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AccuWeather leaving Play Pass in the wake of Dark Sky’s Android demise
The trade winds are in full effect
Android Police maintains a giant list of apps that are participating or have participated in Google's Play Pass program — where users pay a low subscription fee to remove ads and access premium features from said apps. But it's a finicky list to maintain because every addition is manual and it's extremely difficult to track any subtractions without a public database. Well, we can report on at least one departure that will take effect soon: AccuWeather is leaving Play Pass on September 20. If you use the weather app, you might not like the reason why.
All major social networks are financed by advertising and thus free to users who trade access to their data for cat videos and sometimes questionable news content. Wikipedia co-founder and internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales wants to change that. He is currently rolling out his donation-based "news focused social network" WT.Social to people interested in high-quality journalism and productive discussions.
This is quite the deal. Today over at Amazon and B&H you can pick the carrier unlocked ad-free Moto G4 for as little as $119.99, a savings of around $60. That is, if you're down with the 16GB model. If you step things up to the 32GB version, you'll have to cough up just an incredible $10 more. That's right, the 4th gen Moto G is going for just 9.99, up to $100 off, in its 32GB flavor. Yum.
Just yesterday, during Amazon's hallowed Prime Day sales, the ad-laden version of this phone was on sale for $179.99. While that's a fantastic deal, some people just aren't OK with having their lock screen telling them to buy things. For those of us that might prefer a less corporate phone experience, or who prefer an unlockable bootloader, right now you can pick up the same 64GB Moto G5 Plus without ads for just 9.99, or $50 off. The G series has always been a great value. While ads bring the price down even lower, if you just can't stomach the minor intrusion, or you are desperate to flash a ROM, the version sold without Amazon's "Offers & Ads" might be more to your preference. And it's a great device. We didn't proclaim it the king of the budget phones for no reason, after all.For $249.99 you get a Snapdragon 625, 64GB of storage, 3GB of RAM, a 5.2" 1080p display, a 12MP camera, fingerprint reader, and Android 7.0 Nougat. For the price, the specs are quite reasonable. The only potential impediments to a good time might be Lenovorola's history with updates, the dated microUSB connector, and a lack of NFC. If you are excited to pick up an ad-free unit but were waiting for a deal to grab one, this is it.Source: Amazon
For most web users, SoundCloud is just a quick repository of sound files for playing back in a browser - Imgur for songs and audio clips, if you will. But for those users that get deep into the highly specialized community of artists and designers on the platform, SoundCloud offers its premium "Go" package. $10 a month gets you an expanded selection of exclusive tracks, ad-free browsing and listening, and offline listening in the Android app. Today the service is shaking things up a bit: there's a new mid-tier service level for just .99 a month, while the old plan is now called "SoundCloud Go+."
Stitcher is a podcast player with a more "radio" vibe. You can create a station of all your favorite content and listen on-demand. The app has gone through a few big changes lately, and today's update to v3.8 adds more control over your front page, offline saving to SD cards, and a premium upgrade that ditches the ads. Sound good? Well, there's still more.
You would be hard-pressed to find a game as worn out as Solitaire. It's been the default time-waster of Windows users for decades and the topic of many an assistant and receptionist joke. But there's merit to be had in bringing a fresh coat of paint to a done, redone, and overdone concept. That's where Solitaire: Decked Out shines.
Chromecast owners know that even though Google's tiny stream machine is one of the cheapest on the market, it occasionally gets freebies for online video and music streaming services that add some major value. The latest goodie to come to owners of the original Chromecast and the Chromecast Audio is Pandora One, the music service's premium advertising-free tier. New owners can get two months of listening free, which has an approximate value of $8.
The list of actions is pretty comprehensive, covering just about everything except jumping to a specific time or toggling subtitles. Semi-advanced actions like connecting and disconnecting a Chromecast are supported. There's even a command to skip ads.
Google has big plans for both YouTube and Google Play Music. We've heard a lot about YouTube's potential subscription music playback service, background audio, and offline playback, and there's been much speculation about what such an arrangement would mean for Play Music All Access. What we've got today gives those rumors and clues some clarity.
'Livestream' Android App Update Brings Free Live Video Broadcasting To The Huddled Masses
'Livestream' Android App Update Brings Free Live Video Broadcasting To The Huddled Masses
Google Hangouts have been a great innovation in the world of easy broadcasting. If you're looking for something a bit more powerful, though, Livestream for Producers is a really great tool. The most recent update to the app brings cost-free and ad-free live streaming to an already-robust live blogging platform. Independent journalists should be thrilled.
When we found Medieval Software's new app called Dual File Manager XT yesterday, we jumped on it right away due to its 2-pane support. Ever since the '90s, 2-pane "orthodox" file managers like the Midnight, Norton, Volkov, and most recently Total Commander have been an absolute necessity on any computer I use.
If you've ever needed to identify a song that is playing somewhere around you, you've probably already used SoundHound or Shazam which both listen to your surroundings and pop up the best guess - usually right on the money.
Rovio has revealed some details on upcoming changes to Angry Birds, and it sounds like the insanely popular game is about to get even better. First and foremost, they'll be implementing an in-app payment system called "Bad Piggy Bank." From the sound of things, it will be quite the elegant system - any purchases will be billed straight to your carrier, rather than to your Google Checkout account or credit card.