April Fools’ Day action by introducing emoji search capabilities

We all know how powerful search in Google Photos can be, thanks to its versatile object image recognition capabilities. Now, though, they've taken it one step further with the introduction of...wait for it - emoji search!

Getting started is simple: instead of keying in your search term, you can now use its corresponding emoji. Of course, you'll get the same results - only this time it's much more fun. You're even given some suggested emoji to test out the feature for yourself.

Google Photos for Android adds Non-Destructive Editing

Google Photos v1.17 has been released for Android devices, bringing with it more flexible editing capabilities

This version may not be as noteworthy as last week’s Smarter Albums update, but for those who find themselves editing a photo countless number of times to give it the right look and feel, you’re sure to enjoy this one.

Previously on the Google Photos app, once you edited a photo, a duplicate would automatically be created. This meant if you modified an image multiple times, you’d have multiple copies, and you wouldn’t want to have lots of duplicates cluttering your collection, would you?

In version 1.17, duplicates are gone and instead you now have non-destructive editing. In other words, after you edit an image, you can save it as a new copy without overwriting the original photo. That way, you can easily revert to the unedited version in case you want to give the image a different editing treatment.

Google+ for Android v7.5: Re-sending of Failed Posts, More Squashed Bugs

Can't send that epic post? Now you can (at least keep trying with minimal hassle) in the latest Google+ Android app.

Though version 7.5 of the app mainly consists of updates behind-the-scenes, there is one noticeable new feature.

Retry Sending of Failed Posts

Not all of us are lucky enough to have super-fast internet speeds. In some parts of the world (including myself here the Philippines), waiting for an app or webpage to load is about as much fun as getting your wisdom teeth pulled out. Fortunately, the coders working on the Google+ Android app have added the ability to retry the sending of failed posts.