Apps and Updates

1,643 'Apps and Updates' stories June 2013 - July 2015

See All Stories

Yahoo News Digest app now available for Android tablets

Jordan Kahn Jul 23 2015 - 11:12 am PT

Yahoo’s News Digest app that delivers the best from Yahoo News to readers twice a day is now available for Android tablets. The app was previously only available for Android smartphones and iOS devices.

The popular app offers summaries of top stories from Yahoo News with two daily updates, once in the morning and again at night. Content is a mix of human curated stories from Yahoo’s editors and picks via its algorithms from various sources around the web:

Each story is created from multiple sources to present the essential bits and pieces of information, known as “atoms”. Atoms are key quotes, images, videos, maps, infographs, and Wikipedia excerpts among others. These atomic units provide a unique context to the news. Our stories are both algorithmically and hand curated to ensure high quality, and come with a textual summary.

The updated Yahoo News Digest app for Android with support for tabtlets is available on Google Play now.

Gameplay recording platform Kamcord brings live game streams to mobile apps

Jordan Kahn Jul 23 2015 - 7:44 am PT

Kamcord, a popular platform that lets game developers add gameplay recording features to their mobile apps, is today taking its first step into live streaming. The move is a notable one as competitors such as live game streaming service Twitch, now owned by Amazon, move into the mobile space and live streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat begin to gain traction among users.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Pebble Time gets backlight, font, and vibration settings, updated Android app

Stephen Hall Jul 22 2015 - 6:01 pm PT

Pebble has announced today an update to the firmware of the company’s smartwatch, bringing several features that the community has oft-requested. Most notably, the new firmware brings settings for adjusting font size, backlight, and vibration. Pebble also released an updated version of the Pebble Time’s Android app counterpart, bumping it to version 3.2.0, which brings a new search bar, preserved notification preferences, and other minor changes…
Expand
Expanding
Close

Chrome 44 for iOS brings beacon-powered Physical Web closer to reality, new gestures

Tom Maxwell Jul 22 2015 - 11:51 am PT

The Physical Web is an open source web specification from Google released last year with the aim to make interacting with smart devices in the real world as easy as clicking a link, just as we do on the web. Now with the company having released its Eddystone beacon technology and APIs for making this communication between devices in the same proximity easier, it’s integrating Physical Web directly into Chrome for iOS.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Amazon Shopping v5.7 for Android brings ability to sign up with a phone number

Tom Maxwell Jul 22 2015 - 10:35 am PT

As more and more Internet usage shifts towards mobile, particularly to smartphones, app developers are recognizing the phone number as an ideal identifier for new users. Snapchat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger are just three examples of hugely popular apps which support signing up using your phone number in lieu of an email address, and which can also use the contact list to build up a network of connections within their apps. Now Amazon is jumping into the fold.

In the newest version of Amazon Shopping for Android, the company’s main mobile experience through which customers can purchase items and track orders, the onboarding flow for new customers has been updated to support signing up using just a name, phone number, and password. New customers who’d prefer to use an email address can click “Use your email instead.” The update hasn’t fully propagated in the Play Store just yet, but can be downloaded right now through APKMirror (click here). For that to work you need to visit Settings > Security on your device and toggle on “Unknown sources.”

This shift to phone number-based identification for apps makes total sense. Phone numbers are a native feature on smartphones – I like to call them an “atomic unit.” SMS and phone calls work right out of the box, whereas with email you have to launch an email app and then sign up and/or authenticate with a third-party provider, just to begin receiving messages. At the very least, by allowing onboarding with phone numbers, app developers make the onboarding process much faster, tremendously reducing the friction and bounce rate (users who download an app but leave before signing up). That’s what Amazon has done here.

