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Stephen Hall

stephenjhall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. You can find his current work at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google 9to5Toys, Electrek, and more. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: $100 Google Play w/ VZW HTC One M9, Moto 360 $150, Bluetooth selfie stick $14, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jul 1 2015 - 12:25 pm PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

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Verizon HTC One M9 buyers can get $100 in Google Play credit for a limited time

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Motorola’s Moto 360 Android Wear smartwatch now starts at $150

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Review: At $14, MPOW’s pocketable iStick is the best Bluetooth selfie stick you can buy today

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OnePlus giving away Cardboard headsets to 1,000 lucky individuals

 

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Beats Powerbeats2 Wireless Headphones (multiple colors): $140 shipped (Reg. $200)

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Daily Deals: Anker Car Jump Starter & USB Power Bank $60, Samsung 5TB USB 3.0 Desktop HDD $120, more

 

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Review: Logitech’s Anywhere 2 Bluetooth mouse shines w/ adaptive scrolling

 

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Add creative decorations to your 4th of July picnic and save money w/ these easy do-it-yourself projects

The best lawn games to make your 4th of July cookout a success

Look like a real American hero at your 4th of July BBQ with this over-the-top USA garb

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Giveaway: Owen & Fred’s Desk Essentials collection ups your work game while looking good, $250+ value

More new gear from today:

 

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Samsung’s new Level U Bluetooth 4.1 in-ear headphones offer athletes another option for workouts

More deals still alive:

 

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JayBird BlueBuds X Sport Bluetooth Headphones for $110 shipped (Reg. $170)

New products & more:

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Enthusiasts create incredibly detailed 14-foot Starcraft II map out of LEGO

Motorola’s Moto 360 Android Wear smartwatch now starts at $150

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jul 1 2015 - 11:38 am PT
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If you’ve been waiting to buy a Moto 360, now might just be the worst time to do so. As can be seen on both Motorola and Google’s websites, the smartwatch is now starting at $100 less than it was yesterday—as low as $150. You can buy the low-end model directly from the Google Store, or you can head over and make one that’s souped up at the Moto Maker for an additional cost.

We’ve been saying this for a month now, but it seems like the 2nd generation Moto 360 must be imminent. The device has been seeing scattered price drops across all major outlets for quite some time now, and this is the first time that the device has actually seen an official price drop. Amazingly, this puts the device at $200 less than the current “flagship” Android Wear device, the LG Watch Urbane.

PSA: Skrillex Live Cases no longer available, giveaway and next collaboration incoming

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jul 1 2015 - 11:02 am PT
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Google announced back in May that it was introducing some new limited edition cases for a variety of popular Android devices, starting with a partnership with electronic music artist Skrillex. The cases sported unique modern designs, custom wallpapers to match, and even had a special button on the reverse side that could be programmed to launch basically any app or action on your Android phone.

If all of this sounds interesting to you, well, that’s too bad. They’ve been removed from sale on the Google Store as of today.

Notably, Google mentioned in its original post that it would be giving away the satellite—named Nanou—it used to create the Earth images used for the cases.

To capture the Earth images, Google and Skrillex launched a custom-designed balloon satellite named after Skrillex’s dog, Nanou. Once Nanou’s photographic mission is complete, a lucky fan will win the autographed satellite in an upcoming giveaway.

We’ll keep you updated and let you know when that giveaway is announced. Also coming up, we can assume that Google is introducing another round of custom cases to be sold exclusively on the Google Store. When these Skrillex cases were announced, Google said that it was just starting the Editions series of cases with Skrillex. Who knows what’s up next. “Stay tuned for the next collaboration. We can’t wait to tell you all about it,” the company said.

Some users reporting an invisible limit while uploading to ‘unlimited’ Google Photos

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jul 1 2015 - 9:58 am PT
6 Comments

Photos - Google Photos 2015-05-29 16-39-00

Update: Google says that the issue has now been fixed and limits have been reapplied.

The new Google Photos service saw its launch last month at Google I/O 2015, and its announcement came with much fanfare thanks to its “unlimited” storage option—which lets you store as many photos and videos as you want for free as long as you’re willing to sacrifice some amount of quality. Now, it looks like some users who have tried to take advantage of this offer are actually hitting an invisible limit…
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Knowledge Graph cards in search are no longer showing Google+ posts

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 30 2015 - 9:18 pm PT
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Despite things “going really well,” it looks like Google is backtracking on a decision it made long ago to include Google+ profile links in Knowledgr Graph cards for popular brands. A Google spokesperson talking to Search Engine Land has confirmed the change, saying that it’s intended to bring “more consistency.”

