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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CInK6ZiaZWY
Samsung is set to hold its “Tab Into Color” event tonight in New York City at 4PM Pacific/7PM Eastren, and as you’d expect, the company is live streaming the entire thing on YouTube. Given Samsung’s recent event history, the event could be quite the spectacle. You never know.
Google appears to have made a backend tweak to Google Now this afternoon that adds a feature rumored earlier this year. First spotted by Android Police, Google will now grab events from your Gmail app and put it in a Google Now card. The Now card will have the option to add the event to your calendar or ignore it.
Just a few days after announcing its $500 million acquisition of satellite imaging company SkyBox, Google is now rumored to be making an investment in yet another satellite company. According to a new report out of Sky News, Google is currently planning to make a roughly $30 million investment in Virgin Galactic. The two companies have reportedly been in negotiations for months now, but have finally reached the “advanced” stages.
Leading up to Google I/O this year, we’ve seen a handful of leaks regarding the design of Android. We’ve seen redesigned apps leak, such as calendar, the dialer, and Gmail, as well as updated icons. According to a new report out of Android Police, all off these recent design leaks and updates have been apart of a new program within Google called Quantum Paper.
Google I/O 2014 is set to kick off on June 25th and in preparation for the event, Google has released its official app for I/O. The app allows you to easily and quickly view the conference agenda with details such as topics, speakers, and partners for each event. You can also add events to your schedule and receive reminder notifications before they start.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LCzri4tXuF0
Google, in a post on its “Google and Your Business” blog, has just unveiled a new service for small business. Dubbed Google My Business, the service is essentially a central location for small business owners to control how their businesses appear in Google search results, Maps, and more.
After teasing the redesign earlier this year, 1Password has finally launched a much-needed update to its Android app. Prior to this update, 1Password on Android was hideous, to say the least. The new version released today brings an entirely refreshed interface to the app that puts it on the same level as its iOS counterparts.
Satellite company SkyBox just announced that it has been acquired by Google for $500 million. The two have been in talks for several months now, with the deal finally being announced today. SkyBox Imaging is a company that takes high resolution photos using satellites. Google, in a statement, had the following to say about the company:
“Skybox’s satellites will help keep Google Maps accurate with up-to-date imagery. Over time, we also hope that Skybox’s team and technology will be able to help improve Internet access and disaster relief — areas Google has long been interested in.”
Every year at Google I/O the company gives away a few gadgets to the attendees of the event. Last year, Google gave away the $1,500 Chromebook Pixel to attendees, among other things. According to a report from Android Authority, Google this year plans to give out the LG G Watch for free to all the people in attendance.
Photo: ibtimes.com
While Samsung has been producing its own in-house smartphone chips for a while now, its last few flagship smartphones have used a Qualcomm chips. According to a new report out of SamMobile, however, Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 4 flagship might shift back to Samsung’s in-house Exynos processors. Samsung Exynos devices have been available in select markets recently, but availability has been scattered due to the chip’s lack of support for LTE.
Google’s $35 Chromecast has slowly built up its app portfolio since it was released, and now the device looks like it will be getting another huge service implemented. According to a post on the official VideoLAN forum, discovered by GigaOM, VLC’s developers are currently working on implementing Chromecast support to its media player.
“In addition to the iOS variant, we are also working on a Windows / Linux / Mac implementation, which will take a bit longer because it’s harder.”
Hot on the heels of Apple buying Beats Music, the NY Post is reporting that Google is in talks to acquire the music streaming company Songza. According to the report, Google is currently offering Songza $15 million. That seems on the low side when compared to the $3 billion Apple paid for Beats, although only $500 million of that was for the smaller Beats streaming service. The NY Post also correctly reported on the Beats acquisition before it happened.
AT&T today has released a trio of new tablets. The carrier is now offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1, Galaxy Note Pro 12.2, and ASUS PadFone X. The trio of devices are all available for purchase today with 4G LTE capabilities. The company also announced that its GoPhone prepaid plans are now compatible with a handful of tablets.
Over the past couple of years, Chrome has gained and fallen in terms of browser marketshare. Google’s browser briefly eclipsed Internet Explorer as the most popular browser in the world, but Microsoft quickly regained that crown. Now, Adobe has issued a report claiming that Chrome, on both mobile and the desktop, has finally eclipsed Internet Explorer as the world’s most popular browser.
Google has just announced a official development kit for its Project Tango. The tablet is incredibly powerful, packing an NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor and 4GB of RAM. It’s also got 128GB of storage under the hood. There’s also all kinds of sensors, insulting motion tracking cameras, integrated depth sending, and LTE. There are three cameras on the back of the device for motion tracking, too.
