How to enable RCS chat in the Google Messages app on Android - The Verge

How to enable RCS chat in the Google Messages app on Android - The Verge
Google Doodle Halloween 2019: Animation celebrates Halloween with interactive game about animals, WWF - CBS News
Google parent Alphabet makes offer to buy Fitbit, sending stock soaring - CNBC

Posted: 31 Oct 2019 01:31 PM PDT

While iPhone users have been happily iMessaging for some time now, Android users have been stuck in the much more old-fashioned SMS version of texting. Recently, Google has been working with the major phone service carriers to finally upgrade to a new messaging standard called RCS. While there are already a number of criticisms of this standard (for one thing, it doesn't have end-to-end encryption), RCS looks like it will probably come to pass. But not soon — at least, not for most of us. It was available on the Pixel 3 and 3 XL late last year, but did not ship with the Pixel 4. The four major carriers recently announced that it was being rolled out next year via a new app.

If you're the kind of person who doesn't want to wait (and doesn't mind working a little outside the Android norms), you can tweak Google Messages now in order to try out RCS. Instructions for how to do it have been bouncing around the internet for a couple of days, thanks to some enterprising persons on Reddit who figured it out and let us all in on it.

Just so it's clear: there's no guarantee this method for enabling RCS will work long term. It utilizes a Google server that's explicitly called "sandbox," which is a sign that things are likely to change.

How to prepare

First, you need to have the latest beta version of Google Messages installed. If you're not already in the beta program, it's simple to join — just opt in for the beta version here. When you join, you'll be warned that it may take a while for the beta to install, but once I was affirmed as a beta tester, I was able to speed up the process by updating the app manually.

You'll also need an app called Activity Launcher. Go ahead and install it if you don't already have it.

Ready? Here goes.

How to activate RCS

Turn off your Wi-Fi. (According to most accounts, it can interfere with the process.)
Open Activity Launcher. Scroll down the list of apps to Messages and select it. This will open a sub-menu.
Scroll down until you find "Set RCS Flags" and select it.

Look for "Set ACS Url" (it should be the first choice) and select it. (Note: I made the mistake of initially trying this in my phone's dark theme, which made the text almost unreadable. If you use the dark theme, you may want to switch back to the standard theme, just while you're doing this.)
Select the option that reads "http://rcs-acs-prod-us.sandbox.google.com."
Go to "Set OTP Pattern" and select "Your\sMessenger\sverification\scode\sis\sG-(\d{6}). (It may be the only selection available).
Tap "Apply."

Now you need to force close the Messages app. You have two choices of how to do this. You can go to "Settings" > "Apps & notifications," click on the selection that shows all your apps, and the Messages app, and select "Force stop." Or you can long-press on the Messages app's icon in your app drawer, tap the information icon on the right corner, and then select "Force stop."
Open Messages again. If everything went well, there'll be a small window at the bottom of the screen that invites you to upgrade the app.
Tap the "Upgrade Now" button. You'll get a welcome message; it might take a minute or two for the app to be upgraded.

Want to see if it worked? Go to Messages, click on the three dots in the upper right corner, tap "Settings" > "Chat features." If it worked, you should see the word "Connected" next to the Status setting.

It doesn't always work the first time

If it doesn't work, there can be a number of reasons. You might just have to try again. You may be missing a Google app called Carrier Services. (This app may not be in your apps drawer; you can find it by scrolling through all the apps in the "Apps & notifications" section of your settings. If it's missing, you can download it from the Play Store.)

If you use a virtual phone number (such as Google Voice or Hushed), you may also run into trouble. I use a Google Voice number as my main number, which completely confused the Messages upgrade and caused it to keep trying to connect without success.

Once I saw that was the problem, I went into Google Voice and stopped it from sending and receiving calls. I then went to my phone's Carrier Services app and cleared out all my data by selecting "Storage & cache" and tapping on "Clear storage" and "Clear cache."

