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New Android distribution numbers show Lollipop gaining more ground than Marshmallow

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Google has released the latest distribution numbers for the various shipping versions of Android, with the latest version, Marshmallow, picking up a marginal increase.

Last month’s numbers showed Android 6.0 running on only 0.3% of devices, while this month’s chart puts it at 0.5%, making it the least-used version of Android except for Froyo.


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Facebook removes Slingshot, Rooms, and Riff apps from Play Store, closes Creative Labs

via Dribbble

via <a href="https://dribbble.com/shots/1617252-Facebook-Android-L-Experiment" target="_blank">Dribbble</a>

Shortly after Dropbox announced it had shut down its popular Mailbox and Carousel apps, Facebook has made a similar move by removing a handful of its apps from the Google Play Store and shutting down the division that created them.

Facebook’s Creative Labs project was intended to promote the creation of apps like Snapchat competitor Slingshot, and has launched several apps with some success. However, the social site has apparently decided that the time has come to shutter that initiative and the apps it has produced.


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Dropbox shutting down popular Mailbox email client and Carousel photo app

Mailbox done

In a new blog post today, Dropbox has announced the shuttering of the Mailbox app it acquired in 2013, along with the Carousel photos app that launched last year. The beta build of Mailbox for Mac has not seen an update in quite some time, while the iOS version had been left to stagnate, leading many to believe this was the case already, but today’s announcement finally confirms it.

Dropbox says that the reason for the shutdowns was that company had “increased our team’s focus on collaboration and simplifying the way people work together.”


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AT&T to increase price of grandfathered unlimited plans in February (Updated)

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AT&T subscribers who previously had unlimited data plans back in the iPhone 3G era and have managed to hang onto that plan are in for their first price increase in seven years, a source with knowledge of the matter has informed 9to5Google.

Update: AT&T has now publicly announced the change. Additional information has been added below.


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T-Mobile launches ‘full month of holiday gift-giving’ with 3 months of unlimited LTE for all subscribers

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T-Mobile has announced its latest “un-carrier” initiative, dubbed “Un-carrier Unwrapped.” Rather than a permanent addition to the company’s offerings, Un-carrier Unwrapped is a month-long event during which the carrier will gift its subscribers and new customers with special deals and benefits.

The first of those was announced today: unlimited LTE data for all subscribers on Simple Choice post-paid plans for the next three months.


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Sprint announces new agreement to let subscribers roam in Cuba

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Sprint today announced a new agreement with the Telecommunications Company of Cuba that will allow the fourth-largest US carrier’s subscribers to roam in Cuba. The move comes on the heels of changes to US-Cuban relations recently implemented by the US government.

The Sprint press release (below) mentions two of the company’s global roaming initiatives, but doesn’t specify whether Cuba will join the existing programs or will be part of a different offer.

The company says the exact details and the timing of the launch will be announced at a later date.

Sprint First U.S. Carrier to Sign Direct Cuba Roaming Agreement

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Nov. 2, 2015 – Sprint (NYSE: S) today became the first U.S. wireless carrier to sign a direct roaming agreement with Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA).

“As the commercial relationship between the U.S. and Cuba continues to progress, it is expected that the number of travelers to Cuba will increase exponentially,” said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. “We want to make sure any Sprint customer traveling to Cuba can use their phone the same way as they do in the United States.”

Claure made the announcement at a signing ceremony in Havana as part of the U.S.-Cuba Business Council (USCBC) delegation to Cuba.

As the only U.S. carrier with a direct roaming agreement and a direct long-distance interconnection agreement with Cuban provider ETECSA, Sprint is leading the way for U.S.-Cuba telecommunications.

More than 3 million people from around the world are expected to visit Cuba this year. Within 10 years, that number is projected to grow to more than 5 million.

The USCBC, an advocacy organization housed at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a formal commitment by the American business community to build a strong and strategic commercial relationship between Cuba and the United States.

Earlier this year, Sprint launched Sprint Global Roaming and in August launched Sprint Open World, an industry-leading plan for connectivity in Canada, Mexico and most other countries across Latin America. The agreement signed today with ETECSA makes it much more convenient for Sprint customers who plan to work, study or visit family in Cuba. Offer details and timing of availability will be announced soon.

New screenshots purportedly show Apple Music for Android ahead of release

Screen Shot 2015-10-23 at 2.03.38 PM

New screenshots of what is reportedly the beta version of Apple Music for Android have been published, providing what may be a first look at Apple’s first second foray into app development on Google’s competing mobile platform.

The screenshots, included below, show most of the features users would expect, such as Beats 1 availability and the “For Me” recommendations page. Apple Music Connect, the social network for musicians built into the service, is also included.


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Google wins appeal in book-scanning copyright lawsuit

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Google has won an appeal in what is now a decade-long legal dispute over whether the company violated copyright law when it scanned millions of books into its online database.

The original lawsuit was brought against Google by the Authors Guild in 2005 and claimed that Google had violated copyright law by allowing readers to view up to 20 pages of copyrighted books without purchasing them.


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Samsung announces two new colors for Galaxy Note 5, including ‘pink gold’

pink gold titanium note 5

Samsung has announced two new colors for the Galaxy Note 5, both of which will be available only in Korea for the time being. Along with a titanium-hued finish, customers will be able to get the Note 5 in a “pink gold” shade reminiscent of Apple’s ‘rose gold’ iPhone 6s, which will go on sale in Korea later this month.


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Amazon to block sales of Chromecast due to lack of Prime Video support

A woman receives a package from Amazon that presumably does not contain an Apple TV

A woman receives a package from Amazon that presumably does not contain a Chromecast

If you’re looking to buy an Chromecast online, you may need to look somewhere other than Amazon in the very near future. A new report from Bloomberg claims that an internal email at indicates the retailer will block sales of Google’s streaming device because it doesn’t support Amazon Prime Video.


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Android Pay gains promised Citibank support

android pay banner

Google has updated the Android Pay website to indicate to support for Citi cards has finally arrived, leaving Capital One as the last card issuer still on the “coming soon” list. Users should be able to add their Citibank-issued cards to their phones and use them for payments immediately.

This brings the list of supported banks and card issuers to 12, including MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Discover. The number of stores accepting Android Pay numbers in the thousands.

Google announces major restructuring with new parent company ‘Alphabet’, Sundar Pichai named CEO of Google subsidiary

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Google has announced a major restructuring of the entire organization, starting with the creation of an all-new company called Alphabet, Inc., which will now serve as the parent company of Google and all of its previous projects.

The Google brand will be “slimmed down” and focus on web products like Search and Gmail, with SVP of Android/Chrome/Google Apps Sundar Pichai serving as CEO. Other endeavours like health research, will belong to other companies that will be broken out of Google.


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YouTube ditches “301+” video view counter, introduces new method for keeping views up-to-date

YouTube announced a new plan today to finally get rid of the well-known “301+” issue that affected popular videos on the site.

As has been explained by the company in the past, the process of verifying the legitimacy of views on popular videos often meant that when a video hit 300 views, the counter would freeze at “301+” while the rest of the views were verified.


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Samsung reportedly in talks with cell providers to launch new ‘e-SIM’ cards

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With the launch of the latest iPad model, Apple debuted its own SIM card that allows users to choose between three different cell carriers and change service on-the-fly. Rumors that such a card could be included in the next iPhone appeared almost immediately, and now a new report confirms that Samsung and Apple are in talks with cellular carriers and other handset makers to bring this type of system to all cell phones.


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