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Stephen Hall

stephenjhall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. You can find his current work at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google 9to5ToysElectrek, 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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You can now build a custom Moto X in Germany

Motorola introduced the Moto Maker alongside the Moto X, and almost a year later (while rumors of the Moto X+1 continue to swirl vigorously), German citizens can now use the famed custom phone design web interface (via Android Central). To get started, head over to the Motorola Germany website and design your new (old?) smartphone to your heart’s content. You’ll have to purchase the phone from the German retailer Phone House, and once you’ve done that, you’re free to put as much natural material on your phone’s back as you want. Additionally, you can choose black or white for the front panel and pick between 12 accent colors. And, a la Apple’s custom engraved backs, you can slap a short message on the back of the device if you wish.

Tired of waiting? UK residents can get their hands on the LG G Watch shipped today

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Android Wear got its big announcement at Google I/O last week, and the Mountain View company opened up orders for both the LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live on the same day. But unfortunately both US and UK residents have been left anxious with ship dates not coming until later this week. Luckily for those in the UK and wanting to get their hands on the G Watch, there seems to be a way to have the device dispatched a few days early.


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T-Mobile’s LTE footprint passes 230 million points of presence

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T-Mobile held its un-carrier 5.0 (and 6.0) event a couple of weeks ago, and the company’s press release to go along with the event had T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray promising that the company would have an “LTE footprint north of 230 million pops by the end of [the] month.”

It appears that, just in time, the company has hit this goal. And in sarcastic and hilarious fashion, John Legere has taken to Twitter to confirm:

Along with its growing LTE network, the un-carrier 5.0 event brought a slew of other announcements including an iPhone 5s test drive program, free streaming for iTunes Radio and other music services, and the company’s own music streaming service dubbed “unRadio.”

First standalone Android Wear applications hitting the Play Store (Video)

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Android Wear doesn’t just show you notifications. In at least one developer session at I/O, Google made it clear that its new smartwatch platform will actually be capable of running standalone applications, even further extending the possibilities of what the device will be able to do in the near future. But now, some of these apps are already hitting the Play Store.


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Tune in live to Google’s I/O press event live stream starting at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET

Google I/O starts today, and as per usual, the company is kicking things off with a huge 2-hour press event set to start at 9 AM PT. The event is said to be bringing a multitude of new products and service announcements, rumored to include the “L” version of Android, Android Wear smartwatches, a new line of “Android Silver” smartphones, a second-generation Chromebook Pixel, an “Android TV” set-top box, Project Tango tablets, and Google Glass announcements.


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Google Glass app directory hits 64 apps with 11 new additions including Shazam, The Guardian, more (updated)

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Getting your Google Glass app into Google’s official app directory is not an easy task, but Google recently introduced six new applications — and this time, there are some bigger names thrown in the mix. Those added recently include Shazam, Goal.com, musiXmatch, Star Chart, The Guardian, and Zombies, Run! and you can get them now on your Glass device.


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T-Mobile wideband LTE now in 16 US markets; VoLTE now covers 100 million people

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Amidst a plethora of swearing and shaming of its competing cellular carriers, T-Mobile CEO John Legere took the stage tonight at the company’s un-carrier 5.0 event to announce that its wideband LTE is now available in 16 markets across the United States. Additionally, Legere announced that its voice over LTE service now covers 100 million people.

As noted in the press release for tonight’s announcements, T-Mobile now offers LTE (in at least 15+15MHz), in the following 16 markets:

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Birmingham, AL
  • Columbus, OH
  • Dallas, TX
  • Detroit, MI
  • Honolulu, HIHouston, TX
  • Jacksonville, FL
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Mobile, ALOrlando, FL
  • Portland, OR
  • Seattle, WA
  • Tampa, FL
  • Upstate, NY

And, as for VoLTE, the company has announced that service is now supported in the below listed locales. T-Mobile’s VoLTE is also coming to yet another handset starting tomorrow: the Samsung Galaxy S 5.

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Austin, TX
  • Boston, MA
  • Chicago, IL
  • Dallas, TXHouston, TX
  • Long Island, NY
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • New JerseyNew York, NY
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Seattle, WA
  • Washington, D.C.

