Tom Maxwell, Author at 9to5Google - Page 4 of 16

Millennials have a grim financial outlook: It’s harder than ever to pay for college, making many delay settling down and starting a family, and almost half don’t even believe that United States Social Security benefits will be there for them when they retire. Fortunately an app called Robinhood is trying to make financial investment for the future cheaper, right now. The stock investing app launched on Android today after being available on iOS for over a year.

Samsung embedding its Unpacked livestream into banner ads around the web

Tom Maxwell Aug 13 2015 - 8:55 am PT

Screen Shot 2015-08-13 at 9.49.08 AM I think Samsung saw OnePlus do something unique for its recent product announcement and said, “We can do something like that too!”

If you haven’t already noticed, technology sites across the web have been blanketed in advertisements promoting Samsung’s Unpacked product event where it just unveiled the much-anticipated (and much leaked) Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+. But there’s something unique happening here.

These advertisements have the Unpacked livestream embedded within themselves. Yes, no tricks here — it’s the actual YouTube stream, 100% in-sync and all. It does end after about 30 seconds, though, and directs you to continue on YouTube or Samsung’s website.

These unique banner ads are also similar to OnePlus’s VR-based product unveiling (read: shenanigans) in that they’re pretty annoying and unnecessary. Nobody likes banner ads as-is, but autoplaying video ads incite an even different level of rage. Even better is that sites like ours already had the stream embedded in posts.

Google is sidestepping the FAA to test its unmanned drones on US soil

Tom Maxwell Aug 13 2015 - 8:33 am PT

Google is testing its Project Wing unmanned aircrafts, otherwise known as drones, over United States soil with quiet approval by NASA, according to a new report by the Guardian. The technology giant would otherwise have to receive a 333 exemption by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a waiver issued to commercial companies testing the use of UASs (unmanned aircrafts), as the commercial operation of these aircrafts is banned in the United States.

Mid-range HTC Desire 526 available on Verizon tomorrow, Desire 626 in coming weeks

Tom Maxwell Aug 12 2015 - 1:58 pm PT

We’ve already learned about beleaguered HTC’s plan to introduce several new mid-range Desire smartphones to North America across every major carrier, and since the announcement a month ago they’ve slowly teased out exactly which variants each participating carrier will get. Now we know Verizon Wireless will begin selling the Desire 526 tomorrow and the 626 sometime soon.

The HTC Desire 526 (top right in the above picture) is exclusive to Verizon and features a 4.7-inch qHD display (so, approximately 540p resolution), 8MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing cameras, a Snapdragon 210 processor, and 1.5GB of RAM. It notably has quite a deep-curved bezel. We don’t know much else about the phone except that it will be available tomorrow in-stores and online for a whopping full retail price of $120. It’s available as both a prepaid and postpaid phone.

The Desire 626 is a bit of a step up from the 526, sporting a larger 5-inch, 720p display, 8MP rear-facing and 5MP front-facing cameras, and a quad-core Snapdragon processor. It also has a 2,000mAh battery and the storage can be increased through the microSD card tray. No information on RAM size, though, or availability and pricing for that matter save for an “in the coming weeks” notice. Like the 526, it will be available to both prepaid and postpaid customers.

Those interested in the Desire 626 should check out our unboxing and hands-on with the device. We don’t have a similar video for the 526, but we can’t imagine the 626 would be that much more expensive, and based on spec sheets alone we’d highly recommend choosing it over the 526.

Android Experiments is a gallery of apps that make the best of Android

Tom Maxwell Aug 12 2015 - 10:06 am PT

Yesterday we wrote about three new Android apps to come out of Google’s Creative Lab, which at the time we had trouble making sense of as at first glance since they all seemed like trivial products without clear meaning. Now their existence makes more sense with the launch of a new community gallery of apps called Android Experiments.

