Mark Rose is stretchin’ his fingers. He’ll be typing fast and furious in a Google+ Ask Me Anything (AMA). Join Mark one week from today at 2 pm CT for a 30-minute chat where he’ll answer your questions live in a Google+ event.

Mark is our product manager focused on making your phone useful to you wherever you are. Specifically, he leads product management for Quick Capture and Motorola Assist, the app that knows when you shouldn’t be bothered and that can read messages aloud when you’re driving or at home. In a meeting? The app can silence your phone. Driving to work? It can tell you who’s calling or read your texts out loud. Want to take a quick photo? Pull out your camera and twist it to pull up the camera app in a flash.

Mark has been in product management for 15 years and is eager to take your questions! Ask him anything about Assist, share your suggestions, delve into his experience, or even chat about his love of coding, building apps, and the beach.

Join us next Thursday, 7/17, at 2pm-2:30pm CT. Check out the Google+ event page and take part in the conversation by commenting.

In other software news, here’s the latest Download:

Connect Gets a New Look and a New Ring Feature - Our latest update to Motorola Connect brings a sleeker more beautiful interface (and new icon!) to the app that allows you to see text messages and calls coming into your Connect-enabled phone on your computer’s Chrome browser. As always, you can read and respond to texts using your computer’s keyboard and know who’s calling before you decide to reach for your phone. But now you can call your phone right from your desktop—for all those times you lose your phone in the couch cushions. We’ve also moved the app to your app drawer to make Connect easier to find.

Android™ 4.4.4, KitKat® Begins Rolling Out - We’ve begun rolling out Android™ 4.4.4, KitKat® to our phones! This latest update includes all of the goodies of 4.4.3—such a new dialer, the ability to pause during video recording, and enhanced camera image quality—and includes enhanced security for OpenSSL. We just started rolling out in Brazil and India for Moto G; in Brazil, France, Canada, and Asia Pacific for Moto E; in the U.S. for DROID Ultra. We are always working to deploy the latest software as fast as possible and expect the update to come to many more phones soon. Check out the software updates page to see if your phone has been upgraded yet.

Posted by Steve Sinclair, Product Marketing

An amazing phone experience is more than just the physical device you hold in your hand. We know that the complete phone experience is about both the software and the hardware. And we believe that your software should continually evolve to get better and better and keep you on the cutting edge.

We are excited to announce some icing on top of the, well, KitKat. Starting today, we are rolling out Android™ 4.4.3, KitKat®, which was just released by Google.

This week we begin rolling out to:

• Moto X T-Mobile users
• Moto G users who bought online in the U.S. (includes Moto G 4G LTE) and at retail in Brazil
• Moto E users who bought online in the U.S. For Moto E users, you are still up for the next major Android update as well. Consider this the cherry on top.

This latest software update brings an improved dialer with a new interface and new colors to enhance consistency and usability, as well as several stability, framework, security fixes, and enhancements to the power profile capabilities.

Motorola users will also enjoy:

• Improved camera image quality for Moto X including better consistency of exposure, more realistic flash coloring, and improved photos in low light conditions using front camera. 
• For Moto X and Moto G, pausing for video recording with a convenient pause/resume button on the viewfinder.
• Motorola Alert in this update for Moto X and Moto G users. This new app helps give peace of mind by sending periodic messages to the contacts you choose.

Check our release notes for Moto X, Moto G, and Moto E for more detailed information.

Wondering when new software updates will come to you? Please check our software upgrades page for the latest information.

Posted by Steve Horowitz, SVP, Software Engineering