Happy Holidays from SwiftKey includes a new “Ice” keyboard Theme
SwiftKey has put an update out today for their keyboard replacement app. It adds in the traditional bug fixes, improvements and language pack management. It also adds in a new installer with automatic language downloads. All good stuff, but they also put a nice little keyboard theme in as well.
Like it? Is a snowy, icy cold blue with snow capped keys and snowflakes. Not a huge deal, but a nice treat for those that change up their devices and want a more traditional icy look to all aspects of their device for the holidays.
The update is live, but might not be available for everyone just yet. For those of you that don’t have this keyboard replacement, feel free to pick it up. SwiftKey has placed it on sale today as well. Bringing it down from $3.99 to $1.99. So go ahead and treat yourself.
BBM to be Preinstalled on Some LG Devices
When the Blackberry Messenger app first got leaked out, pulled, and then officially released it was met with excitement and disappointment. While many couldn’t believe it was coming to Android, it took off like a bolt of lightning. Current numbers in the Play Store put it in the 10 to 50 million download bracket. The launch didn’t go all that smooth and had plenty of bumps, but it is alive and obviously flourishing.
Blackberry claims there are around 80 million active users sporting the software with 20 million of them being Android users. It makes sense that they would want to attempt to take it to the next level and find a partner to have the app pre-installed on a device out of the box. A press release that has hit the Blackberry press site has announced just that today. LG will pre-install BBM to the LG G Lite.
“BBM is widely used throughout the Middle East, Africa and Indonesia where smartphone users tend to engage heavily in social networking,” said Kevin Shin, Vice President of Marketing for Asia, the Middle East and CIS countries of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “The LG G Pro Lite offers an optimized BBM experience with its large, high quality display and embedded Stylus Pen.”
“People across the globe are using BBM to connect with each other and the enthusiasm has been phenomenal,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President for BBM at BlackBerry. “We’re extremely pleased that LG Electronics will help bring their customers a more seamless experience with BBM by preloading the app, starting with the G Pro Lite in key markets.”
As you see, there is no mention of the U.S. in their. While BBM will be pre-installed in some LG devices, it looks like it will mostly be for devices in the Middle East, Africa and Indonesia. It is good for Blackberry, even if it might seem a little odd to some of us Android users.
Via Blackberry
12 Days of Giveaways: Win a SwannEye HD Plug & Play (DAY 5)
Today marks the fifth day of our 12 Days of Giveaways promotion which sees us giving out all sorts of wonderful Android-related stuff. We’ve already given away hundreds of dollars worth of stuff and we’re only getting warmed up! The next few days will see us offering up an NVIDIA Shield, Nexus 5, Samsung Galaxy Victory, and Moto G! Hold on tight, it’s gonna be fun!
Prize #1 SwannEye HD Plug and Play
How would you like to be able to remotely watch the front door of your home or office? Maybe you’ve got some friends coming over and want to know when they’ve arrived. Maybe you have a problem with kids knocking over your garbage cans. Whatever the case is or what your needs are, you can keep an eye on things from your Android smartphone or tablet.
- Shoots real time 720p video or still images to your smartphone or tablet
- SwannEye app for viewing on PC, Mac, tablets & Smartphones including iPhone, iPad & Android devices
- Perfect for low light scenarios, thanks to 12 infrared LEDs
- Built-in microphone captures audio
- Easy 3 step set-up using a QR code & your Smartphone or tablet with no manual networking configuration required
- Mount the camera on any flat surface, upside down, on the ceiling, or on a wall
Learn more about Swann or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Prize #2 Bundled Goodies
The second prize we’re hooking you up with is a Whitelabel SoundDew BT Speaker and a pair of iHome Earbuds with Mic. The former is a highly portable and waterproof Bluetooth speaker that delivers up to 10 hours of playback; the latter are a pair of earbuds with a microphone to take calls on your Android!
Learn more about Whitelabel!
Learn more about iHome or follow them on Facebook and Twitter!