Skype for Android updated with visual refresh & improved chat experience

Zac Hall Jul 22 2015 - 7:44 am PT

Microsoft has released an updated version of Skype for Android today that delivers both a visual refresh to several parts of the app as well as performance improvements throughout.
Expand
Expanding
Close

YouTube updates Android app to address Vertical Video Syndrome

Ben Lovejoy Jul 22 2015 - 6:17 am PT

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA]

Update: Google has now officially announced the update, bringing three new tabs on top of vertical video support.

We all have friends who’ve done it: fail to recognize that shooting video is different from taking a photo, and end up shooting vertical video. YouTube has for some time tried to lessen their embarrassment with a pseudo horizontal view, but the latest update to the Android app takes things a stage further by acting like they didn’t do anything dumb in the first place …
Expand
Expanding
Close

Maps for Android updated w/ “Your timeline” feature to track your location history, more

Chance Miller Jul 21 2015 - 6:04 pm PT

Google today has started rolling out an update to its Maps application on Android that brings about several new features and changes. Most notably, version 9.12 of the app adds a new interface called “Your timeline.” On this screen, which is accessible via the slide-out navigation drawer, you can see all of the places to which you’ve been, in a comprehensive timeline-like interface.

Expand
Expanding
Close

How to mirror or stream content from your Android device to Mac or Windows PC [Video]

Cam Bunton Jul 21 2015 - 11:52 am PT

Apple and Google products don’t always play together nicely, but when they do, it’s normally because a third party has created an application or two to get them talking to each other. That’s exactly what Reflector 2 for Mac does (among many other things). If you’ve been wondering how you can get content from your Android smartphone or tablet mirrored or streamed to your Mac (and Windows PC, if you’re into that kinda thing), this is one really easy way.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google’s new Microsoft Office plugin allows users to open and save Drive files

Tom Maxwell Jul 21 2015 - 10:56 am PT

Google has a new plugin out for Microsoft Office (Windows only, for now) which makes it possible to access files stored in Drive from Office and save edits back to the cloud storage service, as well as create new files in Office and save them directly to Drive. The plugin works with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint (2007, 2010, and 2013 versions), and Office 365.

Here’s what saving a new document looks like in Word once the plugin is installed:

This plugin isn’t anything monumental, but Microsoft’s Office suite of productivity applications still has an undeniably significant hold on the corporate market. By making Drive more interoperable with the suite, Google can ease people into trying its cloud-based applications for getting work done, initially by pushing the benefit of Drive for sharing files with teams, and easily accessing files across devices. It’s a strategy Google’s competitors have claimed to use to gain a foothold in the corporate world – get enough average employees in a company using your product for some of their needs, and eventually IT will budge and consider switching over for everything. Google has a website up dedicated to the new plugin.

As Chrome ‘Reader Mode’ approaches launch-ready status, design changes continue

Tom Maxwell Jul 21 2015 - 10:18 am PT

As we reported back in late June, the Chromium team – which creates a public, open-source browser that was forked to create the popular Chrome browser from Google, and who’s updates are regularly merged into Chrome – is working hard on a “Reader Mode” for the Android version of the browser. This mode would recognize articles and pages with lots of text, display a “Make page mobile-friendly” button and, when tapped, strip a page of all extraneous content, leaving just the page’s body text, title, and images. The feature is getting ever-closer to completion, so we’re taking another look at what has changed recently.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google’s productivity apps receive minor updates for paid and unpaid users

Tom Maxwell Jul 20 2015 - 1:57 pm PT

Google’s productivity apps have received two small updates today, one specifically for paid customers of Google Apps, the enterprise-grade version of Google’s online productivity suite for those who want to use Google products with their own domain, and the other for all users of the products. Let’s take a look.

First off, a couple products which tend to fall under the “Docs” brand have received a new UI button (pictured above) for all users which makes it clearer want kind of access you have to a document you’re viewing, and easier to request greater access. If you’re viewing a spreadsheet and have only been granted the ability to view it but not edit or add comments, for example, you’ll see a blue button which says “View only.” Clicking the downward facing arrow reveals the option to request greater access, in this case the ability to edit. Viewers with the ability to comment will see a similar button in the color green. The blue “View only” button will appear across Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Drawings, while the “Comment only” button will only appear across Slides, Sheets, and Drawings.

