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Come on, now. These developers have slaved over a hot keyboard all day to make you some delicious apps. The least you could do is buy some of them. Look, we've even found you some cool sales to take advantage of. So get to it.
YouTube comments have a reputation for being one of the most retched hives of scum and villainy this side of 4Chan. Things are about to change in YouTube land, though. Google has just announced that YouTube comments are switching over to Google+ in the coming months, starting with the channel discussion tab later this week.
Mobile devices are designed primarily as a modal experience. You use one app at a time, but can switch between them quickly. Multi-window interfaces and floating apps have been implemented a few times as an alternative, but most of these solutions are a bit clunky. Ixonos has released a new video demo of its multi-window technology, and it looks much better. If only we knew where to get it.
HTC Americas President Jason Mackenzie just finished saying HTC One Dev Edition owners could expect an Android 4.3 update this week, but it also looks like the update is rolling out en masse in Taiwan. The 4.3 update appears to be coming to all Ones in that market, but a rollout for other regions is still up in the air.
The Moto X is still rolling out to all corners of the (American) Android world, but the T-Mobile variant is getting an update that improves camera performance dramatically. The difference is noticeable in a variety of situations, most notably in backlit and low-light settings. Presumably the update will hit other Moto X variants once testing and certification is completed by the carriers.
In our recent APK/website teardown, we unearthed Android's upcoming remote device lock functionality through Google Play Services, and now it has quietly gone live in the Android Device Manager. Just head to the management interface and you'll have a new Lock button. Click it, and your lost device can be secured instantly.
The HTC One is getting on toward middle age, but it's still one of the top Android devices you can buy. What's more, you can buy it for next to nothing on Sprint. Amazon previously dropped the price to $49.99, but now it's almost free at just $0.01.
All you have to do is get to the luminous beam of light at the end of the level. That's all it takes to progress through Incredipede. However, actually figuring out how to get there is a bit of a challenge. In each level your buggy avatar has to mutate to make its way onward, growing new limbs and muscles as needed. This kind of experimental gameplay has a tendency to go wrong, even if it starts out strong. Incredipede might have things figured out, though.
There's still time to enjoy the weekend before it's back to the daily grind, and you don't even have to leave your house to do it. In fact, you don't even have to get up. Frankly, anything you can't do while remaining seated probably isn't worth doing. So prepare to be amazed by the fabulous sales.
As the drama over the creation of Cyanogen Inc. raged last week, the developer of CyanogenMod's Focal camera app decided to pull it from the open source ROM. Now Guillaume Lesniak (AKA xplodwild) has dropped Focal into Google Play for anyone to use. It is compatible with most newer devices, but it is a beta.
It's very hard for a game developer to strike the right balance between rewardingly difficult and so frustrating as to be unplayable. Pivvot walks a fine line, but manages to be mind-bendingly difficult and still somehow incredibly fun. All you have to do is guide an orb along the track and avoid obstacles by pivoting clockwise and counter-clockwise. Yeah, that doesn't sound challenging, but it really is.
There seems to be a peculiar bug in the Play Store app that causes it to freeze when you try to install apps with a large number of in-app purchases. Perhaps you would prefer to take this as a sign from the sages at Google that in-app purchases are a bad thing. However, there are plenty of valid reasons to have them. It takes a lot of IAPs to trigger this, but we've confirmed it happens on multiple devices.
Google is juggling a lot of things right now. It's really not realistic to expect no one in the company to ever make a mistake. Well, today's slip-up is to our advantage. The most recent update to the Korean keyboard IME in Google Play contains a new screenshot which appears to be from Android 4.4 KitKat.
Folks rocking the Sprint version of the LG Optimus G have reason to celebrate today. Although LG has moved on to the G2, the ROM community is showing some love to last year's device. CyanogenMod 10.2 has added support for the LG Optimus G on Sprint.
Google bought Quickoffice a while back, but didn't really say what it had planned. Well, now we know at least part of the deal. Google has relaunched the Quickoffice app on Android. It's completely free now, and has a new interface and tight integration with Google Drive.
Republic Wireless is trying to do something crazy with mobile phone plans. It offers cheap rates on its prepaid service by routing calls and texts through WiFi when it's available. Getting compelling phones that had been tweaked by Republic Wireless to support this handoff has been a challenge, though. After some teasing, it looks like there's a killer deal to be had. Republic Wireless has announced it will sell the Moto X off-contract for $299. There are also a few new plans to make service even cheaper.
Most mobile devices will run out of juice before you do after heavy use, so external battery packs are sometimes a necessity. New Trent sells many such devices and has just announced a new one. The PowerPak Xtreme is a gigantic battery that's built to last. If only your phone was that rugged.
Gamers were uneasy as soon as Ouya announced its Free the Games Fund a few months back. The goal was to encourage the development of Ouya-exclusive games by matching Kickstarter funds over $50,000, and also offering some extra incentives. After some high-profile scandals that brought to light at least one instance of admitted malfeasance, Ouya boss Julie Uhrman has announced some changes.
It's not like apps are expensive compared to a lot of other items, some of which you probably get less use out of. Saving $0.99 on a game doesn't just mean you saved $0.99 – it means you won. You beat the system. Take that, establishment! Now you can fight the man with a new round of sales.
Yes, Angry Birds is back again. This time the sequel to the surprisingly fun Angry Birds Star Wars has dropped out of Hyperspace right in the middle of the Play Store. Angry Birds Star Wars II is based on the prequel films – you know, the ones that your inner child refuses to acknowledge.