Amazon App Store Celebrating 3rd B-Day with Lots of Deals
Did you know that Amazon has a plethora of Android apps in their app store? Oddly enough not many people do unless they happen to also own a Kindle Fire of some sorts. The Amazon App Store for Android has actually been around, as of March 22nd, for 3 years. The Android app to access this store is FREE. While not everyone loves it, there are few things to look forward to everyday, like the free app of the day.
In celebration of the Amazon apps store for Android, Amazon is having an app store party. For the next two weeks various apps will go on sale, some of which will be up to 60% off. They will also have some of those in-app purchase deals. As an added bonus, if you take advantage of a few of the in-app purchase deals in games like Asphalt 8, The Hobbit, Sonic Dash and many others, you will get 50% pack in the form of Amazon Coins.
If you don’t have the Amazon App Store for Android app, you can get it directly from Amazon. It is required to be able to snag any of the deals that are going on.
A few deals we see today for the celebration include:
- Man of Steel by Warner Bros. On sale for $1.99, down from $4.99.
- Terraria by 505 games. On sale for $2.99, down from $4.99.
- Batman: Arkham City Lockdown. On sale for $2.99, down from $5.99. (Kindle Fire Edition)
Feel free to poke around
Sprint turns on 4G LTE in 20 New Markets
This morning Sprint has announced an expansion in their quest for 4G LTE coverage. Their goal is cover 250 million people with their 4G LTE coverage by the middle of this year. With this expansion going live today in 20 new markets, they are well on their way. Are you the lucky recipient of a data speed increase in your area? Check out the list and find out.
Arkansas
- Hot Springs
Arizona
- Nogales
California
- Bakers Field
- El Centro
- Visalia/Porterville
Connecticut
- Bridgeport/Stamford/Norwalk
- Willimantic
Florida
- Sarasota/Bradenton
Iowa
- Mason City
Illinois
- Peoria
Nebraska
- Omaha
New Jersey
- Ocean City
- Trenton/Ewing
Ohio
- Zanesville
Oklahoma
- Shawnee
Pennsylvania
- Lancaster
- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
South Carolina
- Myrtle Beach
Utah
- Provo/Orem
Wisconson
- Kenosha
The addition of these markets doens’t just benefit Sprint customers. It also trickles down to their two prepaid brand, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. I would assume it would also affect Republic Wireless as well since they piggy back on Sprints network too.
Sprint Spark Now Live in Provo Utah and Trenton New Jersey
A second dose of Sprint news was laid ever so nicely at our feet in their latest network press release. In the release we found out that 20 new 4G LTE markets have bee activated, they also let loose that Provo Utah and Trenton new Jersey also now have access to Sprint Spark and HD Voice services.
Sprint Spark is the newest data technology that Sprint is slowly building out. It is an enhanced LTE service that has speed peaks of 60Mbps. Assuming you have a Spark enabled device, the Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy Mega, LG G2, Nexus 5 and the HTC One max were mentioned as supported devices in January. The Samsung Galaxy S5 will also support it as well.
Provo Utah gets HD Voice today too. HD Voice offers a cleaner, clearer calling experience. Trenton will be getting HD Voice access soon, just not today.
“Sprint’s all-new network is providing our customers significantly better call quality and faster data speeds in more places,” said John Saw, chief network officer at Sprint. “Customers in Provo and Trenton will be particularly pleased with the power of Sprint Spark – say goodbye to slow downloads and content that lags.”
The launch of Spark in Provo and Trenton brings the Spark capable locales to 18. Those include some cities in Texas and Florida. Along with New York City, L.A. and Chicago.
MIT’s bionic plants could be used as energy factories and sensors
In many ways, plants are ideal technology hosts — they’re outdoor-friendly, self-healing and pollution-free. It only makes sense, then, that MIT scientists want to harness that potential by augmenting our leafy friends with nanotechnology. The researchers have found that injecting nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes into a plant can extend its natural abilities, or add functions that would be tricky to replicate with purely synthetic devices. One lab test supercharged photosynthesis, extracting much more energy than normal; another introduced gas sensors that could detect the nitric oxide from a car’s exhaust. There’s a lot of necessary refinement before bionic plants are practical, but we won’t be surprised if our gardens eventually double as energy sources and air quality monitors.
Filed under: Science
Via: Wired
Source: MIT
Hatchi turns your Pebble smartwatch into a virtual pet
For many of us who survived the ’90s, virtual pets are but a distant memory. That said, the Tamagotchi just turned 17 and Bandai (its parent company) is still cranking out new pets, so apparently the digital species is far from extinct. It makes complete sense, then, that the concept would eventually make it to the Pebble; in fact, its black-and-white e-paper display should make virtual pets feel right at home. Developer Portable Pixels is celebrating Game Developers Conference (GDC) by launching Hatchi on the Pebble appstore sometime this week. Much like the Tamagotchi, you’ll be responsible for feeding, cleaning, playing with and caring for your new Hatchi pet.
In addition to Hatchi, Pebble is heading to GDC to announce two popular smartphone games, Mr. Runner and Icon Pop Quiz, are now available in the appstore. The former (shown above) is a side-scrolling runner game in which you have to avoid getting squashed by walls that come crashing down; the latter is, well, a quiz that features visual clues.
