Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac. He covers Google for 9to5Google.com, the best gadgets and deals on 9to5Toys.com, and delivers a weekly roundup of EV and solar news on Electrek.co. Sometimes he makes weird electronic music as one half of Makamachine.
Contact Jordan with news tips and long-winded complaints:
Alongside all of the Google I/O announcements today, Google announced a new resource for app developers in the form of the new ‘Playbook by Google Play’ app available in beta now.
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Google shared some updates on company stats today while kicking off its Google I/O developer conference including updates on Chromecast, active users, new Android phones, Google Play installs and more.
In addition to showing off its new chatbot-style Google Assistant, Amazon Echo-like Google Home device, new Allo and Duo messaging apps, and Daydream VR platform, the company also announced 25 million Chromecasts sold, 200 million Google Photos users, 600 new Android phones launched over the last year, and 65B Google Play installs.
Head below for the roundup of all the numbers Google announced during I/O today and check back for more as the event unfolds.
Belkin’s “Wemo” lineup of app-controlled smart home accessories is getting support for the Works with Nest program, which means you can now interface the smart thermostat with Belkin’s Wemo products in various ways.
T-Mobile today announced new services being added to its Binge On program, which allows its wireless subscribers to stream video content from certain apps without dipping into their mobile data caps.
In this week’s top stories: Google’s upcoming standalone Android VR headset, OnePlus 3 leaks, Galaxy Note 6 gets a release date, and we take a look at official accessories for the Galaxy S7 Edge, new apps, & much more. Head below for the usual roundup of links to all this week’s most shared stories and video.
Google is planning on tapping into its Project Tango technology to offer superior interior 3D mapping of buildings and a new revenue stream through virtual reality apps using the platform, Bloomberg reports.
Amazon today announced Amazon Video Direct, a new service that will see it go head to head with YouTube as it allows independent content creators to upload content and get paid.
The service is similar to Amazon’s model with Kindle Direct Publishing for e-books, allowing independent content creators to upload their own content for consumption by users alongside Amazon’s other video content.
And creators will get to choose how they are paid, either from advertising and royalties based on the popularity of the content, or by making videos available to buy or rent through Amazon. Creators will also have the option of making the content available to all Amazon customers under the ad-supported model, or to collect royalties by making it available just to Prime subscribers or in a Prime video add-on subscription.
Amazon also has a fund for creators that will see it hand out a million dollars per month to the 100 top titles, a little bit of incentive for content creators:
In this week’s top stories: The best Android phones you can buy (May 2016 edition), we go hands-on with CyanogenMod on the Honor 5X, the latest Android phone leaks, and we show you how to enable YouTube’s new Material reDesign on the web.
Head below for all of the handy links to this week’s most shared stories and videos.
Bloomberg reports that YouTube is preparing to launch a new subscription video service called “Unplugged” that will see it stream bundled cable TV channel packages to users online. That compares to the company’s current subscription offerings that simply offer enhanced features like ad-free and offline playback for its regular video service.
The report claims YouTube is in talks with most major media companies that would be necessary to build such a service, some of which include Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, Viacom Inc., Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. and CBS Corp. And while it’s yet to secure rights with any, according to the report, it’s already started building out the tech necessary for the service ahead of a launch planned for as early as next year:
A new open source project called PieMessage enables cross-platform iMessage support, allowing Android users to communicate using Apple’s iPhone messaging platform.
In the video below, we get a short look at the PieMessage app in action with a still unreleased prototype version of the app.
In this week’s top Google stories: new Android device news surrounding the Galaxy Note 6, the death of the Nexus 9, Huawei’s upcoming P9 flagship, and more. And we went hands-on with LeEco’s new Snapdragon 820-powered Le Max2 w/ 6GB of RAM, the BlackBerry PRIV running Android Marshmallow, and the Oppo F1 Plus in this week’s top videos.
In addition, HP and Google launched the impressive new Chromebook 13, and a handful of notable Google and Android app updates arrived as well as news of a completely overhauled design for Instagram in testing.
