Google

According to a post by an Android Developer Advocate on Google+, the Mountain View company has had to delay Android M Developer Preview 3 just a bit to make sure it’s closer to being a “near final’ build. Google never promised a release date, so most probably won’t be too disappointed, but the company says it just needs a “little more time.”

As per Wojtek Kaliciński:

A quick update on M Developer Preview 3.
We want this to be a near final release to test your apps on, but we need a little more time to get it out to you.
Please be patient and refrain from posting speculations about the release date. We will announce the Preview 3 availability in this community and on +Android Developers as soon as it’s ready.

We’ll of course let you know as soon as the new Developer Preview is out, and we’ll quickly be digging through it to find the latest additions and fixes. The first two previews went without any kind of Google Now on Tap support, so that’s likely part of what the company is scrambling to put together right now.

Google appeals French ‘Right to be forgotten’ order, says would be ‘race to the bottom’

Ben Lovejoy Jul 31 2015 - 4:03 am PT

Google has appealed against France’s order that it must implement ‘Right to be forgotten‘ requests globally, rather than just within Europe, reports the WSJ. The company argued in a blog post that to comply would mean the Internet would only be as free as the least free country in the world …
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The new 9to5

Seth Weintraub Jul 30 2015 - 5:15 pm PT

17 Comments

You might notice that 9to5Google has changed. Indeed so has the whole network. Long before the page size/speed and advertising controversies, we knew that we needed to rethink how we presented ourselves.

While we were one of the lightest and fastest sites in our field, our feature creep and advertisers were adding complexity and page load times, which is especially crucial on mobile – an ever expanding percentage of our growing audience.

We decided to start over…
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The invite waitlist for OnePlus 2 purchases has surpassed one million people

Tom Maxwell Jul 30 2015 - 4:13 pm PT

OnePlus earlier this week finally took the wraps off the much anticipated OnePlus 2, the successor to the company’s first Android smartphone, the OnePlus One. And while the young Chinese company says it significantly increased manufacturing capacity for the 2 over the One, it still seems to believe that demand will initially outstrip supply. As such, once the OnePlus 2 launches on August 11th you’re likely to do some more waiting before you get it.
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Glass ‘Enterprise Edition’ reports corroborated: Improved internals, robust build, not for consumers

Stephen Hall Jul 30 2015 - 2:15 pm PT

As I first told you across several exclusive reports, Google’s next move for Google Glass is into the enterprise (via The Wall Street Journal). As I said, the device is expected to have improved internal hardware including an Intel Atom processor, a new physique that makes it more suitable for less-than-ideal working environments, and will be coming exclusively to the workplace through the Glass for Work partner groups.

Google Play minimum price now Rs. 10 in India, Play Movies goes live in Indonesia and Malaysia (Update: Singapore too)

Tom Maxwell Jul 30 2015 - 10:54 am PT

Update: Google posted to Google+ shortly after we published this to announce that Play Movies is actually now available in three new countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Our report below doesn’t mention Singapore as a new supported country.

Google Play and Play Movies are both getting some international love today. Play is Google’s store for apps and games, while Play Movies contains movie and television content.

First up, developers in India can now price their Play Store apps lower than ever before: Rs. 10, which comes out to approximately 10 cents in US dollars. This is major because while India is a rapidly developing country with many starting to rise to the middle class, its per capita GDP is still much smaller than that of the United States. Also, and this is just my opinion, 10 cents is much more of a impulse buy area. This new minimum pricing only applies to India. Google recently began selling Play Store gift cards in the country as well – India is very reliant on cash over plastic (credit, debit cards), so by making gift cards available that can be purchased with cash, the company has ostensibly increased its potential customer base in that country.

Also new today, or at least very recently, is the launching of Play Movies in Indonesia and Malaysia. Several people have reached out to Android Police as of late with tips and screenshots of its availability in the two countries, so it’s pretty assured to be real. Play Movies is, as mentioned, Google’s movie and television entertainment store for Android devices. The company also rents out video content through YouTube, although the availability of both of these varies widely by region and country.

Testing Android apps is now easier with new ‘open beta’ option

Tom Maxwell Jul 30 2015 - 9:52 am PT

Up until today, testing out an Android app that’s in beta has required going through a non-intuitive process that includes joining a group on Google+ (or Google Groups) and then clicking a special Play Store link which typically doesn’t even work until a few minutes after you join the associated group (which can lead people to thinking that something isn’t working). It’s weird and inelegant, so Google has just announced two new (easier) ways through which developers can grant users access to their betas.