Prize #3 Android Collectible (SERIES 04)
The third prize tossing out to a random winner is an unopened Series 04 Android collectible figure from Dead Zebra and Andrew Bell. As to what’s inside the box remains a mystery, but here are the potential candidates!
Learn more about Andrew Bell or follow him on Twitter!
Daily Prizes
Oh… don’t forget we’re also giving out Google Play credits over the remainder of the month. On some days we’ll randomly pick someone to win $10, others will be $25 and higher!
How to Enter
We’re going to keep this short and simple. To enter today’s contest all you need to do is leave a comment below! We’ll let this run for 24 hours and then randomly select the winner(s).
Win Google Play Credits!
To enter to win one of the Google Play credits all you need to do is share the following on your social media platform of choice: “I want to win Google Play Credits, AndroidGuys! http://goo.gl/dGQhG6 #12DaysAndroid”
Yes, you can share over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google+. Yes, you can enter as often as you like.
Finer details
This post will be updated with the name(s) and we’ll reach out via the comments as well. Also, be sure to keep an eye on the 12 Days of Giveaways page where we’ll keep a running tally of prizes and winners.
Note that we’ll give each winner a 24 hour window to respond. Should the winner not reply in time, we’ll re-draw and announce a new name. Be sure to check back!
Here’s the rub: We’re limiting this contest to U.S. residents only. Yes, we know it sucks – we hate doing it. Also, you can only win one prize per household. If you happen to win a Google Play Credit as well, then so be it!
The post 12 Days of Giveaways: Win a SwannEye HD Plug & Play (DAY 5) appeared first on AndroidGuys.
This Chromium experiment takes the URL out of the address bar, because why not?
Chromium, Google’s open-source Chrome project, isn’t for the average Joe (or Jane); it’s for open-source fanatics. So today’s two Chromium experiments, announced by Product Evangelist François Beaufort, should give that subset of users something curious and something useful to play with, in that order.
First up is a Chrome OS experiment that mixes up the traditional URL-in-omnibox setup by removing the host URL altogether and placing it within the toolbar, just off to the right side (as pictured above). You can still click on that “origin chip” to display the full URL, as well as permissions data, if you’d like, but the the omnibox will remain empty for — we’re not sure — a cleaner search experience, perhaps? Again, the reasoning behind this odd switch up is unclear, but knowing Google, it likely has to do with reducing clutter in the user interface as much as possible.
The other, much more sensible experiment involves a bit of code that allows you to make any site of your choosing (presumably a favorite) into a Chrome App. The option, once enabled, will appear under Tools in Chrome’s dropdown menu. All it requires is one click and you’re done. And no, you wouldn’t be wrong for thinking of this as a new way to bookmark sites… it is and it’s simple to do.
Just hit up the source below to get cracking on this Chrome customization and that other, weird one if you’re so inclined.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Francois Beaufort (G+), (2)
Google Glass update brings The Wall Street Journal, storm warnings and RSS to your face
Sure, you’ve read The Wall Street Journal, but can you really say you’ve experienced it until you’ve experienced it #throughglass? The Dow Jones-published paper is among the latest batch of Glassware apps coming to Google’s wearable, letting you keep up on breaking news, politics, business and, of course, technology. Weather Alerts, meanwhile, offers 120 different warning categories, including tornadoes and air quality alerts. Also on the docket is Winkfeed, which brings RSS to the device, letting you read news and save stories to your Pocket account. All of those join the recently announced ability to upload videos to YouTube and take part in Google Hangouts through Glass.
Filed under: Google
Source: Google+
First alien moon possibly spotted 1,800 light years away
Exoplanets are seemingly easy to find these days, but their moons have been all too elusive — at least, until now. Researchers at the University of Notre Dame claim to have spotted what may be the first exomoon. By looking for gravitational effects on starlight, they’ve found a relatively small, planet-like object orbiting a much larger object that isn’t a regular star. Don’t be quick to reach any conclusions, however. The two astral bodies are too far away from anything else in space to have an obvious explanation; while we may be looking at an orbitless planet and its moon, both about 1,800 light years away, the pair could also represent a failed star and an ordinary planet. Even if the objects remain mysteries, though, the techniques used in their discovery should help astronomers locating exomoons in the future.
[Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]
Via: New Scientist
Source: Cornell University Library
Updated Vine for Windows Phone lets you save clips as drafts
Although Vine launched on Windows Phone with many core features intact, it didn’t come with a draft mode — if you switched tasks, your hard work (six seconds of it, anyway) went out the window. That won’t be an issue with the latest version of the app, though. You can now save the video you’ve recorded to finish it later; interruptions and time lapse videos won’t be major headaches from now on. The Windows Phone client still doesn’t have the post-shoot editing of its Android and iOS siblings, but it’s clear that the feature gap is narrowing quickly.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Via: Phone Arena
Source: Windows Phone Store
Meizu plans to begin selling smartphones in the US next year
Meizu, a smartphone company based out of China, has been on the scene for a long time — it just hasn’t officially made its way to the United States (outside of a few online importers, of course). Meizu’s ready to expand its offerings to the other side of the Pacific starting next year, however. The company hasn’t specified exactly which devices will be available here, but we’re crossing our fingers that the 128GB MX3 will make an appearance with US-friendly frequencies. According to Meizu’s press release, the manufacturer “believes there’s room in the U.S. market for another player,” and is looking at this expansion as a long-term strategy rather than a one-off. Meizu also mentions that we’ll be seeing more of the company’s lineup at CES, so stay tuned.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Source: Meizu
Apple, China Mobile Have Yet to Reach iPhone Deal
Apple and China Mobile have not yet finalized a deal that will allow the world’s largest carrier to sell the iPhone, reports Reuters. Earlier in December, a report from The Wall Street Journal suggested that negotiations were all but complete, with the two companies on track for a release sometime around December 18, the expected date for the carrier’s 4G launch.
A China Mobile store promoting Apple products last week
While China Mobile did launch its 4G network earlier today, bringing 4G speeds to its more than 700 million customers, there has been no sign of an iPhone deal.
Xi Guohua, the chairman of the world’s largest mobile phone carrier, said on Wednesday morning that his company had no announcement to make on any deal to carry Apple’s smartphones. Xi was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Guangzhou, a southern city of China.
Multiple signs of an approaching deal between the two companies have popped up during the final months of 2013, with Apple receiving licensing needed to operate on China Mobile’s TD-LTE standard in September and releasing the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c with TD-LTE support.
Though a deal has not been struck, it is clearly in the final stages as China Mobile has been accepting iPhone pre-orders and heavily promoting both the iPad and the iPhone in stores across China.
China Mobile is expected to bring millions of new customers to Apple, significantly increasing the company’s presence in China. While Apple currently has deals with smaller carriers China Unicom and China Telecom, both carriers combined have fewer subscribers than China Mobile.
Apple’s stock price is currently down nearly 1.8 percent following the lack of a deal announcement.
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Pebble Opens Developer Portal, Appstore Coming in 2014 [iOS Blog]
Pebble, the company behind the popular Pebble Smart Watch, today announced the opening of its new Pebble Developer Portal. With the Developer Portal open, Pebble app developers can upload apps that will be distributed in the company’s upcoming Pebble appstore, slated to launch in early 2014.
The appstore, which will function similarly to other app repositories from companies like Apple and Google, will allow Pebble users to download an array of apps for their smart watches, from watch faces to more complex applications developed especially for the device.
When it launches in early 2014, the Pebble appstore will be a first-of-its-kind wearable tech application directory—giving Pebble users a one-stop-shop for searching, browsing, and installing Pebble watch faces and apps directly from the iOS or Android Pebble smartphone app.
Pebble’s Developer Portal comes after the November release of its Pebble SDK 2.0, which added four new APIs including Javascript, Accelerometer, Data Logging, and Persistent Storage. Pebble also recently gained support for iOS 7 notifications via the Pebble Smartwatch app, greatly enhancing the functionality of the device.
The Pebble Smart watch can be purchased from the Pebble website for $150. The accompanying Pebble Smartwatch app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
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