ROCKI finally gets Spotify Connect support
After a long wait, Spotify support has finally come to ROCKI, but not quite how you would have expected. The tiny device that turns your ordinary speakers into DLNA compatible outputs launched with the promise of Spotify integration but it failed to appear in the app.
It appears that the reason for this is that they were instead working towards ROCKI to become a Spotify Connect endpoint, meaning you don’t even have to leave the Spotify app to send music to the ROCKI connected speakers.
The functionality is delivered to your ROCKI by an OTA firmware update, which if you’re device is plugged in constantly like mine then it’s probably already updated. Simply fire up Spotify and click the Connect button to see your ROCKI as an endpoint.
The full press release is down below:
Boston – (January 26, 2015) – ROCKI, whose 3-ounce device allows mobile phone users to wirelessly play music they love on speakers they already have, has announced a partnership with Spotify, the number one digital music service in the world, to let Spotify subscribers play music wirelessly to ROCKI-connected speakers from within the Spotify app.
Spotify Premium subscribers can select their ROCKI device under the Spotify Connect icon to stream Spotify through their ROCKI connected speakers.
“We could not be more thrilled to work with Spotify Connect,” says Nick Yap, Founder and CEO of ROCKI. “Spotify’s 60 million active users (including 15m paid subscribers) want the freedom to play music on speakers wherever they are – in different rooms at home, at friends, or on vacation. Now Spotify subscribers don’t have to replace existing speakers or lug a wireless speaker with them to enjoy Spotify wherever and whenever they want.”
ROCKI is a compact and lightweight portable Wi-Fi device that plugs in to any speaker to Wi-Fi enable it. Using Wi-Fi, ROCKI receives audio from smartphones, tablets or PCs, at a greater fidelity and over greater distances than Bluetooth. The free downloadable ROCKI app, available for Android and iOS, allows users to access their saved music, a growing number of cloud music services and now online music streaming service Spotify.
With consumers increasingly relying on mobile devices to source their music wherever they go, they need an easy way to get music from their devices to existing speakers. Demand for ROCKI is driving sales globally, with distribution partners already in 12 countries and 10-fold annual growth rate. ROCKI is available on Amazon, Grommet, as well as www.myrocki.com for $49.
All current and future ROCKI devices will work with Spotify Connect.
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Microsoft Office open to Android Tablet Users
It is official. Microsoft is opening their Office products to Android tablet users. For a couple of months, Microsoft had allowed select Android tablet users to preview and offer feedback so they could refine and improve what they needed to. There were 3,000 Android devices of over 500 models with different sizes and hardware capabilitiesSo far, there have been at least more than 80 million downloads of Office on the iPhone and iPad worldwide. That number is expected to increase now that Android users will be able to download Microsoft Office.
Simply download the free apps from the Google Play Store. However, there are a few requirements one should keep in mind. Office for Android works on tablets running Android KitKat 4.4 and must have 7 inch screens or larger. For tablets running on Lollipop, keep in mind that Microsoft is not officially supporting the upgrade just yet. It will somewhere down the line though.
As of right now, the Android versions of Word, Powerpoint, and Excel let you browse and open documents from your OneDrive or Dropbox accounts. Of course one must have a Microsoft account, but if you don’t have one, then one can sign up for an account using the app. Basic features such as creating files, printing, and performing other day-to-day jobs is free. However, to access premium features, one must sign up for a qualifying Office 365 subscription.
For those of you that downloaded Microsoft Office for Android, be sure and leave a comment below and let us know how it is working for you.
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Android shipments reached 1 billion for 2014
Global research and analysis firm, Strategy Analytics, just posted a press release detailing the abundance of Android-powered smartphones that were shipped in 2014. According to the firm, just over 1 billion smartphones running Google’s operating system were shipped.
The exact figure was roughly 1.043 billion, a definite increase to 2013′s 780 million. In comparison, Apple only shipped 193 million smartphones. Trailing a distant third, Microsoft shipped 39 million units.
Strategy Analytics claims this brings the global market share of Android devices to 81%.
To read the full press release from Strategy Analytics, click the “Read more” link below.
BOSTON, Jan. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ – According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global smartphone shipments grew 30 percent annually to reach a record 1.3 billion units in 2014. Android accounted for 81 percent of all smartphones last year and shipped over 1 billion units worldwide for the first time ever.
Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments grew 30 percent annually from 1.0 billion units in 2013 to a record 1.3 billion in 2014. Emerging markets, such as China and Indonesia, drove the industry’s growth last year and they will continue to do so through 2015.”
