Jacob Long
Contributing since December, 2014
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394articles
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About Jacob Long
Jacob is a technology writer and researcher. He's also an avid sports fan, especially when it comes to the Chicago White Sox. When not working, you can usually find him tweaking his Android devices or reading political news.
Latest Articles
Vast Majority Of Android Devices Are Vulnerable To 'Stagefright' Exploit That Can Be Executed Via Text Message, According To Researchers
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In a blog post published today by the researchers at Zimperium Mobile Security, the group divulged an extremely widespread security vulnerability that can be exploited with nothing more than a targeted MMS message. The hole exists in the part of the Android operating system called Stagefright, which handles the processing of certain types of multimedia.
Chrome Beta v45 Comes With Support For Media Playback System Notifications, Lots Of Under The Hood Changes
The latest release of Chrome Beta doesn't include many big, user-facing changes, but is instead mostly filled with incremental improvements to long-term development goals. The one goodie for end users that you may notice in normal use is the newly-added ability for websites to give you an Android notification with play and pause buttons to control audio.
[APK Download] Microsoft's Next Android App Is Arrow Launcher, An Aviate-Inspired Homescreen Replacement Now In Beta
In line with their recent trend of developing for all platforms, Microsoft has quietly released a semi-private beta of a launcher app called Arrow. The early release sports an interface reminiscent of Aviate, but appears less devoted to contextual recommendations. While the current version is fairly basic, the big ideas may still be on the horizon.
Latest Moto G Leak Is A Fairly Long Promotional Video That Shows Off IPX7 Water Resistance, Answers More Questions About The Upcoming Phone
The upcoming release of the third generation of Motorola's Moto G has been an especially leaky one. Coming hot on the heels of today's accidental publishing of the phone's Moto Maker page, a promotional video for the Brazilian market has found its way to YouTube.
DUFL Is A Non-Fictional Service That Cleans, Stores, And Ships Your Clothing For You While Traveling And Is Now On Android
The advent of technology and the booming Silicon Valley scene doesn't only benefit the masses, but also helps spawn incredibly niche and boutique services. Are you sick of packing your own suitcase, cleaning your own clothes, and taking it all with you on your many trips around the country? Well, if you're willing to pay a hefty price, DUFL will take care of all these things for you and now can do so via a new Android app.
Jet.com, Along With Android App, Launches To Become Your Internet Shopping Destination And We Have A Code For A Free Year Of Membership
After a long period of fundraising and secretive planning, Jet.com has officially launched to the general public. Founded by Quidsi founders and former Amazon employees, the new retailer values one thing over everything else: have the lowest prices on the web and be the lowest by a noticeable margin. While that may sound like the same thing everyone promises, Jet.com has a truly interesting way of making it happen. If Amazon is the Wal-Mart of e-commerce, Jet.com will be more like the Costco.
Google Announces New Drive Plug-in For Microsoft Office, For Now Only Works On Windows And Not With The 2016 Beta
It's one thing to claim you have an open approach and another thing to make it easier to use your competitor's product. Google is putting their money where their mouth is as they release a Google Drive plug-in for Microsoft Office, though there is still some work to do. While on one hand you can see this as a way to help users avoid Docs, Sheets, and Slides, it also provides feature parity with Drive's own competitors OneDrive and Dropbox, both of whom enjoy deep integration with the office suite.
Report: Nokia Nearing Sale Of HERE Maps To German Trio Of BMW, Volkswagen, And Mercedes-Benz
Nokia, in their continuing withdrawal from the mobile phone and software industry, appears close to selling off their best remaining asset in that market: HERE Maps. According to a report by Bloomberg, Nokia will sell their mapping technology and know-how to Germany's three biggest automakers, BMW, Audi (owned by Volkswagen), and Mercedes-Benz. Though they typically compete against one another, each shares common concerns about Google's market position and privacy policies.
[Update: It's Live] Samsung Will Soon Announce A Promotion Offering A Free Galaxy S6 With Purchase Of 4K SUHD TV
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How much money do you have to spend to get a manufacturer to throw in a $650 freebie? Well, it looks like a cool $3,000 $1,500 is a start. At least, that's the math behind an upcoming Samsung promotion an anonymous tipster shared with us. According to the leaked marketing pamphlet, with "select" purchases of Samsung SUHD TVs, buyers receive a free 32GB Galaxy S6.This replaces the current promotion, which gives buyers a free year of Netflix. After it expires on July 18th, the free S6 promo kicks off on July 19th and lasts until August 1st.Here's the image provided by our tipster:
A long, winding lawsuit brought against Google by a small group of consumers was dismissed by a federal judge in California on Wednesday. Plaintiffs accused Google of breaching its own privacy policy by sharing user data indiscriminately, more recently focusing on the amount of personal data shared with app developers through the Play Store. For instance, Alice Svenson says far too much private data was shared with the developer of YCDroid when she bought the app for $1.77.
