Chance Miller

Google has long been the subject of antitrust complains and investigations in Europe, but now, some of the company’s competitors are starting to take note of its actions and step forward with their own issues. Yelp, TripAdvisor, and several other companies on Monday teamed up to launch a new website, Focus on the User, on which they express concerns regarding Google’s tendency to promote its own services at the expensive of its rivals. Which in turn, the companies argue, make it harder for customers to find Google’s competitors in results.

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Earlier this month, HTC announced that it would be holding an event on October 8 to unveil some sort of new product. At the time, the invite made it seem clear that it was some type of camera technology, with the invite teasing the “Double Exposure” event. A week later, Bloomberg corroborated the speculation, claiming that HTC would announce a GoPro-like camera compatible with Android devices. HTC this evening, published a teaser video of the event, showing off action footage from a camera.

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Samsung this evening has finally officially unveiled the Galaxy Mega 2, a follow-up to last year’s Galaxy Mega 5.8, for overseas countries. But while the device has a gargantuan screen, its specs are nothing to be too impressed with. The Galaxy Mega 2 features a 6-inch display, up from the 5.8-inch model it is replacing, with a 720p display.

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YouTube announced this evening in a blog post that, once again, it plans to start funding original content. Two years ago, YouTube announced plans to spend more than $100 million to get content creators to create YouTube channels on which to share videos. With that plan, they focused on bringing in outside entertainers. With this new push, however, YouTube says it will focus on helping the self-funded and self-published stars on the site grow.

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The Starbucks app on Android has always been on the forefront of mobile payment and technology features, and this evening, the app has received an update making it even more useful for customers. Bumping the app to version 2.7, the update today adds a handful of new features, including the ability to pay tips digitally and shake your phone to pay.

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When Motorola was originally acquired by Google back in 2011, Punit Soni left his post at the Mountain View company and joined Motorola as the Vice President of Product Development. Today, however, in a post on Google+, Soni announced that he is departing position at Motorola Mobility.

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Last week, Motorola finally took the wraps off of a handful of new products. The new Moto G and Moto 360 went on sale almost immediately, but the new Moto X was teased as being available later this month. Today, however, the company has officially announced that starting Tuesday, September 16th, you will be able to pre-order the new Moto X for AT&T. The unlocked, “Pure Edition” of the device will also go up for pre-order that same day.

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Google has announced a new tool for its iOS Google Apps users this evening that makes it easier to manage accounts and settings. Called iOS Sync, the feature will be integrated directly in to the company’s iOS Gmail and Drive apps and offer a variety of new management tools.

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As it does at the beginning of every month, Google this evening updated its Android distribution data to reflect a 7-day period ending on September 9th. The data shows Android 4.4 KitKat reach an all-time usage high of 24.5 percent, up from 20.6 percent last month. Jelly Bean continued its consistent decline, falling from 56.5 percent to 53.8 percent.

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During its Uncarrier 7.0 event this afternoon, T-Mobile revealed a handful of new announcements as part of its ongoing quest to lead the mobile industry. Firstly, CEO John Legere announced that every phone it sells from here on out will be capable of WiFi calling and texting. The company says that anyone who does not currently have a phone capable of WiFi calling can upgrade to a supported phone with the carrier’s Jump program. As the name implies, WiFi calling and texting allows you to make calls and send texts over your WiFi network, as opposed to over the cellular connection.

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AT&T announced this evening that, much like Verizon, it too will sell the Moto 360 in its stores and online at some point in the near future. While the carrier did not give specific details regarding its pricing and availability for the Moto 360, the device will be the second Android Wear device sold by the carrier, joining the LG G Watch.

AT&T today confirmed that it will add the Moto 360 to its industry-leading portfolio of devices and accessories. Pricing and availability will be announced at a later date. The Moto 360 runs on Android Wear, designed specifically for wearable devices, and is AT&T’s second Android Wear product.

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Motorola is set to unveil a variety of new products tomorrow morning, but the Wall Street Journal posted its video review of the Moto 360 a tad too early, giving us a more in-depth look at the watch before its public unveiling tomorrow.

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Google, according to several user posts on Google+, has recently opened up a replacement program for people who damage their Nexus 5. While the company has yet to officially announce this program, users are reporting that if you have a damaged Nexus 5, Google will offer a one-time replacement for free.

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HTC and Google have just teamed up, yet again, to offer 100GB of free Drive storage to users. When the HTC One M8 originally launched earlier this year, Google gave 50GB of Drive storage to its users. Now, anyone who purchases a One M8, Desire 816, Desire 610, One Remix, or One Max can redeem 100GB of Drive storage for free, double the original amount. 
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Google today has started sending out invites to the media for a September 15 event in India. The invite teases that the event is for “an exciting new product announcement” and promises more details closer to the date of the event. Obviously, with it being held in India, the first thing that jumps to mind is that we will hear more details regarding Android One.

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Earlier this week, Google released the stable version of Chrome 37 and now, just two days later, the company has announced the Chrome 38 beta for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The update adds a variety of new features, although, as always, it’s a mystery as to which will make it to the stable version when it’s released.

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