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Chance Miller

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Chance currently writes for both 9to5Google and 9to5Mac, in addition to 9to5Toys. He has previously written for several other online publications. He uses a Nexus 5, iPhone 5s, iPad Air, Hackintosh, and Macbook Air.

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WSJ: Google looking to revive Wallet to compete with Apple Pay, relaunch at I/O in May

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According to a report out of The Wall Street Journal, Google is currently working to boost its Wallet payment service in order to keep up with Apple Pay. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the report claims that Google is currently in talks with carriers, banks, and device makers about reviving Wallet. The company currently plans to launch its new service at Google I/O in late May, according to the report.


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Sundar Pichai says Google Apps Inbox support coming “imminently”

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Inbox for GmailYesterday, Google announced that it was expanding support for Inbox to iPad, Safari, and Firefox users, but curiously left out from the expansion was Google Apps for Business and Education users. In a tweet recently, however, Google’s Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome, and Apps Sundar Pichai said that Inbox support will begin to roll out to Apps users “imminently.”


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Google introduces new carousel interface in mobile search results

Greece-FrameGoogle today, in a post on its Inside Search blog, has revealed a new interface for browsing news on its mobile website. Starting now, when you search for a topic, you’ll see a “carousel” of recent articles regarding your query that you can horizontally scroll through. The carousel contains articles from a single source of information.


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BlackBerry update gives users access to Android apps via the Amazon Appstore

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BlackBerry today has revealed a major software update for all of its BlackBerry 10 devices. Most notably, the update adds the ability for all BB10 devices to access Android applications. Bumping the build number to version 10.3.1, this update is rolling out to all BlackBerry 10-powered devices, including the Z10, Q10, and Z30. The company announced announced its intentions to add this feature in June of last year.


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Google Docs for Android updated w/ Office Compatibility Mode improvements, more

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Google today has started rolling out an update to the Google Docs app on Android with a few new enhancements. First off, the update adds support for selecting, cutting, copying, and pasting text, images, tables, and charts in Office Compatibility Mode. The update also adds the ability to insert links into Google documents.

From the Google Apps blog:

A new version of the Google Docs Android app is now available on Google Play. New features include:

  • Support for selecting, cutting, copying and pasting text along with images, tables, and charts in Office Compatibility Mode
  • Ability to insert links in Google documents

The update is available now via the Play Store, although it is a staged rollout and may take a little while to hit your device.


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Samsung acquires Apple Pay competitor LoopPay to accelerate its mobile commerce effort

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Samsung announced in a press release this evening that it has purchased LoopPay, an Apple Pay like mobile payment company. LoopPay turns existing magnetic stripe card readers into secure, contactless receivers. This means that, in an ideal world, LoopPay would be available in nearly every retailer that accepts magnetic strip cards. A specific acquisition price is unclear at this point.


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Google reportedly working on new ‘Tablescape’ social network for sharing food pics

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Google is working on a new social network community called Tablescape for sharing photos of food, according to a new report from Android Police with additional information from El Androide Libre. The service is somewhat of an extension of Google+, but with heavy optimization for users looking to share and browse photos of food.


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Google kicks off annual Science Fair w/ $100k in scholarships & grants up for grabs

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Google today has kicked off its fifth annual Science Fair in conjunction with LEGO Education, National Geographic, Scientific America, and Virgin Galactic. Starting today and running through May 18th, students between the ages of 13 and 18 can submit projects to Google across a variety of scientific fields for a chance to win one of a handful of prizes. Possible topics include biology, computer science, anthropology, and any other scientific field.


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HTC says next ‘maintenance release’ of Android coming in March

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HTC’s Vice President of Product Management Mo Versi has revealed in a tweet that Google will post the next maintenance release of Android in March of this year. The tweet from Versi was in response to a user inquiring about an issue centering around the capacitive button backlights on the Google Play Edition HTC One M7.


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Android 5.0 Lollipop now rolling out to T-Mobile Galaxy S5

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Slowly but surely Android 5.0 Lollipop has been rolling out to Galaxy S5 variants in the United States, and now it appears to be T-Mobile’s turn. The carrier this morning has started pushing out the latest Android version to its variant of the Galaxy S5. The update carries the build number G900TUVU1DOB1 and comes in at 900MB (via SamMobile).


