Updated Google Keyboard syncs your dictionary across devices
A new update for the official Google Keyboard has landed on the Play Store, bringing with it some useful new features, while simultaneously chucking out a few less popular options. Unfortunately, there’s no sign of Android M’s split keyboard option yet, but that will probably arrive in time.
The most notable and by far the most useful addition with Google Keyboard 4.1 is the ability to sync your dictionary to your Google account. This means that users can share their customized dictionary across multiple device and also means that all your words will be automatically carried over to any new devices that you purchase.
Google has also introduced new a privacy settings menu into the app. From here users can manage their cloud data and op-out of Google’s statistical data collection. There’s also emoji support for physical keyboards too, which can be accessed using the Alt key.
It’s not all new features though, Google has also seen it fit to remove the “Phase Gesture” feature that allowed users to swipe entire phrases out, rather than just words, but swiping over the spacebar in between words. Auto-correction is no longer configurable between modest, aggressive or very aggressive levels of spell checking, the setting has now been replaced by a simple on and off switch.
If you want to enable dictionary sync, simply head on over to the new “Accounts and Privacy” setting from within the app. In this menu you can select the Google account that you would like to use to sync with, just in case you have more than one, and enable the sync option. Simple.
If you haven’t automatically updated the app yet or have been using a different keyboard, you can manually update Google Keyboard from the Play Store for free.
Sony announces game plan for Android 5.0 and 5.1 releases
Sony fans have something rejoice about today. Sony has announced somewhat of a game plan for rolling out Android 5.0 and Android 5.1 for specific devices over the course of the next year.
Owners of the Sony Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, and Xperia Tablet Z, have already begun to see the Android 5.0 update rolling out to their devices. Well there’s even more good news, as Sony has announced that they plan to update those devices to Android 5.1.
Also expected to get the Android 5.1 update, are the Sony Xperia T2 Ultra, and Xperia Z3. Something to be mindful of, is that while Sony is expecting to start these rollouts in July, there are still some various hoops to jump through your service provider of choice.
We’ve also seen a fevered raft of feedback and requests for us to extend our Android Lollipop rollout to other products in the portfolio – so, we’re happy to announce that we’ll be bumping Xperia M2 and Xperia M2 Aqua directly to Android 5.1. The upgrade will start a little after we’ve made the update available for the Xperia Z Series, but stay tuned as we’ll share more on timings soon.
This will more than likely be a staged roll out, so please don’t expect your device to have the update as of July 1st. So while you shouldn’t jump to your Settings application and start spamming the Software Update button, you at least have a timeline for when to expect the update to start rolling out.
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Motorola Moto X 3rd-gen further leaked in video
Lenovo owned Motorola is ready to launch the next generation of its popular device Moto X. Rumors about Moto X successor have been there for a while now. But recently a image and proposed specification list has been leaked and claims to stem from Motorola insider .
The leaked image shows the wooden back, which is always a plus point and video by TotalTech showing the purported specification of the new gen Moto X.
As the video suggests, the Moto X is to come with 5.64 inch QHD (1440 x 2560) resulting in a screen density of 564ppi. The phone is supposed to have 3GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage with no confirmation on whether it has a micro-SD card slot.
The next-gen Moto X is supposed to be running the latest version of Android Lollipop (5.1.1) with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor. The all new Moto X is reported to have all the premium back option that were previously available as well as new mysterious back options.
Ideally, I would like to see a Snapdragon 810 processor, an option of 128GB storage (especially if there is no micro-SD card slot), 3GB of RAM and 3200mAh of battery.
What do you people have on your mind? What specifications do you wanna see on your future phone? Feel free to write about them in the comment section down below.
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HTC One ME announced with Mediatek Helio X10
New smartphone will be available in China and other Asian markets
HTC China took the wraps off its latest android smartphone, the HTC One ME. The new device debuts with Mediatek’s octa-core Helio X10 processor – a 64-bit chipset, clocked at 2.2 GHz.
The One ME sports a metal framed polycarbonate body like its predecessors the One E9+ and One M9+. The HTC One ME features a 5.2-inch Quad HD display with a resolution of 2560 X 1440 pixels and a fingerprint sensor. Additionally, i t’s fitted with HTC’s BoomSound, an excellent sound system with Dolby Surround.
Running on Android 5.0 Lollipop, HTC One ME comes with dual-sim, LTE capability. Specs-wise it features 3GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, microSD support and a 2840 mAh battery. The device has a 20MP main shooter with 4K video recording and a 4MP Ultrapixel front camera.
HTC’s latest offering is set to release first in China, followed by other Asian markets and will be available in three colors: meteor grey, gold sepia, and rose gold. There has been no word on pricing or availability in other markets yet, but we expect further news soon.
HTC One ME Image Gallery
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Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo on the way, using new Exynos processor
Guess what? There’s news circulating about another Samsung Galaxy variant, this time for the Neo line. In the past this is the series of devices targeted at folks who want to save a buck. As reported on SamMobile, the Galaxy S5 Neo will be a cut-down version of last year’s Galaxy S5.
This isn’t the first time Samsung has created a budget variant of their flagship. We’ve seen a Galaxy Note 3 Neo before, which was slightly smaller and had a lower resolution than its high-end counterpart.
An interesting tidbit with the new Galaxy S5 Neo is that it’s said to rock the new octa-core Exynos 7580 SoC that was recently leaked through GFXBench. This further implies that the Exynos 7580 is a mid-range chipset, competing with the likes of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615.
Current known specs of the Galaxy S5 Neo include:
- 5.1″ 1080P Super-AMOLED Display
- Samsung Exynos 7580 (octa-core, 64-bit, Mali-T720 GPU) SoC
- 2GB RAM
- 16 MP rear and 5 MP front cameras
- 2,800 mAh battery
- Android 5.1
There is no release date or pricing just yet, stay tuned for an official announcement from Samsung.
