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Ryan Whitwam-

Ryan Whitwam

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About Ryan Whitwam

Ryan is a tech/science writer, skeptic, lover of all things electronic, and Android fan. In his spare time he reads golden-age sci-fi and sleeps, but rarely at the same time. His wife tolerates him as few would. He's the author of a sci-fi novel called The Crooked City, which is available on Amazon and Google Play.

Latest Articles

Intel might have finally cracked the video messaging code. See, you'd probably send more video messages to people if you looked like a giant anthropomorphized puffer fish. Heck, you might even pay for the privilege of looking like George Washington in said video message. So obviously, there's now an Intel app called Pocket Avatars that does just that.

Perhaps you recall the abrupt closure of online phone dealer Wirefly a few months ago. Its parent company Simplexity LLC filed for bankruptcy, and is currently being chopped up and sold as part of debt reorganization. The Wirefly name and website have emerged from this under new ownership with a focus on comparing devices and plans to help you find the best deal.

Google has chosen to keep the on-screen navigation bar simple ever since it was introduced back in Honeycomb. It's changed a little bit over the years, but Xtended NavBar lets you change the way it works without screwing up the UI. When you need you navigation buttons, they're in the usual spot, but you can swipe to access more functions.

Motorola's littlest smartphone is getting a little present today in the form of a custom recovery. There is now an official build of TWRP for this super-low cost smartphone, which will make flashing ZIPs and backing up a breeze.

With all that excitement (sort of) around the announcement of the Fire Phone, you might have forgotten it was update Wednesday. Well Google didn't forget. Google never forgets anything... ever. The Drive app is hitting version 1.3.222.29 today with a few little UI tweaks of note.

Google Announces Play Books Availability In 12 New Countries Including Guatemala, Ecuador, And Costa Rica [Update: Okay, Now It's Live]

Google Announces Play Books Availability In 12 New Countries Including Guatemala, Ecuador, And Costa Rica [Update: Okay, Now It's Live]

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Google has not only posted that Play Books is now available in 12 more nations, but it also took the opportunity to test our knowledge of geography. Rather than simply list the countries, the Google Play G+ account posted an image of 13 flags (Norway actually went live the other day, hence 12 new ones). Thanks, guys.

Samsung is sending an update out to all the owners of its new wearables in the US. Surely there are some of them, right? So yes, that Gear 2, Gear2 Neo, or Gear Fit on your wrist is about to get slightly better. I mean, it's still a Gear, but you know.

After over 1300 Face-Off contest submissions, Motorola has chosen its 10 favorites Moto 360 face designs to go on to final voting. You can cast your vote(s) now for the design you want to see as an option on the Moto 360 when it comes out later this year. The images run the gamut from clean and simple, to rather complex for a smart watch.

Google might own Waze, but thankfully Mountain View isn't shutting down the social navigation service to bring it all in-house. In fact, Waze just got an update on Android to v3.8 with a few new features. Waze calls itself a social GPS app, so yeah, most of these features are social things.

Motorola's newer phones have a lot of little touches that improve the overall experience, one of which is the boot services app. Sounds boring, right? Well, it is most of the time. The exception being days like today when Motorola uses boot services to push out a new boot animation. This time it's got a World Cup theme.

Sure, Android Wear is just around the corner, but Qualcomm is still focusing on the Toq. An update to version 1.5.5_14602 is rolling out and it finally adds a feature that virtually every digital watch has had since the 80s. Yes, a stopwatch.

Look, I'm not going to try and convince you that you need to spend money on any of these apps. If you want them, you'll press the button, You know you will. No use trying to avoid it. Do it.

You've got a new billing option in Google Play if you're a customer of Canadian carrier Telus or O2 in the UK. Fire up the Play Store, and you'll see carrier billing pop up in the checkout screen. Yay, another way to give Google money.

There was once a time when sending a risqué picture meant coping with the possibility that it would be out there forever, then Snapchat happened along to delete those pics automatically (this does not constitute a guarantee). Now Facebook is looking to get in on the sexting* game with its own take on Snapchat called Slingshot.

Attention marine, there's a war to be fought, and those orcs aren't going to just kill themselves. Oh... but, did you bring any money? Because we're going to need that. What? Chainsword fuel is expensive. But in seriousness, we were in need of a more traditional Warhammer game after the tower defense-style Storm of Vengeance came out, and Carnage might be it.

Your phone probably has a lot of stuff on it, right? Terrain Launcher (funded by Samsung Accelerate) claims it helps you stay organized like no other launcher. A dubious claim perhaps, but early reviews are positive. Terrain focuses on three features: a sidebar, universal search, and an enhanced app drawer.

The folks at Cyanogen Inc. are busy with more than the OnePlus One launch, if that's what you call this. There are also a pair of new apps in the Play Store. Theme Showcast pretties up your CM11-based device, and Gallery Next is live, but only for the OnePlus One right now.

Those little pictographic symbols on your keyboard are about to get much more expansive now that Unicode 7.0 has been released. Yes, the designers of emoji don't just come up with this stuff on their own – they are part of the text presentation standards that keeps letters consistent across platforms. Included in the new emoji are gems like a thermometer, a chipmunk, a middle finger, and a diesel locomotive... which I'm sure we'll all get lots of use out of.

Lo, and then the lord did tap the touchscreen interface and cause great mountains to rise up from the landscape. Then with a swipe and a tap, the lord did create all the creatures of the land. Following all that, the lord made the sky purple, just because, for this god is a confusing and temperamental god. This and so much more is what awaits you in Topia World Builder, which has just hit Android after a good long run on iOS.

Oppo announced the Find 7 in two flavors a few months ago, but it only sold the lower end Find 7a until now. Preorders are finally live for the Oppo Find 7 with a better screen, more RAM, and more storage. It'll also cost you a little more money, but not as much as you might expect.

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