The second minor change up on the block is specifically for Apps administrators, and alerts company employees to when a document they’ve shared with someone cannot be viewed by that person for one reason or another. Oftentimes to prevent sensitive information from getting into the wrong hands, Google Apps administrators will restrict their employees from sharing files with any user of Google’s apps other than those on the same domain (i.e. tom@corpemail.com). This is what it may look like if you attempt to share a document with someone outside your corporation and sharing outside your own domain is disabled:

More information on both updates is available on the Google Apps Updates blog, here for the new Docs UI buttons, and here for the new invalid sharing settings alerts.

Google+ Photos being discontinued August 1st following standalone Photos service debut

Tom Maxwell Jul 20 2015 - 1:05 pm PT

Au revoir, Google+ Photos. In a post to Google+, ironically enough, Google has (unsurprisingly) announced that starting on August 1st, it will be sunsetting its Google+ Photos app in favor of the recently launched Google Photos. First the Android version of the app will stop working, followed by the iOS and web apps shortly thereafter. The company says the move to axe Google+ Photos is being made in an “effort to ensure everyone has the best photos experience we can deliver.”

Expand
Expanding
Close

Adobe Lightroom for Android updated to 1.2 with interface overhaul, faster, more intuitive edit tools, more

Cam Bunton Jul 20 2015 - 9:56 am PT

Today, Adobe released the latest version of its mobile Lightroom app for Android. Version 1.2 comes loaded with a handful of new features and a number of bug fixes and performance improvements. It’s available to download right now, and is the latest in a long run of awesome, recently updated Creative Cloud apps for mobile.

Expand
Expanding
Close

First Look at the Microsoft Cortana beta on Android (Video)

Cam Bunton Jul 17 2015 - 2:41 pm PT

Microsoft recently released its Cortana digital assistant as a beta app, and we’ve been able to get our hands on the preview. Apart from its Material-like design, the app looks, performs, and acts just like the Cortana on Windows Phone. You can ask it to set reminders, give you directions and weather information, or do simple arithmetic. It has its limitations and doesn’t feel quite as intuitive or in-depth as Google Now or Siri, but it has its uses.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Free Google Play apps and games are now available in Sudan

Stephen Hall Jul 17 2015 - 1:58 pm PT

Google announced today that, for the first time, free apps and games are available in Google Play Store for those located in Sudan.

As part of a commitment to helping more people around the globe use technology to communicate, find and create information, we’re announcing the availability of free apps and games on +Google Play in Sudan for the first time!

It’s worth noting that Google specified free apps, meaning there’s no way for those in Sudan to yet purchase apps and games. For the full list of countries that can access Google Play, head over to Google’s support site.

PSA: Microsoft’s ‘Hyperlapse Mobile’ is now out of beta

Stephen Hall Jul 17 2015 - 1:47 pm PT

We told you in May about a new app from Microsoft called “Hyperlapse Mobile” (not to be confused with Instagram’s Hyperlapse), but it was at the time only available to an exclusive set of beta testers. Now, the app is publicly available to any and all that might want to give it a try, and — aside from its horrendous icon — I’m decently impressed.

Not much has changed since it was first introduced, and it’s still a little on the buggy side according to reviews, but overall users — myself included, briefly — are satisfied with the app’s resulting video footage. You can import existing video into the app, choose between multiple speeds, create selfie hyperlapses, and more.

You can get Microsoft Hyperlapse Mobile right now on the Play Store for free.

Microsoft’s Cortana for Android beta leaks a bit early, we try it out [Gallery]

Stephen Hall Jul 17 2015 - 11:27 am PT

Microsoft announced last month that its Cortana voice assistant would be coming to Android in beta at some point in July, but it looks like the APK has managed to leak out a bit early. We grabbed it as soon as we could, and decided to give it a look. And our first impression, frankly, is that there’s not really anything special about Cortana — especially when Android has Google Now, Hound, and other competitors to pick from.