As you can see below, the section was labeled as “Recent posts on Google+”:


Notably, this minor change isn’t going to affect Google+ results showing up in regular searches. And while you won’t find a featured link to the Google+ profile of a company you search for, Google has been putting social links to most popular networks, including Twitter, Facebook, and others, in its Knowledge Graph cards since January. 

The change started rolling out at some point last week.

New ‘Gello’ browser built on Chromium coming from the CyanogenMod team

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 30 2015 - 8:47 pm PT
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Update: Check out a new video showing off Gello below.

There’s not much to know about this yet, but CyanogenMod staff member Joey Rizzoli has come out on Google+ today to announce a new browser project the team has been working on. It’s called “Gello,” and while we don’t know many real details at this point, it seems apparent that it’s built at least in some capacity on Google’s open source Chromium project (which the Mountain View company’s flagship Chrome browser is based on as well).
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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Acer 11-inch Chromebook $110, GoPro HERO3+ Black $262, RAVPower battery $6, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 30 2015 - 12:44 pm PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:acer-chromebook-deal

Acer 11-inch Chromebook (refurb): $110 shipped (Orig. $200)

 

gopro-hero3-plus-black

GoPro HERO3+ Black 4K Action Camera (refurb) $262 shipped (Reg. $280), 33-piece accessory kit $15

 

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RAVPower Portable 3,000mAh Battery: $6 Prime shipped, Lightning cables under $6

ladder-ball-game1

The best lawn games to make your 4th of July cookout a success

Look like a real American hero at your 4th of July BBQ with this over-the-top USA garb

owen-fred-leather-pad

Giveaway: Owen & Fred’s Desk Essentials collection ups your work game while looking good, $250+ value

More new gear from today:

xyzprinting-da-vinci-1-0-3d-printer-sale-011

Daily Deals: XYZprinting Da Vinci 1.0 3D Printer $350, HP x3000 Wireless Optical Mouse $8, more

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Home recording bundle: ATH-M50x over-ears, Focusrite Scarlett interface and mic kit $269 shipped ($410+ value)

More deals still alive:

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JayBird BlueBuds X Sport Bluetooth Headphones for $110 shipped (Reg. $170)

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RAVPower FileHub Travel Router w/ 6000mAh Power bank $35 Prime shipped (Reg. $60)

New products & more:

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Bricasso scans any image and then 3D prints it using LEGO bricks as ink

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Five bizarre kitchen gadgets you need to add to your cooking arsenal

You can now publish Google Sheets documents to the web in 5 new formats

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 30 2015 - 11:32 am PT
2 Comments

More Publishing Formats

After making a spreadsheet in Google Sheets, you can make your content publicly visible through the app’s “Publish to the web” tool. As Google announced on the Google Apps updates blog today, this feature now supports publishing to five new formats. On top of being able to choose Web page, you can now publish in Comma-separated values (.csv), Tab-separate values (.tsv), PDF document (.pdf), Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), and OpenDocument spreadsheet (.ods).

Today’s launch allows people to publish spreadsheets in five additional formats—as comma-separated values (.csv), tab-separated values (.tsv), a PDF document (.pdf), a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet (.xlsx), or an OpenDocument spreadsheet (.ods). The URL generated, when opened in a browser, will automatically download the spreadsheet in the chosen format (spreadsheets in these additional formats cannot be embedded).

To see the new options, head over to a Google Sheets document and click “File,” and then “Publish to the web…” The feature should be available over at the Google Sheets website right now.

Pushbullet for Android gets updated with rethought interface, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 30 2015 - 10:09 am PT
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Pushbullet has redesigned their app a bunch of times since the service launched, and now they’re pushing yet another big update. With the latest version of Pushbullet, things have been reorganized to be split between three distinctive categories: friends, me, and following….

We’ve completely reorganized our app, putting things where you expect them to be. Instead of a big chaotic list of messages, they’re now categorized based on where they came from. The most important category is Me, which are things you’ve shared between your own devices.

The company has also completely re-thought how messaging with friends works. Instead of a confusing list of all the pushes you’ve received, messaging friends looks a lot more like… well, messaging. You can tap any friend, see your messaging history with them, and quickly send a message or file.