Head below for all of the quick links to this weeks top stories, videos and more.
Samsung is starting its Developer Conference 2016 with live streams of the keynote addresses including the opening keynote scheduled to kick things off today at 9:30am PST/12:30pm EST.
Nokia announced today plans to purchase Withings, maker of many popular healthcare related accessories and companion apps for Android smartphones and other mobile devices.
The company said the 170 million Euro purchase would see Withings become part of its Nokia Technologies business and help jump-start its new efforts at Digital Health products.
Google is rolling out an update to the Android Gmail app that brings full support for Microsoft Exchange accounts on any device.
Full support for Exchange and the dual delivery feature allowing use of both Google Apps and Exchange simultaneously within the app was previously limited to certain Nexus Android devices. Users had previously found a workaround by installing the APK for the Gmail version with Exchange support on non-supported devices, but Google’s update will bring support for the feature to all Android users via the official Gmail app on Google Play.
Google said the feature is rolling out to all users now but that it could take a few days
Look out for the updated Gmail for Android app on Google Play.
In this week’s top stories, new Android phone leaks, Alphabet announces its Q1 2016 earnings, we go hands-on with the Oppo F1 Plus, LG G5 and much more. Head below for the quick links to all of this week’s top shared posts:
Google’s Sundar Pichai has made TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People List this year after taking over as CEO of Google last summer following a long run heading Android, Chrome and other notable projects at the company.
GoPro is today launching a new GoPro VR mobile app where anyone will be able to view 360-degree and virtual reality content uploaded using its new Omni and Odyssey camera rigs also announced today.
The new Ghostbusters movie reboot is set for release in theatres this July, and alongside the film Activision and Sony announced today they will release Ghostbusters: Slime City for mobile devices, including Android. The companies just sent over a first look at the game including a trailer with brief gameplay shots and some screenshots below.
The storyline in the game will take place after the events that unfold in the new movie, and the characters will not be clones of the film’s cast but rather a new selection of heroes. The new Ghostbusters movie is a reboot of the original film and features an all female cast in the main roles, including: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones.
The rundown on gameplay in Ghostbusters: Slime City from the press release:
Minecraft developers Mojang today announced a new online gameplay feature coming soon to the Minecraft: Pocket Edition mobile apps called “Minecraft Realms.”
Yahoo Mail is getting a notable update today for Android (and other mobile app users) that allows access to files stored in Google Drive, Dropbox, and GIFs on Tumblr. You can use the new feature to quickly attach a photo or other file from any of the supported services to emails.
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Following a number of recent controversies surrounding smart-home accessory maker Nest, Recode reports that CEO Tony Fadell defended the company while addressing the reports at a recent Google meeting.
First acquired by Google, Nest is now under Alphabet, the same parent company as Google following a restructuring last year.
At the weekly Google meeting, Fadell reportedly addressed recent reports of troubles on the Nest team that followed comments from Dropcam’s former CEO Greg Duffy regarding Fadell’s brash management style. Those comments led to a public response from Fadell and a number of mainstream media outlets picking up the story, while a report last week from Recode added that the company was under-performing financially and that its future at Google could be in jeopardy.
Here’s an excerpt from Fadell’s talk with Googlers addressing the reports:
The major US record labels are still unhappy with the current state of their deals for YouTube royalties, leading the industry’s trade group to file a complaint as contracts with the streaming service are set to expire this year. Recode spoke with head of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Cary Sherman who represents the labels and explained why the music industry thinks the deals and negotiations with YouTube are unfair and hurting the industry and artists.
BlueStacks, the app that lets users play Android games on their PC, is today announcing integration with Twitch that it says will make it easier than ever before to live stream Android games.
Huawei has officially announced its next flagship smartphones today at a press event in London as expected. We were on hand to get a first look at the device, which boasts some pretty impressive specs and new custom Leica-designed camera system. Here’s the rundown…