So why does a smartwatch company like Pebble have so much interest in a gaming conference? “We’re excited to see what games can be created on the platform,” evangelist Myriam Joire tells us. “Our goal at GDC is to build awareness with game studios that Pebble is a cool platform on which to develop mini and casual games.” While Pebble boasts over 2,000 apps in the appstore, it views games as an “emerging category,” implying that the company feels a need to strengthen its selection. The good news is that at least clones of Flappy Bird and Tetris seem to be thriving in this ecosystem (they’re two of the top three games in the appstore), so perhaps all Pebble needs is a few more recognizable titles to give it the boost in gaming that it’s hoping for.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Mobile
Google Hangouts outage brings chatting to a halt
If you’ve been having trouble with Google Hangouts today, you’re not alone. The chat service has been experiencing issues, and the folks in Mountain View have confirmed the “service disruption.” According to the Apps Status Dashboard, Google Talk and Sheets (spreadsheets) are having down time of their own, but there’s no confirmation on the latter two applications. We’re keeping an eye on things, and we’ll be sure to update when more details become available.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google
ACC Sports channel arrives on Apple TV with on-demand analysis and highlights
One day after its Men’s Basketball Tournament wrapped up in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Atlantic Coast Conference has launched an Apple TV channel offering on-demand programming. For now, ACC Sports will offer “extensive highlights and feature programming” from the ACC Digital Network. What about NCAA Tournament streaming? You won’t find that here. The rights to all March Madness games are owned by CBS, with games also broadcast on TBS, TNT and truTV. However, this channel will offer analysis and daily coverage during the tourney, following the conference’s teams and a “Road to Texas” series. There’s also access to Campus Insiders for catching up on the latest from schools in other major conferences (sorry, mid-majors). The announcement makes no mention of live event coverage, which isn’t a huge surprise as ESPN has a firm grasp on that for Apple’s streaming box with its WatchESPN option.
Filed under: Software, HD, Apple
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: ACC
Changes in iOS 7 Security Make Kernel More Vulnerable to Attack [iOS Blog]
A security researcher claims changes Apple made to tighten its kernel security system in iOS 7 instead weakened the system, making it less secure than its iOS 6 counterpart. (Via CNET and ThreatPost) Azimuth Security researcher Tarjei Mandt discovered the flaw and presented his findings last week at CanSecWest.
The security flaw involves the random number generator Apple uses to secure its kernel. In iOS 6, the number generator that encrypted the kernel derived its values in part from the CPU clock counter. Because it was based on time, the encryption was only marginally secure as the output values were predictable, especially when examining successive numbers.
Apple was aware of the limitations in iOS 6 and attempted to tighten security in iOS 7 by changing the random number generator to a linear congruential generator, which is more susceptible to brute force attacks.
The problem with the new generator in iOS 7 is that it uses a linear recursion algorithm, Mandt said, which has “more correlation” between the values it generates. That makes them easier to extrapolate and guess, he said.
This flaw potentially allows a malicious hacker to gain kernel-level access to an iOS device via an unpatched vulnerability. The kernel is the base part of the iOS operating system and controls low-level functions such as security and resource allocation.
Apple approached Mandt about his findings and asked for his CanSecWest slide presentation. 
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Sprint adds 20 LTE markets, expands Spark coverage
Sprint on Monday confirmed another 20 markets across the U.S. have officially seen its 4G LTE speeds. What’s more, the carrier also indicates the tri-band Spark network speeds have reached 18 markets in total.
…in such locations as Bridgeport/Stamford/Norwalk, Conn.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Omaha, Neb.; Peoria, Ill.; and Sarasota/Bradenton, Fla. Sprint expects to cover 250 million people with 4G LTE by mid-year. Sprint today also announced Sprint Spark™ in Provo, Utah, and Trenton, N.J,…
Looking ahead, Sprint expects to have LTE coverage for 250 million Americans by the middle of 2014.
Sprint Spark is available in the following markets:
- Austin, Texas
- Baltimore
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
- Fort Worth, Texas
- Houston
- Jacksonville, Fla
- Kansas City, Kan./Mo.
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- New York
- Philadelphia
- Provo, Utah
- Salt Lake City
- San Antonio
- Tampa, Fla
- Trenton, N.J.
The post Sprint adds 20 LTE markets, expands Spark coverage appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Amazon celebrates 3 years of Appstore with gifts and discounts
Amazon has started celebrating the third anniversary of its U.S. Appstore with discounts, deals, and gifts. While the official birthday doesn’t happen until the 22nd, you can get in on the promotion effective immediately.
According to Amazon, the following apps and games are included in the savings and can reach as high as 60% off!
- Wheel of Fortune from Sony Pictures
- Terraria from 505 Games
- Warner Bros.’ Batman: Arkham City Lockdown
Also, a limited time bonus offer gives players back Amazon Coins for in-app purchases.
- Asphalt 8
- Animal Voyage
- Kingdoms of Camelot
- The Hobbit
- Sonic Dash
- World at Arms
- Despicable Me: Minion Rush
Buyers get back 50% of the purchase price in the form of Amazon Coins. In other words, spend $10 in the game, you get back $5 in Amazon’s virtual currency.
The post Amazon celebrates 3 years of Appstore with gifts and discounts appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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