Google eyes the bigger picture while missing Wall Street’s expectations
It’s earnings time once more, and Google’s gone and done it again. Despite taking in $17.3 billion in revenue over the past three months (that’s a 12 percent lift over how much it made this time last year), the search giant still managed to whiff slightly when it came to pleasing Wall Street’s persnickety analysts. If you’ve been paying attention the these earnings releases (dry though they may be), none of this will be news to you. Google’s track record over the past few years is filled with more Wall Street misses than hits, and this’ll be the company’s sixth consecutive whiff. But does Google care? Yeah, no.
It’s as much a systematic problem as anything — analysts are sticklers for the short term, while Google’s zeal for dumping cash into research and development mean the company’s clearly trying to work things out on a larger scale. Larry Page and Sergey Brin said as much in the company’s 2004 IPO letter. Meanwhile, outgoing CFO Patrick Pichette was adamant when he said that the core of the company’s ad business is strong. Sure, it might be facing stiff competition from rivals like Facebook, but it still works. Let’s not forget that Google raked in a cool $15.5 billion in advertising revenue in the past quarter, and is currently sitting atop a huge pile of money — think just under $65.5 billion, or about enough to build 5 aircraft carriers. Those numbers might not please prognosticators, but it’s plenty to devote to moonshot and the only slightly kooky concepts that have a real shot at changing the more pedestrian truths of daily life. Project Fi, anyone? Part of that means continuing to dump money into building and maintaining data centers (Google spent $2.9 billion on such capital expenditures over the past three months), not to mention pushing its vision of a mobile computing experience even harder.
The phrase “pivot to mobile” basically peppered today’s earnings conference call, and Chief Business Officer Omid Kordestani said the company was “laser-focused” on understanding how people interact with information on their phones versus on their computers. That sort of insight is crucial to keeping Google’s cash cow ad business healthy and relevant, and it’s kind of neat to see ad-centric thinking converted into new services like Project Fi and a focus on making mobile better for everyone.
Source: Google Investor Relations
Acer unveils line of new products in NYC
Earlier today in Manhattan, Acer revealed the coming of new Android, as well as Windows and Chrome OS, products.
The Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 is a 10-inch tablet running Lollipop that is marketed towards the education sphere. It has a 1920 by 1200-resolution Gorilla Glass 4 display. It will be available in May for $299.
Last up is the Iconia One 8 B1-820, an 8-inch tablet running Lollipop. It comes with Acer’s new Precision Plus technology, which the company says will allow for quite an accurate touch experience. It has an IPS display, starts at $149.99, and will be available in July.
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App of the Day: Etsy
We all have that one artsy friend that makes those really cool rings, dresses, or paintings. While we are super grateful to have said friends, sometimes we can be left thinking, “why can’t I create such great pieces of art?” Well, even though we don’t have the capacity to make the new David or even have an artsy friend, the internet does exist to be able to offer us less talented people the luxury of being able to buy these works of art.
Etsy, which has been around for a while now, is one of the go-to places for finding great artists items. Be them rings, necklaces, or even furniture. This my dear readers, is one of those great places on the internet where you can go and procure yourself these small, or large, works of art, and that makes it our app of the day. The Etsy mobile app allows you to browse, save, and shop from all sorts of categories. With their huge selection of handcrafted items, you would be hardpressed to find a better place to get great holiday gifts, personal jewelry, or even small tokens of appreciation. So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the Play Store and start shopping!
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Acer unveils a new 15-inch Chromebook, Iconia One 8 tablet and gaming-centric Predator tablet
At a press event held in New York earlier today, Acer announced a slew of new products that will all be available sometime this year. The company announced a very budget-friendly Chromebook and tablet, another tablet meant for the education market and has plans to bring a higher-end gaming-centric tablet to market as well. Let’s take a look at Acer’s new offerings:
Acer Chromebook 15 (CB3-531)
First up is the Intel Celeron-powered 15.6-inch Chromebook. Dubbed the CB3-531, this Chromebook has an N2830 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage and expandable memory up to 128GB. It has a 1366 x 768 resolution, boasts up to 11 hours of battery life on a single charge, and has all of the normal ports found on today’s standard Chromebooks – one USB 3.0 port, one audio jack and one HDMI port.
If you’re looking for a Chromebook that doesn’t sacrifice performance in any way, you may want to pass on this one. However, it will be available in the U.S. in July starting at just $199.99, so maybe this isn’t a bad deal after all. Take a look at the images below for a closer look.
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Acer Iconia One 8 (B1-820) Tablet
Next up is the budget-friendly Iconia One 8 Tablet from Acer. Available for just $149 starting in July, this 8-inch tablet boasts a 1280 x 800 resolution, runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, and measures just 9.5mm thin. It runs on an Intel Atom quad-core processor, comes with 16 or 32GB of on-board storage, and is also slated to provide up to 8.5 hours of battery life on a single charge.
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Iconia Tab 10 (A3-A30) Tablet
The next tablet on the list is called the Iconia Tab 10, scheduled to arrive in schools around the U.S. this May. It features a 10.1-inch display with a 1920 x 1200 resolution, an Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM and 16/32/64GB of on-board storage. It also runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and is part of the Google Education ecosystem. This tablet will be available in the United States and in parts of Europe for $299 and €299, respectively.
