Drake vs. Lil Wayne gets the ‘Street Fighter’ treatment from Capcom
What happens when Capcom signs on to sponsor your upcoming tour? Well, you may be in for a Street Fighter-esque app to bolster the live show. In the DvsLW app for Android and iOS, hip-hop artists Drake and Lil Wayne get help from the crowd during their co-headlining dates starting this week. Developed with a hand from the video game outfit, the mobile software lets you choose between the two stars before tapping a button to “power up,” boosting performances in real-time. That’s right, concert goers will select their tour date and then influence the results each night. It’s worth noting that tour-specific apps (and album-specific offerings, for that matter) are nothing new, but big name acts continue to crank out mobile companions to go along with the trek.
[Photo credit: Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images]
Via: Pitchfork
Source: Billboard
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Tesco’s prototype Glass app lets you order milk by looking at the barcode
While supermarkets have gone mobile to help you order bread and milk while on the go, wearable tech has remained largely unexplored. Not wanting to be left in the chilled section, Tesco gave its R&D boffins Google Glass and tasked them with helping customers order their groceries while barely lifting a finger. The result was a new prototype Glass app that lets the wearer scan a barcode to quickly add products to their virtual basket or find out their nutritional information. Tesco admits that it would struggle with the rigors of a weekly shop, but says the app perfect for “micro interactions” — i.e. that time when you realise you’ve just used the last piece of toilet roll.
Filed under: Wearables, Google
Via: Glass App Source
Source: Tesco Labs
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Amazon lets Fire TV and Android gamers work together in two-player mode
If you heard that Amazon was launching an app on Google Play, you’d be entitled to hope that it’d be the long-awaited Instant Video for Android. Prepare to be disappointed, since the company’s actually released Sev Zero: Air Support for tablets that don’t have the words “kindle” and “fire” in their name. It’s a companion piece to the Amazon-made Sev Zero game that debuted on the Fire TV, enabling a second player to join in on the tower defense-cum-fps-style fun. Still, maybe next time on that whole video app, please Jeff?
Filed under: Gaming, Tablets, HD, Google, Amazon
Via: Android Police
Source: Google Play
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Celebrities outside of the US can now get Facebook’s Mentions app
If you didn’t already know, Facebook is targeting the celebrity set with a new iPhone-only app called Mentions. However, when it launched in July, it was only available to musicians, actors, athletes and government officials in the US. Today, the company has lifted one restriction, making it available to socially important people in over 40 countries worldwide, including the UK. The bad news is that you’re probably not a big enough deal to use it. Mentions is designed to help VIP’s interact with fans via their verified Facebook page, allowing them to post updates, host live Q&A sessions and identify if they’re trending. Tyrese Gibson supposedly used it to share news of Apple’s Beats acquisition with the world, but really it’s the overworked PAs trying to keep on top of their employers’ social lives who will be secretly rubbing their hands following today’s expansion.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Facebook
Source: Facebook Mentions (App Store)
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United Airlines app can now scan your passport for international flights
Even if you can check in online, you still have to show your passport somewhere at the airport if you’re flying international. United Airlines wants to do away with that step, though, so the company has updated its iOS and Android app with the capability to scan passports on your own. When you check in within 24 hours of departure, you’ll have the option to scan your passport using the phone’s camera, like how you’d take pictures of a check for a mobile deposit. A third party (specifically, a credentials management service called Jumio) still has to verify your document, but so long as everything’s in order, you can get a printable boarding pass. Sadly, you can’t have everything — if you’re traveling to a place that requires a visa, you’ll still have to line up at the airport. In addition to the new scanning feature, the updated apps now also display when boarding time ends, so you don’t spend more time at the gates than you need to.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Source: United Airlines
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Microsoft OneDrive arrives on Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Fire phone
Folks who fancy Amazon’s Kindle Fire and/or newfangled Fire phone just got another option for go-to cloud access. Microsoft has released a OneDrive app outfitting both of the aforementioned devices with easy access to stored files from the slate or handset. Of course, we’d surmise most OneDrive users have hitched their wagons to Redmond’s own fleet of OSes. At any rate, apps now exist not only for the web retailer’s gadgets, but for PC and Mac with mobile options on Android, iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10. Bases covered. Microsoft’s OneNote also sorts those trusty reminders and to-do lists across the Fire fleet, too. Ready to employ this version? Head over to Amazon’s Appstore to do just that.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft, Amazon
