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I really don't want to hate Snapkey's Si Evolution keyboard. It's innovative, and as the forward thinking individual that I tell myself I am, I want to be encouraging. But here's the thing, innovative solutions should fix something. That's why they're called solutions in the first place. The Si Evolution keyboard is kind of cool, and given enough devotion, it might even speed up your typing, but it simply breaks more than it fixes.
What's Yours Is Google Mine: How Users Will Track Items Via Google+
What's Yours Is Google Mine: How Users Will Track Items Via Google+
So I was sitting around this weekend using Gmail, Google+, and Google Drive thinking, "Gee, I wish there was a way I could give Google even more information about me." It turns out, there soon will be. The mad scientists at Mountain View are currently preparing a new service entitled Google Mine that is totally not a private sector arm of PRISM. It allows users to share their belongings with friends in their Google+ circles, letting people see both what others own and what they want. Sounds innocent enough, right?
At today's Samsung Premiere 2013 event in London, the Korean smartphone giant announced that it will begin selling the Galaxy S4 in five additional colors. These new models won't be different internally from what's currently available, just more eye-catching. It remains to be seen if this colorful strategy will give a boost to the Galaxy S4's sales numbers, not that it needs all that much help. The Galaxy S4 is still outselling all other Android smartphones by a wide margin, even if it isn't doing so quite as spectacularly as investors would want.
Sony Mobile is moving the Xperia ZL up to Android 4.2.2, making this the first non-Nexus handset to get updated to (instead of ship with) this particular version of Jelly Bean. The latest firmware build, version 10.3.A.0.423, also ushers in updates to Sony's Media apps, expands widget functionality on both the lock screen and the home screen, and introduces support for 64GB microSD cards. This is a big plus for users who shun cloud storage and prefer to carry their media the new-old fashioned way.
Monsters University is about to hit theaters, so you know what that means? It's time to milk the potential audience for all its worth - ahem, I mean - it's time to get schooled on all you need to know to enjoy tomorrow's big movie debut. Monsters University is the prequel to Pixar's Monsters, Inc., a movie that I am shocked to say is now over ten years old. Today's Google Play release contains not just one game, but two. That's either more bang for your buck or a sign that neither game is good enough to warrant distributing on its own.
GrabCAD is an online collaborative community of engineers and partners who design physical products, and GrabCAD Workbench is a cloud service for sharing and collaborating with others around individual CAD projects. Today, a fresh Android app makes it possible to access over 200,000 CAD models that have been shared through this community from the field.
Google Glass may be cool and all, but it just isn't fast enough. No, it's not too laggy, it's just intended for people who have both feet planted firmly on the ground. Okay, Google may have launched Glass with a skydiving demonstration, but that was about recording video. If you want something that is genuinely useful while moving at 80 mph, you'll need something a little more dedicated. Now that I have your attention, I present to you the LiveMap motorbike helmet with navigation currently attracting attention over at Indiegogo.
People first played Scribblenauts on the Nintendo DS and declared: It was good. The series was then ported to consoles, the PC, iOS, and Android via the Amazon Appstore, and it was good. But there was a problem, who uses the Amazon Appstore? While people scratched their heads and terrorized the town in search of such a person, Scribblenauts Remix made its way into the Play Store. And lo, it was still good.
Before Google and Mozilla got around to releasing mobile versions of their browsers for Android, Dolphin was king. Even despite the competition, the browser has surpassed 80 million users since its 2010 debut to maintain its position as the most popular third-party mobile browser. It has now made the jump to version 10, and this substantial upgrade brings with it a whole host of new features.
If you're like me, you love smartphones, but you aren't willing to put up with an oppressive two-year contract just to have one. Unfortunately, unless you happen to have $600 lying around, that means you have to settle for hardware that leaves much to be desired. Thankfully, the times are a-changin'. The LG Optimus F7 is a pretty solid device, and while it's not quite the premium piece of high-performance hardware that Boost Mobile pitches it as, it's a great phone to pick up for carrier's launch price of $299.
