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Zac Hall

apollozac

Zac covers Apple news for 9to5Mac and hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast.

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Google Play Music adds free, ad-supported radio feature ahead of Apple Music launch

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Google announced today that it is adding a free tier to its Google Play Music service. The new feature provides non-subscribers with what Google is describing as an ad-supported radio option with curated stations. Google Play Music’s radio option will be available for users in the United States at launch with availability on the web starting today and support on iOS and Android following soon. Similar to Apple’s approach with Apple Music, Google says it has “music experts” creating these “curated” playlists:
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Google debuts Computational Journalism Research Awards in Europe to support digital news projects

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Newspaper

Through its Digital News Initiative launched last April, Google has selected three projects to honor with its Computational Journalism Research Award in Europe. Google says that each project it selected “create[s] innovative new tools and open source software that will support online journalism and benefit readers.” In addition to being highlighted by Google with an award, these recipients also receives cash funding as well as computing credit to support their projects:
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Uber hires former Google Maps veteran to oversee mapping & safety efforts

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Transportation service Uber has hired a longtime mapping expert from Google as the company focuses on boosting its own mapping expertise. As Recode reports, Brian McClendon has left his engineering VP role at Google to oversee Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center. McClendon previously led development for Google Earth and Google Maps and has worked for the company for 10+ years…
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Razer seemingly confirmed to have acquired Ouya, the Android-based console maker

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Ouya

A new report today supposedly confirms that Ouya, the company behind the Android-based gaming console, has been bought by Razer, a San Diego-based company best known for its hardware and accessories aimed at serious gamers. We first learned that Ouya was looking to sell the company in late April when a report claimed the company was struggling to manage its debt after less than stellar hardware reviews for its product.
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Samsung Pay debut pushed back to September after promising July launch

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Samsung revealed a bit of setback today for Galaxy S6 owners hoping to get their hands on Samsung Pay this summer. As Bloomberg reports, the company announced on a call with investors today that it will miss its previous target of July for launching its mobile payment service. According to the Samsung executive, the company is now targeting sometime in September to roll out Samsung Pay in the United States and South Korea.
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Self-driving car testing green-lighted for Virginia highways

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Virginia has okayed more than 70 miles of road space in the northern part of the state for testing self-driving cars, local media reports. This makes Virginia only one of a few states that allow autonomous automobile testing on public roads — California and Florida being the largest — giving Google and automakers more terrain to test their self-driving cars.
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Google is developing tech that counts calories from your food pics

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Android lawn statues

How many calories does all that Android have?

Google showed off its new photo storage service at I/O last week with features including unlimited backup and searching for images by keywords, but the company has another image-related technology in development. Google can already recognize images of food when you search your photo library, but its currently developing technology that goes a step further by actually counting the calories in your meal based on your food shots. This could make dieting and calorie counting much more convenient in the future if it works well enough…
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Microsoft reportedly buying cross-platform to-do list app Wunderlist

You can now add the German mobile app firm 6Wunderkinder GmbH to the growing list of companies with Android apps that Microsoft has bought in recent months. 6Wunderkinder makes the popular cross-platform Wunderlist task manager for Android. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has spent somewhere in the ballpark of $100-$200 million for the firm.
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Google highlights best-in-class app designs with Material Design Showcase & Awards

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtu7ZOQScrI]

As part of Google I/O week, the company is highlighting a number of Play Store apps that use Material Design in different ways. To do this, Google is launching the Material Design Showcase on the Play Store and issuing Material Design Awards to select apps for the first time.
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Google Play Store gaining new features for discovering family-friendly apps, videos, & books

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Google gave some stage time today at the I/O conference to a few family-focused changes coming to the Google Play Store. Families can now find age appropriate digital content from apps to game to books to movies and TV shows by tapping a new “Family” button.

This will take you to a section for each media type that allows you to browse for content by age and interest. When you browse the Play Store after tapping the Family button, you’re presented with more than just a curated section of content as other elements of the digital store change as well.
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Google Cardboard VR viewer updated for bigger phones, now supports iOS

Google Cardboard

Google revealed today at the I/O conference that its Cardboard viewer for creating virtual reality experiences easily from Android apps will now support the iPhone for the first time.

The added support for the iPhone comes as Google has added support for iOS to its Cardboard SDK for developers. This means that iPhone apps can now include virtual reality experiences when paired with the Cardboard viewer.

In addition to adding support for iOS, Google is releasing an updated version of its Cardboard view that supports larger phones with up to 6-inch displays. The new version also features an improved input button and can be assembled in just three steps rather than twelve.

