The U.S. Federal Communications Commission this week reached an agreement with T-Mobile to ensure that customers receive proper information about the speed of their wireless internet connection, even if the user has a capped data plan. The carrier has 60 days to implement the changes outlined in the agreement.
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Google has taken over Times Square with a new Android ad on a massive billboard in the iconic intersection, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The search company is using the largest digital screen in North America to promote its interactive campaign Androidify, which allows users to create and share their own Android mascot.
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Cyanogen on Monday introduced its upcoming Themes app that will serve as a one-stop storefront for Cyanogen OS smartphone users to download themes that customize everything from fonts and animations to wallpapers and icons. The company also launched the initial beta release of Themes Studio for designers to publish and distribute themes.
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Google ushered in a new design language called Material Design as one of the biggest new elements of Android Lollipop, and an upcoming Linux distribution called Quartz OS aims to bring the clean and simplistic user interface to the desktop. Quartz OS is essentially the marriage of Material Design and Linux, aiming to harness the flexibility and power of the JavaScript-based markup language QML.
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If there is one area where iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users can exercise their bragging rights, it is with the timely and consistent software updates received from Apple. Google’s rollout of Android Lollipop has been far less predictable, with only a portion of Nexus devices having received the update and owners of devices from other manufacturers like Samsung, LG and HTC still waiting.
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Just weeks after Xiaomi overtook Huawei and LG to become the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, The Guardian reports that the Chinese handset maker’s chief executive and founder Lei Jun is out with a bold prediction that his company could move past Samsung and Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone maker within the next five to ten years.
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Just weeks after receiving a Material Design makeover for Android Lollipop, the popular custom keyboard SwiftKey for Android has been updated with performance improvements and support for twelve new languages. The latest version of SwiftKey for Android is available now through the Play Store as a free update.
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A series of screenshots have surfaced on Twitter that appear to provide a first look at Android Lollipop overlaid with HTC Sense on the HTC One (M8). Given that HTC Sense uses a similar design language as Google, the custom skin does not make Android Lollipop look overly different compared to the stock version.
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The Wall Street Journal reports that WhatsApp has been updated with end-to-end encryption for messages sent and received between Android smartphones and tablets. The cross-platform messaging service claims it will be unable to help decrypt messages for law enforcement, a noteworthy move given increasing concerns about government surveillance and tracking over the past few years.
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Samsung’s Galaxy Note Edge
Samsung continues to be the world’s largest smartphone maker by a sizeable margin, but the South Korean electronics maker recently reported a massive 74% drop in mobile profits in the third quarter due to declining Galaxy sales and increasing competition from Apple and Chinese rivals Xiaomi and Lenovo.
In an effort to cut costs and combat declining profits, it was reported last night that Samsung will sell up to 30% fewer smartphone models next year. But that doesn’t appear to be the only move up Samsung’s sleeve, as ZDNet reports that the tech giant is also gearing up to launch a smartphone with a flexible and foldable display by the end of the year.
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The Wall Street Journal reports this evening that Samsung will sell fewer smartphone models next year as part of a cost-cutting measure to fight declining profits. Samsung head of investor relations Robert Yi confirmed during a presentation in New York that the South Korean electronics maker will cut the number of smartphone models it sells by between 25% to 30% in 2015.
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As expected, it appears that Google is now slowly rolling out Android Lollipop for the Nexus 4, 5, 7 and 10. A number of users have turned to Twitter to report that their Nexus smartphones and tablets are now beginning to receive Lollipop as an over-the-air software update.
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Verizon Wireless has updated its customer agreement with new conditions related to early termination fees. Effective today, new customers that purchase a device on contract will be required to pay a full $350 early termination fee during the first seven months of the contract if it is broken. The fee is reduced by $10 per month between months 8-18, $20 per month between months 19-23 and $60 in the final month of the contract term…
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HP’s annual two-day Mobile Pwn2Own competition came to a close this afternoon, with a group of veteran security researchers and other competitors able to compromise several flagship smartphones across the top-three mobile operating systems: Android, iOS and Windows Phone. The devices that were exploited include the Samsung Galaxy S5, Nexus 5, iPhone 5s, Amazon Fire Phone and Nokia Lumia 1520.
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Twitter’s chief financial officer Anthony Noto at its Twitter Analyst Day today reassured analysts that the social network has room for growth in the future, with one of the strategies being to generate more search engine optimization traffic from Google. The strategy is somewhat ironic, given that Twitter had one of the best SEO partnerships with Google until the deal fell apart around three years ago.
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With the release of Android Lollipop for a wider lineup of Nexus devices expected to occur any day now, the official Google Search app has been updated with a brand new design and several new features that make searching for everything from the best sushi in Chicago to Van Gogh research for a school project that much better of an experience.
First and foremost, the Google Search app has been revamped with a Material Design user interface and that includes bold colors, fluid animations and simplified layouts. Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 users also benefit from being able to activate “Ok, Google” searches even when the smartphone is unplugged and the display is off.
The latest version Google’s official app is more effective at organizing your day-to-day life by automatically pulling events that it feels you might want to follow up on, like catching up with Chris over dinner or getting drinks with Susan. Normally, these small events would be buried in your inbox and you might forget to follow up on them later.
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Google has been a high-profile advocate for stronger privacy laws following NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations about government surveillance activities last year. Continuing that trend, Google chief legal officer David Drummond has published a post on the Google Europe Blog this morning that calls for the U.S. Privacy Act to be extended to European citizens.
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Update: It appears that Google’s DoubleClick servers are now functioning properly as ads begin to reappear across the web.
If you happen to be browsing the web and noticing fewer banner ads or slower loading times on your favorite websites, including our very own, the reason is that Google DoubleClick for Publishers appears to have been experiencing some downtime since approximately 9:00 AM Eastern. AdSense ads still appear to be loading correctly.
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The latest monthly build of CyanogenMod 11 is now available to download for several Android devices, ranging from the HTC One (M8) and HTC Evo 4G LTE to the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Galaxy Note 3. CyanogenMod 11 M12 download links should be added for other smartphones and tablets over the coming days.
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While official Android Lollipop factory images for the all-new Nexus 9 and Nexus Player were made available earlier this month, users with other Nexus and Google Play Edition devices are still waiting on Google to seed the update. In the meantime, Nexus 7 (2012) owners are in luck, as an Android Lollipop factory image for the tablet has leaked ahead of its official release.
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Google is slowly updating its apps with Material Design guidelines ahead of the widespread release of Android Lollipop, with the official Android Wear companion app the latest set to receive a makeover. This morning, leaked screenshots surfaced of both the new Android Wear app alongside the latest version of Google Play Services.
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Sprint announced on Tuesday that it will begin selling the Nexus 6 on November 14th through both its retail and online stores across the United States. The carrier confirmed that the Nexus 6 qualifies for Sprint Easy Pay pricing, meaning that qualified buyers can purchase the smartphone for $0 down and 24 monthly payments of $29.
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With today marking Veterans Day, Remembrance Day and Armistice Day in the United States and countries that belong to the Commonwealth of Nations, along with several other regions worldwide, Google announced this morning that users can now tour some significant U.S. historical places in Street View on Google Maps.
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While it has yet to become a significant player in the smartphone market, Mozilla is hoping that its open-source Firefox OS will be a game changer when the mobile operating system gains a larger presence in countries like the United States and United Kingdom. In the meantime, the software maker has gone on the offensive against rival platforms Android and iOS.
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