Google may soon delete millions of apps from the Play Store

Why it matters to you

The Google Play Store will soon be much easier to search through — and potentially much safer to use.

The Google Play Store could shortly be a whole lot smaller. Google has been sending notices out to developers around the world saying that it will soon “limit visibility” or even totally remove apps from the Play Store that violate Google’s User Data Policy.

So why are so many developers getting the notice? Well, most of them seem to have one issue in common: the lack of a privacy policy. According to Google’s User Data Policy, developers have to submit a valid privacy policy, especially when that app handles sensitive information. Those developers will now have to submit a valid privacy policy both on the Google Play Store listing and within the app.

More: Unsure if your Android phone is certified or not? Google Play Store will now tell you

“Google Play requires developers to provide a valid privacy policy when the app requests or handles sensitive user or device information,” says the notice, according to a report from VentureBeat. “Your app requests sensitive permissions (e.g. camera, microphone, accounts, contacts, or phone) or user data, but does not include a valid privacy policy.”

Even though the move may get rid of a ton of apps, it could wind up making the Play Store more useful. There are thousands upon thousands of so-called “zombie apps” that have been around for years without being updated, and many of those have been rendered useless by newer versions of Android. Not only that, but an overly crowded Play Store often makes it hard to find what you’re looking for.

It won’t just be zombie apps that get removed — some developers might not be motivated to include a privacy policy for badly performing apps, so many of those apps will likely disappear as well.

Still, it’ll be a while before anything changes on the Play Store — Google has given developers until March 15 to add the privacy policy, so it will be at least a month before we see a cleaner store.

Put some love on your wallpaper this Valentine’s Day! ❤️

Don’t let your home screen fall into a rut — switch out your wallpaper!

You don’t have to pull out a complex new theme like Deadpool to bring a breath of fresh air to your home screen. A new wallpaper can do wonders, just ask your iPhone-carrying friends. Launchers like Action Launcher can re-theme your entire launcher around a good wallpaper. In our effort to help brighten your device — and maybe your day — we’re compiling some wallpapers for you to try out.

If you’ve got a wallpaper you use everywhere, share it in the comments below! We’re always looking for something new. Now, hit the break and get your wallpaper picker ready.

Valentine’s Day is coming, and no one does Valentine’s Day quite like Disney. The Disney Style blog has conjured up not one but five lovely wallpapers ready to grace your phone. From Tangled’s Floating Lanterns to a love-struck Ariel, there’s a wallpaper here for every kind of romance. To make a simple theme with these wallpapers, pair it with Whicons, Golden Icons, or Retro Icons

Valentine’s Day Wallpapers from Disney Style

Howl and Sophie is a love story that resounds deeply with fans worldwide because it’s a story that has depth. Howl is brash, he is vain, and even for all his magical know-how and tactical experience, he is at heart an idiot. And just as Sophie peels back the layers on Howl’s life and begins to see and love him for what he truly is, Howl learns to see past the spell on Sophie and trust her and the feelings he has for her. Love is about acceptance, love is about trust, and love is about overcoming your own fear for them.

Howl and Sophie Wallpaper by Yuuza

The Princess Bride is a kissing story, and y’know, we don’t mind so much anymore. Buttercup and Wesley is also a love story that is as messed up as it is awesome and romantic, and Wesley’s three word confession/affirmation of love is endearing, adorable, and makes every girl yearn for a pirate to order around.

This wallpaper is simple, elegant, and at the same time whisks us back to our childhoods dreaming of a true love that just won’t quit. It’s inconceivable how versatile a wallpaper it is!

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

As you wish… by nuke-vizard

Roses are a symbol of love, of admiration, of affection, and while they may rise in popularity around Valentine’s Day, I am here to tell you that roses rock every day of the year. They are beautiful, they are fragrant, they are also a wonderful metaphor for love.

They take lots of time, love, and care to maintain. They’re prone to hurt you if you’re not careful (and even if you are, sometimes). They usually take forever to bloom into something beautiful, and then that beauty can fade so quickly. They’re susceptible to frost, heat waves, and all kinds of brights and beasties.

And they are so, so worth it.

Summer Rose by insomniac199

This may be one of the better pictures I’ve ever taken. Snapped alongside the rose path at Epcot, this yellow rose has the perfect kiss of sun on it. Yellow roses are a symbol of friendship, not romance, so this wallpaper can give your phone a festive air without being lovey-dovey. While this wallpaper is quite flexible when it comes to icon packs, Glim is what I’ve used with it.

Sunset Rose by Ara Wagoner

Pokemon Go Valentine’s Day event: Everything you need to know

Valentine’s Day is sweeter than ever with extended lures, extra candy, and more frequent catches!

