A San Francisco court recently ruled that Google is free to display its search results as it sees fit. Backed by the First Amendment, the tech juggernaut has been battling for this right for several years and a California judge ruled in its favor last week. This situation started when a website called CoastNews filed a lawsuit against Google claiming that the company intentionally lowered its rankings in web search results.
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AT&T’s new promo offers 15GB of data for the price of 10GB
AT&T recently ran a promo that offered double data on a select number of its Mobile Share Value plans. As a follow up, the carrier will soon start extending an extra 5GB of data to customers with 10GB plans at no additional charge. The offer starts tomorrow and runs for a “limited time.”
Nest’s new commercials introduces its home automation gear to the rest of the world (Video)
Nest recently rolled out a barrage of new commercials to promote its collection of home automation gadgets and we have to say they’re pretty entertaining. The Google-owned company has produced four adverts: one for its smart thermostat, two for Dropcam and a single piece for its swanky smoke alarm.
Nexus 6 pre-orders from Motorola starting to reach consumers
Nexus 6 pre-orders from Motorola are starting to reach consumers. A Reddit user recently shared proof that their order from the former Google company had arrived today via FedEx. While this might be good news for some, what about the people who ordered their device directly from Google Play?
New York City Department of Education says yes to Chromebooks and Google apps
The New York City Department of Education Division of Instructional and Informational Technology has approved Google Apps for Education as a supported platform for its schools. After evaluating the search giant’s offerings, NYC Department of Education CIO, Hal Friedlander and his team decided to add Google’s productivity suite and affordable notebooks to their list of approved tools for New York’s schools.
Sony’s new imaging sensor for smartphones could be a game changer for shutterbugs
Sony announced a new imaging sensor today that the company says will improve smartphones cameras. The Exmor RS IMX230 is a stacked CMOS sensor that packs 21-megapixels into a small 1/2.4-inch design. One of the key talking points of Sony’s new chip is its 192 point phase detection autofocus, which makes it easier to shoot photos or video of a fast moving subject with your smartphone.
PSA: Amazon selling 16GB Google Nexus 9 for $349.99 (Reg. $399) [Expired]
If you’re in the market for a new tablet, why not check out Google’s new purebred slab? Amazon is currently selling the 16GB WiFi model Nexus 9 for $350, a savings of $50 on a high-end gadget that’s less than a month old. While the tablet doesn’t pack a lot of storage space, it’s more than enough for casual users or folks who don’t mind uploading photos and videos to Google Drive.
Android 4.4.4 now available for T-Mobile’s Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
T-Mobile is currently rolling out Android 4.4.4 to its version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. While it’s not Google’s latest flavor of its mobile operating system, the last version of KitKat does patch a few potential security holes, which makes it a must have for anyone rocking this device.
Nexus 4 Android 5.0 Lollipop factory image now available to download from Google
Google has finally published the Android 5.0 factory image for the Nexus 4. Build LRX21T ships in the form of a 471MB download and has all of the tools to get an official build of Lollipop running on your retro Nexus smartphone, as long as you don’t mind a little heavy lifting.
ASUS ZenWatch now available from Google Play for $200
After making an appearance at Google Play yesterday, the ASUS ZenWatch is now available to purchase directly from Mountain View for $200 with an estimated warehouse departure time of one to two business days. If you’re unfamiliar with this particular smartwatch, it packs a 1.63-inch 320 x 320 AMOLED display, a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM and is compatible with devices running Android 4.3 or higher.
Nexus 6 orders from Google Play are starting to ship
If the thought of a carrier-connected Nexus 6 isn’t quite your bag and you’ve managed to place an order with Google, you may want to check your credit card or bank account, because people are starting to get charged for their purchases. In fact, a select lucky few are even starting to see their shipping status updated.
PSA: Nexus 6 now available from Sprint for $300 on a two year service contract
If you’re looking for a Nexus 6 and don’t mind it being tied to a wireless service plan, Google’s new Android purebred smartphone is now available from Sprint. You can pick up the search company’s inaugural Lollipop-toting handset for $300 on a two year contract or no money down with 24 monthly payments of $29 on the carrier’s Easy Pay program.
Samsung execs feel the burn as mobile sales continue to slump
Samsung’s smartphone sales are in a bit of a slump and the company’s executives are starting to feel the burn. According to a recent regulatory filing, the company’s mobile boss, J.K Shin took home 689 million Korean won (around $630,000) in the third quarter of the year. This is less than half of the 1.7 billion won (about $1.5 million) that he banked during the previous quarter.
