Although summer is in full swing, the folks at T-Mobile are getting ready for back-to-school season and to make things easier on starving students, the carrier is adding accessories priced from $69 – $250 to its Equipment Installment Program (EIP). This new setup lets T-Mobile customers purchase items like smartwatches and audio gear with a 24 month payment plan for no money down.
A controversial European court ruling recently determined that people had the “right to be forgotten” and ordered search engines like Google to purge unflattering web links from their search history, but does the internet really have a delete button? A new website called “Hidden From Google” has been banking links removed since the European Union Court of Justice’s ruling.
AT&T has announced its release plans for the HTC Desire 610, a $200 off-contract smartphone that plays nice with Ma Bell’s LTE network. Available to order on July 25th through the carrier’s online and retail outlets, this budget-friendly handset will also be sold via AT&T Next 18 for $8.35 per month and $10 a month by way of AT&T 12.
Google officially introduced Ireland to Play Movies less than two weeks ago and today the company is releasing its Chromecast media streaming dongle to the land of saints and scholars. In addition to Mountain View’s in-house movie service, Irish Chromecast owners will have access to YouTube, Netflix and several other cast-friendly applications.
Football season is only a few weeks away and while you’re busy making preparations for your office’s annual draft, ESPN has updated its Fantasy Football app. In addition to a refined UI, the revitalized software lets users create a team or league directly from within the app, tracking trades, injuries, scores and more.
If you had your heart set on picking up a Google Play edition of Sony’s Xperia Z Ultra, only to see it removed from the Play Store, then turn that frown upside down! Online retailer EXPANSYS is currently running a promotion that drastically drops the price of four US Google Play edition devices. For example, the Samsung GS4 GPE goes for $650 from Google Play, but this deal knocks it down to just $400. Not too shabby.
In an effort to appeal to developers and tinkerers, Sony has made it easier to unlock the bootloaders on its Xperia devices. The company recently updated its bootloader unlocking service with a modernized look and feel that adds support for newer products like the Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z2 Tablet. Designed with a refreshed interface, the updated process is now broken into a few easy steps.
Microsoft is reportedly blocking Google as a search engine option on some of Nokia’s new Lumia handsets. Windows Phone devices ship with Bing as their default search engine without an option to change platforms. Prior to Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s phone making division, the Finnish company provided users with an option to change a Lumia’s search engine via its web browser, but this appears to be gone from some devices.
Boston Dynamics’ LS3 aka Legged Squad Support Systems is starting to earn its stripes. The creepy rough terrain robot recently trotted through its first set of training exercises with the US Marine Corps. These simulated drills took place at a pretend combat zone in Hawaii, where the mechanical gear-hauling quadruped demonstrated its ability to maneuver through hostile land.
HTC’s Chief Marketing Officer Ben Ho and President of Engineering and Operations Fred Liu have resigned from the company, according to Bloomberg. These two departures and a recent move by the Taiwanese smartphone maker’s VP of design describe the type of major personnel changes taking place at HTC. In his short time with the company, Ho oversaw the firm’s “Here’s To Change” marketing campaign, which featured a series of commercials starring Hollywood A-lister, Robert Downey Jr.
Android 4.4.4 has slowly found its way to several off-contract devices and it looks like its time for the latest version of KitKat to make its way to some carrier-connected handsets. If you’re the proud owner of a Verizon Droid Maxx, Ultra or Mini, you’ll want to check your device for an over-the-air update or manually initiate the software push by tapping Settings>About phone>System updates>Download.
Controversial torrent streaming application, Popcorn Time has added Chromecast support for its Android app. This comes just one week after the software’s development team pledged streaming support for Google’s popular media dongle. If you’re not familiar with Popcorn Time, it’s like a black market version of Netflix’s video streaming service that uses peer-to-peer tech to get the job done. People often use the software to watch movies and TV shows that are still in only available in theaters, which of course is rubbing the motion picture industry the wrong way.
