9to5 Staff

Google has officially introduced Linux support for Chrome Remote Desktop and provided step-by-step instructions to setup the beta through its Help Center. Linux already supported remote assistance login via PIN passwords, but now it gains long-awaited full remote desktop capabilities. Chrome Remote Desktop is also available for Windows, OS X, Chrome OS, Android and iOS devices. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

CyanogenMod 11.0 M8 snapshots are now available to download for the OnePlus One, Galaxy S Relay 4G, Acer Iconia Tab A700, Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet and the Xiaomi Mi2. The custom build of Android will be rolling out to several other Android devices in the coming days, featuring Android 4.4.4 and an impressive number of new features. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

AT&T has proceeded with its plans of accepting pre-orders for the LG G3 on its website, with the smartphone now available for $199.99 when activated on a new two-year contract. The handset can also be paid for in monthly installments of $29.00 for 20 months through the AT&T Next program, or purchased outright for $579.99 with a qualifying voice and data plan. The device is available in Metallic Black and Silk White. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

You knew it was going to happen.

Just when you thought that Flappy Bird clones had run their course, Flopsy Droid has become the first unofficial Flappy Bird port for Android Wear devices. The app brings the bird-and-pipe experience to the LG G Watch, Moto 360 and other Android Wear devices, with the same one-tap controls as the smartphone version. The only difference is that Flopsy Droid is designed for markedly smaller screens. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

A group of about 20 men armed with submachine guns raided a factory in the Brazilian city of Campinas on Monday, escaping with approximately $36 million in stolen Samsung products. Among the items looted included smartphones, tablets and notebooks, although no specific models were identified. It is unknown if Samsung owned the factory, or simply stored product there. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Isis chief executive Michael Abbott announced this afternoon that the mobile payment platform will undergo rebranding so that it does not share its name with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, often abbreviated as ISIS by the media. The militant group is often associated with violence and conflict against innocent civilians, and Isis wants to ensure that its brand has zero association with those actions. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Sprint has issued a software update for the LG G Flex that enables voice calls over Wi-Fi networks and a trio of other enhancements and fixes. As per the official release notes (via Android Central), the latest version also comes with a HD Voice icon, security and SMS patch from Google and an update to email signatures. The new software version, codenamed ZV7, will be rolling out in batches from today through July 16th. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

YouTube has established itself as a mainstream platform for streaming video content online, but its ambitious goal of reaching 1 billion “watch time” hours per day through 2016 is reportedly lagging behind expectations. The Information has learned that YouTube has less than 300 million viewing hours per day, up from the 100 million daily hours of watch time when the goal was set in fall 2012. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

As the most populous city in the United States, New York City has a big transportation challenge on its hands. The arrival of the bike sharing system Citi Bike aims to solve that problem, but New Yorkers still need to be able to track down these bikes for the program to be useful. Enter City Ride for Glass, an upcoming app that aims to be a simple and effective way of finding Citi Bikes using Google Glass.

Expand
Expanding
Close

OnePlus announced this morning that its flagship One smartphone, announced last April, will be updated to run the latest Android L operating system within 90 days of Google shipping the final release of the software. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Last month, Apple quietly unveiled a new feature in iOS 8 that automatically scrambles an iOS device’s MAC address when it is searching for Wi-Fi networks. It made this move as a security precaution, as some marketing and analytics companies use the unique identifier to collect users’ location history to help clients “improve store layouts, determine timing for promotions and sales, measure the effects of advertising, and set staffing levels and store hours.”

If you have an Android smartphone, however, the Electronic Frontier Foundation claims there remains a high risk that your device is broadcasting your location history to anyone within Wi-Fi range of you. “Wi-Fi devices that are not actively connected to a network can send out messages that contain the names of networks they’ve joined in the past in an effort to speed up the connection process,” the EFF writes.