This move toward the Pushbullet app being more similar to any other messaging client is odd to me, as it makes the app seem parallel with other —more popular — offerings such as Facebook Messages and Hangouts. But Pushbullet makes sure to note the difference here: “They’ll receive your message on whatever device they happen to be using, whether phone, tablet, or computer.”

The company’s Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Opera extensions have also been updated, along with the Pushbullet desktop client for Windows and the company’s web interface. The Windows app in particular has some nice features, including real Facebook-inspired chat-heads for messaging.

Head over to the Play Store to grab the Android client update for free.

AT&T’s HTC Desire Eye getting Android 5.0 Lollipop OTA starting today

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 30 2015 - 7:36 am PT
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HTC-Desire-EYE-0.jpg (500×650) 2015-06-30 09-24-19

Owners of the super-selfie-shooting HTC Desire Eye on AT&T are about to throw a party. HTC’s Mo Versi has announced on Twitter today that the phone received technical approval yesterday and that the rollout of its OTA to Android 5.0 is to start rolling out today.

I actually own an HTC Desire Eye, and I have yet to see the update hit my device. It’s rolling out in stages over the next couple of days, though, so it probably won’t be long. In other Lollipop news today, Sprint’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge seem to be getting Android 5.1.

Samsung’s unreleased Galaxy A8 smartphone leaks in new hands-on footage (Video)

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 30 2015 - 7:12 am PT
2 Comments
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Samsung Galaxy A8 Hands On Video - YouTube 2015-06-30 08-57-41

Samsung has yet to officially announce the much-rumored Galaxy A8, but now we know basically anything we might need to know about it (via Nowhereelse). The phone, which is apparently the thinnest that Samsung has ever made, can be seen from every angle in a recently-leaked hands-on video that managed to slip of the hands of Chinese telecom regulator TENAA…
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Newly leaked renders almost certainly show the 2015 Moto G in the flesh

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 29 2015 - 2:10 pm PT
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The Moto G is set to get a refresh sometime over the next couple of months, likely alongside the company’s flagship Moto X. We first saw some leaked shots of this Moto G (2015) a couple of weeks ago, but that was a sketchy (and blurry) barely-lit picture taken with a potato. Now, we have our first look (via TechnoBuffalo) at what look to be PR renders of the refreshed budget handset…


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Toshiba 13-inch Chromebook $250, Gear Fit $70, Samsung 128GB microSD $73, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 29 2015 - 12:36 pm PT
0 Comments

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

toshiba-chromebook-cb35-b33401

Toshiba 13.3-inch Chromebook 2 Intel 16GB SSD: $250 shipped (Reg. $300)

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Samsung refurbished Gear Fit Fitness watch: $70 shipped (Reg. $150)

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Samsung 128GB MicroSDXC EVO+ Flash Card: $73 shipped (Orig. $130)

m-audio-studiophile-av-40-active-studio-monitor-speakers-sale-01

M-Audio Studiophile 4-inch Powered Monitor Speakers $80 shipped (Reg. $149)

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Quick Review: Eton Scorpion II is a rugged solar electronic survival kit for $50

 

More new gear from today:

 

sony-dsc-rx100m-ii-cyber-shot-digital-still-camera-20-2mp

Daily Deals: Sony Cyber-shot 20MP Camera $600 w/ Free $50 Gift Card, iPhone 6 sweat-proof armband $7, more

More deals still alive:

assasins-creed-xbox-one

Free Xbox Gold Games for July: Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, more

New products & more:

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Molson and Google team up on voice activated fridge that dispenses free beer

amazon-treasure-truck

Amazon’s Treasure Truck brings daily deals to the streets

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New build of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop shows up for the 2013 Nexus 7 (WiFi)

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 29 2015 - 11:43 am PT
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ASUS Google Nexus 7 16GB 7%22 Android Tablet (2013 Version) | Groupon 2015-03-16 12-44-01

We aren’t sure at the moment what — if anything — is tangibly new in this firmware, but a new build of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, LMY48G, has just showed up for the 2013 Nexus 7 (WiFi). We’ve seen hundreds of scattered reports that OTA Lollipop updates are effectively bricking 2013 Nexus 7 devices, so maybe this new build is some kind of remedy for that situation.
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OnePlus confirms that the OnePlus 2 will indeed sport a fingerprint sensor

