The 2014 Moto X is one of our favorite smartphones released this year and if you invested in the Pure Edition and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, you’ll be able to take your new handset’s flexibility to another level. The crafty folks at Team Win have ported their custom recovery tool to the Google-owned company’s current flagship handset.
If you invested in the T-Mobile LTE-connected version of the 2014 Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, you’ll be happy to know that your Android 4.4.4 is now available. The device originally launched earlier this year with Android 4.4.2 and this new software push brings it up to speed with the latest version of KitKat, which includes several bug fixes and security patches.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvwV4lk_FLI]
If you’re participating in the ongoing developer preview of Android Lollipop, there’s a nice little Easter egg embedded in its latest build. If you go to Settings > About phone and repeatedly tap the Android version, a nice lollipop icon will show up on your screen. Give the image a long-press and you’ll launch a hidden Flappy Bird clone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxxRAHVtafI&feature=youtu.be
Behind the Mic: The Science of Talking with Computers
Language. Easy for humans to understand (most of the time), but not so easy for computers. This is a short film about speech recognition, language understanding, neural nets, and using our voices to communicate with the technology around us.
Just in case you didn’t get the memo, Google is really big on voice search. The company’s voice command-friendly Google Now tech is available across multiple platforms and according to some recent research, teenagers are crazy about talking to their smartphones, but how does it all work?
Speaking to your mobile devices are starting to become more commonplace, however there’s a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into developing speech recognition.
Google’s new Nexus gear isn’t the only fresh hardware added to the Play Store. Sony’s new SmartWatch 3 is now listed under the outlet’s Android Wear section for $250 and marked as “coming soon.”
Google just added all three of its new Nexus devices to the Play Store. You can pre-order the company’s new tablet (16GB $399, 32GB $479) and set-top box ($99) directly from the company, but its latest smartphone is listed as “coming soon.” Google officially unveiled Android 5.0 Lollipop to the world on Wednesday, along with its Nexus 6 smartphone, Nexus 9 tablet and Nexus Player media hub.
Retailers are starting to open up Nexus 9 pre-orders and the latest two to join in on the fun are Best Buy and Newegg. The blue and yellow big box is accepting advanced purchases of the 16GB and 32GB WiFi and LTE-capable models of the HTC-made tablet and Newegg is also taking orders for each variant of the device as well.
From now through October 20th, Motorola Mobility is knocking $50 off the 2014 Moto X’s asking price on Verizon. This brings the device’s purchase price down to $50 with a two year service commitment. This deal also supports customization via Motorola’s Moto Maker, which lets you tailor the handset to fit your style.
The Obama Administration recently nominated former Google patent counsel lead Michelle Lee to be the new director of the Patent and Trademark Office. The position has been vacant for nearly two years and Lee who has been occupying her time as the current deputy director of the USPTO is now pending Senate approval. The government has been working to reform the US patent process, which has been flooded with firms known as “patent trolls” that milk the system by purchasing old patents and filing frivolous lawsuits against other businesses.
Samsung released a new Intel-powered Chromebook today, as part of its Exynos-based Chromebook 2 series. The company’s new notebook ships with an 11.6-inch display, an Intel Celeron N2840 Bay Trail processor clocked at 2.58GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of local storage space. Priced at $250, Samsung’s revamped Chromebook sports a faux leather backing similar to what we’ve seen on some of its mobile devices.
Google recently announced the availability of .SOY, a new web domain extension specifically for Latinos. If your Spanish is rusty, allow us to translate. Soy means “I am” in Español. The company has also set up a new web portal (available in English and Spanish) where people can search for new .soy domain names and purchase them from a list of partners.
Samsung revealed its new Exynos 7 Octa today, a 20nm setup loaded with four ARMv8 Cortex A57 cores and four Cortex A53 cores in a big.LITTLE configuration. This allows any of the chip’s cores to be active as needed, which also contributes to the Exynos 7 Octa’s efficient performance.
Google’s first Android TV device is on its way, however the company’s current TV companion recently turned a year old and could soon be due for a replacement. A new Chromecast dongle with the model number H2G2-42 recently hit the FCC and while this doesn’t guarantee an immediate product release, it’s a clear sign that something is in the works.
As Google continues to push Android to new platforms like wearables, TVs and automobiles, developers have been concerned that the company may lock down the fairly flexible operating system, however the company is saying that this isn’t the case. In a recent interview with Re/Code, Google’s VP of engineering for Android, Hiroshi Lockheimer shed some light on the search giant’s plans for its popular software as it makes its way to a new batch of hardware.
Just like Motorola, NVIDIA and HTC, Sony is hopping on the Android 5.0 bandwagon. In a blog post today, the company pledged to bring Lollipop to all of its “premium Z series” devices.
Google is set to report its third-quarter financial results today after the market closes at 4pm EST. The tech juggernaut has been extremely busy, recently making a few acquisitions, facing regulatory challenges in Europe, competing with Amazon and preparing for new hardware releases. Yep, the internet’s reigning search king definitely had its hands full this past quarter. Hoping to make things a little easier to follow, we’ve put together a quick overview of a few key items that may come up during today’s big call.
Google unveiled its highly anticipated Nexus 9 tablet yesterday and almost immediately following the device’s official debut, someone managed to run it through Geekbench for a benchmark. The HTC-made slate managed to pull down an impressive 1,903 single core score, which is on a par with an entry-level 2012 Mac Pro, according to Primate Labs founder, John Poole.
Nexus 9 Geekbench Result: http://t.co/WdMg4dpLOK
1903 points single-core score is insane. An entry-level Mac Pro (2012) scores 1925.
— John Poole (@jfpoole) October 16, 2014
Yesterday, Google made Android 5.0 official and shortly after the company’s big reveal, Motorola chimed in sharing its plans to update its roster of devices to Lollipop. Today, NVIDIA has joined in on the fun confirming via Twitter that its Shield Tablet will indeed be making the move to the newest version of Mountain View’s mobile operating system.
Google announced a plethora of goodies today and while we’ve been seeing several shots the company’s latest hardware, we keep noticing unfamiliar software icons hanging out on Mountain View’s new devices. Pictured above is a shot of Google’s new Messenger app that will be shipping with the Nexus 6 as part of Android 5.0 Lollipop.
AOL is brining its video app, along with original shows and movies to Android TV, the company shared the news in an announcement today following Google’s reveal of its new Nexus Player set-top receiver. Some of the content provided by the AOL app includes the short-form web series Park Bench with Steve Buscemi, movies from Miramax and clips from the outfit’s in-house media outlets like HuffPost Live.
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Pre-orders don’t open for the Nexus 6 until the end the of the month, however T-Mobile product manager Desmond Smith shared a glimpse of what the device’s retail package might look like. In a recent tweet, Smith noted that this was the box for a test unit, so there’s a chance that the finished product could be slightly different.
Earlier today, Google unveiled the Nexus Player, its latest combatant in the battle for your living room. As expected, Mountain View’s latest set-top receiver is attracting several major players in the entertainment software industry and Plex has announced that it’s coming to the search giant’s new media hub.
Today, AT&T announced that it will sell the ASUS Padfone X Mini through its prepaid GoPhone services starting on October 24th. Priced at $200, the phone/tablet hybrid features a 4.5-inch phone capable of transforming into a 7-inch tablet via its docking station.
Google just officially announced Android Lollipop, along with the first smartphone and tablet that will ship with its new mobile operating system. As a follow up to today’s big announcements from Mountain View, Motorola has released an updated list of devices set to make the jump to Android 5.0. The company says this list will evolve with time, however this is what’s on the docket so far.