Expand
Expanding
Close

For those lucky enough to be running the Android L developer preview for Nexus devices, the lead developer of Talon for Twitter Luke Klinker has released an early version of the popular third-party Twitter app based on the new Material Design user interface unveiled at Google I/O. Klinker has redesigned the tweet viewer and timeline over the past few days, and is now offering users a chance to test the app.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Glass is making its way onto the football field in the friendly confines of the Stanford football program.  The university that graduated both of the Google founders as well as many of execs and programmers is evaluating the Google Glass according to the LA Times. Stanford’s football offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren went through Friday’s Rose Bowl media session wearing Goggle Glass.

“It’s my my way of paying homage to Nerd Nation,” he said, adding, “Our relationship with Google is obviously very strong and I’m the tech member of our staff. “I’m the guy that wants to unwrap toys like this on Christmas.”Bloomgren said he could envision the practical application of the video technology eventually making its was onto the field.

It isn’t just the coaching staff.  Stanford’s cheerleaders are also checking out the headgear for practical purposes. During the Stanford vs. Notre Dame game a company called Crowdlogic outfitted the Stanford cheerleaders with Glass to broadcast what they were seeing to the Jumbotron in real time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhDkorzCWJQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdhDkorzCWJQ&app=desktop

From Crowdoptic:

Expand
Expanding
Close

According to the Washington Post, the NSA has “infiltrated” the servers belonging to both Google and Yahoo and is collecting records of user-data:

According to a top secret accounting dated Jan. 9, 2013, NSA’s acquisitions directorate sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the agency’s Fort Meade headquarters. In the preceding 30 days, the report said, field collectors had processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records — ranging from “metadata,” which would indicate who sent or received e-mails and when, to content such as text, audio and video.

Earlier this year, claims emerged that said the NSA has been working lawfully via a “PRISM” program to legally intercept data from the servers of technology companies. This new information, however, seems to indicate that the NSA is obtaining the information via its own means.

In order for the data centers to operate effectively, they synchronize high volumes of information about account holders. Yahoo’s internal network, for example, sometimes transmits entire e-mail archives — years of messages and attachments — from one data center to another.

Tapping the Google and Yahoo clouds allows the NSA to intercept communications in real time and to take “a retrospective look at target activity,” according to one internal NSA document.

In order to obtain free access to data center traffic, the NSA had to circumvent gold standard security measures. Google “goes to great lengths to protect the data and intellectual property in these centers,” according to one of the company’s blog posts, with tightly audited access controls, heat sensitive cameras, round-the-clock guards and biometric verification of identities.

Google and Yahoo have both responded to today’s claims with surprise, noting that it does not hand data to the NSA.

Expand
Expanding
Close

You knew it was heading our way: Google Glass porn is now here and boy will Google be happy. For the details head over to Motherload.Vice.com.

[ooyala code=”90aWlpZDqumgU7y5TOUNjEPfcOUMXTqP” player_id=”null”]

NSFW NSFW NSFW Below the fold.

Expand
Expanding
Close

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DlXp41WwpOs

Big picture still looks exciting, but clearly there are some significant hurdles to overcome. Video below (autostarts)
Expand
Expanding
Close

Samsung Electronics celebrated the launch of the Samsung Experience Shop today with the grand opening of their newest location in New York’s Union Square Best Buy store. JK Shin, CEO and President of IT and Mobile Business at Samsung, Hubert Joly, CEO of Best Buy, and Tim Baxter, President of Samsung Electronics America hosted an executive grand opening.  Samsung also announced an experiential consumer event featuring Bruno Mars to celebrate the launch of this innovative retail concept.

The activities mark the beginning of a nationwide rollout of the Samsung Experience Shop, which will be installed in more than 1,400 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile specialty stores across the U.S. by early summer. Samsung Experience Shops are beginning to open just in time for the official launch of the highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S 4.

Google users will find not only Samsung Android  phones and tablets (and cameras!) but Chromebooks at the new store-within-a-store. Full press release follows:
Expand
Expanding
Close