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Instagram is ready to make some serious money
After launching ads a year and half ago Instagram is now giving advertisers a much more powerful tool to integrate their ads. The tools include “Shop Now”,”Install”and “Sign Up” buttons.
These button appears at the bottom right of the advertisement. The company made advertisement open for all the advertisers. It is worth noting that pressing the buttons do not take you away from Instagram completely. Instead, it open a mini version of a browser within the app, so that when you are done buying or installing you will be returned to the app itself.
Instagram has always been a potential advertisement channel, able to drive its 300 million+ users to buy or download an app.
“The API comes polished—able to manage, track and measure marketing campaigns—thanks to borrowed technology and lessons learned from Facebook“
Instagram is all ready and plans to roll out this update gradually starting later this week in Spain. At the end Instagram wants to make advertisement available to all business areas no matter whether it is small or large. The API will plug Instagram into the broader ecosystem of social ad platforms.
In my opinion this is indeed a really big boost to the advertising sector. Local brand names as well as small and starting companies can now easily campaign their products by using Instagram as their path to advertise. However as delicious as it may seem, it can cause a lot of adverse effects. Like Facebook, a lot of users don’t want to see advertisement spam in their feed. I hope Instagram is prepared for such a scenario.
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Amazon and Best Buy slash $150 off the price of the Nexus 6
If you’re looking to pick up a shiny new Nexus 6 in the not too distant future, you may want to listen up, as Amazon and Best Buy are both currently offering the handset with a whopping $150 discount — meaning you can bag yourself one for just $499.
With regards to its internals, the device packs a 5.9-inch Full HD display, a Snapdragon 805 chipset, 3GB of RAM, an Adreno 420 GPU, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter and a 3,220 mAh non-removable battery.
Straight out of its box, the Nexus 6 runs the latest build of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, which brings several security improvements to the handset, along with support for multiple accounts, improved notifications, a smoother multitasking experience and the recently-announced Material Design guidelines.
If you like the sound of the Nexus 6 and want to pick one up for the discounted price, hit the links below.
Come comment on this article: Amazon and Best Buy slash $150 off the price of the Nexus 6
Xiaomi is planning to announce a water-related product on June 10
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has released a teaser image for an upcoming water-related event it’s holding on Wednesday, June 10, in China.
Unfortunately, not much is revealed in the picture, other than the fact that the announcement has something to do with water.
Many rumors have been bandied around suggesting that the company is working on a waterproof smartphone, but we haven’t seen any solid evidence as of yet. However, it looks like all that’s about to change in just six days time.
Be sure to check back as we’ll be bringing you live coverage of the event.
Via: PlayfulDroid
Come comment on this article: Xiaomi is planning to announce a water-related product on June 10
Scientists are one step closer to growing replacement limbs
If the goal in medicine is to be able to repair people as if they were made out of Legos, then we just took a big stride towards that future. A team at Massachusetts General Hospital has managed to grow a rat’s forearm that, theoretically, could open the door to whole-limb transplants. The team, led by organ regeneration expert Harold Ott used a technique called decel/recel, which has already been used to grow hearts, lungs and kidneys within the confines of a petri dish.
Rather than building a fresh arm, the decel/recel process requires scientists to decellularize organs from deceased donors. As New Scientist describes it, that means washing a forearm from a previously expired rodent until just the “scaffold” remains. It’s a clumsy metaphor, but imagine that you could rinse off the mushy stuff until the biological equivalent of an ice cube tray remains. This empty receptacle retains the structure of the component with none of the icky bits.
After that, this “scaffold” is seeded with cells from the eventual recipient and nourished so that the cells grow themselves into a new body part. In this case, the team used the forearm of a deceased rat, washed it down, added some fresh cells and wired it up to a machine that kept its tissue alive. In under three weeks, blood vessels and muscles had built themselves across the structure, and the team just had to graft on some skin to complete the project.
One of the biggest issues in transplant science is that the human body tends to reject or fight a foreign body part that’s implanted. Those who have received organ transplants are often consigned to a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs so that their own self-defense system doesn’t try to kill the thing that’s keeping them alive. By using donor organs as a template for your own cells to regrow, the issues of rejection no longer apply. It’s a similar effect to how Dutch scientists can now encourage rats to regrow blocked blood vessels around a dissolvable prosthesis.
Ott’s team tested the limb it was able to grow with electrical impulses, and the forearm was able to flex and move. They then grafted it onto a living rat and found that blood flow would be accepted by the transplant, enabling the part to remain alive. Obviously, we could be decades away from a first successful operation on a test animal, let alone being able to pop down to the hospital to replace a lost limb, but it’s very, very promising.
[Image Credit: B.J. Jank]
Via: New Scientist
Source: MGH, Biomaterials
Periscope for iOS lets you scour the globe for livestreams
Part of the appeal of Periscope is watching streams from complete strangers. Sure, your friend’s tour of their office is compelling, but it’s nothing compared to video streamed from inside North Korea. To make it easier to find livestreams the other part of the world or just down the street, Twitter has updated the iOS version of the app with a map view. Livestreams show up as red pins above a geographic region. Once you find an individual or clusters of pins you’re interested in in viewing, pinch to zoom in and tap for information about those feeds. If you’re not a fan of circumnavigating the globe with your finger, the global feed list is still available. Periscope also updated the replay feature so broadcasters no longer have to upload a video when they finish livestreaming. Those videos are now instantly available for viewing. Finally, you can share streams you’re watching directly to Twitter instead of just to fellow Periscope users. It shouldn’t too long before these new features pop up in the recently launched Android version of the app.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Periscope
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