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Google Play Music for iOS updated w/ Material Design, first ever iPad version

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Google this afternoon has begun rolling out a major update to the Play Music app on iOS. The update packs a handful of new features and enhancements, including a totally refreshed Material Design interface, and for the first time, an iPad optimized interface, as well.


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Google removes Sparrow email client from iOS and Mac App Stores

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Google acquired the popular email client Sparrow back in 2012 and announced that the entire team would be joining Google to work on Gmail. Since that acquisition, Sparrow apps received only a handful of updates and have been seemingly neglected in favor of Google’s new Inbox initiative. Over the past few days, however, Sparrow appears to have received the final nail in its coffin as it has been removed from both the Mac App Store and iOS App Store (via TechCrunch).


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Android One launching in the Philippines w/ Cherry Mobile & MyPhone Android 5.1 devices

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4-Phone-newGoogle this morning has revealed that it is expanding its Android One initiative to the Philippines. The company announced on its Asia Pacific blog that two affordable Android devices from Cherry Mobile and MyPhone will be available in the coming weeks. Android One was originally unveiled at Google I/O last year and is the company’s attempt at bringing Android devices to countries at affordable price points. The Philippines is the sixth country in which Android One is available.


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HTC One M9 name spotted on HTC’s website

HTC-One-M9-Hima-press-render-640x412HTC’s latest One flagship has been one of the worst kept secrets in the mobile world recently, and now the company itself has contributed to the rumor mill. Mobile blog TechTastic has noticed that there are several references to the One M9 in HTC’s own website HTML code. The references seemingly confirm the existence of the device and the name under which it will be sold and marketed.


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Samsung unveils new Exynos 7 octa-core processor, likely for upcoming Galaxy S6

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Exynos 7 SamsungSamsung this morning has taken the wraps off of a new octa-core Exynos processor that is widely expected to be the processor used in the upcoming Galaxy S6 flagship. Samsung says that the Exynos 7 processor is built on a 14nm processor and has eight cores. The company touts that it is “designed for next-generation flagships.”


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LG reportedly pushes back G4 launch due to competition from Samsung

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According to a new report from the Korea Times, LG has decided not to release its expected G4 flagship at Mobile World Congress next month. Instead, the company plans to release it on its own during April. Last year, the G3 was released on May 27th, but LG is believed to still anticipate releasing its successor before that day this year.


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Motorola tells Moto G first-gen users that Lollipop will rollout in the “upcoming weeks”

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Moto GMotorola, which said last month it would update all of its devices to Lollipop “really soon,” appears to have started taking initial steps to upgrade the first-generation Moto G. Users of the device are reporting that they have received a pop-up message on their device regarding a future update (via MobileSyrup).


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Google Maps lane guidance expands to 15 new European countries

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Google today has announced that it is expanding support of lane guidance in Maps for Android to 15 additional European countries. The feature was launched in the United States and Canada last year, with Google promising expansion at a future date. Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom gained support for lane guidance in December.

Today’s update adds lane guidance to the following 15 European countries:
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Evidence of a Chromebook Pixel 2 codenamed “Samus” appears

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1st Gen Chromebook Pixel

1st Gen Chromebook Pixel

According to a bug reported spotted in the Chromium project issue tracker, Google is currently working on a second-generation Chromebook Pixel. Noticed by OMG Chrome, a Google employee recently filed a bug report associated with the Samus development board, which at this point, is unreleased to the public. The original Chromebook Pixel was codenamed the Link within Google’s headquarters.


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Galaxy Note 4 starts to receive Android 5.0 Lollipop in Poland

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With Galaxy S5 Lollipop updates in full swing, many have begun to wonder the status of updates for the Galaxy Note 4. Samsung, according to users in Poland, has today started rolling out Android 5.0 Lollipop to the Galaxy Note 4. The recipients of the update claim that it dramatically overhauls the TouchWiz interface, as expected. It also, of course, adds many of the features we’ve come to know and love in Lollipop (via SamMobile).


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Google’s search and YouTube expert Udi Manber announces departure

Google's Udi Manber

Google’s Udi Manber

Google this afternoon has announced that Udi Manber, a computer scientist who worked on search and YouTube, is leaving the company. Manber says that he will be joining the National Institutes of Health.

“I had a wonderful nine years at Google and YouTube, but I could not resist the amazing opportunities at NIH,” Manber said in a statement obtained by The Wall Street Journal. “Improving access to medical knowledge can have a big impact. I hope to help.”


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