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 29 2015 - 10:17 am PT
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OnePlus, in its parade of announcing each and every specification of the upcoming OnePlus 2 flagship in separate posts, has announced today that the phone will sport a fingerprint sensor. It was a much-rumored feature of the device (and will probably be coming to the upcoming line of Nexus devices as well, thanks to official support in Android M), and now it’s confirmed.
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LG Chem built a hexagonal smartwatch battery that boosts capacity by 25%

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 29 2015 - 9:05 am PT
2 Comments

20150629_Battery_LGChem

According to a report from Korea Times, LG Chem, the largest chemical company in South Korea, has begun shipping a new hexagonal battery to top-tier smartwatch makers. The new battery, which sports a design that allows it to cover more surface area — specifically within circular smartwatches — reportedly improves battery capacity as much as 25% compared to traditional rectangular batteries…
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Four years on, Chief Architect of Google+ says ‘this is going really well’

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 29 2015 - 7:24 am PT
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Google Plus

Most pretty much universally agree at this point that Google+ didn’t work out the way the Mountain View company hoped it might. I would definitely agree with this narrative to some extent, but I — unlike most — wouldn’t go as far as to say that Google+ is dead. While it definitely doesn’t have the mainstream appeal of Twitter or Facebook by any stretch of the imagination, Google+ most often appeals to a very specific breed: those who are devout users of Google’s products…
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Purported OnePlus 2 w/ metal build leaks, looks like rumored 3rd gen. Motorola phones

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 29 2015 - 6:20 am PT
2 Comments
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The OnePlus 2 isn’t scheduled to be unveiled for about a month, but PhoneArena has apparently come into some nice new shots of both the back and front of the device. They’re a little bit blurry — what leak isn’t? — but they do give us a relatively clear look at the overall build of the phone and an early peek at its software as well…
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Evidence of offline ‘OK, Google,’ other features found in Google app version 4.8

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 29 2015 - 5:52 am PT
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Ok-Google-Voice-Search

The Google app — previously known as “Search” — was updated to version 4.8 last week, and now a new teardown has revealed some interesting new details about some features that might be coming in future versions. Most notably, it looks like offline support for “OK, Google” is likely to be on the way, letting you give your device some voice commands without having a connection to the Internet…
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Self-driving car project head Chris Urmson on how the cars see the world (Video)

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 28 2015 - 4:07 pm PT
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Chris Urmson: How a driverless car sees the road - YouTube 2015-06-28 17-56-03

Chris Urmson is head of the self-driving car project at Google, and as you may know, the Mountain View company just announced that the latest prototype of its car — the one that’s super adorable — is now on the roads of Mountain View. But one thing that many just can’t wrap their head around is how these cars can manage to navigate the roads themselves, without any human assistance. Urmson does a great job of explaining that in this TED Talk video…
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Google Apps admins can now see download events in Google Drive audit logs

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 26 2015 - 2:07 pm PT
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Google lets the administrators of Google Apps accounts view an auit log of all the activity happening in their company’s Google Drive account. Before today, you could see in these logs all of the events when someone would view, create, update, delete, or share Drive content. Starting today, Google says that admins can now see download events in these logs as well.

To help analyze and monitor the use of Google Drive content in their organizations, Drive for Work and Google Apps for Education admins are able to access audit logs in the ‘Audit’ section of the Admin console Reports area and via the Reports API. The current Drive audit logs include events such as create, view, and delete, among others. With today’s launch, we’re adding download event support to the Drive audit logs.

Google says that these new “download events” will include user file downloads for both Google and non-Google file formats. As if the case with other types of audit events, admins will be able to filer by document name, user name and timestamp. Finally the company says that they’ll add more sources in the future including “Sync Client downloads and exports of documents through the Google Docs editors.”

Google ending support for Android Developer Tools in Eclipse later this year

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 26 2015 - 1:45 pm PT
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Android Studio was first announced at Google I/O 2013, and now Google is making one of the last pushes to get developers to move over to the new development environment. According to a post on the Google Developers blog, the company is planning to retire support for Android Developer Tools in Eclipse later this year:

To that end and to focus all of our efforts on making Android Studio better and faster, we are ending development and official support for the Android Developer Tools (ADT) in Eclipse at the end of the year. This specifically includes the Eclipse ADT plugin and Android Ant build system.

Google then goes on to detail how to migrate over to Android Studio if you haven’t yet. Obviously, the first step is to download Android Studio. After this, most developers will be able to easily migrate by importing existing Eclipse ADT projects into Android Studio via the Import Project window (as shown above).