Expand
Expanding
Close

VLC beta updated to 1.5.0 w/ better Material looks, USB auto-detection, more

Stephen Hall Jul 17 2015 - 10:00 am PT

VLC pushed a major cross-platform release in February, and at that point the company’s Android app finally left beta for the first time. VLC for Android has definitely been getting a lot of attention since then, though, and version 1.5 — which packs some notable improvements — was released today.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Dozens of popular apps found ‘vulnerable to password cracking’

Cam Bunton Jul 17 2015 - 9:15 am PT

Popular iOS and Android apps from companies like Walmart, ESPN, Slack and SoundCloud have been found vulnerable to password cracking, according to a recent report from AppBugs. The security firm found that dozens of the most popular apps are lacking, in that they allow you to make any number of attempts to login without restriction. These clearly opens up a gap for attackers who have the means to guess those passwords and gain access to your accounts.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google announces enhanced snooze functionality for Inbox by Gmail

Chance Miller Jul 16 2015 - 4:50 pm PT

Google today announced a useful new feature that is now available in its Inbox email app. Starting today, when users “snooze” an email that has dates and times, they will be presented with a one-tap option to snooze to a specific time further in the future. For instance, you can snooze an event confirmation email until the day of the event. Another possible instance is snoozing a shipment confirmation email until the day of the package’s arrival.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google rolling out Classroom notifications to Android and iOS apps

Zac Hall Jul 16 2015 - 9:21 am PT

We shared last month that a number of changes were coming to Google’s Classroom service for educators and students, and now Google says that one of those changes is rolling out now: mobile alerts. Google says that the Classroom app for both Android and iOS will gain support for mobile notifications this week.

For instance, students will be alerted immediately when they receive new assignments or grades, notes from teachers, comments from fellow classmates, and more—allowing them to stay on top of their schoolwork even more easily.

To support the new notifications feature, Google released an updated version of its Classroom app for Android on the Play Store and iOS on the App Store this week. Google first announced the new alerts feature for Classroom, which it launched last year to help teachers and students manage classwork, alongside other upcoming changes coming to Classroom including a new developer API, a share button for sending work to other services, and the ability to re-use assignments.

HBO NOW comes to Android and Fire tablets, Fire TV and Fire TV Stick soon

Stephen Hall Jul 16 2015 - 7:35 am PT

Update: The app is now available on the Play Store. Link below.

At long last, HBO is bringing HBO NOW, which first launched first on the Apple TV, to Android.

Additionally, Amazon has today announced that the online-only service is now available on the company’s line of Fire tablets, and that NOW will be making its way to the Amazon Fire TV and the Fire TV Stick very soon.

Expand
Expanding
Close

It’s official – Angry Birds 2 is coming on July 30th

Cam Bunton Jul 16 2015 - 6:05 am PT

It seems an age since Angry Birds first rose to prominence as the best-selling mobile game going. After countless spin-offs and movie tie-ins, it’s about to get its first proper sequel. Rovio announced in a blog post this morning that Angry Birds 2 will officially launch on July 30th.

With 3 billion game downloads, millions of fans across the globe, multiple mashups and spin-offs, collaborations with A-list celebrities and much more, we’re really proud that Angry Birds is the mother of all mobile game apps. And now we’re proud to announce the mother of all sequels – Angry Birds 2!

Rovio hasn’t announced exactly what to expect or which platforms it’ll be available on, but it does say that it will make its way to “app stores worldwide” in two weeks, suggesting that it will almost certainly be available on the most popular platforms: Android and iOS.

Hit the Angry Birds 2 website to sign up and be notified as soon as it’s available. In the mean time, you can grab a bunch of the more popular Angry Birds titles for free, or just $1 in Rovio’s iOS sale.