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Google ups free song storage limit to 50,000 songs on Google Play

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If you’re a user of Google Play Music, you probably know that you can store your own music on Google’s servers for streaming from your various devices, but now Google has announced that the amount of songs that you can store for free has been increased, up to 50,000 songs from 20,000. While many of Google’s competitors charge for this kind of service, Google has long offered the ability to store several thousand songs for free—and now they’re upping the limit.


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Canalys: Android Wear is off to a walking start w/ 720,000 devices shipped in 2014

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The latest numbers from Canalys suggest that Android Wear is definitely not taking off as fast as many would have hoped, and that devices running Google’s smartwatch operating system haven’t exactly sold like hotcakes. Over the entirety of 2014, somewhere in the realm of just over 720,000 Android Wear device were grabbed up by consumers, making up almost 1/6 of the total 4.6 million smart wearable bands shipped.


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Google is giving $100K in Google Cloud Platform credit to startups through new program

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Google announced today that it’s kicking off a new program that will see the company hand out $100,000 in credits to its Google Cloud Platform services to help early-stage startups. Google will choose eligible companies through 50 partners that include a mix of incubators, accelerators and investors:

This offer supports our core Google Cloud Platform philosophy: we want developers to focus on code; not worry about managing infrastructure. Starting today, startups can take advantage of this offer and begin using the same infrastructure platform we use at Google… Thousands of startups have built successful applications on Google Cloud Platform and those applications have grown to serve tens of millions of users.

It will also provide the startups chosen with 24/7 support, and access to our technical solutions team.

Those interested in learning more can visit Google’s new Cloud Platform for Startups site.

Estimates say the Fire Phone hasn’t passed 35,000 units sold

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According to numbers crunched by The Guardian‘s Charles Arthur and based on data from Chitika and comScore, it appears as if the Amazon Fire Phone isn’t exactly setting hardly anything on fire. In fact, if this report is to be believed, Amazon hasn’t sold more than 35,000 total Fire Phone units since the much-hyped unveiling of the device in June.


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Amazon Appstore selection triples to pass 240,000 over the last year

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Amazon announced today that its standalone Appstore has been growing very quickly, tripling the number of apps that were in the store just 12 months ago. The company also announced that Amazon Coins, which let users save money on apps and games by buying the “currency” in bulk, have been very popular with customers having already spent “hundreds of millions” of them.

And apparently, developers are extremely happy with the store. When surveyed, 65% developers said that total revenue is just as good or better on Kindle Fire compared to other platforms, 74% said that Average Revenue per App/User is as good or better, and 76% said that the Kindle Fire “helps them connect with new market segments.”

“Developers tell us that they experience improved reach, greater monetization, and, oftentimes, higher revenue when they have their apps and games in the Amazon Appstore,” said Mike George, Vice President of Amazon Appstore and Games. “But this is just the beginning—we’re building more services and capabilities for developers and more Android-based APIs based on their feedback. Most Android apps just work on Kindle Fire, and with an Appstore made for Android devices, Amazon’s Appstore can help developers distribute their apps on Android devices all over the world. It’s a great time for developers to bring their apps to the Amazon Appstore.”

Amazon is holding a press event this wednesday, which is all but confirmed to be the company’s first entry into the smartphone market.