Source: OneDrive Blog, Amazon Appstore
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Google pulls Gaza-themed Android app from Play Store following outcry
Google regularly screens Android apps in the Play Store, but it’s usually focused on blocking malware and scams rather than the substance of the apps themselves. Today, though, it took the rare step of policing content by removing Bomb Gaza, a game that made light of the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. A spokesman would only tell Reuters that it pulls apps which “violate [the company’s] policies,” but the forced exit came not long after outrage from Play Store users who felt that the game trivialized very real casualties. Most likely, Google took the title down due to terms of service that forbid hate speech and abusive material; users can flag apps they find offensive, so it wouldn’t have taken much to prompt action. While the move isn’t completely surprising as a result, it’s a reminder that Google will clamp down when software is virtually tailor-made for antagonizing entire cultures.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google
Source: Reuters
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Now you can catch Cat Fact fever from your phone
Did you know that a group of cats is called either a “clowder” or a “glaring?” No? Well, if someone decides to target you with the new Cat Facts app for Android, you’ll know a lot more about cats than that. See, you can anonymously send a series of trivia about our feline friends to anyone you want through the app. You don’t even have to make an effort at sending a stream of annoying cat texts everyday, as you can schedule the app to send out automatically. Cat Facts, for the unaware, is a popular meme that began on Reddit (the seemingly endless source of memes, reaction GIFs and controversies) a couple of years ago.
A user called “imrobert” described how he trolled a stranger with random feline trivia (“Did you know that all cats are born blind? The ability to see comes within the next couple of weeks.”) on a thread asking the best prank one’s ever pulled. His efforts have inspired another user whose Reddit thread, which shows the mental anguish his cousin suffered due to the incessant barrage of useless Felis catus info, took the website my storm. The rest, as they say, is history.
While this new Cat Facts app will make it easier to target several people at once, it only comes with five free anonymous facts, with more available through in-app purchase. If you don’t mind friends knowing that you’re the one filling their inboxes with trash, though, you can send as many texts as they want. Obviously, you can always fire up Wikipedia and DIY it on a day off, but the app saves you the trouble of having to type up cat facts yourself.
[Image credit: Getty/fStop Images – Vladimir Godnik]
Via: TechCrunch, ReadWrite
Source: Cat Facts, Google Play
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Google Photos may be spun off from Google+ as a standalone App
Google Photos is a very cool service; just the other day, I rediscovered how good it was when it prompted me to take a look at a few stories it had prepared from my holidays earlier in the year. A downside to Google Photos, that isn’t really an issue for Android users, is that it cannot be used without a Google+ account, but according to Bloomberg, Google might be getting rid of that requirement and spinning off Google Photos as a standalone app that won’t require Google+ logins.
Google Photos is widely considered the most useful part of Google+, and making it available to more people without Google’s requirements makes a lot of sense. This move could even give Google+ a leg up against its social media rival, Facebook, who’s own photo sharing acquisition, Instagram, enjoys a very healthy portion of the social media market itself. This is yet another change to Google+ in the wake of Vic Gundotra’s departure as head of Google+ as the social media giant tries what it can to make more of an impact in the social media space.
What do you think about Google Photos being separated from Google+? Let us know your thoughts.
Source: Bloomberg via The Verge
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The post Google Photos may be spun off from Google+ as a standalone App appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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Google Now Launcher available for most Android phones
The trusty Google Now launcher that debuted on the Nexus 5 had already made its way to the rest of that family and Play Edition devices. Now, folks wielding any handset running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and later can grab the feature, even if it’s absent one of the aforementioned monikers. The software add-on makes Google’s card-based repository accessible by swiping to the right of the home screen or speaking an “OK Google” voice command from that main UI. Gadgets that weren’t officially stamped by Google hadn’t been privy to the functionality, but now even if OEMs drape the OS with their own look and features (looking at you, Samsung), you can still get a taste of stock Android.
Upgrade your home screen with the #GoogleNowLauncher – launching today for all #Android 4.1+ devices http://t.co/2blmlJE0Vh
– Android (@Android) August 1, 2014
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Google
Via: Android (Twitter)
Source: Google Play
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