Google adds 40 new companies to the Android for Work program

Stephen Hall Jul 30 2015 - 9:22 am PT

Google’s Android for Work program already has more than 10,000 businesses that are “testing, deploying or using Android for Work” in some capacity, and now the company has announced 40 new partners. Notably, several Android handset OEMs are joining the group, as well as 8 cellular carriers.

The Android for Work program took off with the help of our partners across the Android ecosystem, and today we’re expanding the family to 40 companies to continue the momentum, including new device manufacturers, application makers and management providers.

AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, HTC, Sony, LG, Huawei, Lenovo, Motorola, Dell, and HP are among some of the notable additions. Google makes note of Blackphone as one of the newly-partnered companies that brings the enhanced privacy and security features on top of the Android platform.

Quick Look at Microsoft’s new Arrow Launcher beta for Android [Video]

Cam Bunton Jul 29 2015 - 4:16 pm PT

A couple of days ago, Microsoft pushed out a beta version of a new Android launcher out to testers. Arrow Launcher aims to give you all the most important people and apps as efficiently as possible. Apps are on one screen, notes and reminders on another, and contacts on a third.

It’s still in its early beta stages, but Arrow Launcher reminds me a little of Yahoo’s Aviate launcher. It’s not the most customizable launcher ever developed, but it does seem efficient and I can see, with time, it’ll be really productive. I’ve put together a quick video to give you an overview of all the features of Arrow Launcher.

Xbox Music’s ‘Groove’ name-change hits Android in redesigned app

Cam Bunton Jul 29 2015 - 1:37 pm PT

Xbox Music changed its name to Groove at the beginning of this month, and today, the rebranding has made its way to the music app on Android’s Play Store. It’s free to download, and is available right now.

Along with the new look and name, the app has had a couple of new features added. More devices can now download tracks for offline listening thanks to newly added compatibility. Music stored in your OneDrive folders will automatically show as music in the new Groove app. What’s more, you won’t need a paid subscription to make use of the app, although you will need one to access the entire streaming catalogue ad-free.

As per the Play Store listing:
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Render purportedly shows form factor of rumored LG Nexus, might be ‘Angler’

Stephen Hall Jul 29 2015 - 1:01 pm PT

OnLeaks, otherwise known as Nowhereelse.fr’s Steve Hemmerstoffer, has today shared an image of what he claims is a rough render of what the backside of an upcoming LG Nexus will look like. He hasn’t provided any information on any details or specifications of the phone, however.

Get ready to see search ads in Google’s Play Store: they’re rolling out now

Tom Maxwell Jul 29 2015 - 11:23 am PT

Google at its I/O developer conference back in May took some time to discuss improvements it was making to its Play Store for Android devices. Of those, one area in particular the company touched on was improving the discoverability of apps through better categorization and the ability for developers to A/B test their listings to find which combination of titles and screenshots would lead to the most downloads.

Another way the company has been working to help developers drive awareness of their apps has been through testing Play Store search advertisements, placing a developers’ app at the top of search results against specific keywords. The ability to purchase these placements is starting to roll out today.
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Poll: OnePlus 2 and Moto X Pure Edition compared – which is your pick?

Stephen Hall Jul 29 2015 - 7:36 am PT

4 Comments

Both the OnePlus 2 and the Moto X Pure Edition were announced this week, showcasing the best that these two Android OEMs have to offer this year. Both of these devices were horribly-kept secrets in their own ways, so there weren’t many surprises — we already knew almost every detail about both phones before they were announced.

But now that they’re here, which one do you think you’ll be getting? Or if you’re not in line for an upgrade right now, which one would be your pick? Let’s take a look at a few of their differences…
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Google Translate app instant visual translation adds 20 languages

Stephen Hall Jul 29 2015 - 7:04 am PT

If you travel internationally, you’re well aware that Google Translate’s visual translation features — which originated as the Word Lens app — are invaluable. Today, Google announced that the app has added support for 20 new languages, bringing the total up to 27.

Today, we’re updating the Google Translate app again—expanding instant visual translation to 20 more languages (for a total of 27!), and making real-time voice translations a lot faster and smoother—so even more people can experience the world in their language.

The app originally supported English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

As of today, you can now translate to and from Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian. You can also do one-way translations from English to Hindi and Thai.

Aclima’s air quality sensors are being attached to Google Street View cars in San Francisco

Tom Maxwell Jul 28 2015 - 10:55 pm PT

Aclima, a startup which builds an end-to-end hardware and software solution for detecting and analyzing the health and state of varying environmental surroundings (i.e. indoors where carbon dioxide can build in meeting rooms, outdoors where vehicles can release significant carbon monoxide), has announced a new partnership with Google which will see its sensors make their way onto Google Street View cars in the San Francisco Bay Area. Street View cars are the vehicles through which Google collects street-level imagery for its Maps street view product.

