Google+ v5.3 update brings visual improvements [APK Download]
Google+’s latest update brings a few tweaks and visual improvements to their communities section, implementing a design similar to what Google Play uses for an app page’s header. This is a much welcomed improvement, and really makes communities look great.
Another visual update to Google+ is the status bar changing color as you scroll down pages. These changes are purely cosmetic, and don’t bring anything in the way of functionality. Below is a link to the APK mirror.
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Apple Watch With Custom Red Sport Band, Folding UK Plug Spotted in New Photos
British cyclist and former professional rugby player Will Carling has shared a pair of new photos on Twitter that appear to reveal two unreleased Apple products. The first photo shows a stainless steel Apple Watch with what looks like a custom red sport band, while the second photo provides a side-by-side look at an Apple charger with a unique folding plug design for use in the United Kingdom.
Carling claims that Apple design chief Jony Ive provided him with the folding charger, which could be the official charger for the Apple Watch in the United Kingdom, and it is likely that is who gifted him the Apple Watch with a custom red sport band as well. Ive grew up in England and is known to be a rugby fan, and Carling was the former captain of England’s national rugby team from 1988 to 1996.
It is possible that the photo is actually of an Apple Watch with the similar looking pink sport band, although the lighting in the shot gives the band more of a red appearance and Carling mentions that he prefers “the red band” on Twitter. Apple has given a custom watch to at least one other iconic figure, with designer Karl Lagerfeld spotted wearing an Apple Watch with gold link bracelet earlier this week.
It is possible that Apple may eventually release a (PRODUCT)RED version of the Apple Watch by offering this custom red sport band for sale. Apple gives a portion of sales generated from (PRODUCT)RED merchandise to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa, raising over $70 million towards the initiative to date. Apple’s current (PRODUCT)RED lineup includes iPods, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cases, and iPad Smart Cases and Covers.
Take part in Samsung’s global ‘What If I Can’ walkathon campaign to build solar powered schools in Africa
Samsung might be expecting to sell over 70 million of its Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones in its attempt to return to maximum profitability, but the Korean company is pretty active in its charity work as well. This is evidenced by it’s What If I Can charity campaign that started earlier this year, aiming to build Solar Powered Internet Schools (SPIS) in Africa. You can take part simply by downloading the What If I Can app from the Google Play Store and taking part in the global walkathon.
The What If I Can walkathon campaign aims to build one of the Solar Powered Internet Schools in Africa for every 800 million steps recorded. Th app works pretty much like a normal pedometer app, it just counts your steps, showing your personal total as well as the current global step total. Exactly how far do 800 million steps take you? Well, it basically means that a SIPS will be built for every 640,000km (400,000 miles) worth of steps. That’s pretty far, further than the earth to the moon by a good margin. It’s a global counter, which that the steps you take walking in the supermarket, fetching your children from school or even just pacing around your garden are totted up with everyone else’s efforts. A great by-product of using the What if I Can app is that your will be able to keep track of how much exercise you are doing.
The Solar Powered Internet Schools are housed in a converted 40ft container that allows for easy transportation. Each SIPS comes with its own solar panels that make it self-sufficient and internet access is achieved through GSM and satellite communications. Furniture, lighting and air-conditioning are also provided to ensure a comfortable learning space. Each SIPS can accommodate up to 30 students, allowing them access to laptops and tablets. In case of technical problems, Samsung has a dedicated support team to keep things moving smoothly. At present, there are SIPS facilities in 15 African countries.
The good news is that you don’t have to be using a Samsung produced smartphone to take part, the What If I Can app can be downloaded to all Android-powered devices. The app updates your progress to the global step count every five minutes. Downloading the app from the QR code or Play Store link below is the first step.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: SamsungTomorrow
Come comment on this article: Take part in Samsung’s global ‘What If I Can’ walkathon campaign to build solar powered schools in Africa
Screenshot allegedly confirms LG G4 will be powered by the Snapdragon 808
A couple of weeks ago a benchmark surfaced indicating the LG G4 will sport the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 under the hood. This came as a shock since the G Flex has the better Snapdragon 810.
Now we have yet another confirmation. This time it’s a screenshot, but there is no proof that it’s actually from a G4.
Assuming both the benchmark and this screenshot are true representations, it still doesn’t solidify that the G4 will have the 808. This information could be from prototype devices. Still, one has to wonder if the 810 really does suffer from the claimed issues. There has been a lot of back and forth going on and Qualcomm’s spin has always been that Samsung wanted to use their own Exynos processor, so they cooked up the rumors.
The 808 is a hex-core processor, which is 64-bit and consists of a quad-core Cortex-A53 and a dual-core Cortex-A57.