Pokemon Go’s next event has just gone live, and this one is aiming to steal your heart. A special Valentine’s Day event runs from 11 a.m. PST February 8th thru 11 a.m. PST February 15th. There is going to be plenty going on for the next week, from extra candies to help evolve your Pokemon to lures that’ll last for hours. Don’t worry, though, we have all the details for you here.

Candies, candies everywhere

As you’re probably well aware, in order to evolve your Pokemon you need to collect enough candy. That’s where the first perk in this event shows up. Each time you catch, hatch, or evolve a Pokemon you’ll receive twice the normal amount of candy. That isn’t all either. Your buddy Pokemon will also find candy to help them evolve twice as fast!

Extended lures

Lures are also receiving a special perk. Instead of their usual 30-minute duration, each lure that you — or anyone else — set up will last for a full 6 hours. Yes, you read that right: 6 full hours for each lure. That’s a lot of time to catch yourself some new Pokemon, and of course, you’ll also get extra candy from those catches.

More frequent catches

At times it can be quite frustrating to try and find new Pokemon or to catch a specific Pokemon. If you’ve been hoping to come across some adorable pink Pokemon, but you’ve been having issues, then you are most definitely in luck. Chansey, Clefable, and a number of other pink Pokemon will be cropping up much more frequently. Additionally, Cleffa, Igglypuff, and Smoochum will be much more likely to hatch out of your eggs.

Pokémon Go

• Join our Pokémon Go forums!
• How to deal with GPS errors in-game
• Which team should you choose?
• How to play without killing your battery
• The Ultimate Pokémon Go Game Guide!
• Listen to the Pokémon Go podcast!

The 3GPP announces a new logo for 5G specified products and services

Are you ready for another G? The 3GPP certainly is.

The 3GPP — a group of worldwide organizations that specify network standards for data transmission — has settled on the new 5G logo.

Designed for use on Release stage 15 and onwards, they have applied for a trademark and will use the logo to recognize products that meet the new specs, or publications about the spec or those products. They also explain some reasoning behind the design itself.

The logo has a new wave pattern, but is a development of the existing LTE waves, using the green of the LTE-Advanced Pro version. The idea is to keep a familiar design aspect with the use of plain black text and textured waves, but to make the logo stronger and sharper – ready for use on the new radio and next generation core specifications for 5G.

They also have set some guidelines and rules about the use of the logo, and how to get permission to use it. Use of the logo is voluntary, and approval for its use comes from, and will be monitored by, the 3GPP organization partners. They also explain just what seeing the new logo on a product means.

The permission to use the 3GPP 5G logo does not involve or imply any certification by the partners in 3GPP or the 3GPP community that the products or services of manufacturers or service providers actually comply with the 3GPP specifications. It is intended simply and only to provide a basis of reference for users, network operators and other manufacturers and service providers.

We’ve already heard about Qualcomm’s new 5G products and an Australian network that can use them, as well as AT&T ‘s take on 5G and their roll out plans. Expect to see more companies using the logo and telling us about their 5G plans.

The best thing about having a standard is that there are so many to choose from.

Alexa voice control coming to all existing Sonos speakers, soon

Sonos will be introducing voice control to all its existing speakers through Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot later this year, though an exact date has yet to be detailed.

The company announced plans to introduce voice control in March 2016, but it said it would not expedite it just because rivals are doing it. 

In a blog post last year, former Sonos CEO, John MacFarlane, said it would take its time to find the best platform: “Sonos is taking the long view in how best to bring voice-enabled music experiences into the home. Voice is a big change for us, so we’ll invest what’s required to bring it to market in a wonderful way.”

That platform is now in testing stages, with Sonos delivering its first public demo of the Alexa voice control in action at its offices in Boston, USA. 

The company is still keen to get the experience right though and although Alexa worked very well in our demo, responding quickly and efficiently to pause the Sonos speaker, search for David Bowie tracks and tell us which Bowie track it was then playing, it isn’t quite ready for release yet.

Echo and Echo Dot currently require users to say “on Sonos” at the end of the command to Alexa, which the company has said won’t be the case at launch. It told us it was working closely with Amazon in order for the voice control to be as seamless as possible.

New Sonos CEO, Patrick Spence, also said Amazon was only the beginning when it came to voice control. He said Sonos is committed to using multiple voice assistants in the future, which suggests compatibility with Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant might not be too far away.

• Which Sonos speaker is best for you?
• Sonos tips and tricks

Verizon quietly debuts its first watch ‘Wear24’ running Android Wear 2.0

Buried in announcement that it would sell Google’s new LG watches, Verizon has quietly announced its own Android Wear smartwatch.

That’s right. Verizon is releasing its own branded Android Wear device, called the Wear24. Like the LG Watch Sport and Style, it runs the latest version of Android Wear, otherwise known as Android Wear 2.0. It features a 1.39-inch circular display (480×480 resolution), and it comes with LTE, Wi-Fi, and NFC connectivity options. You’ll also find all the usual sensors, including an accelerometer and a heart-rate sensor.

• LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style are official

Specifications are spare so far, and there’s only one image of the watch, which you can see above, so it’s difficult to determine how big it is or how it compares to LG’s latest Android Wear watches. Still, Wear24 is interesting because its the first wearable device that the carrier has sold under its own brand. The Wear24 will be available on Verizon for $300 (about £240) with a two-year contract sometime in March.

It’ll presumably be available just in the US, though we’ve contacted the company for more details.

Adidas thinks Tesla’s old Model 3 logo is a little too familiar

Would you confuse the Tesla Model 3’s three-bar logo with Adidas’ signature stripes? No? Don’t tell that to Adidas. The apparel giant has filed a challenge to prevent Tesla from registering the Model 3’s logo as a trademark. It’s similar enough to Adidas’ stripes that it’s “likely to cause confusion” and suggest the two brands are connected, according to the filing. It’s a tenuous claim — we’re pretty sure people know that shoes and electric cars are different things. However, it may not be as much of an issue given Tesla’s recent actions.

We’ve reached out to Tesla, and a spokesperson notes that the EV maker quietly changed the logo to the numeric “3” weeks ago, well before Adidas filed its notice. While the company did withdraw its application for the old three-bar logo on February 7th, it maintains that this was strictly a Tesla branding decision and not a response to the trademark issue. We’ve asked Adidas for its take on the situation, but it looks its objection is based more on principle than what Tesla is actually doing.

@seanbroswag @FredericLambert Numeric

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2017

Via: Law360, GeekWire

Source: USPTO, Elon Musk (Twitter)

An unofficial ACLU Dash Button offers one-touch donations

Amazon’s Dash Buttons offer one-click ordering for items your purchase through that Prime membership on a regular basis. In fact, there are over 250 of the buttons from a range of different brands. Last May, the online retailer revealed a $20 IoT version that can be programmed to help with other tasks besides just buying products. Designer and programmer Nathan Pryor is using the handy connected button to provide some relief every time he reads a tweet from President Trump or a headline about the latest happenings at the White House.

Pryor’s ACLU Dash Button uses Amazon’s IoT version to donate $5 to the non-profit organization every time it’s pressed. He created a script that pulls up the ACLU donation page an inputs his contact information and payment details before submitting the funds. If the transaction goes through, he gets a confirmation via text on his phone. To complete the package, Pryor designed a custom label and stuck it on the Dash Button to make it look a little more official.

He says that the button stays close to his laptop and every time he presses it, $5 more goes to the ACLU. Pryor admits a recurring donation would probably be more efficient, but the act of pressing the button offers a “tactile thrill” and he learned to program the device in the process. He made the code available for others to use as well, but he warns that there are no guarantees in terms of security. If the ACLU updates the donation page with new fields, the code won’t work.

There are also no safeguards in place to keep your child or pet from donating your entire bank account if they get a hold of the button. We recommend taking Pryor’s advice and using a prepaid gift card, especially if you’re prone to Trump-induced rage. For now, you can take a look at the DIY ACLU Dash Button in action via the video below.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Nathan Pryor (Medium)

Signal tries its hand at encrypted video and voice calling

Open Whisper Systems’ Signal app is no longer limited to keeping text chats out of the wrong hands. A beta version of the Android app now includes experimental support for video and voice calling. Both sides of a conversation will have to switch the features on in settings for this to work, but you’re otherwise free to talk knowing that encryption should prevent eavesdropping.

It’s not certain when the feature will be available to every Signal user, although the phrasing of the update suggests that it’s more a matter of “when” than “if.” And iPhone owners won’t be left out — OWS has mentioned that video and voice will be available in an upcoming iOS beta release.

Via: Android Police, TechCrunch

Source: Google Play

Facebook is closing half of Oculus pop-ups in Best Buy stores

Facebook is shutting down 200 of its 500 Oculus VR pop-up stores from Best Buy locations around the country due, in large part, to underwhelming interest from the public. Per pop-up workers speaking to Business Insider, some of these kiosks would “go days without giving a single demonstration.”

Oculus denied that reasoning, however. “We’re making some seasonal changes and prioritizing demos at hundreds of Best Buy locations in larger markets,” Oculus spokeswoman Andrea Schubert said while confirming the closures. “You can still request Rift demos at hundreds of Best Buy stores in the US and Canada.”

Facebook began the marketing push last May when a select 48 Best Buys received the VR headsets for demo and sale. The company expanded the rollout to 500 stores in August. However, the public just wasn’t that into it. “They didn’t press on selling,” an anonymous worker from Texas told BI. “Their main thing was to have us do demonstrations and get people talking about Oculus.

Source: Business Insider