The ultimate goal for Aclima with partnerships including this one is to make data on air quality as easily accessible as the weather so that communities can better understand how air pollutants in their area are affecting human health and climate change, and start a dialog on improving local air quality.

Google Contributor live to US web users, contribute monthly to see fewer ads across the web

Tom Maxwell Jul 28 2015 - 12:54 pm PT

The confluence of several different events – the great shift to mobile computing where there’s little screen real-estate, a spurning of display ads, to name just two – is causing content creators and consumers alike to rethink how today’s media gets funded. Sites like Patreon and Kickstarter remove the middle-man from the funding process for projects which require lots of upfront investment and see slow development times by allowing anyone to contribute any amount of money they want to a project’s development.

Google last year threw its own hat into the crowdfunding space with the soft launch of Contributor, a way through which consumers can pay a monthly recurring donation to fund the sites they visit while seeing less ads. Now anyone in the United States can actually use it starting today.
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PSA: ‘Moto X Style’ is simply ‘Moto X Pure Edition’ in the US

Stephen Hall Jul 28 2015 - 9:49 am PT

Motorola announced two new Moto X variants this morning, but the company didn’t do a great job of clarifying in its multi-national livestream exactly how the phones would be marketed in the United States. First, as we mentioned, there aren’t any plans to bring the Moto X Play to the US at all at this point. But secondly, and perhaps more confusingly, the Moto X Style isn’t really coming to the US, either. In the United States, the equivalent of the Moto X Style will simply be called “Moto X Pure Edition”.
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Android’s ‘OK Google’ voice control now lets you send messages w/ WhatsApp, Viber, more

Jordan Kahn Jul 28 2015 - 8:30 am PT

Google announced today that it’s now allowing Android users to send messages via third-party services like WhatsApp and Viber using its “OK Google” voice control feature:
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Motorola officially announces the Moto X Style & Moto X Play

Stephen Hall Jul 28 2015 - 6:15 am PT

Motorola has officially unveiled the Moto X Style, its top-of-the-line offering for those looking for a good-looking powerhouse. The company also unveiled a second Moto X called the Moto X Play, which is more rugged and offers better battery, but is less powerful in terms of tech specs.
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Report: Google offered more than $200 million to acquire the startup behind a veggie cheeseburger

Chance Miller Jul 27 2015 - 4:58 pm PT

According to a report from The Information, Google has made efforts in recent months to purchase the Impossible Foods startup. For those unfamiliar, Impossible Foods has been developing a cheeseburger made entirely out of plants, but that tastes and looks like one made out of ground beef.

9to5Toys Lunch Break: LG G Flex 2 (unlocked) $300, Galaxy Tab Pro $350, Samsung EVO 1TB SSD $310, more

Stephen Hall Jul 27 2015 - 12:33 pm PT

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

LG G Flex 2 silver (unlocked) 4G LTE w/ curved OLED: $300 shipped (Reg. $330) | eBay

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2″ Tablet: $350 shipped (Reg. $650) (must be signed in) | Adorama

Samsung 850 EVO 1TB 2.5-inch Internal Solid-State Drive: $310 shipped (Reg. $350)

Sony 7.2-ch. 4K AV Receiver w/ AirPlay and Bluetooth for $299 shipped (Reg. $400), more

More new gear from today:

Motorola Refurb DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modems: SB6121 $45 (Orig. $100), SB6141 $55 (Orig. $100)

New! Daily Deals: Lumsing 10400mAh Power Bank $12, LifeCHARGE case $40, more
New! Games/Apps: Zelda Majora’s Mask 3DS $33, 1 yr. PS Plus $40, more
New! Etekcity 8GB Voice recorder and USB Stick: $13 shipped
New! LED light bulbs up to 40% off: 4-pack $17 shipped (Reg. $23+), more
New! Shoot cinematic masterpieces w/ iStabilizer: $39 (Orig. $60)
New! Free McGraw-Hill iOS apps for kids: Monster Squeeze, more (Reg. $2 ea.)
New! Designs for Mail for $9.99 (50% off)
New! Themes for iBooks Author for $9.99 (50% off)

More deals still alive:

VIZIO 43-inch 4K 120Hz Smart LED UHDTV: $500 shipped (Reg. $600)