SoundCloud gains Google Cast support in latest Android release

Tom Maxwell Aug 12 2015 - 9:45 am PT

Are you one of the many diehard SoundCloud users and wish you could easily stream those tunes to your TV? You’re in luck, as the public version of SoundCloud in Google Play has just received an update with support for Google Cast, letting you stream all of the best remixes and indie tracks straight to your living room entertainment set up.
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Google Creative Lab releases three quirky new takes on photography and location-based apps

Tom Maxwell Aug 11 2015 - 11:59 am PT

Like other megalithic technology giants including Facebook and even Xerox once upon a time, Google (Alphabet?) has many a skunkworks lab deep inside the halls of the company tasked with thinking creatively about execution and exploring non-traditional concepts, and which doesn’t have to worry about revenue or reaching the masses. One of those labs released three new apps for Android today, all of which center around using the device camera and sensors in (unsurprisingly) unique ways.

Snapchat 9.14 adds even more emoji to your snaps, conserves cellular data, more

Tom Maxwell Aug 11 2015 - 10:35 am PT

The popular messaging app Snapchat has received a new update for Android which includes both some fun changes in the form of a new emoji button, as well as some more utilitarian changes that will help save cellular data if you’re capped or traveling internationally…

Exclusive: Google planning an affiliate program for Google Play, starting with Movies & Music

Tom Maxwell Aug 10 2015 - 12:01 pm PT

Google is working on launching an affiliate program for Google Play similar to the one Apple runs for its own digital content stores, a source briefed on the matter has told 9to5Google.

The affiliate program, which is said to still be in its early stages of development and could get called off or change significantly between now and its time of launch, is said to be powered by Performance Horizon Group, the same company which in 2013 began supporting Apple’s affiliate program.

Our source, who requested to remain anonymous, said the program will initially cover only content sold through Play Movies and Music but eventually expand to include apps and even hardware, presumably those devices sold through the Google Store…
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Verizon Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy Note 4 receive Stagefright patch

Tom Maxwell Aug 10 2015 - 11:28 am PT

As countless manufacturers of Android devices line up to release patches for the “worst Android vulnerability in the mobile OS history,” as some researchers have described it, the Galaxy Note Edge and Note 4 on Verizon are next up.

The vulnerability patch for the Galaxy Note Edge was spotted on Verizon’s support site by Droid-Life, then owners of the Note 4 reached out to the site to share that their devices are receiving a security update as well.

Verizon’s support document for the Note Edge security update is comically short at only one page long — their software update PDFs are usually at least a couple of pages long. We haven’t seen a similar document for the Note 4 yet.

For those who don’t know, Stagefright is what researchers have named a vulnerability that can see malicious software delivered to a device through MMS text messaging and executed automatically, as most messaging apps on Android automatically download rich media sent via MMS, regardless of whether or not the receiver opens the message. Google’s Messages and Hangouts apps both include the ability to disable auto-fetching of MMS content, though, and it’s pretty easy to toggle off.

OnePlus 2 shipments delayed 2-3 weeks for United States and Canada

Tom Maxwell Aug 10 2015 - 10:52 am PT

OnePlus may have increased manufacturing capacity this year in preparation for the launch of its successor to the OnePlus One, the OnePlus 2, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely ironed out its processes: North American customers will have to wait a little longer to receive their phones.

In a post to its community forums, a staff member of OnePlus today said that “due to production schedules,” shipments to the United States and Canada will begin 2-3 weeks after shipments to Europe. We’re not sure exactly what this means and why it’s the case, but hiccups in the manufacturing process happen regularly before the release of new products, even to large companies like Samsung and Apple.

OnePlus says that customers in North America will still be able to place their orders starting tomorrow, August 11th, though. That’s if you even have an invite to buy one, which you’ll need. The waitlist to get yourself an invite if you weren’t an early adopter of the OnePlus One is 3 million people strong, however, so these shipment delays shouldn’t even impact you if aren’t fortunate enough to have one. Sans-invite purchases will open up at some point weeks or months after the phone goes on sale tomorrow.