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Acer Predator Tablet
Last but certainly not least, we have the Acer Predator Tablet. To coincide with the company’s Predator PCs, this gaming-focused tablet features four front-facing speakers and an 8-inch display (resolution unknown). It isn’t set to launch until Q4 of this year, which is why details on the device are so scarce right now. We do, however, know that it will have some sort of haptic feedback feature that should make the tablet rumble when you’re taking hard corners in Asphalt 8, for instance. Acer still hasn’t revealed specs, pricing or release date information, but we’ll be sure to update you when that info surfaces.
Nvidia updates Shield Android TV console website with a 500GB option for just $300
NVIDIA’s Android TV-powered SHIELD console, which was announced back in March, aimed to offer users an affordable Android TV experience without making too many sacrifices. While the device was originally slated to only come with 16GB of on-board storage (with MicroSD expansion), NVIDIA may soon offer a model with much more memory than that.
The company is now showing a 500GB version of the SHIELD console on its website for just $299.99. That’s only $100 more than the company is asking for the 16GB model. NVIDIA hasn’t announced anything regarding the upgrade, and also hasn’t updated the specifications page found on the SHIELD website, so we should approach this news with a bit of caution.
The device is capable of handling 4K screen resolutions and features the new Tegra X1 processor, Maxwell 256-core GPU and 3GB of RAM. Due to the long list of high-end specs, you’re going to want to run a number of graphic-intensive games on this console, so it’s nice to see NVIDIA adding a much larger storage option for its users.
We’ll let you know if anything changes, but for now, assume that you’ll be able to get your hands on a 500GB NVIDIA SHIELD console when it comes to market in May.
[New Game] League of Evil devs launch Beatdown! in partnership with Noodlecake Games
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One of my favorite gaming studios has released another new title today that might just be up your alley called Beatdown! The new title is a classic side scrolling fighter titles, like Double Dragon and Battle Toads was, but offers a bit more of a real world feeling to the mix. The story is simple. Your character showed up at the office on Monday morning only to discover, via email mind you, that he was being fired after 10 years of service. Needless to say, he gets a little upset and goes into a rage and brings the hurt down on the whole office.
Beatdown! brings 20 levels of hand to hand beatings mixed with bats, golf clubs, axes and other random objects. You will battle your way through 30 various enemies, some with laser eyes, across 20 levels set in 5 environments. That also means you will battle 5 bosses along the way too. The controls offer three different playing styles.
If you are looking to give a Beatdown! today then you should bounce to the Play Store and pick it up for $0.99.
The post [New Game] League of Evil devs launch Beatdown! in partnership with Noodlecake Games appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Google Keep adds labels and expanded notes hit Android Wear
Google Keep, the company’s stock note-taking app, now displays entire notes on Android Wear devices. Users of Keep that have an Android Wear device can view their notes by swiping around and compose new ones with the “Ok Google, take a note” voice command. Reminders can also be applied through the Android Wear version of Keep.
Another option that Keep users on Android, Chrome, and the web have is applying labels to notes. It looks the same as labels do on Gmail and helps organize notes among a crowded field.
Source: Google
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The new SwiftKey beta has a redesigned settings and content menu
Sometimes a settings menu can be somewhat of a mess. Just look at the original settings menu on the Galaxy S4 if you want an example. Well SwiftKey in its effort to make its app as painless as possible to use, is introducing a “totally re-imagined” settings and content menu. The new menu also comes with a shiny new name.
SwiftKey Hub, as its called, is located in a new location and has all of SwiftKey’s most popular settings in what SwiftKey calls a sleek, modern look. It comes with three major sections: Personalize, which will include SwiftKey Cloud, typing stats, social options and SwiftKey support; the SwiftKey Store will let users browse and preview themes in a way that is said to be easier than the current iteration; and the settings menu that’s easily to navigate.
Those who use Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati and Marathi languages will now see adaptive new layouts for the very first time. The Dashlane collaboration is also present but only currently available to those who have the Dashlane app installed.
If you want to use the beta, you’ll have to sign up and go through the motions here. Beta testers, look for the update to hit you if it hasn’t already.
source: SwiftKey
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Qualcomm lowers expectations for the rest of 2015
This year has not started off pleasantly for Qualcomm and its second quarter report shows that the company is prepared for further struggles. Whether from losing Samsung as a customer or being slammed with regulatory fines (or both), Qualcomm has been damaged in 2015. Despite seeing increased revenue over last quarter and the same time last year, the company’s net income nosedived by nearly 50%.
With its struggles being quite evident, Qualcomm has lowered its expectations going into the second half of 2015. The expected revenue for the year has gone down by about $1 billion to $25-$27 billion. That amount of revenue still seems quite large but consider how much will translate to net income.
Source: Qualcomm (PDF)
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Push directions right to your Android phone right from your desktop in Chrome
In an a move a la Pushbullet style, Google has added a pretty handy feature for those wanting to get directions on their phone. As many know sometimes its just easier to do something on your computer then push it to your phone. Well Google’s added the ability to push map directions from your desktop to your phone.
That’s right. Like the GIF above all you have to do is type send directions and hit enter. From there it’ll tell you to type in where you want to go. Click the “Send directions to my phone” and with a little vibrate action the map will pop up ready for you to navigate. Good if you’re ever in a place you’re unfamiliar with.
source: Google+
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