Back in 2014, it seemed that was the last time we would have a smartphone with limited storage - 8 GB or 16 GB. Although there are some high end phones with more storage space, most of the smartphones come with limited space. OEMs are still pushing these kind of phones and there-by making it easy for us to run out of space after installing few apps and capturing some images.

Now Google Photo app has come up with a solution to free up spaces by adding a new option in the app's settings section. After selecting this setting the app will actually scour through the phone to find out the photos which have already been uploaded to the cloud storage. Google is also giving notification message to the users who are about to use up all the space via an Assistant card for deleting the photos already stored in the cloud. A bug which was restricting users with SD card from deleting photos is now fixed.

Google Photos is also giving option to users who had initially stored photos in their "Original quality" (limited storage in Drive) to restore all those in "High quality" for unlimited storage. It is very useful to the users who are close the Google Drive limit. To downgrade photos, all you need to do is visit photos.google.com/settings from your computer and click the "Recover Storage" option.

This update is supposed to be released on the Google Play Store from today, which means you will be able to use this in your Android device within few days or weeks.

Reading a book on a small screen is not easy. Digital books can scale text according to screen size to ease the problem, but in case of PDF files and comic books which have fixed page size it won't be possible to scale according to screen size without having negative impact on the content.

Google recently announced an update to its Play Books app specifically designed to address this issue. Now Comic book lovers will have better reading experience in their favourite smartphone and tablets.

It focuses on better navigation by implementing a new vertical scrolling feature for comic books in landscape layout. All you need to do is flip the device on its side and scroll through the complete story using vertical swipes. Apart from this Google has also made it easy to search and discover new comics. The redesigned app now organizes series' by the editions, volumes and issues. You will be able to see all the individual issues and synopsis simply by tapping on a series. According to a senior product manager from Google, there would be personalized recommendations for new comics and series to the users.

On this occasion, for a limited period of time Google is offering some digital issues for free. In total they are giving away 44 comics including some of the all-time favourites like Batman and Spawn. According to Google, every Thursday there will be additional deals. Click on the link given below to grab the freebies:

Free comics from Google

An officer in Mountain View, California noticed a prototype vehicle travelling in a 35 mph zone at a speed of 24 mph resulting in traffic congestion. "As he approached the vehicle he realized that it was Google's self-driving car" said a post by the police department. The officer also contacted the operator to learn about the steps followed by the vehicle for choosing speed depending on roadways and make the operator vigilant about impeding traffic.

Google's self-driving car project gave response on the official Google+ page and clarified that they have put a limit to the maximum speed (i.e. 25 mph) for safety reasons. The company said most of these stops occur owing to growing curiosity of people and their desire to get a closer look. They want people to perceive the car as friendly and approachable, rather than intimidating by making them zoom scarily through neighbourhood streets. Google also said that their vehicles have driven 1.2 million miles for testing without getting a ticket. Well, that's quite an achievement and also human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience.

There is a huge market for these cars. According to a study done by IHS Automotive in January, it is expected that close to 250,000 self-driven cars would be sold each year globally by 2025.

There is a way to get 1TB Google Drive storage for 2 years without paying a dime. And that path starts with reviewing Google Maps. One reddit user has reported in the r/Android subreddit that he was offered 1TB Google Drive storage after becoming rank 4 Google Map Local Guide. To become a rank 4 Local Guide you need to acquire 200 or more points by reviewing places, uploading images, rectifying wrong information, resolving queries posed by users in your area and adding new locations.

If this offer entices you, don't think that you can spam your way to gain ranks as a Local Guide. The tendency to help out people with thoughtful and genuine reviews must come naturally to you. You will enjoy this process, if you are someone who would generally post a Yelp review after visiting a place. Google actually filters out low quality and inappropriate reviews to deliver maximum value to their users and keep the ecosystem clean. In a nutshell - authentic reviews should get you to rank 4 along with free storage that's worth more than $200.

Do check out Google's official website if you are really interested in becoming a Local Guide and learning the added benefits.

Google is making good on its promise at the Google IO few months ago, as they have announced that offline navigation and search is finally rolling out today.

Google said on today that Google Maps now supports full navigation, even when you don't have an Internet connection. "Whereas before you could simply view an area of the map offline, now you can get turn-by-turn directions, search for specific destinations, and find useful information about places, like hours of operation and contact information or ratings." That means the next time you're in a area without internet connect, you won't need to worry about not getting the map and search information you need.

"By default, we'll only download areas to your device when you are on a Wi-Fi connection to prevent large data fees," Google product manager Amanda Bishop wrote in a blog post.

First previewed during Google I/O in May, the new Maps feature-which includes reviews and opening hours-is slowly rolling out to Android users, and should arrive soon on iOS.

"Over time, we'll be introducing even more offline features to help you find your way-even when you can't find a connection," Amanda Bishop wrote.

Source: Google Blog Post