Hangouts 4.0 goes live today with new look, full Android Wear support, more

Tom Maxwell Aug 10 2015 - 8:09 am PT

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Yes, the day many have been waiting for in eager anticipation is finally here: Google has officially announced in a blog post that Hangouts version 4.0 goes live in the company’s Play Store today.
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Latest comScore data shows iOS continuing to gain on Android in US market

Tom Maxwell Aug 7 2015 - 1:12 pm PT

Research firm comScore today released its report on United States smartphone subscriber market share for the three month period ending in June. The report, released monthly, tracks the rankings of the top smartphone OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and operating systems by consumer adoption. Month-to-month fluctuations in market share aren’t often major, but the data gives us more context around how the top players are doing as we eek towards the 2015 holiday season.

Google Maps v4.9 for iOS brings new night mode, ability to label custom places

Tom Maxwell Aug 7 2015 - 12:33 pm PT

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iOS users of Google Maps just got some new functionality that has been in the Android version for some time now. Version 4.9 (iTunes link) brings a new night mode as well as the ability to label custom places so they can be easily found on the map and in search.

Night mode does something pretty common amongst dedicated GPS navigation units: It darkens the maps on-screen while you’re navigating somewhere. The reason this matters is because distracted driving is one of the biggest causes of driving-related accidents, and the white glow of a smartphone screen directed at ones face at nighttime can most definitely make it difficult to see what’s in view of the vehicle.

The other notable addition to come with this update is the ability to label places on the map that aren’t already in Google’s own database of places and points of interest. It’s already possible for anyone to add new places to the map through the iOS app, but these were only for public places and, if approved, would be seen by everyone using the app. The new labels are private, intended to make it easier to find and navigate to places that matter to you.

Google Maps for Android already has these features, but for iOS users who still cannot stand Apple’s own mapping product, they’re surely a welcome addition.

Microsoft Translator is a beautified Google Translate with Android Wear support

Tom Maxwell Aug 7 2015 - 8:39 am PT

Real world, on-the-fly language translation has always been a little gimmicky if only because it still doesn’t quite hit the mark in terms of accuracy. Human spoken languages are a lot different from computer code in that words can have many meanings based on the context of the other words surrounding them. But that hasn’t stopped Microsoft from releasing its own translation app for Android called Microsoft Translator.

As you can see from the images above, the app is pretty simple. You speak or type in some words you want to translate, then choose the language you want to translate them into. You can save the translated result for later by pinning it, and then come back to it when you really need it — say, if you’re hitting a vacation town for the evening and need some common phrases to help you get around.

Unlike Google Translate, Microsoft Translator has a companion app for Android Wear so you don’t have to pull out your phone to make a new translation or access your pinned translations. Google Now can do some short translations, but nothing very long from my experience. Where Google Translate may lack, however, it makes up in a conversation mode which requires less tapping of the microphone to translate the voices of two people having a conversation — something Microsoft’s solution does not do.

Microsoft Translator, the underlying translation technology powering the app, supports just over 50 languages (yes, including Klingon), and Microsoft periodically adds new languages. The company says that the most important data its translation tools need to accurately translate languages on-the-fly is a lot of existing translations — 1 million translations of the same text into two languages, approximately.

Clearly, though, the new Wear app in particular is an experiment for Microsoft. From their blog post on the launch:

Wearables are a fascinating place to understand user experiences for translation. No other type of device allows people to interact with so little physical intrusion from the device itself— PC’s, tablets, and even phones can be occasionally awkward and unnatural in the middle of a conversation. With these smart devices, we want to learn how people use the apps and how effective the translation experiences can be. By integrating translation capabilities into devices that are instantly on hand (pun intended), we hope to continue to break down the last barrier in human communication— language.

Kantar: Samsung and LG account for 78% of US Android smartphone sales

Tom Maxwell Aug 6 2015 - 9:17 am PT

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Consumer insights and research firm Kantar Worldpanel has released its smartphone sales data for the second quarter of 2015, which runs from April through June, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag for Android. Growth in the United States and China, but declines in Europe. Android also saw market consolidation stateside during the three month period.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way. In the second quarter, Kantar says Android posted its “strongest year-on-year share drop in Germany” since the beginning of 2015. 81% of all smartphones sold in Germany during the same period last year were powered by Android, compared to 75% this year — other smartphone operating systems have seen gains in the country during the same period.