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Android shipped 1.0 billion smartphones worldwide in 2014, rising from 0.8 billion units in 2013. Android has become the first ever smartphone operating system to ship more than 1 billion units in a single year. Android accounted for a huge 81 percent share of all smartphones shipped globally in 2014, and Apple iOS remains its only serious threat for now. Apple iOS shipped 192.7 million smartphones worldwide in 2014, capturing 15 percent share. The new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models have recently re-energized Apple’s growth and their bigger-screen designs have swiftly gained traction among wealthy consumers.”
Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Microsoft shipped 38.8 million smartphones for a relatively niche 3 percent marketshare worldwide in 2014. Microsoft’s Windows platform dominates PCs, but it continues to struggle in smartphones. Microsoft still lacks multiple major hardware partners to build its phones, while Microsoft’s retail presence in important countries like Chinaremains tiny.”
Exhibit 1: Global Smartphone Operating System Shipments and Marketshare in Q4 2014 [1]
|
Global Smartphone OS Shipments (Millions of Units) |
Q4 ’13 |
2013 |
Q4 ’14 |
2014 |
|
Android |
227.3 |
780.8 |
291.7 |
1042.7 |
|
Apple iOS |
51.0 |
153.4 |
74.5 |
192.7 |
|
Microsoft |
9.6 |
35.8 |
11.3 |
38.8 |
|
Others |
2.3 |
20.0 |
2.6 |
9.3 |
|
Total |
290.2 |
990.0 |
380.1 |
1283.5 |
|
Global Smartphone OS Marketshare (%) |
Q4 ’13 |
2013 |
Q4 ’14 |
2014 |
|
Android |
78.3% |
78.9% |
76.7% |
81.2% |
|
Apple iOS |
17.6% |
15.5% |
19.6% |
15.0% |
|
Microsoft |
3.3% |
3.6% |
3.0% |
3.0% |
|
Others |
0.8% |
2.0% |
0.7% |
0.7% |
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|
Total Growth: Year-over-Year (%) |
33.7% |
41.4% |
31.0% |
29.6% |
|
Source: Strategy Analytics |
[1] Numbers are rounded.
The full report, Android Shipped 1 Billion Smartphones Worldwide in 2014, is published by the Strategy Analytics Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, details of which can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/9djv7u8.
About Strategy Analytics:
Strategy Analytics is a global, independent research and consulting firm. The company is headquartered in Boston, USA, with offices in the UK, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India and China. Visit www.strategyanalytics.com for more information.
Source: Strategy Analytics
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Android management app MoboRobo (review)
There are quite a few Android management apps out there, and honestly, a lot of them are just spam. Some of them force ads onto your devices, check data they’re not supposed to and the ones that seem ok never really live up to the expectations set by iTunes device management. I expected MoboRobo to be the same as the others, but I’m happy to say that it was actually quite different.
When you first open the application on your PC, MoboRobo gets you set up quickly with an option to connect via USB or via Wi-Fi. The USB connection was fully automatic and very quick, whereas the Wi-Fi connection was (of course) slower in data transfers and also required you to get the Mobo Market app on your phone. With the USB connection however, you do have to turn on the “USB Debugger” setting in the developer options of your device. If you don’t have access to developer options, simply follow this short guide and they should appear. As soon as your phone is connected, the app will automatically detect and install the necessary drivers and a small popup window will appear with the device’s battery status.
The four main tabs in the MoboRobo PC app are: Apps, Music, Images and Videos. The apps section can be used to not only manage apps that are already installed on your device, but also to install new apps quickly. Unfortunately, installing new apps through MoboRobo uses the MoboMarket service, which is not as polished as the rest of the app. The music section is one of the best features of the app due to its ease of use. Songs can be selected and renamed, deleted or even played on the PC and simply dragging songs to the app will sync them to your device.
Videos and images are a bit harder to manage in the app, due to there being no option for choosing the path to your media. MoboRobo will simply scan your entire device for any videos and images it can find, and a lot of the time, it finds more than you want. If you can deal with the overflow of media however, the video and images sections work with the same ease of use as the music section.
There are still two more tabs left, but they are a little more advanced. The first of the two is the themes tab. This tab is designed with very specific users in mind, as the themes can only be used with the MoboLauncher app. Honestly, I would steer clear of that app, as there are many more advanced and more polished launchers out there on the Android market. If you already use the MoboLauncher app, this tab could be very useful for managing your themes.
Lastly, there is the ambiguously named “toolbox” tab, which is arguably the most useful of them all. With any version of android you can read the texts from your device, however on devices that are pre android 4.4 kitkat, you can send and receive texts from your PC. You can manage contacts, bookmarks, files and call logs, all from the management section of the toolbox. The best feature in my opinion however, is the backup/restore function, which allows you to keep contacts, SMS logs and call logs safe, which is especially useful before a factory reset.
