15
May
play music logo

[Hands-On] Play Music Is Now The Template For All Future Music Services (Even If It Takes A Little While To Love)

Posted by in Google, News

At the start of this review, I was simultaneously excited and frustrated. Now I'm just plain excited. For a bit of context, I have been bouncing between cloud music services since Lala was still a thing. I had one simple desire: I wanted to pay a monthly fee for unfettered access to a large library of content, but still wanted to be able to bring my own. I know that $10/month is not going to get me every song in existence, but if I can pay for most music, and then supply the rest, I'll be happy. Today, Google finally gave me what I wanted and, make no mistake, this is the model that other apps are going to follow for a long time to come.

06
Jan
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Titanium Backup Updated To Version 5.8 With Web Server Backup Upload/Download, Support For USB MTP, And More

Posted by in Applications, News

Titanium Backup, perhaps the most popular and powerful root backup solution available, got an update to version 5.8 today, an update that brought with it fixes, added support, and new features.

Probably the most significant new feature is the addition of web server backup uploading and downloading (for Pro users). If that sounded like a sentence written in Greek, we'll try to expound – what this means is that your device can now start a web server right from the Titanium Backup interface. You can then download and upload backups on your PC by accessing the server (in a method similar to AirDroid).

18
Dec
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Google Finally Brings Scan And Match To Play Music, Doesn't Require Uploading Your Whole Friggin' Library Anymore

Posted by in Google, News

While Google's been working feverishly to build out its Play Store, bringing it to other countries and expanding its offerings, the company's music store has been lacking one crucial feature that its competitors have: library matching. Where Amazon and iTunes can scan your current collection and add the songs to your online storage, Google has, until recently, required users to upload every individual track manually. A long and tedious process. In mid-November, the scan and match feature came out for Europe, and today it arrives for US residents.

Where Google differs from Amazon and iTunes, however, is that this scanning and matching service will be entirely free.

22
Aug
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Facebook Gets Updated To Version 1.9.8 With Event Creation, Revamped Photo Upload Flow, And More

Posted by in Applications, News

Facebook's official app for Android got a nice update today, bringing with it just a few changes, though the enhancements it does bring do make the app just a tad more intuitive and functional.

The update includes a new event creation interface that allows users schedule events of all types in a snap, choosing locations, times, and privacy settings all from one screen. Also included is a "new upload flow" for sharing photos. This may sound vague but the idea is that, with the new update, Facebook's "photo" action (when you check in or simply choose to upload a photo from the main screen) will dump you into a list of all the photos on your device, allowing you to tap as many as you like for upload at once.

27
Jun
googlepluslogo

[Told You So] Google Finally Launches Events For Google+ And They're Amazing

Posted by in Google, News

We knew it was coming, and now it's finally here. Google+ Events. And it's even bigger than we ever thought it could be. Google has gone beyond mere RSVP. Google wants your Events page to be central to your real-life get-togethers, before, during, and after the event. In addition to tying into Google Calendar, Events serve as a central place for all your event photos, organized chronologically that can be uploaded by all guests. It's like a mega feed for your party.

Before

The Events tab on Google+ can be used to create your event and fill out all the necessary details: who's invited, where it is, when it's happening and whatnot.

15
Dec
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Dolphin Browser Now Supports Box Add-On For Saving Files Directly To The Cloud

Posted by in Applications, News

Dolphin Browser, a popular alternative to Android's stock internet app, gained one more awesome add-on recently, this time adding compatibility with Box, a secure cloud storage service, enabling users to save files from the web directly to their own cloud space.

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The add-on not only allows users to upload files directly from webpages, but locally stored downloads, and webpages as well, making it easier than ever to sync your browser activities and content with Box for viewing or sharing later.

Dolphin's add-on comes as the latest news in Box's continuing efforts to enable upload from the apps users use most often.

08
Jun
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Sprint 4G Uplink Speed Cap To Increase From 1.0 To 1.5Mbps On June 10th

Posted by in News, Rumors, Sprint

Come Friday, June 10, Sprint subscribers with 4G coverage will be treated to a pleasant surprise: the WiMAX uplink speed cap will increase from 1.0Mbps to 1.5Mbps.

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Obviously, the 1.5Mbps upload speed won't be consistent everywhere, as reception varies (significantly, with Sprint). Also notable is that if you're using a "fixed device" (i.e. a Motorola 4G desktop modem), you won't be affected; the 1.0Mbps speed cap is on your device to stay.

Nevertheless, we're sure EVO and Epic 4G users will be happy to hear about these changes - faster upload speeds are always good news, even if competitors don't even have such caps.

30
May
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[New App] Brilliant! DropSnap Instantly Syncs Newly Taken Photos To Dropbox

Posted by in Applications, News
Last Updated: February 8th, 2012

Photo syncing is not a novel idea at all - there are countless solutions that do it on a regular basis, but instant photo uploading the moment it is taken is something I've been looking forward to for a long time. And now it's here, thanks to Chris Soyars, aka ctso - one of the senior CyanogenMod developers.

Chris's new app, DropSnap, has a very simple purpose - get your photos synced up to the cloud the moment you take them. I'm not exaggerating - it really is that fast (of course, depending on your data connection). For example, on Wi-Fi, freshly snapped pictures were synced to Dropbox and back to my computer before I could open my mouth and say "Android rocks".

16
May
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Synology NAS Users Get Remote File Management And Download/Upload Support With The Official DS File Android App

Posted by in Applications, News

Users of Synology branded NAS (network attached storage) boxes have been pleading with the company for a long time to add Android support for direct file management to the existing suite of apps - DS Audio, DS Photo+, and DS Cam. While having apps dedicated to remotely playing music, looking at pictures, and monitoring cameras is great, the primary functionality one would naturally want from a pile of hard drives attached to the network is, well, file management. Think Dropbox, except instead of the cloud, you use your own NAS box.

DS File, released a few hours ago by Synology, plugs this gaping hole perfectly.

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