Amazon’s Android Appstore is headed to BlackBerry 10.3 this Fall

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BlackBerry continues its push to make the platform’s app ecosystem on par with Android and iOS, and a new move announced today will probably be the company’s biggest stride yet. As of the BlackBerry 10.3 update landing this Fall, the apps within the Amazon Appstore will be available to BlackBerry 10 device owners.


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Oyster “Netflix of books” subscription service now available on Android

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Oyster, a startup out of New York which lets you pay a subscription fee for access to books, has released an Android app after having been available on iOS since August of last year. It has appropriately gained a reputation of being the “Netflix of books,” allowing users to pay just $9.95 for unlimited access to over 500,000 ebooks, but also touts human curation as being one its most important features.
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LiveLens social live-streaming platform releases Google Glass app

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LiveLens, a quick-and-easy video live streaming platform, has launched a Google Glass app (via TheNextWeb) alongside its already-available iOS and Android apps, allowing users to stream video straight from their heads via Google’s head-mounted computer. The service sets itself apart by focusing social features, and offers the ability for users to monetize their videos — which is part of where the company hopes to make money.

Google Glass notably doesn’t sport the best battery life right now, making live streaming of any kind mostly impractical. But since Glass itself is made to be an interface that lets you quickly accomplish a task and get back to the real world, quicker and shorter live streams might be the very niche use case for this app. People with huge social media followings are the target user for this app, and those are the same people who likely would have fans willing to tune in (or even pay) to watch a few minutes of exclusive first-person streaming video.

Notably, the live streaming company simply dubbed Livestream also has its own video streaming application for Google Glass, which lets you do many of the same things as this entry from LiveLens.

Google Glass to have an active role in upcoming Hunger Games-inspired fan flick ‘Mockingjay: Burn’

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MOVIES ... +Google Glass *officially* entered Hollywood this weekend, in a… 2014-06-16 13-50-55 2014-06-16 13-51-09

It appears that Google Glass is actually coming to the movies relatively soon, despite news that the device has been banned in one of the country’s well-known movie theater chains. In this case, the Hunger Games craze continues between movie releases with a fan-made film called “Mockingjay: Burn”, but interestingly, it could very well be one of the first Hollywood-produced films to include footage both of and from Google’s head-mounted computer.
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Amazon Appstore selection triples to pass 240,000 over the last year

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Amazon announced today that its standalone Appstore has been growing very quickly, tripling the number of apps that were in the store just 12 months ago. The company also announced that Amazon Coins, which let users save money on apps and games by buying the “currency” in bulk, have been very popular with customers having already spent “hundreds of millions” of them.

And apparently, developers are extremely happy with the store. When surveyed, 65% developers said that total revenue is just as good or better on Kindle Fire compared to other platforms, 74% said that Average Revenue per App/User is as good or better, and 76% said that the Kindle Fire “helps them connect with new market segments.”

“Developers tell us that they experience improved reach, greater monetization, and, oftentimes, higher revenue when they have their apps and games in the Amazon Appstore,” said Mike George, Vice President of Amazon Appstore and Games. “But this is just the beginning—we’re building more services and capabilities for developers and more Android-based APIs based on their feedback. Most Android apps just work on Kindle Fire, and with an Appstore made for Android devices, Amazon’s Appstore can help developers distribute their apps on Android devices all over the world. It’s a great time for developers to bring their apps to the Amazon Appstore.”

Amazon is holding a press event this wednesday, which is all but confirmed to be the company’s first entry into the smartphone market.

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Google Maps passes 1 billion downloads on the Play Store

Play Store Maps

Following the official Gmail app passing the billion download mark last month, Google Maps has now passed that very same milestone (via Android Police). The app, very obviously one of Google’s most-used services, is widely cherished by both iOS and Android users to get them where they need to go (especially when iOS maps doesn’t quite do the trick).

Notably, this billion downloads for the app means that yes, 1 billion separate Play Store accounts have downloaded the app — it’s not counting repeat downloads on one account. What’s even more crazy? The app passed 50 million downloads in 2011 (and was the first to do so). In just 3 short years, Maps took off exponentially to see another 950 million downloads on separate accounts. That number doesn’t even count iOS downloads.