Then I ran through several of the previous steps: went back to Activity Launcher and reset both the ACS Url and OTP Pattern, force stopped Messages, and then reopened it. This time, the process went without a hitch. (I was able to reactivate my Google Voice number afterward.)

Now you can try out RCS — assuming you have any contacts who also use it.

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Google Doodle Halloween 2019: Animation celebrates Halloween with interactive game about animals, WWF - CBS News

Posted: 31 Oct 2019 08:41 AM PDT

This Halloween, Google is offering users a trick or treat. The search engine's Google Doodle is of course themed for the spooky holiday, but it also celebrates animals. The interactive doodle was created with guidance from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Once you click the Halloween Google Doodle, mysterious music plays and you are offered six doors to open. Clicking on the doors reveals an animal. Each furry friend performs a trick — or a treat.

There's a wolf that plays basketball, an octopus that dresses up as a ghost, and a jaguar that plays the piano — but these are just the animals' "tricks." Choosing the "treat" option behind each door reveals animal facts: for example, did you know that unlike other big cats, jaguars like to swim?

An owl is one of the many animals that appears in this year's wildlife-themed, educational Google Doodle. Google

The animated game was created by a team of artists, animators, producers and engineers, and it will run for 24 hours in 40 countries around the world.

Trending News

While this Google Doodle provides educational facts about animals while celebrating Halloween, past October 31 doodles have been very different. One of the first Google Doodles appeared in 1999, when the two o's in Google were turned into pumpkins. This doodle only appeared in the U.S.

On Halloween 2001, the company featured a simple illustration incorporating a ghost, pumpkin and cat into the Google logo — nothing like the elaborate, interactive doodles we see today.

The October 31 doodle is not always Halloween-themed for every country. In 2010, a doodle honoring Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai on his birthday appeared in Japan. In 2005, Australia got a Google Doodle celebrating the Melbourne Cup. And in 2010, Greece got a doodle that marked the 2,500th anniversary of the marathon.

So, while October 31 is Halloween to most Americans, Google acknowledges the date has different meanings around the world.

Each animal comes with a trick – a fun animation – and a treat – an interesting fact. Google

Google parent Alphabet makes offer to buy Fitbit, sending stock soaring - CNBC

Posted: 28 Oct 2019 08:48 AM PDT

Google parent company Alphabet made an offer to acquire Fitbit, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC Monday. Reuters first reported that Alphabet made the offer to buy Fitbit. Fitbit's stock was halted after skyrocketing more than 18%.

The stock resumed trading and ended the day up 30.5%, adding more than $330 million to its market cap to bring it to around $1.5 billion. Fitbit shares are now up more than 12% for 2019.

It's unclear how much Alphabet offered to buy Fitbit.

The Fitbit Ionic's display is great indoors and out

Erin Black | CNBC

The deal would make Alphabet a player in the wearable fitness tracking space, competing against the likes of Apple, which recently released a new version of its popular smartwatch. Google licenses its Wear operating system to companies such as Fossil but does not currently make its own smartwatch.

Google has described its hardware strategy as "ambient computing," meaning users should be able to access its services wherever they are. Buying Fitbit could be a play to make Google services a greater part of customers' lives and measure up to Apple in the health and fitness space. Google hired former Geisinger Health CEO David Feinberg last year to consolidate its health-care strategy. The company announced several new hardware products earlier in October, including the new Pixel 4 smartphone.

For Fitbit, support from Alphabet could grant a much-needed boost for the company, which has seen Apple take over about half of the global smartwatch market in 2018 in terms of units shipped, according to Strategy Analytics. In its July earnings release, Fitbit lowered its guidance for the year, citing weaker-than-expected sales of its new lightweight watch.

Fitbit declined to comment. Alphabet did not respond to requests for comment. Alphabet's CFO declined to comment on the potential Fitbit acquisition in an interview following Alphabet's earnings report Monday afternoon.

--CNBC's Josh Lipton contributed to this report.

WATCH: Alphabet misses on earnings

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