Today, HTC announced further availability of its Desire 800 and 600 smartphone series in the US. The HTC Desire 816 features a 5.5-inch 720p display, a 1.6GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 1.5GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter. This affordable handset will be available on August 12th from Virgin Mobile and HTC for $300 outright.
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After stepping in last year to help save the highly troubled HealthCare.gov website, former Google site reliability engineer Mikey Dickerson is taking a job with the US government. Dickerson will lead a new team that will be tasked with identifying and repairing the government’s troubled websites and computer systems.
Some medical schools are using Google Glass to train the surgeons of tomorrow, however Mountain View’s wearable computer is also teaching some old dogs a few new tricks. Kansas City plastic surgeon and Lt. Governor of Kanas, Dr. Jeff Colyer recently added Google’s high-tech eyewear to his equipment list. When performing medical procedures from North Kansas City Hospital, Dr. Colyer uses Glass during facial reconstructive surgeries.
Google is contributing to a $300 million project to develop and operate a Trans-Pacific high-speed internet cable system called “FASTER.” Other companies involved in the venture include China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Global Transit, KDDI and SingTel, with NEC acting as the system supplier. This group effort will utilize a high-quality 6-fiber-pair cable and optical transmission technologies.
Motorola recently introduced an LTE-capable version of its Moto G, but it appears that an full-fledged upgrade is in the works. The follow up to Motorola’s affordable smartphone will ship with a 5-inch 720p display, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, an Adreno 305 GPU, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter, 8GB of internal storage and Android 4.4.4 KitKat.
You still need an invite to purchase the OnePlus One, however if you’ve managed to get the budget-friendly “flagship killer” in your grasp, you’ll be glad to know that its Android 4.4.4 update is now live. Today’s software push resolves a number of bugs, including a fix for accidental off-screen gestures while the phone is in your pocket, along some fine-tuning to the device’s display.
After a brief run with Verizon, the LG G Vista is coming to AT&T on August 22nd for $50 on a two year agreement. As indicated by its budget-friendly price tag, the G Vista isn’t exactly a luxury item. The device features a 5.7-inch HDIPS display, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear-facing shooter, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, a 3,200mAh battery and Android 4.4.2 KitKat.
Google could be testing 1440p video playback on its YouTube for Android app. The folks at Droid-Life have successfully enabled the higher resolution on an LG G3, however we tested the software with three separate devices (Korean LG G3, Verizon LG G3 and an Oppo Find 7) and weren’t so lucky. So perhaps Mountain View is slowly deploying this new feature.
A little over two months ago, Samsung and Barnes & Noble announced that the next Nook e-reader would be a co-branded Galaxy Tab 4. Today, both companies began sending out invitations to a media event on August 20th that will take place in New York City. The two organizations will use this gathering as a platform to show off the next generation of Nook hardware, while further discussing their partnership.
Chromebooks are already making waves with educators and school districts and of course retailers are no exception. Amazon is currently running a back to school promotion that knocks $20 or more off the regular asking price of select Chromebooks. This brings some device’s like the Acer C720P Chromebook to an all time low. Other machines like the HP Chromebook 11, which features an Exynos 5 processor, 2GB of RAM and an 11.6-inch 1,366 x 768 display are available for $200.
Almost two months back at I/O, Google formally announced its new Google Fit health tracking platform. With support from partners like Addidas and Nike, Mountain View said that it would soon release a preview SDK for developers and today the company has made good on its word. Outlined in a blog post by Angana Ghosh, Product Manager, Google Fit, the platform provides devs with a single set of APIs for apps and device manufacturers to store and access activity data from fitness software and sensors on Android and wearables.
Push-to-talk was a big thing about a decade ago, but nowadays Google Play is loaded with apps that simulate the once prominent tech. As a result, most wireless carriers to step away from promoting PTT support, however Verizon doesn’t seem ready to let go. Today, the company announced the availability of push-to-talk support for some of its LTE capable smartphones.
Last month, LG announced the G3 Beat, a mid-range smartphone that was coming to South Korea and Europe. In an effort to expand the device’s appeal, LG recently put together a near three minute promotional short film showing off some of the phone’s best features. Not really a technical showcase, this new handset is pretty much a bogged down version of the company’s flagship G3.
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LG may have inadvertently revealed its pen-powered Galaxy Note competitor, however details about the G3 Stylus are still very limited. If you were hoping that the South Korean manufacturer’s large smartphone’s hardware would be on a par with Samsung famous phablet, prepare to be disappointed. According to The Korea Times, the LG G3 Stylus will be more of a budget-friendly handset opposed to a powerful flagship.
Microsoft announced today that its cloud-based OneDrive storage application is now available for the Kindle Fire and Fire Phone via the Amazon Appstore. Similar to Google Drive, Microsoft’s online storage solution lets users share photos, videos, documents and other items with other people directly from their smartphone or tablet.
Android 4.4.4 is now available to Xperia Z1 owners on T-Mobile’s network. The new software push moves the handset’s build number to 14.4.B.0.37 and adds a few cosmetic changes, along with support for Sony’s SmartBand SWR10 and Lifelog app.
Today, Google announced the 15 global finalists for its 2014 science fair and with participants ranging from 13-18 years old, this next generation of geniuses give a glimpse of just how bright the future might be. Useful entries like 15-year-old Kenneth Shinozuka’s wearable sensors that help healthcare providers keep track of Alzheimer’s patients who may unknowingly wander away demonstrate the type of forward-thinking being applied to this showcase.
Pictured above is a box for an alleged Verizon-bound device from Motorola that carries the model number XT1096. Although we’ve heard rumors about new Motorola-made devices heading to Big Red, it’s really hard to tell what this mystery gadget may be. The soon to be former Google-owned company recently scored a trademark for the name “Moto Maxx,” which could possibly be heading to Verizon.
Samsung’s Galaxy S5 is already ships in multiple colors, so how about an additional hue? Today, Best Buy announced that it will exclusively offer an Electric Blue version of Samsung’s current flagship smartphone starting on August 17th for $100. The recolored GS5 will go on sale on August 17th and will be available to AT&T, Sprint and Verizon customers.
Did you buy an LG G Watch and somehow managed to break or lose its charger? If so, your rescue ship has just pulled into Google Play. Whether you need a reserve or replacement charging cradle for LG’s new Android Wear-powered timepiece, Mountain View’s got you covered for $20.
Google recently released a 64-bit version beta version of Chrome for Windows 7 and 8 users and for an encore the company has turned its efforts towards Apple’s OS X. The search giant has silently added 64-bit support to its Chrome Canary and Dev channels for Mac users. If you’re running the latest version of Canary on your Mac, the software should read as 64-bit capable in its About tab.
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Google recently helped police in Houston, Texas catch a sex offender after tipping the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that it had located explicit pictures of children in a man’s email. Although the search giant’s efforts helped catch a criminal, they’ve also made some people wonder if the company regularly monitors its subscribers’ email accounts.
Another day, another rugged phone from Kyocera. Today, the company announced that its new waterproof, shock-proof, drop-proof, dust resistant Hydro Life will be available to T-Mobile customers at Wal-Mart for $125 on August 8th and MetroPCS subscribers on August 29th. Known for its tough devices, Kyocera’s IP57 certified smartphone should help even the biggest klutz overcome what the phone maker refers to as “fragiphoniphobia.”
Today, in a blog post, Google announced the release of Tech News Publisher Center, a new tool that helps news producers keep the search company up to date with any changes made to the structure of their website. This portal lets verified companies manage and edit the way their web content is displayed in Tech News without having to jump through hoops.
