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Google announced plans in late 2016 to increase its spending on renewable energy. In fact, Google intended to go 100% renewable. Today, Google announced it met the goal last year of matching all of its global energy usage with purchases of renewable energy.
The Nest Secure launched last year with a few cool features including all-in-one Detect sensors and NFC tags to disarm. It lacked one seemingly obvious feature—Google Assistant support. Nest is finally rectifying that oversight with an over-the-air update. You can arm the Secure, check your security level, and (sometimes) disarm it by voice.
We're well into the era of USB Type-C now, but not all Type-C chargers are created equal. It can be hard to find an inexpensive spare charger with support for USB-PD. That's the charging standard used on the Pixels, Essential Phone, Pixelbook, Macbook, and more. You can get some of Aukey's USB-PD chargers today for as much as 25% off with coupon codes.There are three chargers on sale today, ranging in output from 27W up to 46W. Make sure to use these coupon codes at checkout.
Facebook is rolling out new features today to what are arguably its most important products: the News Feed and Messenger. On the Messenger side, you'll get panoramic photos and HD video support. Meanwhile, the News Feed will get additional tools to help you assess the credibility of a publication that appears in your Feed.
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Swiftkey launched a new toolbar interface just a couple weeks back, and it's adding a few more features to it today. With the latest update, you can easily insert your current location as well as calendar appointments. SwiftKey promised both these features previously, and here they are.
LG has made OLED screens in small numbers over the years, but it spun up large-scale OLED production about a year ago. Google apparently wanted to get in on the ground floor, so it invested in LG's new OLED operations. So far, it's just been LG, Xiaomi, and Google using the latest LG OLEDs, but a new report claims Huawei is using them on the new Mate RS.
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The release of the Galaxy S6 back in 2015 marked a change in direction for the company after lower than expected Galaxy S5 sales. The GS6 was the first Samsung phone that truly focused on design, but that was then and this is now. The Galaxy S6 is old news, so phones from that generation are losing update support. Samsung's way of telling you to buy a new phone?
Google has just launched English support in India, but that's not all. It's also rolling out support for a few region-specific music services. Users of Saavn and Gaana can plug their accounts into Home and make them a default music streaming service. It only takes a few taps.
Google's monthly tradition continues—owners of Pixel and (some) Nexus devices can grab the latest software builds. The updates will roll out automatically in the coming days, but you don't have to wait. The OTA files and system images have both shown up, and there are bulletins documenting the surprisingly extensive list of changes.
Samsung recently promised to speed up its Oreo rollout, and it appears to be doing just that. After pushing Oreo out to several more Note 8 and GS8 variants, the time has come for T-Mobile's Galaxy S8 Active to get a taste of Oreo. The update was approved on March 29th, but it seems to have only started hitting phones in the last day or so.
There aren't many Android TV boxes you can plug into your TV, but there are a number of TVs with Android TV built-in. Sony makes a well-reviewed 49-inch TV with Google's software, and you can get a good deal on it today, assuming you want to buy some stuff from Dell. Pick up the TV, and you can get a $300 Dell gift card.The TV (XBR49X900E) retails for $950 most places, and the Dell price is only a few bucks cheaper at $947.99. However, that's not the "deal" part of the deal. Buy that TV from Dell, and you'll get a $300 gift card to use on Dell's store. The code will arrive in your email inbox within 20 days of buying, and you need to use it within 90 days of that.
The Play Store has long shown the date an app or game was last updated, but now you get a bit more historical information. The Play Store mobile client has started showing the release date for apps. So, you're a few taps away from finding out how long most apps have been on the Play Store. I say "most" because a few are showing obviously incorrect dates.
So, you want to share a live video you found on Twitter? You no longer have to waste your precious characters telling people where in the video you want them to watch. Now, you can set a timestamp before sharing. It'll work on both Twitter and Periscope videos, and it starts rolling out today.
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The Razer Phone was ahead of its time with that neat 120Hz display, but it was behind on software. This phone launched with Nougat after Oreo was already out there, and it's still running Nougat all these months later. Razer is making progress, though. There's a preview build of Oreo for the Razer phone available for download. You can install it right now if you're the adventurous sort.
It's undeniable that PUBG Mobile is the biggest FPS release on Android in years—maybe ever. The full version of the game has attracted a lot of dedicated players, and naturally, there's significant interest in the mobile edition. The controls are bad, but they're the same level of bad for everyone... unless you connect a keyboard and mouse. That raises a question: is using a keyboard and mouse in a competitive mobile shooter the same as cheating?
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The Google Home family of devices have built-in speakers of varying quality, but you might have some nicer Bluetooth speakers around the house. Now, you can have Google Home stream audio directly to these devices. After pairing your Home with the speaker, you can control playback and even adjust the volume.
Google sometimes adds new features to apps via updates with changelogs and whatnot. Other times, new features just magically appear one day. That seems to be the case with a new YouTube TV feature. You can now edit your live channel guide to hide what you don't watch and move the other channels around.
Fitbit has become a household name in fitness tracking, and it's not shy about its desire to get into smarter wearables. It acquired bits of Pebble's carcass a while back and then launched the Fitbit Ionic. That first smartwatch was somewhat lacking in features, and it didn't offer enough to justify the $300 asking price. Now, Fitbit is back with a cheaper smartwatch sporting almost as many features and a less "retro-future" design. In fact, the Versa looks quite a lot like another famous smartwatch.
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I have some bad news—people will never stop shooting vertical video. This battle is lost, guys. It's time to move on. Google is moving on by making the YouTube app a little less awkward when watching such a video. In the next update, YouTube will dynamically adapt to different video shapes and sizes.
Just when you were starting to come to terms with $1,000 smartphones, Huawei is here to offer something significantly more expensive. The latest Mate 10 variant borrows some camera tech from the company's other flagship and tosses in a few new goodies. The result is the Porsche Design Mate 10 RS, a smartphone that will set you back a whopping €1,695 or more. That's $2,103.