21
May
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Google+'s Best New Unadvertised Feature: Photo Search With Visual Recognition - Try It On Your Own Pictures And Be Amazed

Posted by in Applications, Google, News

Unless you've been living under a rock, you are probably aware of the recent improvements and updates to the Google+ experience, both on the web and in mobile apps. While Auto Awesome, Auto Enhance, Auto Highlight, Auto Backup, and other widely discussed features are certainly exciting, one subtle nicety managed to fly under our radar until a post by Google's +Tor Norbye pointed out just how awesome it is.

Visual Recognition

The feature I'm talking about is visual recognition in Google+ photo search.

Remember when +Vic Gundotra mentioned during the I/O 2013 keynote that Google+ will now attempt to guess what you're talking about and auto-tag posts based on, among other things, attached pictures?

17
May
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AutomateIt Becomes First App To Introduce New Activity Recognition Features

Posted by in Applications, News

The new activity recognition features introduced in the latest Google Play services update are just two days old, but SmarterApps has already released an AutomateIt update in the Play Store that takes advantage of the new functionality. The latest version touts the ability to make your phone smart enough to automate different tasks depending on if you're walking, running, biking, or driving.

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The new sync adapter brought in via Wednesday's Google Play services update introduces a location reporting API, a task that previously was performed within apps themselves locally. Apps can now request location data from the new, more efficient fused location provider that's a part of Google Play Services, rather than having to work through Android's built-in location APIs that call on GPS / Wi-Fi / network location.

17
May
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PSA: The New Hangouts App Should Now Work On All Android Tablets - Go Grab Your Update And Leave Google Talk Behind

Posted by in Applications, Google, News, Tablets

There is no arguing that the new Hangouts Android app, which replaces Google Talk and aims to unify several communication methods, has had a rough start. One of the main issues we've run into from the very beginning was wonky tablet support. In fact, most people couldn't install it at all because instead of the Update button, only a lone "Open" button would show up on tablets. Dan Morrill, one of our favorite Android engineers (HOLOYOLO! No really, he yelled that at yesterday's Android Fireside Chat), has explained that this happened due to an unfortunate bug with telephony-related permissions, and that a fix would be rolling out shortly.

15
May
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Google Play Games Is Live, And Here Is A List Of Games That Already Support It

Posted by in Games, News

Google officially announced the not-so-secretly-kept Play Games this morning, which brings game sync, leaderboards, achievements, and more to Android. Naturally, the first question on many users' minds is do any games already support it? In fact, several developers have already updated their games to add this new feature. Here's a look at what we've found so far:

15
May
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YouTube For Google TV Gets A Big Update, Simplified Interface And Support For Paid Channels Included

Posted by in Google TV, News

Let it be not be said that Google neglected the Google TV platform today at I/O. Though it wasn't mentioned during this morning's 3 hour-plus keynote, the company rolled out a new version of the YouTube app for TV during the presentation.

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Specifically, the updated application brings a simplified UI, enhanced video playback controls, and support for paid channels. The video discovery and subscription tabs now show playlists with blown-up video thumbnails and bolded titles for easier browsing. When playing a video, it's easier to subscribe to the content creator's respective channel, +1 the video on Google Plus, and see related videos.

15
May
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SwiftKey Updated To Version 4.1: Three New Themes, And Half Off For Smartphones And Tablets

Posted by in Applications, News

If you're in the market for a new Android virtual keyboard, you could do a lot worse than SwiftKey, especially since it's just been updated to version 4.1. In the company's ceaseless drive to improve every nook and cranny of the app they've added three shiny new themes: Regal (purple), Pitch (black) and Dusk (navy blue). In addition, both the smartphone and tablet version of the swiping, predicting, multi-language keyboard are on sale for half off. You can pick them up for just two bucks each (£1.49/€1.99) at the moment.

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The themes are pretty swanky, and should make SwiftKey more attractive for those users who just have to make their keyboard match their launcher icons (you know who you are).

14
May
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Download: Latest Google Play Store 4.1.6 - Sweet New Designs And OCD Fixes

Posted by in Apps/Games, News

A hot new Play Store update just hit the internet. We're now up to version 4.1.6. So far we've spotted a much nicer looking button and wishlist designs, more consistent menu text, and a few minor visual tweaks, like new open/uninstall buttons.

Here's the new content section buttons, which are a lot more inviting than the old designs. The open and uninstall buttons got a slight tweak, too.

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I really like the new button designs, but my favorite thing is that they changed "My Wishlist" to "My wishlist" after we all complained about it on Google+. The wishlist UI has switched from a list view to a card style.

13
May
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T-Mobile's Galaxy S III Currently Getting Android 4.1.2 (Build MD5), Brings Multi-Window, Easy Mode, And More

Posted by in Device Updates, Galaxy S III, News, T-Mobile

T-Mobile is currently in the process of pushing a fairly major update to its version of the Galaxy S III, which brings Android 4.1.2 and a slew of new don't-call-it-Touchwiz features.

New Features:

  • Multi-Window
  • Auto-pairing via NFC
  • enhanced Camera options
  • Sound Balance
  • Paper Artist
  • Samsung Gallery
  • Blocking Mode
  • Easy Mode

11
May
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CyanogenMod 10.1 RC2 Making Steady March Across CM Roster

Posted by in Android OS, Development, Jelly Bean 4.2, News

Have you finished downloading CyanogenMod's 10.1 RC1 release for your device yet? If not, hit cancel and refresh your browser. Just three days after RC1 started rolling out, CM 10.1 RC2 has hit the download center, going up over night for forty seven devices at the time of writing, including devices from the Galaxy SIII to the Nexus Q.

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the list goes on

For those not sure why they should care about CM10.1 RC2, an RC or Release Candidate is basically a firmware release that the CyanogenMod team believes is up to snuff for a daily driver – a new-but-not-bleeding-edge release that's stable enough to rely on.

09
May
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Google Maps Navigation Goes Live In Greece

Posted by in Applications, News

Directionally-challenged Greeks, Google has answered your prayers. The search giant continued its international rollout of Maps Navigation today, enabling turn-by-turn directions for Greece. That, coupled with Google's recent significant expansion of Navigation to 9 countries last month, brings the total number of supported territories to 53. Not too shabby.

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We've heard from a couple of Google+ users that turn-by-turn seems to be working well so far. Of course, Navigation is still technically in beta (and has been, as is typical for Google, for more than two years), but it's good to hear that initial service is stable.

If you're in Greece and have Google Maps installed, you should have access to Navigation now.

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