PSA

• Android
• Google Apps
• Smartphone
• security
• Business

PSA: First Android for Work online conference happening November 4th

Google isn’t just building Android for mainstream consumers — the company also wants to tackle the business sector. And to educate business owners on why they might want to take advantage of what Google has to offer, the Mountain View company is holding its first Android for Work online conference, dubbed Android for Work Live, on November 4th.

At Android for Work Live, you’ll:

• Hear from Andrew Toy, product management director for Android for Work, who’ll discuss the broad vision of Android in the workplace and how businesses can mobilize every worker and workflow.
• Learn how Android’s vast selection of devices – from affordable phones to locked-down hardware and customized devices – creates choice and agility for BYOD, corporate deployments and single-purpose scenarios.
• Get an in-depth look at how companies can rely on Android’s built-in multi-layered protections to keep business data secure and managed across all devices in an overview from Adrian Ludwig, technical lead for Android security.
• Hear insights from Android customers, including Guardian Life Insurance Company.

If this sounds interesting to you, Google says you can register for the event over at the Google for Work website.

• Android
• Asus
• review
• Asus ZenFone 3
• zenfone 2

PSA: ASUS now offers a 16 GB ZenFone 2 variant w/ 4 GB of RAM for $229

We got our first look at the ZenFone 2 all the way back at CES 2015 (and we recently gave the ZenFone 2E the review treatment), but now it appears (via Lilliputing), that ASUS is offering yet another model of the phone. While its hefty 4 GB of RAM was previously restricted to the higher-capacity models, ASUS is now offering a 16 GB model with the larger memory option for $229.

If you’re in the market to add a ZenFone to your Android arsenal, but you don’t want to pitch the extra cost for the 64 GB model, this is your handset of choice. Previously, the 16 GB model — which started at just $200 — was offered only with 2 GB of RAM, but now you can double the RAM for $30 more. It’s a no brainer, especially considering 2 GB of RAM is a little on the low side for 2015.

You can grab the new variant — in black, silver, gold, or red — on Amazon for $229 shipped.

 

 

• Google
• Google Plus
• update
• notifications
• settings

PSA: You can now tweak which apps & services show up in Google notifications

Google has lately been shuffling around its notification menu, most recently adding separate Google Photos notifications that tell you when the newly-launched “Assistant” has made a collage, video, or GIF from your library. But there might be some people who don’t want to see their Google Photos notifications (or perhaps more likely, those who don’t want to see their Google+ notifications), and Google has today launched an accommodation for those circumstances. There’s now a familiar gear icon in the notification drop-down that lets you access a new “Settings” page for toggling which notifications you want to receive…
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• Apps & Updates
• Android
• Apps and Updates
• security
• Snapchat
• social

PSA: Snapchat users can now opt out of phone number/username linking following API abuse

Following recent API abuse that lead to phone numbers and usernames being exposed, Snapchat, the social photo sharing app, has updated its Android app with the option to opt out of linking your phone number with your username. The feature was intended to increase social discoverability among mutual contacts, but was recently abused leading to the following update and apology:

Find Friends Improvements

This morning we released a Snapchat update for Android and iOS that improves Find Friends functionality and allows Snapchatters to opt-out of linking their phone number with their username. This option is available in Settings > Mobile #.

This update also requires new Snapchatters to verify their phone number before using the Find Friends service.

Our team continues to make improvements to the Snapchat service to prevent future attempts to abuse our API. We are sorry for any problems this issue may have caused you and we really appreciate your patience and support.

Love,

Team Snapchat

The update is available now on for Android users on the Google Play Store.