Chance currently writes for both NewGeekGuide and 9to5Mac, in addition to 9to5Toys. He has previously written for several other online publications. He uses a Nexus 5, iPhone 5s, iPad Air, Hackintosh, and Macbook Air.
Samsung today has sent invites to a press event taking place August 13th in New York City. At the event, it is likely that we will see the unveil of the Galaxy Note 5 and perhaps a new Gear VR virtual reality headset to go with it.
Leaked images have shown almost all of the Galaxy Note 5 already, but it will be nice to get some confirmation from Samsung itself. It’s unclear if we will see the Galaxy S6 Plus at this event or not.
Best Buy is offering HTC’s RE camera accessory for $99.99, down from its normal list price of $200. The $99.99 price point is the lowest we’ve seen since during a Black Friday deal when supply was very constrained. For those unfamiliar, the RE camera is a GoPro-like device that records point of view video, but does not have any sort of viewfinder.
AT&T and DirecTV’s $48.5 billion merger has been approved today following more than a year of regulatory review. The merger will see AT&T become the biggest pay-TV company, passing up cable company Comcast. AT&T says it will serve more than 26 million U.S. customers and 19 million users in Latin America.
Google today has started a program for startups to gain two non-organic patent families from Google, as well as the opportunity buy more patents from the company at some point down the line. To be eligible however, the interested startup must also join the LOT Network, which includes companies like Dropbox and Canon and focuses on stopping patent trolls (via TechCrunch).
On the same day that Apple launched a massive iOS app sale, Google has also joined the fun. The company has discounted a plethora of apps on the Play Store to celebrate summer. The discounted apps aren’t unpopular by any stretch of the imagination and include a variety of popular games.
When Android Auto was debuted in June of 2014, a variety of automobile manufacturers signed on to support Google’s in-car offering. One of those launch partners was Honda and despite the manufacturer having promised to support the platform from the beginning, it has yet to release any car model with support for Android Auto. Today, however, Honda announced at an event in Silicon Valley that it will begin shipping cars with support for Android Auto in 2016.
A new video has surfaced that claims to showcase the upcoming 3rd generation Moto G. The clip, which appears to be a promo video straight from Motorola, shows the device in all of its glory and reveals several specifications.
Asus today announced that it is releasing a budget-focused device to AT&T’s prepaid GoPhone service today dubbed the Zenfone 2E. The device is very similar to the Zenfone 2, but less powerful and aimed at the budget-conscious customer.
Grand Prime
As previously announced, T-Mobile today is releasing a handful of new mid-range smartphones today. Hot on the heels of unveiling its new Advanced Messaging platform, the carrier also confirmed that five new Android devices are coming. Those devices are: the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime, the Kyocera Hyrdro WAVE, the Alcatel Onetouch Pixi 7 tablet, the HTC Desire 626s, and the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime.
T-Mobile today has announced a new communication platform called Advanced Messaging. The service is based on the Rich Communications Services standard and is first supported on the previously announced Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime and will rollout out to nearly a dozen more devices as 2015 progresses…
Google today announced in a blog post on its AdWords blog that it is rolling out new 360-degree video advertisements to help advertisers “engage their audience in an entirely new way.” The feature is currently supported in Chrome and on Android and iOS. Users can navigate through the 360-degree video by either dragging their mouse or tilting their phone up, down, left, and right. Google originally unveiled 360 video support earlier this year.
Google today has started rolling out an update to its Maps application on Android that brings about several new features and changes. Most notably, version 9.12 of the app adds a new interface called “Your timeline.” On this screen, which is accessible via the slide-out navigation drawer, you can see all of the places to which you’ve been, in a comprehensive timeline-like interface.
Re/code reports that Google is hiring the technical team responsible for Homejoy, a startup that helped online users find professional cleaners. Homejoy will cease its operations at the end of this month due to multiple employee reclassification lawsuits, according to a report. The team joining Google includes about 20 people, all of which were on the product and engineering teams at Homejoy.