Look, I know what you're thinking. You need Samsung to release another Galaxy product, because there's nothing yet in their device lineup that appeals to your particular set of needs. I get it. Sure, there are other brands by other manufacturers out there, but nothing feels quite so comfortable in the palm as yet another Galaxy device. So here it is, the Samsung Galaxy Ring for Virgin Mobile, a 3G-only budget-friendly handset with Android 4.1 and halfway decent specs.
Google is rolling out support for 18 new languages for Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides today, bringing the total up to a whopping 65. Users can switch back and forth between languages as often as they want, and collaboration is supported across languages. The new additions are supported on mobile devices as well, so shoot your long distance friend an invite and give the new languages as go.
The Galaxy S4 is a great device, but it's not for everyone. Some people, frankly, don't need that much phone. The Stellar is one of more affordable devices under the Galaxy brand, and users on Verizon's network will soon see another update roll out to their devices.
Two former HTC executives have banded together to create a new startup that hopes to rock the smartphone market with handsets featuring solid design, hardware, and technology. The name of this company? Kazam. Yes, you read that right. The company is the product of Michael Coombes, HTC's former head of sales, and James Atkins, HTC's former UK marketing head - two men who just couldn't leave the smartphone industry behind.
How useful is a portable device with a dead battery? Not useful. What about a bag full of them? Still not useful, and possibly a little dangerous in the wrong part of town. But what if the bag charged those devices for you? No safer, but it's now too awesome to matter. This is what Vault's Powerbag has to offer. The bag comes with a whopping 3K mAh battery and a sporty red exterior, and new members can get their hands on one today for just $14. That's a full $60 less than what it's currently running for on Amazon.
Google Play for Education, unveiled during Google I/O, is a program to get Nexus tablets into the hands of students and provide a curated app store offering content to fill those tablets with. Google released a video today aimed at the developers who may someday produce the apps that will eventually populate their store. It's also an interesting watch for educators curious about what technology may soon enter their classrooms and parents tired of their children learning on iPads (assuming their classrooms have tablets at all).
Sprint may have gambled wrong with 4G WiMAX several years ago, but the company is coming around. It announced today the addition of 22 new cities to its 4G LTE network. Sprint customers in these areas have been waiting for a while, but they can now enjoy their new speeds just in time for summer.
Samsung is developing a Galaxy S4 with support for LTE-Advanced, which is able to reach nearly twice the speed of normal 4G. The phone may be sold in South Korea as early as this month, but given the lack of necessary infrastructure, it may never see release in America. Or anywhere else, for that matter. Nevertheless, Samsung's phone will still be the first LTE-advanced smartphone to ship anywhere in the world.
Google Introduces Purchase Status API, Developers Can Now Check In-App Purchases On Their Own Servers
Google debuted its brand new Purchase Status API today, pitching the product to developers looking for a way to remotely verify their app's in-app purchases
Google debuted its brand new Purchase Status API today, pitching the product to developers looking for a way to remotely verify their app's in-app purchases through Google Play. It's a backend product that enables the remote query of the status of a specific in-app product or subscription, and it supports cancelling said subscription, if desired. It should also be noted that a unique purchase token is required to make the call, and that token is only given to the device. The API itself is built using HTTP and JSON, so any standard web stack can communicate with it. In short, this is a good API for verifying and following up on a purchase after it has been made.
European Union To End Roaming Fees In Summer 2014 For EU Carriers
Starting in July 2014, Europeans will be free of burdensome roaming charges as they travel across the European Union's 27 member states. This comes after
Starting in July 2014, Europeans will be free of burdensome roaming charges as they travel across the European Union's 27 member states. This comes after officials voted to terminate such fees for voice calls, text messages, and internet access as part of a move to create a single European telecoms market. This is great news for French citizens hopping across the border to Germany, but it will have no impact on tourists from outside of the continent. Americans, for example, will still have their roaming fees determined by their carriers back home.