Anker Bluetooth iPad Keyboards from $20: Folio Case $30 (Reg. $40), more
Tweetbot for Mac hits its lowest price ever: $10 (Reg. $13)
Sennheiser Urbanite on-ears for $75 or XL over-ears for $130 (Orig. up to $250), more
Magnetic Air Vent Car Mount Holder for iPhone 6/Plus $6 Prime shipped (Orig. $11)
Timbuk2 Iris Gym Duffel Bag (Black) for $30 shipped (Reg. $54)
Apple-Certified MFi Lightning Cables: 1-ft braided nylon $12, 10-ft $10, 3-ft $5, more
Canon PIXMA Inkjet Photo All-in-One Printer + software $20 shipped (Reg. $40+)
Jabra SOLEMATE Portable Bluetooth Speaker $60 shipped (Reg. $90+), more
Urge Soundbrick $18 shipped, waterproof shower speaker $10 shipped, more
Beats by Dr. Dre Studio Wireless On-Ear Headphones in Titanium: $209 shipped (Orig. $380)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II is now available for Mac: $7 (Reg. $10)
Save 30% on fashion at Amazon: Herschel Supply Co., Lacoste, PUMA, more
Learn to build 11 apps with this exclusive iOS 9 Swift coding course: $59 (Orig. $299)
Blinkist Premium 1-yr Subscription: 1000+ Grasp Nonfiction Books: $30 (Orig. $80)
Spigen’s latest Apple Watch dock is made for watchOS 2, pre-order now for $12
Pay what you want for the 7-course Web Hacker Bundle ($1,043 value, currently $6)
Complete this Chipotle trivia game & receive a buy one, get one free coupon
Sennheiser HD650 + Apogee Groove portable DAC/amp $550 shipped ($755 value)
Bose SoundTouch Portable Series II Wireless Music System from $269 (Reg. $325)
Aukey USB Chargers: 5-Port USB Desktop Charging Station $22, more
JBL Control One 4″ Indoor/Outdoor Speakers: $80 or 2-pairs for $150 shipped (Orig. $180)
Kmashi 10,000mAh Dual-USB Power Bank: $9.39 Prime shipped (Orig. $50)
American Express rolls out PayPal competitor, offers $10 statement credit for trying it
Free PS Plus Games for July: Styx Master of Shadows, Rocket League, more
Free Xbox Gold Games for July: Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, more

New products & more:

JBL details new Flip3 & Xtreme portable Bluetooth speakers w/ fresh designs & features

Converse upgrades its Chuck Taylors with new technology for the first time in 98 years
Dad makes a custom Mario Kart 8-inspired nursery and becomes instant internet sensation
The Panono panoramic camera is filled with 36 lenses that total 108MP, available today
Stary Board cuts the weight to become the “world’s lightest” electric vehicle
Cusby adapters work like LEGO to let you build a custom USB-C hub
ZNAPS gives any Lightning or microUSB charging cable a MagSafe-like connector
Jet.com is ready to battle Amazon and Walmart for your online shopping needs
A-Bike Electric has powered assistance in the “lightest” package in the world
Hot Toys is partnering with Disney to create an 18-foot long Millennium Falcon model
Acer’s $100 Liquid Leap+ Fitness Watch for iOS/Android with a 20% discount
The Remix Mini is a low-cost Android-based PC alternative

Review: Bang & Olufsen Beolit 15 Bluetooth speaker

Review: DODOcase Apple Watch Charging Stand

Review: SanDisk Connect Wireless Stic

This custom Google Map outlines the road trips of American literature

Stephen Hall Jul 27 2015 - 12:06 pm PT

If you didn’t know, it’s actually not that hard to take Google’s mapping software and make your own custom maps. That’s what Steven Melendez did, outlining all of the most famous road trips from American literature on a beautiful digital map for you to peruse…

As per Atlas Obscura:

The above map is the result of a painstaking and admittedly quixotic effort to catalog the country as it has been described in the American road-tripping literature. It includes every place-name reference in 12 books about cross-country travel, from Mark Twain’s Roughing It (1872) to Cheryl Strayed’s Wild (2012), and maps the authors’ routes on top of one another. You can track an individual writer’s descriptions of the landscape as they traveled across it, or you can zoom in to see how different authors have written about the same place at different times.

Be sure to head over and check it out. Books that made to cut include Wild by Cheryl Strayed, The Cruise of the Rolling Junk by F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins, The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson, Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck and more.

Chrome Beta 45 introduces improved media playback controls, timed install banners to Android version

Tom Maxwell Jul 27 2015 - 11:26 am PT

As the Google Chrome web browser and web-based Chrome OS operating system continue on their ever quickening path towards divergence and feature parity with the native Android smartphone operating system, all of which are overseen by Google CEO Larry Page’s number two, Sundar Pichai, Chrome for Android is getting some new functionality that brings it closer to what developers can get out of native apps.

Razer’s acquisition of Android gaming box maker OUYA made official

Stephen Hall Jul 27 2015 - 10:38 am PT