Google Play starts accepting PayPal for digital goods, but not for physical ones
Well, here’s a surprise: Mountain View now accepts PayPal payments for apps, games, books and other digital goods on Google Play. If you’re not exactly fond of paying through credit cards cards or carriers, you can activate the option by clicking Add Paypal and typing in your log-in details. The option has a huge limitation, though: you can’t exactly use it to buy devices and accessories. So, if you want to buy a new Android phone or a Nest thermostat, you need to bust out that plastic. That said, Play has also expanded carrier billing and gift card availability to more countries, and anyone waiting for either may want to check Google Support for the full lists.
[Image credit: Steve Ganz/Flickr]
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google
Via: Droid Life
Source: Android Developers Blog
New Project Hera location marker found in Google Maps version 8 Apk
A lot of buzz has been going around the Android community ever since the idea of an overhaul to the Google apps ecosystem, apparently codenamed Project Hera, was suggested. While the primary purpose of the alleged update is to improve the multitasking between Google core apps, it has been suggested that the update would also bring a new appearance to most of these apps. While we’ve been wondering whether these changes would be coming in a new version of Android or be updated in the standalone apps, Markus Exler from Google+ has seemingly found the answer to that question with the discover of the Project Hera location marker in the Google Maps apk.
As you can see in the above image, the icon on the left is the location marker that we are all very familiar with, however the icon on the right was also found in the Maps apk labelled “new_blue_dot.png”. As far as we can see, the colour scheme of the Project Hera location marker appears to match the colour scheme of previously leaked apps. It’s interesting that the icon was found in the latest Maps apk (which can be downloaded here), but it might suggest that the Project Hera updates are going be delivered through an update to the standalone apps rather than in an Android software update. With Google I/O just around the corner, we would expect more things like this to start popping up more and hopefully with an official announcement at the event itself next month.
What do you think about the Project Hera location marker? Are you a fan of the colour scheme of the suggested changes? Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments.
Thanks for the tip Off Corner Pack!
Source: Google+
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Carl Icahn Buys Additional 2.8M Apple Shares Raising Stake to Nearly $4.5B [Mac Blog]
Activist investor Carl Icahn has purchased another 2.8 million Apple shares worth some $1.65 billion according to a regulatory filing from Thursday (via The Wall Street Journal). In total, Icahn now owns more than 7.5 million shares of Apple, bringing his stake to almost $4.5 billion.
Icahn’s investment follows Apple’s April announcement of a dramatic increase in its share repurchase authorization to $90 billion, up from $60 billion. Apple will also implement a 7:1 stock split in June and plans to return more than $130 billion to shareholders under its capital return program by the end of 2015.
Prior to Apple’s announcement, Icahn had pushed Apple to increase its stock repurchasing program in a meeting with CEO Tim Cook. Icahn abandoned a legal effort to have shareholders recommend an increased share repurchase in February after Apple repurchased $14 billion in stock following its January earnings call.
After Apple announced its boosted stock repurchasing plans, Icahn said he was “extremely pleased” with the company’s results, noting that the stock was still “meaningfully undervalued.”
Now you can text 911… just not from everywhere
Text-to-911 became available in select markets today. As the name implies, the service allows you to text your emergency to first responders rather than call. There’s just one issue: it doesn’t work in most places. The list of supported cities is so small in fact, you should probably just assume the feature isn’t up and running in your town.
Today’s launch stems from a policy the FCC adopted back in January to make text-to-911 available everywhere. All four major carriers signed on to launch the service by May 15th — that’s today — everywhere a call center could support it. Turns out, they’re pretty few and far between. Locations that are online today are using existing TTY systems (traditionally used by the hearing impaired) to accept texts, or new browser-based solutions. However, Iowa, Maine and Vermont are the only ones who’ve managed so far to get support statewide.
