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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Falcon Pro was one of the most notorious Android Twitter clients for quite some time, but development of the app got pushed aside when it started running into its Twitter API token limits. But the app’s developer Joaquim Verges has now brought it back with the release of version 3, which has been completely rewritten and re-imagined, and packs a gorgeous new dark-skinned Material Design aesthetic.
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The New York Times reports today that Google is preparing an update to its mobile Translate app that will include real-time detection and translation of spoken foreign languages. The online service recently got an upgrade to support a total of 90 languages.
The app will also reportedly gain the ability to use the camera to translate foreign signs in the real world. An exact timeline for when the update will roll out wasn’t given, but the Times says that most Android devices currently running the application will be able to use the new version as well.
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.
From 9to5Toys.com
Starting now through December 26th, the Amazon App Store is offering what it’s calling the “largest Free App of the Day bundle ever.” While we have certainly seen Android sales rivaling today’s in the past, there are over $220 worth of paid apps for free available including the #1 Best Selling Entertainment App on Amazon, Plex. It is regularly listed at $5 and has received a 4+ star rating from over 30,000 reviewers on Google Play and Amazon combined.
Other notable freebies in the sale include: Terraria (Reg. $5), Five Nights at Freddy’s (Reg. $3), Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Reg. $3), djay 2 (Reg. $3), Age of Zombies: Season 2 (Reg. $1), Angry Birds Space (Ad-Free) (Reg. $1), Fleksy Keyboard (Reg. $2) and many more.
Amazon is also offering up to 30% off Amazon Coins (which can be used for future app/in-app purchases), and you’ll find more game deals still live in our latest roundup.
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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DirecTV announced a partnership with Fox Networks today that will see its subscribers gain access to content in Fox Now, FXNow, and Nat Geo TV apps on Android in addition to other platforms.
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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.
The current version of the Play Store
Some have started to notice yesterday and this morning that Google has apparently begun testing a new layout for app pages on the Play Store (via Android Police), and the new look seems to do away with the full-width layout of old, replacing it with a more traditional 3-column look. I don’t see the new version of the Play Store when using the latest stable build of Chrome, but when using the latest Beta, it pops right up.
Here’s what it looks like:
A newer version being seen by some
The new looks compacts some of the previous information into a thinner middle column, making room for a new column on the right that offers suggestions for similar apps. In addition to apps that are simply similar, there’s also a new section that shows apps that were created by the same developer. I haven’t noticed any other changes to the Play Store after clicking around for a little bit, but if you notice something else, feel free to let us know in the comments below.
Samsung is finally closing its chat service ChatOn, service ceasing on 1st February in most countries, lingering on for around a month longer in the US, reports Engadget.
Despite claiming 100 million users last September, analytics data suggested it was the least-used pre-installed app on Samsung phones, and that it averaged only six seconds of use per month – suggesting that many users opened it either accidentally or just to see what it was.
The company says users will have the chance to backup chat data before the shutdown.
McDonald’s is testing Bluetooth beacon-based offers in at least some of its locations as it pilots beacon platform Piper that works with both Android devices and iOS devices using Apple’s iBeacon framework.
Piper announced today that it’s testing its beacon platform in McDonald’s franchises in Columbus, Georgia and pushing deals out to users that download its mobile app that sends location-based offers when users come in contact with its beacons.
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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.
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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The world’s cheapest virtual reality headset may be just a bit of fun by Google, but the company hasn’t just put it out there and forgotten about it. An easter egg in Google Maps for Android lets you use Google Cardboard to take a virtual reality tour of places like the world’s tallest building – Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
Double-tap the navigation icon bottom-right to activate VR mode, then view through Google Cardboard.
Google recently announced that half a million people are using Cardboard as it offered new SDKs to software developers and opened a dedicated section of the Google play store for cardboard apps.
Google today announced that it’s adding new shortcuts for its Google Drive web apps— Docs, Sheets, and Slides— to the App Launcher feature accessible from the upper right corner of most its web services (pictured right). The new shortcuts join services like Search, Mail, Calendar, and Drive that were previously accessible from the App Launcher.
For regular users, Google is adding Docs to the main section of the App Launcher and making Sheets and Slides shortcuts available by opting in when visiting the apps:
And the next time you visit sheets.google.com or slides.google.com, you’ll see the option to add Sheets and Slides to the launcher as well. Remember that you can always rearrange the icons to your liking by just clicking and dragging them around… One note–if you’ve already customized the arrangement of your icons, you’ll need to visit docs.google.com and click “Add a shortcut” in the App Launcher to get the Docs icon to appear.
For Google Apps users, Google will put Docs, Slides, and Sheets shortcuts in the App Launcher by default and bump Groups and Contacts into the “More” section of the launcher.
Apps users can expect the change to kick in early next month.
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.
IP Cam Viewer is well known in the Android community as being one of the best solutions for keeping an eye on IP cameras in live time, but the app is also known for having a really bad user interface. Today, while IP Cam Viewer’s UI is still as ugly as ever, a slew of really useful new features have been introduced, including the ability to monitor cameras on your wrist via Android Wear.
[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.