LG G Watch R and Moto 360 hit T-Mobile retail locations on November 19th
T-Mobile is currently selling the Moto 360 via its website for $250, however qualified customers can buy the smartwatch for no money down under a monthly payment plan ($10.41 for 23 months; $10.56 for 24th month) if you sign up for one of the carrier’s Simple Choice plans. If you’re not a fan of online shopping, Motorola’s Android Wear-powered timepiece will debut at T-Mobile retail locations, alongside the LG G Watch R on November 19th.
Android 5.0 coming to HTC One M8 and M7 Google Play editions as soon as next week
Android 5.0 is here and if you’ve invested in a Google Play edition of the HTC One M8 or last year’s M7, your respective device’s update is expected to land next week. This information comes from Mo Versi HTC’s vice president of product management who recently stated that his company was targeting a release time of next week.
Samsung partners with BlackBerry to help make Knox more secure
Google offering a $1 million purse to the winner of the ‘Nobel Prize’ of computing
The Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award is one of the most prestigious honors that can be won by a computer scientist or engineer and it’s about to get a lot more valuable thanks to a cash infusion from Mountain View. Today, the ACM announced that funding for its award has been raised to $1 million provided by Google, making the prize’s value four times its previous sum.
Photo Editor by Aviary for Android updated with $200 worth of free tools
Today, Aviary announced the release of its a new update for its Photo Editor mobile application for Android. This is the company’s biggest update software’s biggest update since its maker was acquired by Adobe just a few short months ago. This massive overhaul adds around $200 worth of stickers and effects when synced with an Adobe ID.
Google Keep for Android updated with a new Material Design layout
Google’s has been working around the clock updating its Android apps with new Material Design interfaces and the latest software to receive a makeover from Mountain View is Keep. Version 3.0.1 of the company’s note taking software has been refreshed with a flat look and feel, plus a new search interface that follows suit with Keep’s web variant.
Droid Turbo (Moto Maxx) review: The Moto X plus extras impresses us for days
When you hear the word Droid, you probably think of two things: Star Wars and Android. While both items are a correct association, the latter comes with a bit of a twist. Armed with a licensing agreement with Lucasfilm, Verizon launched the Motorola Droid in the fall of 2009. To make a long story short; the device went on to become one of the first commercially successful Android smartphones, but with one small carryover. Verizon ran a very aggressive, but highly successful marketing campaign for the Motorola Droid and as a result, casual tech consumers started referring to Android phones and tablets as “Droids.”
Up until now, Verizon has typically released a few Droid-branded phones each year. But here we are at the end of 2014 and its hardware partner Motorola Mobility has been busy working on its own smartphones like the Moto X, which recently launched across multiple wireless carriers, including Verizon. With the exception of a questionable camera and a few small quirks, the former Google company’s flagship handset is truly sublime. So when Big Red and Motorola announced the Droid Turbo, we saw a device that looked to right some of the Moto X’s wrongs, at least on paper. However, is it really enough to lure us away from the phone that made us feel all warm and fuzzy just two short months ago?
Nvidia Shield Tablet getting Android 5.0 Lollipop on November 18th
Lollipop is here and the Nvidia Shield Tablet will be among the first group of non-Nexus devices to make the jump to Android 5.0. Today, the company announced that its gaming slate will receive the software push on November 18th, along with a few other improvements to its in-house applications.
Samsung releases SDKs for its Digital Health and Smart Home platforms
Today, Samsung announced a new set of SDKs for its Digital Health and Smart Home platforms during its ongoing Developer Conference in San Francisco. Similar to offerings from Google and Apple, the Korean company’s fitness-focused initiative uses wearable and mobile devices to track a person’s exercise and diet habits by syncing their information with its cloud servers.
Google Keyboard updated with Material themes and Lollipop’s Messenger app now available from the Play Store
It’s Wednesday and Google is hard at work rolling out updates for its suite of Android apps. Today, the company released a refreshed version of its homegrown keyboard, which ships loaded with a pair of light and dar Material Design themes. These cosmetic additions aren’t available by default, so you’ll have to go into settings and select which theme you’d like to use.
YouTube launching its second weekly SiriusXM satellite radio show on November 21st
A few months back, YouTube launched its own weekly radio show on SiriusXM and today the Google-owned video sharing company announced a follow up program that will start airing on November 21st. Furthering its partnership with the satellite radio heavyweight, YouTube EDM 15 will run on BPM, the broadcasting outfit’s electronic dance channel.