After a relatively quiet Update Wednesday, Google this evening has picked things up by rolling out an update to Google Maps on Android, bumping the app to version 9.3. The update is not chock full of features, but there are certainly a few things avid users of the app will appreciate.
Facebook shared its latest safety initiative today with a new feature focused on rescuing missing children. Through a partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Facebook will now include AMBER Alerts in the timeline of its users boosting exposure of the critical information needed in such cases.
When local or state police determine that a case qualifies for an AMBER Alert, the alert is issued by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and distributed through the Facebook system with any available information, including a photograph of the missing child, a license plate number, the name and description of the child and suspected abductor.
For several months we’ve followed the U.S. government’s attempts to work around encryption in chat apps, even taking the hyperbole to an illogical extreme at one point, but we haven’t yet seen similar threats from other nations… or at least, we hadn’t until today.
British prime minister David Cameron said today that unless the government is given backdoor access to encrypted messaging services, he’s just going to outlaw them:
Google today released its Chrome Remote Desktop app for iOS after a release on Android devices last year.
The app, available for both iPhone and iPad, allows users to remotely access their computer via the Chrome Remote Desktop app available in the Chrome Web Store.
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HTC has announced today that users of its RE camera will be able to live stream video to YouTube starting tomorrow. The company originally announced this feature when the GoPro-like RE camera accessary was unveiled back in October. Today, however, the company finally confirmed a hard release date for the feature.
Microsoft has made the preview version of its Android productivity suite available on Google Play for the first time. Previously the three applications were available to users who signed up for the preview through a Google+ group.
The new apps are packaged separately, and more fully-featured than the existing all-in-one Office Mobile software that’s been available for some time. Of course, this is still an unfinished product, so bear in mind that some issues are bound to arise.
The Google app on Android has received an update today, as part of the company’s Update Wednesday regimen. The update bumps the app to version 4.1.21.1657903 and includes a handful of notable new features, including new Google Now card settings and “Ok Google” setting tweaks.
BlackBerry, today at CES 2015, has announced that its BBM service is coming to Android Wear in early 2015. BlackBerry hopes that its Android Wear client will bring nearly the full capabilities of the messaging service to smartwatches. With BBM, users will be able to receive push notifications for new messages, read full messages, respond to messages with Google Now, and accept BBM invites.
Screenshots of the prior version
WordPress today has announced an update to its Android app, bumping it to version 3.5. The update adds a handful of new features, but most notably it gives the app an interface overhaul to make it fit in with the Material Design theme on Android. WordPress has added round avatars, a plethora of new icons, and changed the colors of the interface for users.
AnTuTu is likely a familiar name to you, as it’s probably one of the biggest sources of device specification leaks (most recently, a prototype Galaxy S6 was purportedly noticed). But unless it’s your job to test devices, it’s probably not likely that you actually use the AnTuTu Android app on a daily basis. Today, AnTuTu has updated said app to bring a completely new UI, support for 64 bit CPU testing, and a variety of bug fixes.
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If you’ve ever tried any third party keyboards on your Android device, there’s a decent chance that Minuum was one of them. Today, version 3.0 of the space-saving keyboard has begun rolling out, packing a slew of new features including Material Design and experimental support for simultaneous use of multiple languages.
Secret was one of the first to the anonymous social network category of apps, but Yik Yak recently took the spotlight and started really catching on with the college crowd. It appears that Secret felt a bit threatened by its university-based competitor. Today, the app has been updated with a completely new appearance, a new, cuter version of its fox mascot, and a re-imagined way of communicating with those around you anonymously.
Google has now listed the Android TV Launcher on the Play Store, providing a much more efficient way for the Mountain View company to update the main interface of any device running the TV flavor of Android. It’s worth noting that this isn’t an Android app for your phone, but rather an official listing of the Android TV Launcher (much like the Google Now Launcher, for instance) on the Play Store.
Android TV Launcher is the jumping-off point for starting all activities on your Android TV entertainment device. The Launcher is optimized to put content at the center; from casual movie-watching, to edge-of-seat, immersive gameplay. It’s all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction and providing quick access to all the features Android TV has to offer.
In this version, there’s apparently a slew of bug fixes to be had. Since this app only works with Android TV devices, you’re currently restricted to the Nexus Player and the ADT-1 developer kit. That means that, sadly, this isn’t going to work on any of Google’s older Google TV devices and most definitely isn’t going to be of any use for Chromecast owners.
You can get the Android TV Launcher on the Play Store.
Yahoo announced an update to its Yahoo Android app today that adds local news, commenting, and UI tweaks to the company’s app for accessing news and other Yahoo services.
Want to know more about what’s going on around you? Today we’re bringing local news to your fingertips with the Yahoo App. As you move around the country, you’ll be able to see what’s going on in your area.
