Zac Hall

You may recall last month that Microsoft announced a major partnership with Samsung to include a number of mobile apps on the flagship Galaxy S6 out-of-the-box. While bundled apps may be considered bloatware for many consumers, the deal meant Microsoft’s Android apps would gain a lot of exposure for adopters of arguably the best 2015 Android smartphone. The results of that deal may vary, though, as two major carriers have introduced roadblocks to some of Microsoft’s apps for their versions of the Galaxy S6…
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Google has pushed out the stable version of Chrome 42 to Windows, Mac, and Linux users. The latest version of Google’s web browser includes the Push API for sending notifications from the web.
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Microsoft is bringing its OneNote scanner app called Office Lens to Android after first launching on Windows Phone a year ago. Office Lens is similar to other on-the-go scanner apps letting you use your Android smartphone camera to capture information from receipts, documents, and other information around you. Office Lens is different, however, because it’s connected directly with OneNote, Microsoft’s cloud-syncing notebook service.

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<a href="http://NewGeekGuide.com/2015/03/16/xperia-z4/">Xperia Z4 renders</a>

Two pieces of Android news for Sony fans today including believed specs on upcoming hardware and official word on software updates for current smartphones and tablets.

First up is what could be hardware specs for the upcoming Sony Xperia Z4 smartphone. We saw renders of what could be the Xperia Z4 earlier this month, and now bench results capture what we could expect to see inside Sony’s next flagship…
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Google announced this morning that the company will soon have a new person filling the CFO role. Ruth Porat, who currently serves as chief financial officer at the finance firm Morgan Stanley, will take over for Patrick Pichette starting May 26th. “I look forward to learning from Ruth as we continue to innovate in our core–from search and ads, to Android, Chrome and YouTube–as well as invest in a thoughtful, disciplined way in our next generation of big bets,” Google CEO Larry Page said in the announcement.
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The process of bringing Google Fiber to new markets is a lengthy and messy political one as we’ve seen since the initiative first started in mid-2012. Google’s map of potential Fiber cities shared just over a year ago is mostly unchanged save for the southeast region moving to the upcoming Fiber cities category earlier this year.

Local government in Portland, a potential Fiber city on Google’s radar, actually unanimously approved plans for Fiber shortly after Google shared its potential expansion cities. More recently, though, Oregon lawmakers have created minor road blocks ahead of Fiber’s possible expansion to Portland. The kicker here is that the proposed legislation was actually intended to make Portland more appealing to Google…
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Android Auto is here at last. Google’s mobile platform for integrating content like maps, music, and more from your smartphone to the head unit in your car is now live as the Android Auto app has officially hit the Play Store for download. The new app comes as Google announced via Twitter that Pioneer’s support for Android Auto is now live in three countries…
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Google released Chrome 42 this week through its beta channel for Android, Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS. The latest Chrome beta previews a couple of interesting features that make web apps more like native apps including push notifications and saving web apps to your Android home screen faster…
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Gartner is out with its latest report tracking smartphone movement during the previous year and more specifically the holiday quarter.

Headlining the report is news that over 1 billion smartphones were sold in 2014, a data point IDC first said was hit in the previous year, adding that two out of three phones sold last year qualified as smartphones.

Gartner’s data shows Apple topped Samsung in worldwide smartphone sales with 74,832,000 units shipped during the holiday quarter, just 1.8 million units more than Samsung, giving Apple 20.4% market share for the quarter, a virtual tie with Samsung’s 19.9%.

Coming up behind Apple and Samsung is Lenovo (which includes sales of Motorola-branded phones), Huawei, and Xiaomi with single digit market share. The collective group of others which amount to 42.4% of the holiday quarter sales.
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As part of the Game Developers Conference taking place this week in San Francisco, Google is hosting its own Developer Day and updating its AdMob platform and introducing a new Nearby Connections API for developers.

Using the Nearby Connections API, developers will be able to build a connection between Android phones or tablets and Android TV into games. The Android phone or tablet will display on-screen controls, and game playback will be displayed on Android TV creating a console-like experience without a separate controller.
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Upcoming changes to OS X will soon make setting up Google accounts that use 2-step verification with the Mac much simpler. Added in the developer beta of OS X 10.10.3 released yesterday, setting up a Google account in the Internet Accounts section of the System Preferences app now supports 2-step verification just like the web.
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Late Swatch co-founder Nicolas Hayek

While Swatch certainly won’t be partnering with Apple on the iPhone maker’s upcoming Watch despite an ill-fated rumor that surfaced last year, the watchmaker does plan to go toe-to-toe with Apple promising its own version of a smartwatch due out soon. Bloomberg reports that Swatch plans to bring its answer to the Apple Watch to market in the next 90 days, and unlike the Apple Watch, it will work with Android phones.

The device will communicate via the Internet “without having to be charged,” Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek said in an interview. The Swatch smartwatch will also let consumers make mobile payments and work with Windows and Android software, he said.

It’s unclear if Swatch intends for its own smartwatch to also be compatible with iPhones like the Apple Watch or if the company is only targeting competing platforms, but Swatch CEO Nick Hayek’s claim that its Internet-connected watch won’t need to be charged will be interesting if the company does indeed deliver with functionality that competes with an Apple Watch or even Android Wear smartwatch.
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Verizon is following its More Everything holiday promotion today with a new limited time promo for its customers, the carrier announced today. Starting tomorrow, Verizon will begin offering customers data plans at new price points from 1GB up to 20GB with most price tiers being reduced by $10/month compared to their previous rates.

With the new plans, customers can take advantage of plans with the same data amount at a cheaper rate, or pay the same price and receive a data increase. Additionally, Verizon will introduce more data tiers with 12GB, 14GB, and 16GB options.
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Android One, Google’s program focused on bringing high quality smartphones to developing markets at affordable price points, is expanding to Indonesia later this month, the company announced today. Indonesia will become the fifth country in which Google has rolled out the Android One program since the initiative was first introduced at Google I/O last year.
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[youtube http://youtu.be/0DPgWaxOcNw]

Google is out today with its Q4 2014 earnings results from the holiday quarter. The company reports revenue of $18.1 billion, earnings per share of $6.88, with net income of $4.76 billion.

“Google’s full year revenue for 2014 was $66 billion, up 19% year on year,” said Patrick Pichette, CFO of Google, “and this quarter, our revenue was $18.1 billion, despite strong currency headwinds.”

Google will host a live earnings call (embed above) with investors and analysts to discuss its earnings report at 1:30 PM (PT) / 4:30 PM (ET) today.

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Starting today, Google is rolling out the ability for Gmail users in the United Kingdom to send cash as an attachment using Google Wallet, the company announced on its commerce blog.

Send Money in Gmail first rolled out in the United States after Google I/O in 2013, allowing Gmail users to send money as an attachment using Google Wallet without even requiring the recipient to be a Gmail user. Recipients just need a Wallet account, and the balance can be used on the Play Store or transferred to a connected bank account.
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