Google has begun development of its new four-acre campus in Boulder, Colorado

Tom Maxwell Aug 5 2015 - 3:47 pm PT

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Google has many satellite offices around the world that give it a diverse talent base that may not want, or may not be able, to move to Mountain View to work out of its headquarters. One of those satellite offices is located in the affluent town of Boulder, Colorado, which straddles the Rocky Mountains making it ideal for people who like outdoor activities including hiking and skiing. Earlier this week the company broke ground on a new 330,000 square foot campus to replace its current setup in the town of employees working out of what used to be a Circuit City (remember those?).

With new Report Editor, analyze data using charts and tables directly within AdWords

Tom Maxwell Aug 5 2015 - 11:09 am PT

Many of us are visual learners, and by visualizing data you may be able to notice trends that you otherwise wouldn’t have by just looking at the numbers written out. Google understands this, and is making it possible to quickly visualize data from its AdWords online advertising service through a simple drag-and-drop tool available soon from directly within AdWords itself — yes, no more needing to download your data and explore it elsewhere.

Google opens up data on site search performance with new Analytics developer API

Tom Maxwell Aug 5 2015 - 10:15 am PT

Have you ever wondered what the most commonly searched terms which lead to your site appearing in Google’s results are? Or maybe the top queries on mobile that lead to your site appearing in results? Well, Google has offered a Search Analytics Report in the Google Search Console for some time which provides this exact kind of data (where have you been?), and now it has created an API developers can use to play around with this data in their own apps.

It’s called the Search Analytics API and with it, developers get access to all the data on traffic that has come to them through search, and can sort it by parameters like country to gain insights into, for example, what are the top queries in India that lead to visitors.

The potential here is for developers to create graphical user interfaces to this data, so less tech savvy individuals would gain the ability to sift through their search data without needing prior knowledge on how to use an API.

Google will now walk advertisers through how to bid based on their objectives

Tom Maxwell Aug 5 2015 - 9:52 am PT

Google has a lot of data on how different decisions made throughout the creation of an AdWords display marketing campaign can lead to a lot of different end results. Now it wants to use that insight to help marketers make the right decisions to reach their objectives, be it a transaction or even just an engagement with their website, and has created a step-by-step solution to do just that.

The new tool for display ads, live now in AdWords, takes marketers through the whole ad campaign creation process based on what they want to result to be. For example, someone who just wants people to visit their website may not realize that they can pay just for each click they get, rather than every single impression. Someone who wants to optimize for the amount of times their advertisement is simply seen, though, will probably want to pay for viewable impressions, or those ad placements guaranteed to be visible on the page (i.e. not needing the user to scroll to see them). Using the new setup flow, advertisers can also input their website URL and have Google choose keywords they may want their ad to appear against in search results.

There are a lot of small decisions like these that advertisers have to consider when creating a new campaign, and a lot of ways to make a mistake that impacts the results. So this new tool simply makes it a lot easier to not mess up. It’s important for Google, too, because a low return on investment for an advertiser is a negative experience that may lead them to not using AdWords again.

Report: Android device fragmentation has increased 28% over last year

Tom Maxwell Aug 5 2015 - 9:40 am PT

Android is notorious in the developer community for its rampant fragmentation. Developing an app for Google’s platform means wrestling to make the app work optimally on the ecosystem of thousands of devices in different shapes and sizes. And according to a new report out today giving us a look at the state of Android fragmentation as of this month, August 2015, there’s both some bad and good news: There are more devices than ever before, but fewer users that are spread out across different operating system versions.

Language annotation platform Genius launches Android app

Tom Maxwell Aug 4 2015 - 2:53 pm PT

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Language annotation platform Genius, formally known as Rap Genius, has launched an Android version of its mobile app (Play Store link). Genius originally launched as a music annotation service popular in the rap community, but has since expanded to cover basically the whole human corpus with vertical sections for annotations on poems, books, and more.

Google’s Project Tango tablet now available in South Korea and Canada, other countries on August 26

Tom Maxwell Aug 4 2015 - 12:53 pm PT