Cameron Summerson
Contributing since March, 2011
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3396articles
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About Cameron Summerson
Cameron is a self-made geek, Android enthusiast, horror movie fanatic, musician, and cyclist. When he's not pounding keys here at AP, you can find him spending time with his wife and kids, plucking away on the 6-string, spinning on the streets, or watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on repeat.
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I've been using Runkeeper to track my cycling activity for the last eight months or so, and it has never really let me down. That said, I'm always on the lookout for new (or improved) ways to monitor my rides outside of my bike's cyclometer, so when Runtastic reached out to me about taking its new fitness tracking band Orbit for a spin, I was down for the challenge. I've had it for the last few weeks, and so far I think it's a good start. It's a new product so there are a few quirks here and there, but for the most part it does what Runtastic designed it to do: track stuff. What stuff, you ask? This stuff:
We've seen Android thrown into plenty of things over the last few years: ovens, refrigerators, set-top boxes, TVs, and a lot more. While some of those ideas are worth pursuing, there are certain ideas that just make sense. The Skully AR-1 motorcycle helmet is one of those ideas.
LG G Vista Making Its Way To AT&T, Available On August 22nd For $355 Off-Contract
LG G Vista Making Its Way To AT&T, Available On August 22nd For $355 Off-Contract
If you're in the market for a mid-range AT&T handset that kind of looks like the LG G3 but not really, today may be your lucky day. Well, August 22nd may be your lucky day, because that's when AT&T is going to start offering the LG G Vista. Not familiar with the Vista? No worries, here's the rundown:
I know a lot of you guys and gals like some good ol' handegg, and NFL NOW just launched for those among you who can't seem to get enough. NOW is essentially a customizable way to keep up with your favorite teams and players, complete with highlights, clips, and original content designed specifically for the streaming service.
Gaming is one of the things Amazon touted quite a bit for Fire TV, and the company released an exclusive title called Sev Zero to show off everything its set-top box can do. The game is a mixture of tower defense and action shooter, which offers a unique blend of gameplay.
BLU Announces The Studio C Mini And Studio 5.0 C HD To Compete With The Moto E And Moto G [Hands-On]
When it comes to affordable, off-contract handsets, BLU is one of my favorite phone manufacturers on the market. The company offers a myriad of devices to fit a wide range of budgets, and today's release features a couple of new handsets for those looking to pick up a smartphone for around $150 or less. As always with BLU, that's an off-contract price.
If you're looking for a good, affordable device, it's hard to beat the Moto G. It's running KitKat, has a very one hand-able 4.5-inch display, and now comes with LTE. On Amazon, this little guy will set you back $220, but it looks like Best Buy is trying to get rid of some backstock, as it recently dropped the price to $180. That's an LTE-enabled Motorola device running KitKat for less than two hundred monies.There is one catch: it doesn't look like this deal is available for home delivery, so you'll have to actually have them ship to a local store and make the trek if you want to grab one at this price.
If you're ready for a heaping helping of stable CyanogenMod, you're in luck, because that's exactly what's available on tonight's all-you-can-flash Sunday buffet. The CM team started pushing the M9 build of CM 11 this evening, which puts this one about a month out from the M8 build. I'm sure you flashaholics are itching to hit the recovery menu, so grab this badboy and get flashing.
By now, you've probably heard a lot about Amazon's Fire Phone. I figure that most people aren't really curious about what the overall phone is like – if you've used a Kindle Fire/HD/HDX then you already know. It's about Amazon services and a weird launcher layout thing. Most people are curious about the four front-facing cameras and Dynamic Perspective. I'm with you on that – that's exactly what I was curious about before getting this phone for review.
There are lots of fitness bands to choose from: the Jawbone UP, Fitbit Flex, Nike Fuelband...and many others. If you're a Runtastic user, however, there's a new one on the market that may interest you, the Runtastic Orbit. As you may have already guessed, this one is built from the ground up for use with Runtastic's services – running, cycling, etc. It doesn't yet work with the company's dedicated cycling apps (road biking, mountain biking), but support for those is currently in the works.
At the end of last year, I reviewed BACtrack's police-grade Bluetooth mobile breathalyzer. I came away extremely impressed (and drunk), but it was quickly pointed out in the comments that $150 is pretty pricey for such a gadget. While the price has since dropped to $120, it's still out of many users' reach. Good news! Touch of Modern is selling it for $90 till August 3rd. That's a solid deal.
It's no big secret that I'm a huge fan of NVIDIA's SHIELD. In fact, I believe I called it my favorite device from last year on a recent podcast, a claim that I readily stand behind. To me, it shows how versatile Android can be, despite the fact that the unit itself is essentially a one trick pony (it's damn good at that one trick, though).
Amazon Introduces Kindle Unlimited, All The Reading (And Listening) You Can Handle For $9.99 A Month
We've heard rumblings about a possible Netflix-like service for books provided by Amazon, and now that service has come to fruition. It's called Kindle Unlimited, and it essentially offers customers access to over 600,000 titles from the Kindle Library and 2,000 on Audible, with unlimited reading or listening on both for roughly $10 a month.
Here's the scenario: you're trying to explain something over the phone to your mom, coworker, friend, roommate, or some other person and they just don't get it. This can push even the most docile human being into a fit of frustrated rage, but now there's a solution. It's called Clarisketch, and it's so brilliant I'm not sure why no one thought of it before.
So, you still don't have Koush's AllCast? If you happened to snag all those free Amazon Coins from a few weeks ago, you can officially get this incredibly useful casting app for exactly zero moneydollars. If you didn't jump on the free coins bandwagon, however, you'll have to suck it up and pay five moneys for the full version (via IAP). See, it pays to get free Amazon things from time to time, because then you can get more free Amazon things.
Long, long ago, in a forest far away, there lived a squirrel (I can't say for sure which forest it was, or which squirrel in particular, so you'll just have to trust me on this one). And this squirrel loved nuts. Hard nuts, soft nuts, furry nuts, big nuts, small nuts, black nuts, white nuts, red nuts...he just loved nuts. He thought about nuts all the time. He went to sleep thinking of nuts, and woke thinking of nuts. He dreamed of nuts. Sometimes, he would even search for nuts on the internet.
Look, we get it - MediaTek isn't the first name you want to hear when it comes to innovative new SoCs. The company doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to releasing source code, which is a huge no-no in the Android world. But still, this is probably worth talking about, because it's pretty neat.
We've already seen a short video where Android Wear is used to do simple things like toggle lamps and open a garage door, but Armando Ferreira took that concept and applied it to all the things. In this video demoing home automation with Android Wear, he toggle lights, a popcorn maker, and a PC, but doesn't stop there. He also uses his G Watch to adjust his home's thermostat, turn on the TV, and get a notification if any of the doors or windows in his house are opened. It's pretty nuts.
A few months ago, I reviewed Mad Catz's first console, MOJO. While I came away with mixed feelings about stock Android with nothing more than controller input, C.T.R.L.R. itself left me impressed (the name, on the other hand, is terrible). It's packed with useful buttons a-plenty, including full navigation, media, and volume controls.