In addition to local news stories for users in the US, readers now have the ability to comment on articles:
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Google, as part of its Update Wednesday regiment, has started rolling out a new version of its Inbox app on Android. Inbox is Google’s latest attempt at making it easier to manage email. The app initially launched back in October and is still accessible by invite-only. Today’s update to Inbox adds a handful of notable features:
Before today, if you wanted to replace your phone with the Hangouts Dialer, it was a pain. The app didn’t actually identify itself as a system dialer, meaning that tapping phone numbers within other apps wouldn’t let you dial out via Hangouts. Calling out from the Yelp app or within Chrome meant using your phone’s app, and you were never prompted with the option to go with the Hangouts Dialer instead.
Today we’re launching an update to Hangouts Dialer. You’ll now be able to use Dialer to place calls initiated from other apps like your browser or Maps, directly from the Hangouts Android app. Just select Hangouts Dialer when you’re choosing your call method.
This is all changing with the latest release of Hangouts Dialer, meaning the app will finally be useful for many people. As you can see in the screenshot above, tapping a phone number within another app will now prompt you with the option to go with the standard Phone app or the Hangouts Dialer. And if you’re sure you want to always use Hangouts, you can choose “Always” and never deal with this problem again.
Keep an eye on the Play Store today for the app to be updated.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwwvma8jLXM&feature=youtu.be]
Microsoft updated its Xim photo sharing application today with support for viewing photos wirelessly on Google’s Chromecast streaming device. The instructions for setting up Chromecast streaming (demonstrated in the video above) are relatively simple: just tap the display mode icon and select your Chromecast from the list. After that, you’ll see your slideshows on your TV in real time.
Xim allows users to create shared photo slideshows that stay in sync across multiple devices. Whenever a user changes the slideshow by zooming in, switching photos, or changing something else, all users currently viewing that slideshow will see the change in real time.
The Xim app is free for all users on the Google Play Store.
A major update to the Fleksy keyboard for Android was released today, adding several big new features and a handful of new themes to the popular app. The update adds the ability to insert GIFs into your text messages and elsewhere, making it the first GIF keyboard for Android. That’s done through a new feature called Extensions.
Extensions allow the user to specify certain optional features to be included on the keyboard. Some of the extensions that come with the new app include a fifth row on the keyboard for numbers, the aforementioned GIF keyboard, and even an app launcher at the top of the keyboard. Several others are also included.
Pebble users have been left in the dust this year as Android Wear has taken hold over the smartwatch market–and offered some functionality that Pebble and other companies haven’t yet implemented. Today, Pebble has announced that they’re taking a step toward bringing their smartwatch offerings up to par with Wear, showing off a new upcoming software update that’s going to add actionable notifications and slew of other great features.
Google released its Photo Sphere Camera app for iPhone users a few months back with the ability to capture 360º images right from your device and share them over social media or even Google Maps.
Photo Sphere Camera can also be used without ever publishing images anywhere or sharing photo spheres with anyone, so today Google added tabs to the app’s library separating public and private photos.
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Netflix announced in a blog post this evening that it is pushing out an update to its Android app with a handful of new features. First off, the update introduces a new “Social Recommendation” capability, which has been available on iOS for some time now. This feature allows users to easily and privately recommend shows that they love to friends and family, right from an Android device.
Google has announced today that, following a slew of updates that came to the Google Drive collection of iOS apps last week, the company’s Android apps for Drive are also receiving a few updates today:
Docs has some new, handy line spacing controls that let you choose single, double or fractional line spacing, Sheets has scrollbars for faster navigation, and you can now insert, move, resize and rotate text boxes, shapes and lines in the updated Slides app.
All three apps are now even friendlier with Office files with easier file creation and other updates, and we’ve added better accessibility options and squashed some bugs.
The updates coming to this set of apps may seem minor, but there are a few notable additions here. Scrollbars in sheets is going to make that app much more usable, and the ability to create and edit graphics within Slides is going to make it much easier to make presentations that are closer to what you’d be able to do on the desktop.
Google says that the updates should be rolling out today. If you don’t already have them, you can get the Docs, Sheets, and Slides Google Drive apps over on the Play Store for free.
BlackBerry might have pioneered the smartphone industry, but the iPhone and Android-based devices have since captured the market and left the Canadian company in the dust. Looking to remain relevant with modern smartphone users, the company ultimately caved in and released its popular messaging app BBM for Android and iOS. Today, users checking the Play Store will find a major new update for the app in their queue.
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Plex, a popular app for streaming media from your personal computer or server to a smartphone, tablet or other device, has been updated (via Android Police) with support for playlists, improved usability of play queues, bigger art and a dismiss button for playback notifications, the ability to play unwatched TV shows and seasons by default, option to play episodes from On Deck continuously and more.
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