Rumor: The cellular LG G Watch might actually be a real thing, but only in Korea

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Citing “industry sources,” a super sketchy report from Korean publication iNews24 was posted at the end of May claiming that the upcoming LG G Watch could be shipping with a built-in, unremovable SIM Card. Other publications ran with this rumor, saying that it was truly possible despite the obvious skepticism that an Android Wear watch would have cellular capabilities. But we’ve unearthed some more information, potentially bringing a bit of credence to this wild rumor.

After said report started spreading across the Internet, we searched for the truth and uncovered FCC documents providing some evidence that the device will not be shipping with any cellular capabilities — at least not in the US, and not yet. These FCC filings were for a device labeled as ZNF-W100 (which likely just stands for  “watch” 100, with ZNF being the manufacturer’s code: LG).

But what we didn’t consider is that there might be more than one model. The FCC filing in the US shows no evidence of the W100 model touting a cellular radio, but what if there’s another model?

Enter the LG G Watch W105.
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Facebook Messenger for Android updated with 15-second video messaging, bigger likes

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Facebook Messenger for Android has been given an update, bringing the ability to send 15-second video clips through the app, as well as send even bigger thumbs-up graphics for when you just really, really like something that your friend said.

Notably, this update brings the app in line with much of what Snapchat offers. But also, doesn’t this new video feature kind of duplicate the true Snapchat competitor that Facebook is launching soon?

You can grab Facebook Messenger version 6.0 on the Play Store for free.

What’s New

Instant Video Sending: Shoot and play 15-second video messages from the camera right in the app.

Big Likes: Press and hold to send an even bigger thumbs up when you really, really like something.

Google Glass gets slammed by Jason Jones of The Daily Show (Video)

Watch The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Online - Thu, Jun 12, 2014 | Hulu 2014-06-13 09-25-43 2014-06-13 09-26-10

A few months ago, the producer of The Daily Show got in contact with me and asked if I could pull together a few people who would be a good fit for a taping related to Google Glass that the show was going to do in San Francisco. I put him in touch with four Glass Explorers located in the area, and the video you’ll find after the break was the result.
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New Chrome extension PixelBlock lets you stop email trackers in Gmail

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A new extension has landed in the Chrome Web Store called PixelBlock, which lets you block companies and individuals from tracking whether or not you’re opening their email. As you can see above, the extension shows a small red eye when it has detected a tracking attempt.

The creator, Omar Qureshi, had this to say about the plugin:

I made this to protect my email privacy and find out at the same time who’s trying to track me, and what they’re using. Was pretty surprised to see who used email tracking on me while sifting through my emails with PixelBlock on.

It’s not uncommon for companies that send out newsletters and the like to track those who are and aren’t opening them. With this quick extension, available completely free, you’re just one click away from being protected while using the web-based Gmail client.

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Feedly experiencing more downtime following second DDoS attack (update)

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Update: It appears Feedly has resolved the issue.

Yesterday, Feedly experienced some downtime due to criminals executing a DDoS attack on the service. The service slowly crawled back to being almost usable overnight last night, but apparently, the service is experiencing yet another attack this morning.

7:26am PST: We are currently being targeted by a second DDoS attack and are working with our service providers to mitigate the issue.

As with yesterday’s attack, your data is safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will update this blog post as more information is available or the situation changes.

As of right now, the Feedly front page and blog are loading just fine, but clicking the “Login” button is showing a “Sorry! feedly will be back soon.” message. Notably, many people went flocking to Feedly following the shutdown of Google Reader, so it goes without saying that many are without a very critical part of their workflow as we wait for the service to come back online.

Surgery with Google Glass at UCSF bringing HIPAA compliance at a glance

Google Glass surgery

Last week, CrowdOptic, a company that makes video streaming software for wearable devices, announced a partnership with UCSF in hopes of improving patient care and physician training. The first set of tests will involve recording surgeries being performed for offsite broadcast (similar to what we’ve seen before), but CrowdOptic’s software goes one step further by letting physicians in the room share videos streams. Today, the company today told 9to5Google that they’re including a new yet-to-be officially announced feature: a quick way to ensure HIPAA compliance.


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Purported LG G Watch spec sheet leaks, device to have 4GB of flash, 512 MB of RAM, battery to sport 36-hour standby time and two-hour charge

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The LG G Watch — as well as Android Wear as a platform — is nearing launch, and amidst a rumor that the device will be given away at Google’s annual I/O developer conference, a purported image of the full specs and a photo of the devices’ back panel have now leaked.
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