But even if you’re one of the few who have text-to-911 support already, that doesn’t mean you should use it. While the feature will certainly be helpful for the deaf (or if, you know, you’re standing in the bank during a robbery), it can hurt you in other situations. 911 texts will have to include your full name and address, a needed step that will take a bit of time to type out on that QWERTY keyboard, as will your description of the crime scene (you won’t be able to include photos or video). Texting also prevents an emergency worker from being able to hear what’s going on around you or from asking quick, sometimes life-saving questions.
Text-to-911 will launch across the US by the end of the year. For now if you try and use the service somewhere it isn’t available you’ll get a bounce back message encouraging you to call instead — something you likely should have done in the first place.
[Image credit: Getty]
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Via: TechCrunch
Source: FCC
Cities use online ticket tracking to save you time on the subway
Many commuters know the agony of mass transit at rush hour; it’s no fun to skip packed buses and subway cars when you’re already desperate to get home. Urban Engines clearly shares in that pain as well, as it’s rolling out an internet service that uses commuting patterns to spot choke points in public transportation. Ticket purchases, pass card swipes and similar behavior create an activity map that reveals just where and when the delays are; it’s easy to tell that there need to be more buses at 6PM, or that the lines are too long at the subway turnstiles.
Multiple cities are already testing the cloud-based congestion fighting, including Sao Paolo, Singapore and Washington, DC. They’re not just using it to decide which transit lines need more vehicles, either — Singapore is using Urban Engines’ built-in incentive system to get its less harried passengers riding at quieter hours. It could be a while before the technology reaches your burg. If and when it arrives, though, it could save you valuable minutes (not to mention a few headaches) every day.
[Image credit: Roman Kruglov, Flickr]
Filed under: Transportation, Internet
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Urban Engines
Swarm by Foursquare is the next biggest thing in social Networking
Foursquare, as a social media platform, has become somewhat obscured by the meteoric improvements to all its competitors while it has languished behind as glorified location game. Swarm by Foursquare is Foursquare’s new app and latest effort to improve its social network focus and its focus is on still using the existing Foursquare mantra of competing with others for location check-ins, but also allowing friends to be able to see each other when they are nearby for impromtu meetups.
Swarm’s focus is mainly on enabling you to communicate with friends that are nearby (and gives you an estimation of how close they are) and the people you want to stay in contact with; Swarm has a messaging system that will allow you to converse with groups of friends. Naturally, this is dependant on the friends that are actually using Swarm, but you will be able to add your Facebook friends through the sign-in feature.
If you want to try out Swarm now, you can download it from the Google Play Store now for free (link below). What do you think about the idea behind Swarm? Are you going to try it out? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.
Source: Phandroid
Application: Swarm
Price: Free
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EFF Report Highlights Apple’s Efforts to Protect Consumer Data, Increase Transparency
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a non-profit digital rights group, today released its annual “Who Has Your Back” report, ranking companies on their efforts to protect user privacy and resist government data demands.
Apple was awarded a full six stars in all of the categories the EFF measures, including requiring a warrant for content; telling users about government data requests; publishing transparency reports; publishing law enforcement guidelines; and fighting for users’ privacy rights in courts and in Congress.
The EFF notes in its report that Apple has made a “remarkable” improvement over the course of the last year when it comes to user privacy policies, as it only earned a single star in past years. The report, which is based on publicly available information, does not include secret surveillance orders.
Apple earned credit in all 6 categories in this year’s Who Has Your Back report. Apple’s rating is particularly striking because it had lagged behind industry competitors in prior years, earning just one star in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Apple shows remarkable improvement in its commitments to transparency and privacy.
After the public revelation of PRISM, a top secret intelligence gathering program run by the U.S. National Security Agency, Apple made several moves towards increasing transparency about data requests to assure users it was not participating in the program.
The company issued a “Commitment to Customer Privacy” statement and began disclosing information on government data requests and its own policies, which include asking for warrants for information. It also released a “Report on Government Information Requests” back in November, and has pledged to implement a policy to notify users of information requests from law enforcement.