If this news is true, are you more unlikely to buy the G4 when it’s available?
source: @iziHaterz
via: G4Games
Come comment on this article: Screenshot allegedly confirms LG G4 will be powered by the Snapdragon 808
Amazon’s Android appstore loses one of its best features
Free. It’s a price we love. Ironically, free usually comes at a price. Today, that price, is the loss of Amazon’s try-before-you-buy TestDrive service for Android apps. It turns out, with more and more apps being free (at least to download), there was less demand for a service that let you test ‘em out in the browser/virtual machine. Makes sense. Accordingly, Amazon has pulled the TestDrive feature from the appstore — this has no effect on any apps that used it, just the feature is gone. The downside being there’s no longer a way to (easily) check out apps that don’t use the free-to-play/freemium model on Amazon’s store any more. But, coming full circle… that’s the price you pay for having more free apps, right?
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Amazon
Source: Android Police
Channel 4 creates its own video game publishing arm
Channel 4 is gearing up to launch its own video game publisher. The UK broadcaster has commissioned mobile games before, but they’ve often been specific projects that relate to its most popular programming. Now, it wants to offer additional support to the indie developer community. Channel 4 will continue to fund a smattering of games, but its new “All 4 Games” brand will offer broader games development, marketing and promotional support. So even if Channel 4 isn’t funding the title, the idea is that its guidance and experience will justify a small cut of developers’ revenues. That includes publishing games on all of the major app stores, as well as promoting them through its new All 4 video streaming service. What’s not clear, however, is the exact cut Channel 4 will be taking from the games. The mobile space is brutal, especially now that the free-to-play model is so prevalent, so the broadcaster will need to prove its services represent good value.
Filed under: Gaming
Via: gamesindustry.biz
Source: Channel 4
‘Project Cars’ will finally come out on May 6th, we hope
Remember Project Cars, the beautiful sim racer from the team behind Need for Speed: Shift? Well, it’s finally coming out, and relatively soon. Or at least that’s what developer Slightly Mad Studios is promising, anyway. After three embarrassing delays, we’ve got a new release date for your calendar: May 6th. The game will be available first on PC (via Steam) in the US before a staggered international release on PS4 and Xbox One: it’ll arrive in Europe and Australasia on May 7th, followed by the UK on May 8th and North America on May 12th. There’s no word on the Wii U version though, which is a little worrying.
Sony and Microsoft’s latest consoles already offer a few realistic driving games (Forza Motorsport 5, Forza Horizon 2, Driveclub, etc.) but Project Cars is shaping up to be a worthy contender, at least in the graphics department. The latest trailers and screenshots look drop-dead gorgeous, with pixel-perfect cars and immersive weather effects. As usual, it seems PC will be the optimal platform if you have a high-end gaming rig though. The game supports a whopping 12K resolution, which trumps the 1080p and 60 frames per second offered on the PS4, well as the 900p and 60 frames per second found on Xbox One. Not that many people have three 4K monitors lying around, but at least the option’s there.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Project Cars
Does Google need to return to China? It’s complicated.
There are more than one billion mobile phone users in China, and somewhere over 40% of them are using smartphones. China became the world’s biggest smartphone market way back in 2011 or 2012, depending on which analysts you believe. It’s still growing. IDC says the 107.5 million smartphones shipped to China in the last quarter of 2014 represent 2% growth on the same quarter in 2013.
You know who’s doing really well in China? Apple.
IDC put Apple on a 12.3% market share in China for Q4, 2014, ahead of Huawei, Lenovo, and Samsung. Only Xiaomi had a larger share at 13.7%.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are selling really well in China.
If we look at the App Annie Index Market Q1 2015 report we find that China is now Apple’s biggest market for iOS App Store downloads, ahead of the United States. In the revenue chart we still find that the U.S. is top, but China has climbed to third place ahead of the United Kingdom.
That’s a lot of people and a lot of revenue that Google is missing out on.
Where is Google?
Google launched search in China back in 2006 with results subject to censorship by the Chinese government. It was an uncomfortable and controversial agreement which collapsed in 2010 when Google stated it was no longer willing to continue censoring results. This was ostensibly a response to alleged Chinese government hacking, into, among other things, Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
Since then Google services have been blocked or hobbled in China. That includes Google’s Play Store. It’s unclear what, if any, talks are ongoing between Google and Chinese companies or the government itself. But the rows continue, most recently over Google’s decision not to recognize safety certificates of trust for Chinese websites, as reported by CNBC.
Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, did comment on China briefly at MWC this year, suggesting that the search giant is working with local companies to bring the Play Store back to China, because there is clear demand due to the low quality of alternative app stores and the prevalence of malware. But no roadmap was revealed and it’s far from a sure thing.