A team of eggheads at MIT are working with Boston Dynamics to develop next-generation shapeshifting robots built from simple materials like wax and foam. Not quite like Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat, these pliable contraptions possess the ability to squish into smalls spaces, while maintaining their durability. So don’t worry about these machines stealing your identity just yet. To change shape, these low-cost robots use embedded wiring to heat and contort specific parts of their waxy builds.
After a brief exclusive run on iOS, 120 Sports is now available for Android users. Backed by Time Inc (the owner of Sports Illustrated), the online network features live and on-demand content from a variety of different sports leagues by crunching the action into two minute video clips. The company claims its new app offers over 10 hours of live programming every day, which should make the service appealing to cord cutters who miss regular news breaks from places like ESPN.
Chromebooks are already being marketed as affordable alternatives to traditional laptops, but Google’s browser-based computing platform could soon offer hardware at a sub-$200 price point. Taiwanese SoC maker MediaTek recently added an ARM Cortex A7 board codenamed “Moose” to the open source Chromium OS base. This system is based on the company’s low-end MT8127 quad-core processor, which clocks in at 1.5GHz.
NVIDIA is reportedly working on a new Android-based gaming platform capable of running PC-level games, according to BBC News. The unannounced device will be powered by the chip maker’s new Tegra K1 processor and it will be able to stream games to televisions via an HDMI-out port and a “budget-priced” controller accessory. In addition to being able to connect to a TV, NVIDIA’s new rig will support mobile gaming and native Android apps, similar to the company’s existing Shield system.
Those pesky regulatory symbols on the back of your smartphone or tablet may soon be going digital if a new bill being presented to the US Senate gets approved. The E-Label Act is a bipartisan bill that would give electronics manufacturers the option to use digital stamps instead of branding devices with government-mandated tattoos.
Microsoft’s list of Android apps has just grown by one. The company’s research team recently released Climatology, a climate tracking application that provides weather information from all over the world. Driven by tech developed by Microsoft’s environmental scientists, the company says it’s releasing Climatology to help make research information available to a broader audience.
Just when you started getting used to KitKat, Google changed things up and announced Android L. Mountain View’s latest mobile operating system won’t officially be available to the masses until the fall, however there’s a way to check out L before its big debut and we’re going to show you the easiest ways to do it.
America’s four major wireless carriers are all accepting pre-orders for LG’s G3, however some lucky T-Mobile customers are reportedly receiving their new smartphone early. The magenta-hued network is scheduled to start selling the device to the public on July 16th, so receiving the device almost a week early is pretty sweet.
Motorola Mobility’s ownership may be stuck in regulatory limbo, but the soon to be Lenovo-owned company definitely has some handsets in its pipeline. This time around we’re looking at an unidentified Motorola device that appears to running Android L. Allegedly running on Verizon’s network, the still shots of this smartphone reveal that it’s larger than a Nexus 5, which packs a 4.95-inch display.
Today, Samsung announced its newest processors, the Exynos ModAP. This new chip fuses an LTE-A modem with a quad-core processor, built on a 28nm process. Designed with efficiency in mind, Samsung’s new chip also maintains a cool temperature, which is why the company used a frosty image in yesterday’s teaser.
When MythBusters co-host Adam Savage isn’t trying to debunk urban legends, he’s most likely working on projects at his workshop in San Francisco, which the TV personality refers to as “the cave.” Aside from its raw industrial motif, Savage’s setup is loaded with a vast collection of costumes and gadgets that rival a big budget movie studio. Although his shop isn’t exactly open for public tours, Google’s Business View is offering the next best thing.
We already knew that the LG G3 was on its way to Verizon and today the carrier has made it official. Big Red is now accepting pre-orders for LG’s flagship smartphone and will begin selling the device at its retail locations on July 17th for $100 on a two year contract. In addition to orders for the G3, Verizon is now offering the LG G Watch online for $230 and will be bringing the high-tech timepiece to its brick and mortar locations on July 17th as well.