Chance Miller

Microsoft’s sleazy and highly publicized Scroogled ad campaign has been its primary marketing effort against Google for two years now, but it appears that the program is finally dead. Speculation began to arise last year that Microsoft was slowly killing the controversial ad campaign after corporate restructuring.

Today, Winbeta noticed that the Scroogled website is no longer live, and instead redirects to a new “Why Microsoft” page. The Scroogled page had been live up until very recently, but without much publicity from Microsoft. The death of the Scroogled webpage also comes with no comment from Microsoft, who appears to want to act like it never happened in the first place.

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SamMobile is reporting that Samsung plans to launch a fully round smartwatch at Mobile World Congress next month. Not a lot is known about this new Samsung smartwatch, though. It reportedly carries the model number SM-R720 and is referred to as Orbis within the company.

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Image via Hallam Internet Limited

Google, which is known for dabbling in a variety of consumer fields, is apparently looking to begin selling automotive insurance in the United States. Google currently helps users buy insurance in Europe, but according to a variety of evidence collected by research blog Forrester, is looking to expand at least its automotive insurance efforts to the United States (via WSJ).

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HTC has announced today that users of its RE camera will be able to live stream video to YouTube starting tomorrow. The company originally announced this feature when the GoPro-like RE camera accessary was unveiled back in October. Today, however, the company finally confirmed a hard release date for the feature.

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Samsung tonight has issued its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of 2014. The company says that it expects to, yet again, report a decline in operating profit and sales. Samsung estimates that its operating profit for Q4 2014 as 5.2 trillion won, or $4.5 billion. That’s a decrease of roughly 37 percent when compared to the $8.3 billion reported in Q4 2013. The number does, however, beat analyst expectations of 4.8 trillion won.

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The Google app on Android has received an update today, as part of the company’s Update Wednesday regimen. The update bumps the app to version 4.1.21.1657903 and includes a handful of notable new features, including new Google Now card settings and “Ok Google” setting tweaks.

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Motorola has just announced in a blog post that it is making a return to China. Following the company’s acquisition by Lenovo, Motorola Mobility says that it is returning to China with three of its newest devices. Motorola calls China “one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets,” and promises to release the Moto X, Moto X Pro, and Moto G with LTE in early 2015.

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Dell announced today at CES 2015 that its Venue 8 7000 Android-powered tablet is now available. The device—originally announced back in September at an Intel event—costs $400 and is available now in the US from Dell.com and Best Buy stores. It will launch in Canada later this week and in Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, India, Germany and the UK during early 2015.

The Dell Venue 8 7000 is “the world’s thinnest tablet,” according to the company, coming in at just 6mm. Dell also touts that the device features an “infinity display” with very little side bezel, making the display nearly edge-to-edge. The 8.4-inch display comes with a QHD 2560 x 1600 resolution, as well.
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Sony just kicked off its press conference at CES 2015, and one thing for the company will be showing off during the event is a new stainless steel designed SmartWatch 3. The SmartWatch 3 was originally released in October of 2014, but Sony has taken the opportunity at CES to give it an updated, more high-end design.

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Volkswagen, at CES 2015, has finally announced what it plans to do with both CarPlay and Android Auto. The German auto manufacturer has confirmed that it will begin shipping cars with Android Auto capabilities later this year in its 2016 models.

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Samsung, during its CES 2015 press conference, has announced that it is expanding the availability and capability of its Milk streaming service. The company says that starting today, Milk Video will be available on Samsung Smart TVs, while the Milk Music app is seeing a new web interface.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URy4fN4sSqI

Samsung is next on the list for CES 2015 press day. The company’s press conference is set to kick off in just a few minutes at 2PM PT/5PM ET. Samsung will undoubtedly showcase a lot of new products during the event, the details of which, however, remain to be seen.

You can watch the live stream of Samsung’s press conference up above. Stay tuned to 9to5Google for all the news from the event, as it happens.

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At CES 2015, Lenovo has unveiled a handful of new Android-powered devices, including both phones and tablets. First off, the company has announced the Vibe X2 Pro (seen above, left), which is an updated version of the Vibe X2 we saw back at IFA. The X2 Pro features a 5.3-inch 1080p display and is powered by a 64-bit 1.5GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor. There are also two 13MP cameras on the device, one on the front and one on the back. The Vibe X2 Pro launches in April outside the U.S. and is powered by Android 4.4 with Lenovo’s custom skin on top.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Note Edge

According to a new report out of the usually-reliable SamMobile, Samsung will have its latest Galaxy S6 flagship on display at CES 2015 this week. Unfortunately, however, the device will not be showed to consumers, but rather only to select partners. Presumably, those partners include carriers and accessory makers.

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The official start of CES 2015 is right around the corner, but as is the case every year, some early signage has revealed the plans of one company. According to a plethora of posters posted throughout the main hallway at CES, LG is planning to unveil its G Flex 2 device during the show this week (via The Verge). The original G Flex was released all the way back in December of 2013, so an update is certainly needed by this point.

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To kick off CES 2015, Acer has announced its first ever 15-inch Chromebook. The 15.6-inch screen makes it the biggest Chromebook released to date, but keeping trend with other Chromebooks on the market, the device is still affordable, starting at $250. Acer’s 15.6-inch Chromebook comes in at a hefty 4.85 pounds, which means you probably won’t want to move this one around too much once you get it.

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According to an image obtained by Android Central, Samsung is soon planning to offer all Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 4, and Galaxy Tab S buyers one free year of Netflix. The promotion will apply to U.S. customers only, however, and will only be available for the first 115,000 people to take advantage of the deal.

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