The malware question
You can find some statistics in Google’s Android Security 2014 Year in Review report about the risk of potentially harmful apps (PHAs). The overall outlook for Android is good. Less than 1% of all Android devices had a PHA installed, and that drops to 0.15% for devices that only download from Google Play.
The vast majority of the malware reports about Android fail to advertise the fact that most of the malware is coming from third-party app stores in countries like China, where the Play Store isn’t dominant. You can see why people might want access to Google Play, just on security grounds.
Fears over malware and/or a poor user experience with third-party app stores could also be another reason behind the surge in Apple’s popularity in China. What choice do people have in Google’s absence?
A real Android experience
Many of us are daily users of Google’s services and have trouble imagining Android without it. There’s little doubt that Android is a less attractive prospect without Google. Imagine no Google Search, no Google Maps, no Gmail, and no Play Store.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, so Google could be welcomed back with open arms by ordinary Chinese people. That same App Annie report shows the biggest growth for Google Play in the app downloads chart has been in Brazil, India, Russia, and Mexico, now 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively, behind the U.S. in the top spot.
Are the rumors about a Nexus phone made by Huawei related to Google’s potential return to China?
If the Play Store was operating in China who is to say it wouldn’t be the biggest market for app downloads? For a company like Google, so intent on increasing its user base, and working hard to tempt the online audience onto its services, China is a massive audience to lose. With over 640 million internet users, according to Internet Live Stats, China is by far the biggest audience out there. To give a comparison the U.S. is in second place and has around 280 million internet users.
How does it happen?
We’ve wondered before whether Google Play may be coming to China, but the truth is that we don’t know. It seems like a no-brainer for Google from a business perspective, and there would be obvious benefits for the Chinese people, but the situation between Google and the Chinese government is obviously complicated.
It seems unlikely that Chinese government policy is going to change in the immediate future. Realistically that means the original reasons Google pulled out are still valid. Five years ago German paper, Der Spiegel, asked Sergei Brin “Do you now fear that you will lose China, a huge potential future market?” and he said:
“If you adopt that point of view then you would agree to completely arbitrary limitations and distortion. If you take the point of view that you have to be friendly with the Chinese government and they can make arbitrary demands of you, then you can’t really run a business. I really don’t think that is a practicable way to proceed.”
It wasn’t really a business decision that took Google out of China. Is the fear of lost business enough to take it back? Has anything really changed?
Looking at this another way, Google doesn’t strictly need China. It’s not exactly struggling without a major presence there. But it’s very unusual to see business considerations take a back seat, and you can imagine there must be pressure from certain quarters to go back.
Google commits to updating Chrome for Windows XP users for another 8 months
Windows. You either love it or you hate it, and if you love it, there’s a roughly 1-in-10 chance that you love it so much you couldn’t bear to move away from Windows XP. An operating system so old that even Microsoft has quit supporting it. Luckily, Google feels different about the 11% of worldwide computers believed to still use Windows XP. The search giant has announced that it plans to continue supporting the ageing operating system with new builds of its Chrome browser.
The announcement of a further 8 months worth of support in the form of Chrome builds means that Windows XP users can breathe a sigh of relief, at least until the end of 2015. Still, at least it means that they are able to browse the internet “as safe as possible on an unsupported operating system.”
Google has urged Windows XP users to upgrade to a secure operating system, with Linux and rather unsurprisingly, its own Chrome OS were mentioned as viable alternatives. Google does recognize though that not everyone is in the position to upgrade the operating system. This can be due to a variety of reasons ranging from lack of finances, the need to use certain programs that are only compatible with Windows XP to simply not being technically able to install a new OS.
If you are still using Windows XP, how do you feel about another 8 months worth of Chrome builds?
Source: Chromium Blog
Via: OMGChrome
Come comment on this article: Google commits to updating Chrome for Windows XP users for another 8 months
Google’s new app indexing to now suggest apps in Google search
If Google search hadn’t already made your life easy enough, it is going to get better. With the search engine giant’s new app indexing initiative, your Google search results will now feature the relevant apps too that you might be interested in installing.
In his new blog post, Google’s product manager Lawrence Chang said that some of Google’s search results will now have app install buttons that you can tap depending on your requirements.
“We now have 30 billion links within apps indexed. When indexed content from your app is relevant to a search done on Google on Android devices, people may start to see app install buttons for your app in search results. Tapping these buttons will take them to the Google Play store where they can install your app, then continue straight on to the right content within it,” he wrote.
It means that next week onwards, if you type – ‘how to stay fit,’ the search results that you get will also feature some fitness apps that you don’t have already.
Android app developers can integrate indexing links and that will help them acquire new users, as well as re-engage the existing ones. If you are an app developer, you can follow this link.
Source: Google blog
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