Google Drive Now Lets You Prevent Others From Downloading, Printing, Or Copying Files That You Have Shared
To give file owners more flexibility when sharing files, Google has added a feature to Drive's web interface that can place additional restrictions on those who are given access to files. If you want a document to not only be read-only but also not inadvertently shared, you can now lock it down by preventing copying, printing, or downloading to user hard drives. For now you can only change the setting on the web, but it will work on all platforms.
[Deal Alert] Get A 2-Port, 30W USB Car Charger With Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 By Tronsmart For $9.99 With Free Shipping Eligibility At Amazon After Coupon
There are few places more suited to using Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0 capability (also known as Adaptive Fast Charging on Samsung devices) than in the car. You might have a 20 minute commute to work and in that span of time, you can get your phone halfway charged or better with the new charging specification, compared to the meager 10-20% you might get with a conventional 2.1A output. With today's deal on this Tronsmart car charger with both QC 2.0 and a conventional 2.4A port, you can get that in your vehicle for just $10.
[Update: It's Fixed] Google Play Music All Access Web App Is Not Working In Firefox, Internet Explorer, Or Safari On Desktops
With no obvious cause, numerous subscribers to Google Play Music All Access have suddenly found that just about any non-Chrome browser cannot use the web app to stream songs. Starting on July 9th, reports started flooding in from users of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari about the Play Music web app not functioning correctly. Even more curiously, it will work for songs that a user has uploaded; only the songs that are accessed via the All Access subscription fail to stream.
Report: Facebook Is Working On A Personal Assistant Called 'Moneypenny' To Compete With Google Now, Possibly Use Humans To Perform For-Fee Tasks
According to an anonymously-sourced report from The Information, Facebook is working on their own entry into the virtual assistant market. Unlike Google Now, Siri, and Cortana, however, early indications are that Moneypenny—the current name used internally to refer to Facebook's offering—could be more service-oriented than the machine-driven, contextually-aware competition.
[Deal Alert] Intocircuit 11,200 mAh External Battery With Dual USB 2.1A/1A Output Is Just $13.49 After Coupon On Amazon
If you have any use for a portable charger and don't have one yet, there just isn't any excuse at this point. Great deals are par for the course and this one is no different. Beating the price we saw a month ago, this external battery from Intocircuit has a massive 11,200 mAh capacity, a nice little screen to tell you what's what, supports 2.1A output to charge the most modern devices at a quick pace, and will cost you only $13.49 after coupon at Amazon.
Google Docs, Sheets, And Slides Get Update With Easier Editing Of Document Titles, Better Commenting UI In Office Compatibility Mode, Tweak To Slide Layout Editing
In a series of upcoming updates to Google's Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps, users will be able to have easier access to one of the most basic editing capabilities: changing the file name. Whereas before you would only change the document's title by saving, it's accessible via hamburger menu now.
Sunrise Calendar Now Has Full Integration With Office 365 Accounts, Outlook.com Is Mostly Supported
In a move that isn't all that surprising, Sunrise Calendar now offers full support for Office 365 accounts. Considering that Microsoft bought Sunrise a few months ago, it was no great leap to expect better integration into that ecosystem. We already saw Wunderlist support added shortly after Microsoft bought them, too. Office 365 joins a hefty list of providers you can use with Sunrise.
Facebook Is Adding More Controls For Your News Feed, Set Friends And Pages To Always Appear On Top
If you're not an absolute Facebook junkie, chances are you might be missing out on posts from the people you most care about. The change from most recent to "top stories" was designed with this in mind, but it isn't foolproof. After all, Facebook's algorithms can only guess who you think is important. With newly-announced additions to the news feed preferences, users can now designate pages and profiles that will appear at the top of the feed by default.
BlackBerry Bought AndroidSecured.com and .net Domains, Is This More Evidence Of An Android Device On The Way?
On July 7th, the domains AndroidSecured.com and AndroidSecured.net were registered to BlackBerry Limited, the firm formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM) that presides over the one-time dominant smartphone platform. Below is a screenshot of one of the registration records with the area of interest highlighted.
[Deal Alert] 32GB GSM Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S6 (G920F) Is Available For $500 Brand New On eBay
You can get the international unlocked Samsung Galaxy S6 for $500 with free shipping in the USA right now on eBay in black, white, gold, and that horrific blue. It is brand new and should work on most GSM networks, including AT&T and T-Mobile in the USA. This is an extra $30 cheaper than the deal we found just a couple of weeks ago, not to mention the added benefit of color choice.