Google today announced a useful new feature that is now available in its Inbox email app. Starting today, when users “snooze” an email that has dates and times, they will be presented with a one-tap option to snooze to a specific time further in the future. For instance, you can snooze an event confirmation email until the day of the event. Another possible instance is snoozing a shipment confirmation email until the day of the package’s arrival.
Google today has announced that its Compute Engine on Windows is expanding to General Availability. Google’s Cloud Platform allows users to deploy and operate a wide variety of technologies and today’s expansion to Windows will allow for more users to take advantage of the platform.
Compute Engine offers Windows 2012 R2 and Windows 2008 R2 customers benefits of rapid deployments, increased uptime due to transparent maintenance, cheap and predictable block storage, and best in class Google Cloud Storage Nearline backup. Sharepoint, SQL and Exchange Server, and other Microsoft applications are also available to Compute Engine customers via the Microsoft License Mobility program.
Google shared more details about the graduation to General Availability for Compute Engine on Windows in a blog post on its Cloud Platform blog. Details include that Windows instances are now covered by the Compute Engine SLA, the ability for users to deploy a server running Active Directory or ASP.NET using the Cloud Launcher, and users can securely extend their existing infrastructure into Google Cloud Platform using VPN.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is tightening the reigns when it comes to hiring and spending as a company. The report, citing venture capitalists and others familiar with the matter, claims that new Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat is spearheading the streamlining of the company. Portat is allegedly involved in an internal audit of the company, examining costs, revenue, and accounting systems.
Google today has released version 2.0 of AdWords Express for Android. For those unfamiliar with the app, AdWords Express allows users to quickly create ads via their smartphone. Google says ads can be created in less than 15 minutes, and advertisers only pay when potential customers click the ad. Today, AdWords Express has been updated with a new, Material Design interface to fall more in line with Google’s other applications for Android.
Google today has released the second developer preview of Android M after officially announcing the software at Google I/O earlier this year. The changelog for the update can be found here. The second developer preview can be downloaded here for the Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Nexus Player.
Google announced today that all Project Fi phones will receive Android 5.1.1 within the coming days. The update will rollout over-the-air to users of Google’s wireless service gradually. Android 5.1.1. includes a handful of under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes for users. It’s slowly been rolling out to various devices following the release of the more significant Android 5.1 that brought a variety of new features.
Project Fi was officially announced earlier this year and is Google’s MVNO. For $20/month users get unlimited talk and text. Data runs $10/gigabyte and is sold at a pay for what you use method. The service is still invite-only at this point and wait times for invites are around the three-month mark.
Good news! Android 5.1.1 – an even sweeter version of Android Lollipop – is coming to all Project Fi phones over the next few days.
— Google Fi Wireless (@googlefi) July 9, 2015
It was ruled as part of the ‘right to be forgotten‘ case in Europe last year that individuals could request to have links removed from Google search results, and now another group is calling for that right to be expanded to the United States. An activist group on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission that Google needs to expand the ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling to the United States, arguing that users should have the right to have inaccurate links removed from search results (via The Hill).
Samsung this evening has issued its guidance for the second quarter of 2015. The company estimated operating profit at 6.9 million won during the quarter, which is below analyst expectations of 7.2 million won. The operating profit number is, however, up from the 6 trillion won earned in the January to March quarter of the year.
Microsoft today has introduced a new app for iOS and Android that makes it considerably easier for friends and family to make plans while on the go. Dubbed Tossup, the app was developed by the Microsoft Garage, which means it implores new ideas and thinking that the company hopes will catch on to the masses.
A mysterious Google device appears to have passed through the FCC yesterday. First noticed by Droid-Life, the product was filed under the FCC ID A4R-GG1 and the filing is incredibly vague when it comes to specific features of the device. While it could be the new Chromecast that is reportedly coming later this year, many of the hints throughout the filling lend credibility the potential of it being a new version of Google Glass.
AT&T today has revealed a pair of minor software updates for the Samsung Galaxy S5 and LG G3. For the Galaxy S5, the update comes in at 296MB and includes performance and security updates. The changelog doesn’t specify specifically what changes have been made, but improvements to the overall speed and safety of your device are always welcome. After updating, your phone will carry the software version G900AUCU4BOF2.
