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In times past, we've seen Google add new countries to its list of supported territories for Google Maps Navigation shortly before we see the update itself rollout. Today, there's been a pretty huge change to that document that added 10 new nations including Bulgaria, Estonia, Ghana, Iceland, Ivory Coast, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Senegal and Slovakia (for some reason Singapore appears to have been added to the list, even though that nation already has Navigation).
Of course sharing this tidbit is going to make me that guy*, but if the word "meme" to you means "a picture with text written on it" then chances are you owe at least some thanks to the Cheezburger Network. This site (and later, series of sites)has been built around the business of collecting viral internet images for the lulz. Now, several realms from this digital domain—including but not limited to Memebase, FAILblog, and ROFLRazzi and a couple dozen others—are available via the new Cheezburger mobile app.
When you think of the legendary icons of rock, who comes to mind? KISS? Queen? Santa Claus? AC/DC? All good answers, but only one of them is the subject of today's amazing game: Santa Rockstar. This rhythm game, a la Guitar Hero, puts you behind the reins of the sleigh, and you have only one hope to bring cheer to all the head-banging girls and boys: pick that ax like Christmas depends on it. Because it does.
Today, the UK's public broadcasting service, the BBC, upgraded its mobile app for Android. The update brings improvements to the UI to bring the interface a bit more in line with Android's Holo guidelines. The new version also adds support for Jelly Bean 4.2, improved video streaming over WiFi, and a new content channel.
We've known it's coming for a while and, per today's announcement, it will finally be here soon: Facebook's revamp of its Android app that will bring a proper, native UI as opposed to the mostly HTML5-based web viewer that's been powering the application for so long. The result is photos, the news feed, and timelines will load at least twice as fast, according to the company.
Redbox Instant By Verizon Details Announced: Unlimited Streaming & Four One-Night Disc Rentals Per Month
We've been hearing rumblings for a while now about Redbox partnering with Verizon for a streaming service. Today, the company announced the details.
We've been hearing rumblings for a while now about Redbox partnering with Verizon for a streaming service. Today, the company announced the details of that arrangement: for $8/month you can get access to unlimited streaming of a selection of movies (including the EPIX library which, for those who don't know, is pretty impressive), as well as four monthly credits to rent a physical movie for one night from any Redbox kiosk.
Okay, before you dismiss Viddy just for the Instagram comparison, yes, it's true that this app will take your videos and add an "artsy" filter, but it also comes with some handy clipping, scoring, and sharing functionality. You can send your shots directly to YouTube, your choice of social network, or publish on the Viddy stream. Which, at the moment, seems to be dominated almost exclusively by 4 month old things Eliza Dushku shared. At least for me, for some reason.
If there's one thing you can say about Samsung, it's that the company is at least trying to push out updates, with a sizeable number of devices already running Jelly Bean. Sure, it's 4.1 and about six months behind the Nexus baseline, but the company is better than most manufacturers about rolling out updates lately. As if to demonstrate this, the Wi-Fi Galaxy Note 10.1 (N8010) has started to receive Jelly Bean 4.1.1 (JRO03C) in Germany.
If you haven't heard of David Maisel, allow me to fill you in: he's been an executive producer (read: important decision-making guy with broad yet vague duties in getting a movie together) for virtually every one of the Marvel Phase One movies including both Iron Man flicks, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America. I tell you this so you'll have at least a little bit of hope to cling to when I tell you that he's been signed on to produce the Angry Birds movie, alongside Despicable Me producer John Cohen.
It seems like we can't go more than a week or two without hearing that one of Google's content services has rolled out to a new country. Today, Russia is getting in on the action with Play Books and Movies now available throughout the country. You can purchase books like normal, and movies are available both for rental and purchase.
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Back when HTC announced that it wouldn't be making any more "cheap, cheap phones," a lot of us hoped that this would lead to a much more simplified handset lineup from the company. Especially after the reveal of the One Series, it looked like figuring out which device was better than the others would finally become simple. Now, to utterly ruin that hope, here is the HTC One SV! It's better than the One V, but not quite as good as the One VX in some ways, but also doesn't measure up to the One S in others, and frankly my head is spinning at this point.
Today, the streaming service best known for completing the Netflix/YouTube trifecta, Hulu Plus, got an update to its mobile Android app. Among the new features are a special Hulu Kids section that showcases a bunch of ad-free content for the youngsters. Parents can even lock the app so that only child-friendly content can be viewed without a password (though this doesn't prevent them from accessing other apps on the device).
Sure, "in-app purchases" becomes a bit of a dirty phrase when we're talking about games that abuse the privilege, but they're a critical element of any profitable app ecosystem, and today Google's making a bunch of IAP features easier and smoother for developers and, by extension, you. Here are some of the new improvements.
Before you get too excited, let's start with the disclaimers. For starters, while yes, some users over on XDA managed to get LTE service working in very select AT&T markets, this probably won't work in your area. Also, this is not the intended use of your phone, so if you're not comfortable screwing with radios on your phone, you should probably skip the whole freaking out thing.
One of the biggest problems with the Play Store is that, compared to certain other platforms, its international support for both products and payment systems is comparatively meager. This is, of course, one of the main reasons that earning revenue on Android seems harder for developers. Starting today, though, if you live in Australia and use Telstra, you have one more way to pay: carrier billing.
If David convinced you last week with his testimony concerning his phablet conversion, you're looking to jump on the plus-sized bandwagon, and you're looking to get on Sprint, then today might be a good day to pull the metaphorical trigger. As of right now, Amazon Wireless is selling the Galaxy Note II for $149. Normally the carrier charges twice that much, though we've seen it for cheaper before.
I hope you like Google Now, because it looks like this product is here to stay for a long time. As we speak, Chrome developers are working on bringing Popular Science's Innovation of the Year to the desktop, instead of keeping it trapped just on your phone or tablet. As it turns out, a "skeleton" framework is already in place for the search product to move in.
Hi, everyone. I'd like to introduce you to the Samsung Muse. This is a music player with no screen and a mere 4GB of storage that requires a phone with music on it in order to sync. It costs $50 and is going on sale in the U.S. soon. Why is this handy little thingy going to be made available here? Because screw you, that's why.
A few days ago, we were treated to a lovely look at what Tasker, the highly-customizable Android automation app, could look like if it got a nice facelift. Unfortunately, this was done by the Android team and was not representative of any real work being done by the developer. As it turns out, though, the developer behind said application is working on a holo conversion. There are quite a few obstacles to deal with in the meantime: