Apps and Updates

Microsoft announced today during its Build conference that it will release a tool for developers to port their Android apps directly to Windows 10 as “universal apps” that run on both phones and desktop computers. Developers will be able to feed their existing Java and C++ code into a new software package and have it converted to work on the upcoming PC operating system.

At least, that’s how Microsoft is pitching it, though the whole process is a bit more complex. Essentially Windows 10 will ship with APIs that mirror the expected behavior of many Android APIs, and this new conversion tool will help developers swap out Android code for matching Windows code.

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Google’s official Project Fi app has now landed in the Play Store, following the announcement of the Mountain View company’s MVNO earlier this month. The app lets you activate service, tweak your account settings, check how much data you’re using, see your monthly bill, and more…
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Google today is launching a new tool called Password Alert that will allow users to keep track of sign-ins on their account with notifications and change their password if necessary. The new tool comes in the form of a Chrome extension and allows users to easily change their password if a fraudulent sign-in attempt is detected.
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After it started showing notifications from 40 Android apps as cards in its Google Now app back in January, today Google turned on the feature for an additional 70 partners.

Google highlighted a few of the new additions including news and updates from ABC News, Circa and Feedly, reminders from Eat24 and Allrecipes, and fitness goal alerts from RunKeeper, Jawbone, and Adidas. You’ll also get prompted from OpenTable to pay your bill and playlist recommendations from Spotify, TuneIn, YouTube, and more.
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Courtesy:<a href="http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015" target="_blank"> NFL.com</a>

You’ll need the NFL Mobile app for Android if you plan on catching the upcoming 2015 NFL Draft from your mobile device, and Verizon today has shared that it will exclusively carry the broadcast for its subscribers on Android smartphones. Verizon’s exclusivity deal doesn’t extend to the tablet version of the app, though, so non-Verizon customers can still catch the draft’s live broadcast from the larger mobile app after verifying with a supported cable provider.
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As it usually does, Samsung is giving away a bunch of free content to owners of its new Galaxy S6 and S6 edge and now it has revealed what exactly will be included this time around.
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SwiftKey today announced and released its first app part of a new initiative called the SwiftKey Greenhouse. The company wants to do some experimenting with new software, and they want to make a place “where [they] can seed ideas and help them grow.” The new initiative is off to a good start, as I’ve found out, because its first project—called Clarity—is a great, unique new attempt at a mobile keyboard…
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Facebook continues to add new capabilities to its Messenger app today with the launch of a new video calling feature. A new video icon at the top of conversation threads will initiate a call, allowing participants to communicate across platforms over Wi-Fi or LTE connections.

The addition puts Facebook in competition with Google’s Hangouts, Microsoft’s Skype, and other similar services. Interestingly, web-based video chat has been available on the desktop for some time, and was previously powered by Skype.

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SwiftKey is one of the most popular third-party keyboards across both iOS and Android, and the company today released the latest beta version of its Android app. The app’s main functionality hasn’t changed, but this update brings a completely redesigned options menu—and I think it suits the keyboard pretty well…
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Google has announced today that its Keep note-taking app has now received full Android Wear support, letting you view your check lists, photos, and notes straight from your wrist…
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Twitter has today announced that it’s bringing a new feature called “Highlights” to its official Android app. The feature aims to condense your Twitter feed to be much more easily digestible, giving you only the tweets and stories that you really want. When you don’t have time to flick through your entire timeline, Twitter hopes you’ll go to Highlights for a grab-and-go fix…
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Facebook has finally released the Android dialer that it was recently rumored to be working on. The “Hello” dialer displays Facebook-based information about who’s on the other end of an incoming call, such as their employer, birthday, and even the number of mutual friends you have on the social network.

The dialer only pulls data that you would normally have access to—info made public or set to be visible to friends of friends, for example—to protect the privacy of its users. A search bar lets users look up contact information for other Facebook users. Info about businesses is also available through the search function. You’ll be able to lookup hours of operation and location directly from the dialer.

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Screenshots via <a href="http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/04/21/android-wear-app-v1-1-rolls-out-with-an-updated-look-support-for-cloud-sync-over-wi-fi-and-calendars-for-multiple-accounts-apk-download/">Android Police</a>

After unveiling a handful of new features for Android Wear yesterday, Google this evening has started rolling out an updated version of the Android Wear companion app. The update prepares the app for many of the features revealed by Google yesterday, including WiFi support, wrist gestures, and always-on apps.

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Google has today announced several updates to Google Classroom, including the ability to add more than one teacher to a Classroom class, and new automatically-saving drafts for class announcements and assignments…
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Niantic Labs is the group within Google that’s behind the famed Ingress augmented reality game, but they have another app that definitely gets a lot less attention. It’s called Field Trip, and it lets you quickly and easily find places of interest around your physical location. You don’t even have to use the app yourself—it runs in the background and automatically lets you know when you’re getting close to “cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you.” Now, the app will send those notifications to your wrist…
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You may recall last month that Microsoft announced a major partnership with Samsung to include a number of mobile apps on the flagship Galaxy S6 out-of-the-box. While bundled apps may be considered bloatware for many consumers, the deal meant Microsoft’s Android apps would gain a lot of exposure for adopters of arguably the best 2015 Android smartphone. The results of that deal may vary, though, as two major carriers have introduced roadblocks to some of Microsoft’s apps for their versions of the Galaxy S6…
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Popular task management app Any.do has been updated to version 3.0 with a slew of new features and a fresh coat of paint. You’ll still find all of your lists and collaboration features as easy to use as ever, but now you’ll be able to see an overview of all of your lists with the new grid mode.
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