Google Cardboard for iPhone is available on the App Store. Cardboard Viewer is available to buy from $19.99 through Google, although the company also offers instructions for building your own viewer.

Google introduces Photos app with unlimited photo and video syncing on Android, iOS, and the web

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Google Photos

Google has taken the wraps off its new Google Photos product at its I/O conference today. Google says Photos is a private single home for your personal photo and video collection that you can access from any device. Photos boasts the ability to automatically organize your photos for you as well as built-in sharing capabilities.
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Android Pay signage spotted at Google I/O ahead of conference kickoff

Android Pay

Google’s I/O conference kicks off today, and signage for Android Pay has already been spotted around the venue at Moscone West. The photo above was captured and shared by Carolina Milanesi.

Android Pay has already been on everyone’s radar, mostly recently in a report last night describing the mobile payment system, and we’ll certainly hear more about it today at the keynote. Similar to Apple Pay, Google’s Android Pay should provide users with the ability to make payments within apps on the platform and in stores using debit and credit cards through the phone hardware. Android Pay is also believed to support loyalty and reward cards at launch, something Apple currently lacks with its service.

Google Wallet is also expected to make a comeback, but as a peer-to-peer payment service for sending money to other users. Stay tuned to 9to5Google for full coverage as we’re on the ground this morning, and follow along at home with the livestream.

Twitter’s live broadcasting app Periscope officially lands on Android

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After months being completely missing from the biggest smartphone platform there is, Twitter is ready to release a version of its Periscope app and service for Android users. Twitter acquired and launched the live video streaming app earlier this year exclusively for iPhone users, saying in early April that an Android version was in development. Hopefully making up for the lost time, Twitter has included a few features in Periscope for Android that you won’t yet find on iOS.


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Adobe discontinues Photoshop Touch for Android, announces Project Rigel retouching system

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Adobe announced today that it plans to discontinue its Photoshop Touch software for Android as it changes its approach to bringing features from its professional desktop application to mobile platforms. Rather than continuing to develop an all-in-one app that tries to recreate the Photoshop desktop experience on smartphones and tablets, Adobe is fully embracing its recent strategy of releasing multiple apps that each perform specific functions well. Adobe also revealed a preview of one of those new apps coming to replace Photoshop Touch under the name Project Rigel…
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Chromecast support added to FOX, FX, & HGTV mobile apps

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Google’s Chromecast is picking up a lot of new content today with both FOX and FX adding support to their mobile apps. The updates come on the same day that CBS has added Chromecast support for its All Access service. 
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Boost Mobile launches stylus-equipped 5.7″ LG G Stylo, coming soon to Sprint + Prepaid

Sprint today announced a new stylus-equipped Android phablet option for its subscribers, starting with its Boost Mobile customers and coming soon to Sprint Prepaid and Sprint contract customers. The LG G Stylo is now available to purchase for $199 without a credit check or service contract for use with Boost Mobile plans which start $30/month ($35 without auto-renew) and include unlimited talk and text and up to 10GB of data.

LG G Stylo’s affordable price gets you a large 5.7-inch HD display with Gorilla Glass 3, Android 5.0 Lollipop for up-to-date software, an 8MP back camera and a 5MP selfie cam, plus a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 3,000mAh removable battery…
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YotaPhone 2 adds white color option to AMOLED + E-ink display hardware, Lollipop update rolling out

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The intriguing and unique YotaPhone 2 may not be quite ready for the United States just yet, but there will be a new color option and a significant software update for the half AMOLED, half electronic paper display smartphone when it arrives…
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Google’s Android One initiative reaches Turkey in latest market expansion

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Sundar Pichai announcing Android One at Google I/O last year

Ten months after Sundar Pichai announced Android One at Google’s I/O developer conference last year, the program to bring quality and affordable smartphones to developing markets is expanding outside of Asia for the first time. Android One’s latest expansion into Turkey marks the seventh market for the program as it moves into Europe.

General Mobile will offer the first Android One smartphones, the company shared today, albeit at a higher price than Google has targeted for other Android One hardware…
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How to watch the live stream of the 2015 NFL Draft on Android phones & tablets as teams pick players

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Courtesy: NFL.com

Courtesy:<a href="http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015" target="_blank"> NFL.com</a>

You’ll need the NFL Mobile app for Android if you plan on catching the upcoming 2015 NFL Draft from your mobile device, and Verizon today has shared that it will exclusively carry the broadcast for its subscribers on Android smartphones. Verizon’s exclusivity deal doesn’t extend to the tablet version of the app, though, so non-Verizon customers can still catch the draft’s live broadcast from the larger mobile app after verifying with a supported cable provider.
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