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.
Google today has started rolling out an update to its Maps app on Android that bumps it to version 9.4. Most notably, the update adds integration with Google’s new Local Guides service, which it originally introduced back in January. Previously called City Experts, Local Guides is the company’s efforts to get users to review local businesses and share them with others.
Google and Twitter have allegedly come to an agreement for tweets to appear in search results, according to a report out of Bloomberg. During the first half of this year, tweets will begin to be visible in Google search results as soon as they are posted. As part of this deal, Bloomberg reports that Twitter is giving Google access to the entire stream of data posted and shared by its 284 million users. Previously, Google had to crawl Twitter’s site for information.
Verizon announced earlier this week that it had started rolling out Android 5.0 Lollipop to its Galaxy S5 variant, and now Sprint is following suit by updating its own variant. As announced on Samsung’s FAQ page for the Sprint Galaxy S5, Android 5.0 Lollipop will begin to rollout to the device tomorrow, February 5th.
Sony, after announcing last month that it was cutting 1,000 jobs from its mobile unit, has today revealed that it is cutting yet another 1,100 employees from its Mobile Communications business. Sony says that these cuts will trim the mobile unit down to 5,000 employees by March 2016. That’s a 28 percent cut to the department (via FierceWireless).
Lenovo this evening has reported its calendar Q4 2014 earnings, and as is well-known, Motorola is now a part of the company, so the earnings are bit more interesting this time around. According to the earnings release, Motorola Mobility sold 10 million smartphones last quarter, which is up 118 percent compared to the year ago quarter.
Google-owned programmable thermostat company Nest today published a blog post in which it breaks down exactly how much money using a learning thermostat can save. The post, and the included infographic cite “two independent studies” and claim that using a Nest saves customers approximately 10-12% on heating bills and 15% on cooling bills. In total, that’s an average of $131 to $145 a year.
Last week during its earnings call, Google acknowledged that it had been having issues keeping the Nexus 6 flagship in stock, and in a totally unexpected move today, the company has put the Nexus 5 back up on the Play Store. The device is listed at its original price of $349 for 16GB at $399 for 32GB.
Earlier this month, Google’s Nexus Player became available from a variety of new online retailers and big-box stores, and now the company revealed the first market outside of North America in which the device will be available. In a post on its Asia Pacific Blog, Google has revealed that the Nexus Player will be available in Japan by the end of February.
The tensions between CyanogenMod and OnePlus have been well documented over the recent months, with OnePlus even going as far as removing Cyanogen branding from its most recent shipments of phones. This morning, OnePlus teased an upcoming announcement with the tagline “Back to Basics” and now the company has revealed its own custom ROM. In a post on the OnePlus forums, the company has revealed that it is developing its own ROM that it will call Oxygen OS.
Google’s Chief Business Officer Omid Kordenstani gave several updates on the status of the company’s $35 Chromecast streaming device during the this evening’s Q4 2014 earnings call. Kordenstani first stated that users have “casted” content to their television more than one billion times. The company says that this is a huge milestone for the streaming stick and the implementation of the Cast functionality in a variety of different apps.
During the company’s Q4 2014 earnings call, Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette addressed a few of the reasons for the company’s slower than expected quarter. Pichette said that one issue Google had was keeping up with demand the demand for the Nexus 6. Pichette noted that while the device was well received, the company simply couldn’t get the inventory to keep up with consumer demand.
Google announced this evening in a blog post that Chrome 41 Beta for Android is now available. The update is rolling out to users via the Play Store now, according to the company, and bumps the app to version 41.0.2272.34.
While relatively minor, the update does add the ability to pull-to-refresh “most” webpages, a feature that will make the web browsing experience a bit more seamless and similar what users are used to in other apps.
Google today has unveiled a newly designed search page for move-related queries in Chrome for Android and the official Google Search app. The update presents the results in a fashion similar to what you see when you search for content in the Play Store.
Rumors regarding overheating issues with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 processor have plagued the chip since it was introduced last year. A report back in December claimed that the issues of the Snapdragon 810 could cause delays to the Galaxy S6, LG G4, and Sony Xperia Z4. In its earnings report today, Qualcomm has seemingly confirmed issues with the processor, adding that it has lowered its outlook for the second half of 2015 because of the problems.
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Google is always expanding the imagery available in its Street View feature in Maps, and this evening the company has announced in a blog post that it has added new data from the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa. The city is set to kick off its annular Winterlude Festival next week, which is a three-week long event that hosts a variety of games, shows, and activities.
Earlier this month, reports emerged claiming that Google was planning to launch its own wireless network called, at least in its developmental stage, Nova. The reports claimed that Google would partner with Sprint and T-Mobile for the network, notably without any contribution from the two biggest United State carriers, AT&T and Verizon.
Late last year, Mozilla announced a joint five-year partnership with Yahoo that saw the default search engine in Firefox change from Google to Yahoo. It seemed unlikely at the time that Google would notice too big of a loss from that deal, but following contrary reports from earlier this month, Search Engine Land has also noticed that the company has started trying to convince Firefox users to switch to Google Search.
Twitter this evening has announced in a blog post that it is rolling out a new “While you were away” recap feature to its mobile apps. Starting today on iOS and “soon” on Twitter.com and Android, a “While you were away” banner will appear in your feed, showing you the top tweets that you missed since you last opened the app.
Google has been killing of Google Play Edition devices left and right over the past year and today, the final one has been given the axe. As noticeable on the homepage of the Play Store, the Google Play Edition HTC One M8 is no longer available for purchase. The device was listed at $699 and released last year.
A new report from The Information claims that Google is preparing to sell cellular plans directly to customers. The report, citing “three people with knowledge of the plans,” says that Google will sell customers the service and manage their calls and data, much like other U.S. carriers:
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According to a new report out of the usually reliable SamMobile, Samsung is working on handful of new tablets with a 4:3 aspect ratio, similar to what is found on Apple’s iPad and the Nexus 9. The company is reportedly working on four new tablets, the SM-T35x/SM-T55x and the SM-P35x/SM-P55x. The former of those pairs will have 8-inch displays, while the latter will have 9.7-inch panels.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPHH1Ykx1jY]
President Obama is set to give the State of the Union address this evening at 9PM ET/6PM PT and one of the best ways to watch it will be live on the White House’s YouTube channel. The stream is available to watch on the desktop and mobile devices and can be flung to the big screen via a Chromecast or Nexus Player.
It has been reported several times that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S6 will ditch the company’s classic all plastic design in favor of something of higher quality, which has been thought to be a metal-build. Today, however, a new report out of Korea, which should be taken with a grain of salt, says that Samsung is looking to make the Galaxy S6 out of all glass. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s how Apple designed its iPhone 4 and 4s.
Samsung announced last year that, after negative reviews of the design of its Galaxy S5, its head of mobile design Change Dong-hoon was being replaced by then VP of mobile design Lee Min-hyouck. Today, however, it was revealed that the company is bringing in an outside designer to help refresh its product lineup. A report from the Korea Herald states that Samsung has hired Lee Don-tae to be its new head of design. Don-tae would lead design of all Samsung gadgets, including smartphones.