Twitter Highlights serves up the day’s best tweets
Unless you’re constantly checking Twitter, there’s a very good chance you’re going to miss something cool. To help keep you from missing those very important tweets, Twitter introduced Highlights for Android. The feature notifies you up to twice a day about tweets Twitter believes are relevant to your interests. Twitter curates Highlights by looking at the popular accounts and conversations among the people you follow, tweets from people close to you and what’s trending nearby. Users can also see the day’s important tweets by tapping the new icon above the timeline that resembles two stacked cards. To turn on Highlights, navigate to Settings>Account Handle>Mobile Notifications and check the Highlights box. The feature is Android only for now, but Twitter says it will consider bringing it to other platforms in the future.
Introducing Highlights. Get the best of Twitter every day, sent to your Android device: https://t.co/9ZUWgX9lcC pic.twitter.com/sYuu7YUO4D
– Twitter (@twitter) April 23, 2015
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Twitter
Xbox revenue dips 24 percent thanks to Xbox One price cut
In the three months leading up to March 31, 2015, Microsoft reported a 24 percent drop in revenue from its Xbox division compared with last year, attributing much of the decline to sales of an “increased mix of lower price Xbox One” consoles. Microsoft cut the price of the Xbox One from $500 to $400 (and it ditched the Kinect) in June 2014, and it’s knocked off another $50 since. The corporate Xbox arm includes both the Xbox One and Xbox 360, and Microsoft did not separate sales of each console in its Q3 2015 financial report. Hardware revenue overall was down just 4 percent, boosted by Surface tablet sales, which were up 44 percent over last year to $713 million.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
Latest SwiftKey beta update brings new ‘SwiftKey Hub’ menu and small UI enhancements
The newest update to the SwiftKey beta channel will bring a ton of new improvements to the already advanced keyboard app. We already know that SwiftKey is gaining Dashlane integration to help autofill your passwords, and now the SwiftKey team has outlined a few more features that will be present in the new update.
Most notably, the keyboard is gaining a new settings and content menu called the ‘SwiftKey Hub’. Located in an easy-to-access place, the Hub is split into three different screens: Personalize, Store and Settings. The Personalize menu includes your cloud settings, SwiftKey Support and social sharing options. The Store obviously houses a number of different themes for you to choose from, and the Settings tab gives you access to… your keyboard settings.
In addition to the SwiftKey Hub, the update also brings a new layout to the Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati and Marathi languages, enabling you to type more quickly when using these keyboard layouts.
If you’re interested in checking out the latest SwiftKey beta, there are a few hoops to jump through first. Head here to join the SwiftKey beta Google Group and select “join this group”. Then head to this link to become a tester. After that, download SwiftKey beta from Google Play, and you should be all set.
If you decide to download the app, let us know how you’re liking the new improvements!
500GB NVIDIA Shield is real, but not for consumers
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A flurry of posts went out a few hours ago that showed the newest NVIDIA Shield that is set to launch in May having a 500GB variant for $299.99. Seeing the headlines got me to clicking about since the release device is slated for $199 with 16GB of storage for $199.99.
I would have no issue spending $100 for such a massive jump in storage. Obviously the listing brought about a ton of questions like is the additional bump a Solid State, Hybrid or standard hard drive. Flash storage in that size would be pretty expensive. Unfortunately the price listing is apparently a mistaken listing that should have never been made view-able to the general public and has since been corrected. Releasing the following statement to the press about it:
“A SHIELD partner development kit was erroneously listed on our website today as a product. For clarification, NVIDIA has not launched a 500 GB SKU for SHIELD. The website has been updated with our announced SHIELD product, available soon at $199.99″. – Nvidia
Being a bit of a conspiracy nut, I refuse to believe it was an accident. Rather a marketing tool to get the device, prior to launch, back in the eyes of the public and consumers. It is possible that they could bring something out shortly with a bit more storage, but I doubt a consumer variant would see 500GB for $300. With the size of Android games heading into the 3-5GB file range it would make a lot of sense for a “gaming” box to give users plenty of room to hold more than one or two. NVIDIA
Source: Droidgamers
The post 500GB NVIDIA Shield is real, but not for consumers appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Microsoft’s Surface sales are on the upswing once again
After a very slow start, Microsoft’s Surface finally seems to be hitting its stride. The company made $713 million from Surface sales last quarter, a 44 percent jump over last year, according to its latest earnings report. And yes, it’s attributing much of that to the Surface Pro 3, which also saw strong sales during the previous quarter. While any bump is good, it’s easy for Microsoft to report revenue growth when it’s starting from a low point. Apple sold around $9 billion worth of iPads during the last quarter, for comparison. It’s also worth noting that the company’s third quarter doesn’t include sales of the new Surface 3, which doesn’t ship until next month. It’ll be interesting to see if that model ends up helping its Pro sibling come next quarter. Before the Surface Pro 3, Microsoft’s Surface sales weren’t exactly pretty — at one point it had to write off nearly $900 million in unsold units.
During the company’s earnings call today, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted that 64 percent of Surface Pro 3 users also use One Note. That’s not surprising, since that device’s stylus integrates directly into OneNote. Nadella pointed out that the Surface Pro 3’s OneNote penetration is also nine times that of any other touch notebook.
Microsoft’s Devices and Consumer group, which the Surface is a part of, saw an overall revenue bump of 8 percent compared to last year. It was also helped by strong Office 365 growth (up 35 percent, reaching 12.4 million subscriptions), Bing advertising gains (21 percent), and a 30 percent bump in Xbox Live usage. Oh yah, and it sold 8.6 million Lumia phones, down from 10.5 million from the holiday quarter. It was a different story for Xbox revenues, which fell 24 percent from last year, mostly due to price drops for the Xbox One.
Filed under: Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
Amazon Web Services is a $5 billion business
Even though Amazon Web Services has taken off in recent years to become the cloud computing solution of choice for businesses, not much was known about how much money it was bringing in. Now, however, we do. In its first quarterly earnings report today, Amazon has reported the financials for its AWS division for the first time, stating that it is a “$5 billion business and growing fast.” In Q1 alone, AWS brought in $1.57 billion in revenue, which is up from $1.1 billion this time last year (in previous Amazon reports, this info was simply filed under a mysterious “Other” column). On the whole, AWS seems to be one of a few operations within Amazon that is profitable, with about $265 million in profits in Q1. Despite that, however, the online retail giant still reported a net loss of $57 million overall for the quarter.
Filed under: Amazon
Source: Amazon
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.
The post Acer unveils line of new products in NYC appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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!
The post App of the Day: Etsy appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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.
AIVAnet 