Welcome to the 477th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week:
- Google Messages has a new feature in the beta version. It lets AI come up with responses to messages you receive. It was found in an APK teardown, and the feature isn’t active yet. However, with the massive surge in AI news this year, we expect it to be an extension of Smart Reply, but with AI.
- Google Calendar is apparently adding better support for birthdays and anniversaries soon. The app lets you add those things now, but with basic reminders that don’t do much. This new feature lets you add additional, customizable reminders. It’s a small thing, but considering that Facebook hasn’t notified me of a birthday in years, this will be nice to have.
- Microsoft’s AI now creates images using only words. Microsoft calls it the Bing Image Creator, and it’s accessible through bing.com/create. You simply tell it what you want to see, and the AI creates it. There are some limitations. For example, we tried asking it to make an image of a Rihanna concert, and it refused, citing Microsoft’s terms of service. Still, it’s a neat tool.
- Google, meanwhile, is giving people access to its Bard AI project. It wants people to start using Bard so that Google can better tune the AI’s knowledge and responses. Some of its early tests were comical, to say the least, but testing with a large number of people is an excellent way to gather more data. Our own C. Scott Brown tried it out and seems cautiously optimistic about its capabilities. You can also join the waitlist if you want to try it out yourself.
- Microsoft is apparently working on a rival game app store for Android and iOS. Its focus is gaming, and Microsoft wants it to have integration with Xbox’s ecosystem, including things like achievements. This, of course, isn’t tenable at the moment. It could do a game store for Android that users can sideload, but it’s not possible on iOS at this time.
BT21 Pop Star
Price: Free to play
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