Google search can stream apps to your Android phone
Ever found something on the web that would be better-served by an app, but didn’t relish the thought of downloading the app to give it a shot? Google clearly has: as part of a broader mobile search revamp, it’s introducing app streaming on Android phones. Search results from certain sites (such as Chimani or HotelTonight) will give you streamed versions of their mobile apps that let you do everything you need without a permanent download. Think of it as Nextbit’s cloud-based app management taken to the next level — you only need to ‘install’ that app for that brief moment when you really need it. The feature is still in beta testing with a handful of titles right now, but Google is promising to expand the selection over time.
Source: Google Inside Search
Facebook is testing a new set of tools for nonprofits
Facebook wants to make it easier for nonprofits to collect donations and spread awareness of their causes. The social media giant recently announced that it’s testing a new feature called “fundraisers”, a dedicated channel found on a nonprofit’s Facebook page. It lets charities tell their story, gather supporters, collect donations and track progress all from the one place. People who want to help can give money and share the nonprofit’s information with their friends, with the existing Donate button included in each shared post, meaning folks don’t have to leave their News Feed in order to support a cause. The button is also going to appear at the top of Pages, giving nonprofits more opportunity to raise money. These new features are currently being tested with 37 partner organizations and should expand to others “in the future”.
Source: Facebook
Samsung Pay reportedly set to launch in China, Spain and the UK early next year
Samsung Pay has seen a pretty limited rollout since its launch a few months ago, but the company’s mobile payment service might soon start rolling out to more regions. According to a new report out of SamMobile, the South Korean company is planning to bring Samsung Pay to China, Spain and the U.K. sometime in Q1 2016. An exact rollout date has yet to be confirmed. Currently the service is only available in the United States and South Korea, so the rollout to these new regions will certainly be welcome additions.
See also: Report: Samsung’s budget smartphones to get fingerprint readers and Samsung Pay (NFC)
Samsung Pay originally launched on the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ back in August in Korea, and came to the United States just one month later. The company’s Gear S2 smartwatch recently got an update that brought support for the payment service, though it only supports payments through NFC. And now with the addition of Verizon, all four major U.S. carriers (along with U.S. Cellular) support Samsung Pay.
In case you’re unfamiliar, Samsung Pay uses both NFC and MST to make mobile payments. You’ll need a VISA, MasterCard or American Express card from Bank of America, Citi or U.S. Bank in order to use the service at the moment, but Samsung says support for more banks and cards will be added in the near future.
Devices that support Samsung Pay
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Google will now let you stream apps directly from Google Search
Google has been trying to keep Google Search, one of its biggest money-makers, relevant ever since the adoption of applications became widespread. Now that everyone is spending most of their time inside apps on their mobile devices, there are a diminishing amount of reasons for users to use Google Search as opposed to simply opening up an app. The company began indexing content of applications about two years ago, allowing users of Google Search to find the best results whether they’re inside an app or on the web. And now that Google has over 100 billion deep links into apps in its index (including Facebook, Instagram and others), the company is finally taking the next step to bring users something truly unique.
Google today announced that it will begin showing some “app-first” content inside Google Search. For starters, Google will now not only display results inside Search that has matching web content, but also show info from apps that don’t have matching web content. This means that if you search for a hotel reservation, you’ll not only get information from HotelTonight.com, but also the HotelTonight mobile application.
Additionally, you’ll also start seeing an option to “stream” some apps that you don’t have installed, right from Google Search (as long as you’re on a good Wi-Fi connection). Once you see the “Stream” button next to the HotelTonight app result, you’ll get a streamed version of the app so you can quickly find what you need, just as if you were in the app itself. If you want to go one step further, you can then install the app to your device with one simple click. Google says this streaming method uses a new cloud-based technology with which they’re currently experimenting.
See also: Google is trying to get inside apps – how and why
Google says it’s exploring both of these new ways to search with a small group of partners including HotelTonight, Chimani, Daily Horoscope and New York Subway. More partners will be added to this list in the future.
Apple Seeds Fourth iOS 9.2 Beta to Developers and Public Beta Testers
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of iOS 9.2 to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, just over one week after seeding the third iOS 9.2 beta and a full month after releasing iOS 9.1 to the public. As a .1 upgrade, iOS 9.2 will mark the second major update to iOS 9.
The fourth beta of iOS 9.2, build 13C5075, is available as an over-the-air update and through the Apple Developer Center. Public beta testers can download the update over the air. Apple has also released Xcode 7.2 beta 4.
Earlier betas of iOS 9.2 included changes to the Safari View Controller, which is what allows a pop-up Safari window to be used in third-party apps. In iOS 9.2, Safari View Controller supports third-party Action Extensions, letting apps like 1Password to be accessed in the Safari view of other apps like Tweetbot.
Safari View Controller has also been updated with the ability to long tap on the Reload button to reload content without content blockers and it now supports the request desktop site function. The second iOS 9.2 improved Safari View Controller further, introducing support for dismissing it with an edge swipe.
Along with improvements to Safari View Controller, iOS 9.2 also introduces Arabic support for Siri, support for AT&T’s NumberSync Wi-Fi Calling feature and it includes bug fixes for iCloud Keychain, Apple Watch syncing and pairing, audio quality when streaming to stereo systems, and more.
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple Seeds Fourth iOS 9.2 Beta to Developers and Public Beta Testers
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of iOS 9.2 to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, just over one week after seeding the third iOS 9.2 beta and a full month after releasing iOS 9.1 to the public. As a .1 upgrade, iOS 9.2 will mark the second major update to iOS 9.
The fourth beta of iOS 9.2, build 13C5075, is available as an over-the-air update and through the Apple Developer Center. Public beta testers can download the update over the air. Apple has also released Xcode 7.2 beta 4.