In addition to its new transparency policies, Apple also joined the Government Surveillance Coalition to urge the U.S. government to agree to greater transparency over demands for user data and Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Barack Obama and other tech executives to discuss government surveillance in August of 2013. In March, Apple hired Sabrina Ross to oversee the protection of consumer data and in May, the company released guidelines for law enforcement requests, specifying what information the company can and cannot retrieve from devices after receiving a search warrant.
In an interview with ABC, Cook publicly discussed the NSA’s surveillance operations and once again assured users that the Government does not have access to Apple’s servers. “They would have to cart us out in a box for that. And that just will not happen,” he said. “I’ve been pushing very, very hard to open the books and be totally transparent.”
Along with Apple, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo also received a full six star rating from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Google Play Store v4.8.19 with Simplified Permissions, Bigger Buttons and lots More [APK Download]
This last Wednesday was a lackluster Google Apps update day. We caught the Google Play Newsstand update, but it wasn’t all that big of a deal. Thursday a new Google Play Services started filtering out and now we finally have an updated Google Play Store. Those are usually the best updates around, next to Google+, Gmail and Hangouts updates.
The update moves the Play Store from version 4.6.17 to v4.8.19. With the update you will see a very noticeable change in the visual appearance at the top where the action bar is. Yes, it is gone. More so it is transparent and the top image shifts up to fill the void. Unfortunately it isn’t gone everywhere, but in a variety of places, like in Books, Music and TV shows. However it fades in when you scroll down.
There is a new “Additional Information” section in apps. The new section offers up more detailed info like application version, installed file size, content rating and a permissions detail link.
They also simplified the permissions screen some. Rather than a huge list, not it sits in a nice collapsible menu style layout complete with icons for what the app accesses along with the apps icon at the top. Looks so much nicer.
You will also see the buttons to install, update, uninstall and the likes have been increased in size making them easier to get to and easier to see.
Last but not least, the PayPal integration is added in. We previously reported that this was a new addition to the PlayStore. Now you can finally take advantage of it.
The update is rolling out slowly to devices everywhere and you can expect it to trickle in over the next week or so. however, if you are impatient and want to jump to the front of the line, you can just download the APK and install it on your own time. Hit the link below to go grab it.
Google Play Store v4.8.19 APK download
1st img via Kirill Grouchnikov G+
Via AndroidPolice
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Grand Theft Auto III series lands on Amazon’s tablets and Fire TV
The Grand Theft Auto games have been on seemingly every platform known to humankind, but those with Amazon devices have had to make do without Rockstar’s vehicular mayhem. That changes today: you can now snag Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas on both the Kindle Fire tablet line as well as Fire TV. You’ll be very familiar with the experience if you’ve used any of the earlier mobile versions, although that’s no big complaint given the quality of the ports. With that said, the real allure may be the pricing. Each game normally costs $5 a pop, but purchasing San Andreas currently gets you enough Amazon Coins to buy the other two releases — this could be a good way to get started in the crime-filled world of GTA without making a big investment.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Amazon
Source: Amazon (GTA3), (Vice City), (San Andreas)
MapMyFitness brings coaching and improved post-workout stats to Android
After being nabbed up by Under Armour late last year, things have been relatively quiet for MapMyFitness and its activity tracking app. That all changed this week though, as the outfit has rolled out a totally redesigned version of its Android software with a host of new features. On top of the UI refresh, you can now compare stats with friends from Facebook, Twitter and your contacts list from within. Improved data and mobile graphs make bragging about your progress post-workout a bit easier as well. Route recording received a boost, adding Google Maps 3D tech for navigating the course with tilt and compass functions that update in real time as you run or ride. For MVP members, a coaching option is now built in for a dose of extra motivation. This serves up audio cues according to time, pace, speed, distance and duration goals that you’ve dialed in. Of course, that voice to keep you going comes at a cost of $5.99 a month or $30 annually.
AIVAnet 