Last week, Google, Amazon, and Sonos teamed up to offer 6 months free of Google Play All Access and a $50 Amazon credit with the purchases of a Sonos speaker. Now, Google is partnering with AT&T for another deal. Starting today, you will get $50 in Google Play credit when you purchase a qualifying Android smartphone from AT&T. The credit is valid towards anything in the Play Store, such as apps, movies, music, and TV.
Every Android device AT&T sells qualifies, while iPhones Windows Phones obviously do not. The deal is also valid with all of AT&T’s contract options, including two-year agreements and AT&T Next. The deal will run until July 17th and is available on AT&T’s website only, not in stores. A new line of service is required, as well.
AT&T is selling a variety of popular smartphones right now, including the HTC One M8, Moto X, and Galaxy S5. You can read more about this offer on AT&T’s website.
A new video out of Bloomberg details just exactly how a once unknown Chinese phone company has able to leapfrog the household names in technology and become the sixth largest mobile handset company in the world, and the third largest in China. Xiaomi was founded back in 2010 and went the total opposite direction in terms of strategy from Apple and Samsung. Making Android powered devices, Xiaomi has focused devices with high build quality and excellent performance.
The 2014 World Cup is set to kick off next week in Brazil, and Google seems to be excited about the event. Earlier this week the company updated the Chromecast with support for WatchESPN streaming, meaning that all 64 World Cup games will be able to be streamed to the device. Now, in a post on the Lat Long blog, Google has announced some new features for Maps exclusively for the World Cup.
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HTC’s failed Facebook phone
Because apparently it’s what the world needs, HTC is reportedly developing a phone that will be marketed as the “ultimate selfie phone.” According to the normally reliable evleaks, the device is codenamed Eye and will be coming to AT&T with a fourth quarter release. Other details are still sparse, but the big thing is, it’s a sefie phone, capable of taking the ultimate selfie.
Back in 2011, HTC released the ChaCha, better known as the Facebook phone, that failed miserably. It appears, more than two years later, that the company learned absolutely nothing with that device and is going to continue to make gimmicky phones that no one will buy.
Nevertheless, if you, for some reason, want a phone that’s capable of taking the ultimate selfie and other phones just don’t work well enough for you, wait until Q4 for the HTC Eye. It’s unclear what the device will have that makes it better for selfies than other devices, but presumably we’ll see a few leaks between now and the launch to tell us.
But first….let me take a selfie.
Google this evening released a minor update to the YouTube for Android app, bumping it to version 5.7. The update doesn’t add much, but does finally add one long awaited feature. With YouTube 5.7, you can now manually choose the quality in which you want a video to playback.
In previous versions of the app, you could only toggle between HD and HQ. Now, you can choose from 144p, 240p, 360p, and 720p. 1080p support appears to still be missing. The auto option will presumably choose the best stream based on your internet connection at the time of playback. To bring up the quality toggle, click the action button on the upper right corner of a video, then click the settings gear icon.
The update is rolling out slowly to Android devices, so it may take a little while to hit your device. In the mean time, keep an eye on the Play Store.
Google, looking to unify its Chrome and Android products, updated its Chrome Web Store today with the ability to filter app results by those that also have an Android counterpart. Along the top of the homepage and on the side of search result pages, you can now narrow the results by “For Android,” in addition to the runs offline, by Google, and free criteria that have been there for a while.
This means, that if you are searching for, say, a note taking app, you could narrow it down by those that have both a version for Chrome and Android. It’s not a huge feature by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s certainly useful for those who are looking to unify their experiences on Android and Chrome.
You can try it out for yourself on the Chrome Web Store.
After several months of rumors, Sprint is reportedly finally nearing a deal to acquire T-Mobile USA. The two have reportedly been in negotiations for awhile now, but they have apparently finally reached an agreeable number. The deal, as it stands now, would have Sprint acquiring the Uncarrier for $31.3 billion. T-Mobile currently has about $15 billion in debt and $5 billion in cash. Sprint is valuing the company at roughly $40 a share.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erUZQ9GK0sE
Update: Amazon has officially announced its 3D phone dubbed the Fire Phone. You can read the full breakdown here.
Amazon has just announced that it is holding a press event in Seattle on June 18th. The company says that it will unveil a new device at the event. Amazon is also letting anyone request an invite to it by simply filling out a form on its website.
The company also posted a video showing reactions to the new device by customers. One person remarked that “it moved with” them and another claimed that they’ve “never seen anything like” it before. All the customers are essentially moving their heads around with the device. It is widely expected to be a 3d-capable smartphone, which the company has allegedly been working on for quite a while.
Motorola this afternoon updated its Assist app on Android to version 2.2.35 with a handful of changes. Motorola Assist already offers a variety of features that improve handsfree capabilities of the Moto X (and other devices), and this update adds another very useful one.