Earlier betas of iOS 9.2 included changes to the Safari View Controller, which is what allows a pop-up Safari window to be used in third-party apps. In iOS 9.2, Safari View Controller supports third-party Action Extensions, letting apps like 1Password to be accessed in the Safari view of other apps like Tweetbot.
Safari View Controller has also been updated with the ability to long tap on the Reload button to reload content without content blockers and it now supports the request desktop site function. The second iOS 9.2 improved Safari View Controller further, introducing support for dismissing it with an edge swipe.
Along with improvements to Safari View Controller, iOS 9.2 also introduces Arabic support for Siri, support for AT&T’s NumberSync Wi-Fi Calling feature and it includes bug fixes for iCloud Keychain, Apple Watch syncing and pairing, audio quality when streaming to stereo systems, and more.
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple Releases Third Beta of tvOS 9.1 to Developers
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming update to tvOS, the new operating system that runs on the fourth-generation Apple TV. Today’s beta comes just over one week after Apple seeded the second tvOS 9.1 beta and three weeks since the tvOS was released alongside the fourth-generation Apple TV.
The third tvOS beta is available as an over-the-air update to those who have installed the first two betas. Installing an initial tvOS beta is a more involved process than installing a beta update for iOS or OS X. The update requires the Apple TV to be connected to a computer with a USB-C to USB-A cable, with the software downloaded and installed via iTunes.
We don’t yet know exactly what is included in the new version of tvOS, as most changes thus far appear to be under-the-hood updates. Apple’s release notes for the update include references to networking and scrolling tweaks, and it’s likely tvOS 9.1 will include fixes for bugs and issues that have been discovered in the software since the Apple TV’s official launch. We will include any other external facing changes below.
tvOS 9.1 will mark the first significant update to tvOS and the second update to the operating system. The first tvOS update, tvOS 9.0.1, was released to the public on November 9.
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple Releases Third Beta of tvOS 9.1 to Developers
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming update to tvOS, the new operating system that runs on the fourth-generation Apple TV. Today’s beta comes just over one week after Apple seeded the second tvOS 9.1 beta and three weeks since the tvOS was released alongside the fourth-generation Apple TV.
The third tvOS beta is available as an over-the-air update to those who have installed the first two betas. Installing an initial tvOS beta is a more involved process than installing a beta update for iOS or OS X. The update requires the Apple TV to be connected to a computer with a USB-C to USB-A cable, with the software downloaded and installed via iTunes.
We don’t yet know exactly what is included in the new version of tvOS, as most changes thus far appear to be under-the-hood updates. Apple’s release notes for the update include references to networking and scrolling tweaks, and it’s likely tvOS 9.1 will include fixes for bugs and issues that have been discovered in the software since the Apple TV’s official launch. We will include any other external facing changes below.
tvOS 9.1 will mark the first significant update to tvOS and the second update to the operating system. The first tvOS update, tvOS 9.0.1, was released to the public on November 9.
Discuss this article in our forums
Google Search can now dive into app data
Search is one of the foundation functions of Google and recently the company has been working to make improvements to this basic feature. Earlier this week Google revealed that Search could handle complex questions and figure out the meaning of what is being asked. Now they have revealed a tool for the other side of the equation that helps provide better answers. This will be accomplished by being able to dive into the data that is locked away inside of apps instead of just relying on what is available on the web.
Google says they have compiled over 100 billion deep links into apps in their search index to help respond to the 40% of searches that Android users perform on their mobile devices. The apps include platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Airbnb and Pinterest. The data that Google taps into is no longer limited to information that was also available via matching web content. Even if the information is only in the app, Search can still find it.
Even better, users do not even need the source app installed for Search to be able to find it. If a user is on a good WiFi connection Google can now “stream” an app so that users can dig down and view the results as if they had the app installed. Of course, users who like what they find will have easy access to install an app, so there is some incentive for developers to be part of this new tool. At this time, Google has partnered with HotelTonight, Chimani, Daily Horoscope and New York Subway on this new feature, but they expect more partners to come on board.
source: Google Inside Search
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Sprint offers to cut competitor rates in half to celebrate LTE Plus Network
Sprint continues to struggle financially and it appears the strain is causing the carrier to take some desperate measures. Sprint has been working on some upgrades to its data network, dubbing it the LTE Plus Network, in order to offer faster speeds than competitors. Yesterday Sprint teased a big announcement for today and the details have now been revealed – to help entice consumers to give the new network speeds a try, Sprint is now offering plans that are 50% of the price of competitors for subscribers who move their service over from AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile.
Sprint provides several examples of how they will price match at 50% of competitor plans in their announcement. For example, a 2 line T-Mobile plan that includes 10GB of data will only cost $60 per month instead of the $120 that T-Mobile charges. Similar savings are available on Verizon and AT&T where Sprint helps even more by cutting the device access fee in half as well. In addition to the major carriers, Sprint will also offer 50 percent off for Cricket and MetroPCS customers.
The offer is valid for new activations made between November 20, 2015 and January 7, 2016 and the special pricing will remain in effect until January 8, 2018. To make things even more enticing, Sprint is offering to pay switching fees of up to $650 per line through an American Express Reward Card if a customer trades in their old phone.
Sprint also wants to try to take care of their existing customers who are unable to take advantage of this deal, so they are offering existing customers a free tablet with one year of free service if the customer signs up for a two-year contract on the device.
Check out the video announcing the new deals below. You can hit the source link if you want more details.
Click here to view the embedded video.
source: Sprint
Come comment on this article: Sprint offers to cut competitor rates in half to celebrate LTE Plus Network
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