MoboRobo went above and beyond my expectations in both design and ease of use. I would definitely recommend using MoboRobo as your android management app. Do you have other management apps that you think are worth it? Let us know in the comments down below!
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Chrome Beta 41 for Android adds pull-to-refresh in pages
If you like running at the forefront of developments then no doubt you’re interested in the Beta channel for Chrome. An update just got pushed to the Play Store bringing the version to build 41.0.2272 that adds a nice little pull-to-refresh feature in webpages.
All you have to do is pull down the webpage and the animation will appear to refresh the page – very akin to what we’ve seen in apps like Twitter for a long time.
You can grab the new update and Chrome Beta from the Play Store below.
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More than 1 billion Android phones shipped in 2014
According to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics, over one billion Android smartphones shipped in the year 2014. Now we’re not talking about Android devices as a whole, just smartphones. To be a bit more exact, the number is upwards 1,042,700,000 Android devices overall. That’s not even the craziest part. The total number of smartphones shipped in 2014 totaled 1.3 billion, which means Android smartphones made up roughly 81% of all smartphones sold last year. The total number of smartphones shipped in 2013 totaled one billion (781 million of those were Android handsets), so we’ve seen a 30% increase in total smartphone sales year over year. Strategy Analytics explains that Apple’s iOS platform remains the only “serious” threat to Android for now, which sold 193 million smartphones in 2014.
As you can see in the chart above, Android smartphones equated to about 81.2% of the market in 2014, iOS took up about 15%, Microsoft (Windows Phone) grabbing only around 3% of the market and the ‘other’ operating systems (BlackBerry, etc.) claiming only .7% in 2014. The research firm also explains:
Emerging markets, such as China and Indonesia, drove the industry’s growth last year and they will continue to do so through 2015.
So which Android phones and manufacturers were responsible for this massive growth? We reported about a month ago that Chinese OEMs (Xiaomi, Oppo, ZTE, Huawei, Meizu, and a few others) made up almost 40% of all smartphones shipped in 2014.
Gameloft releases trailer for yet another big update to Six-Guns
If you’re a player of Gameloft’s Six-Guns, you were recently treated to the Gang Showdown expansion.
But if that wasn’t enough, Gameloft is teasing yet another update to the game. And the reaper cometh.
Six-Guns was updated on January 8th to expand on the existing game. The update notes from Gameloft are:
– GANG SHOWDOWN: Enter this brand-new mode that completely redefines multiplayer competition– NEW BOSS RAID: Madness will play with your brain. Keep your eyes peeled!– NEW WEAPONS & OUTFIT: Only fearless cowboys will be able to handle these terrifying new weapons– WILD WINTER: Who said there’s no snow in the Wild West? Roll up the best snowball you can for the snowball fight event!
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Download and install the HTC One M8’s Gallery app on any Android device [APK Download]
If you’re a fan of the HTC One M8’s Gallery app but aren’t fortunate enough to own the device itself, then good news since you’re now able to download and install the APK file on any device.
“Turkbey06″ over at XDA has modified the One M8’s Gallery app to enable it to work on other Android devices. It was tested on the LG G3, but users of other devices are saying it works just fine.
To download the HTC One M8’s Gallery app, simply head on over to the XDA thread. No root access is required so you should fine it just works.
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Sonos update makes it easier to play music in any room
Sonos’ big controller app update from last year was a case of two steps forward and one step back. It was slicker and made it easier to find music, but playing music got harder — among other issues, it required extra effort to send tunes to speakers around your home. Kinda defeats the point of multi-room audio, don’t you think? At last, though, it looks like Sonos is ready to tackle some of those biggest hiccups. An upcoming version 5.3 update (not shown here) will put an always available room menu at the top of every screen, so it should take less time to deliver a radio stream to the living room or a podcast to your kitchen.
There’s more: the Now Playing screen once again shows the track progress so that you can skip through long clips, and it’s faster to both get back to browsing music and crossfade tracks to avoid jarring breaks. The main problem? You’ll probably have to wait. Sonos is only making 5.3 available as an Android beta right now, and the finished version will arrive sometime in the “coming months.”
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Sonos Blog
Pushbullet launches apps for iPad, Mac and Safari
Pushbullet has revealed its latest suite of applications, but this time they’re designed purely for iPad, Mac, and Safari. Just like its Android client, these apps for Apple products allow users to copy and paste text across multiple devices, mirror notifications from their smartphone to their computer, and instantly transfer files, links and photographs between hardware regardless of its operating system.
Hit the break below to see Pushbullet’s new apps in action.
Click here to view the embedded video.
We’d love to know what you think of the new apps — so be sure to drop us a comment in the section below.
Download: iPad, Mac and Safari.
Source: Pushbullet
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