Engadget Daily: Sony’s dwindling empire, Acer’s selfie sombrero and more!
It’s Friday, folks. You made it. But before you checkout for the weekend (i.e. Destiny-filled all-nighters), take a look at all our news highlights from the last 24 hours.
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Google lets college students borrow a Chromebook
If you brought a big, conventional laptop with you to college, you’re probably regretting it right about now. It’s not fun to lug a heavy machine and your textbooks around campus. You may have an easy way to try out something a little kinder to your back, though. Google has unveiled the Chromebook Lending Library, a demo program that lets students borrow a featherweight Chrome OS machine for a few days. So long as Google is on the school grounds, the system is yours; you can take notes in class or just catch up on Netflix in your dorm room. The Library arrives at both Syracuse at Walnut Park and Texas State University next week, and it’ll swing by other institutions in the weeks ahead. The big catch? You can’t actually buy a Chromebook from the Library if you’re enamored with the experience — you’ll likely have to venture into town to pick one up.
Filed under: Laptops, Internet, Google
Source: Google for Education, Chromebook Lending Library
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Google swoops up another startup, Polar to join the Google+ team
Google+ is dead! Google+ is dying! Google+ is a ghost town! Oh the memories we all have of the internet and social media networks. No matter which way you slice it, some people love Google+ and others can’t stand it. Is it being scaled back at all? I have no idea. What I do know though is that Google just bought another startup company and they are joining the Google+ team.
Polar is a polling company. Essentially they give you the tools to create a poll and publish it. Statics wise they served more than 500 million polls in the last 8 months. For a little more WOW factor, in September, I assume last year, they had 1.1 million unique voters.
Does this mean we are going to start seeing countless polls showing up in our G+ stream? Probably not. Dave Besbris, head of G+ said,”At Google+, Wroblewski and the Polar team will work on making the social network easier to use on mobile devices.” Luke Wreblewski is the founder of Polar by the way. he is also apparently a mobile design expert. Wreblewski and a handful of the Polar team will all be joining forces will the Google+ very soon. I have a feeling there will be some visual changes and UI tweaks hitting our beloved G+ app on our devices shortly thereafter.
Source: WSJ | Polar Via AndroidAuthortiy
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The post Google swoops up another startup, Polar to join the Google+ team appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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Google Play Music on Android lets you find your friends’ playlists
You may remember that Google Play Music All Access on Android briefly got public playlist searching back in August, only to lose the option a short while later. Well, it’s back — and this time, it appears to be here to stay. Much like Spotify, the update Play Music app now lets you find others’ carefully curated mixes and stream them on the spot. If you need a ready-made party playlist or just want to find out what your friends are listening to, you only have to visit the playlists section and start typing. The feature may take a while to hit your phone, but Android Police has a download if you can’t wait to check out others’ tastes in tunes.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Google
Via: PCWorld, Android Police
Source: Google Play
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$100K in Google Cloud Platform credit being given to eligible start-ups by Google
Google has announced a new program today at the Google for Entrepreneurs Global Partner Summit that will undoubtedly help start-ups get off the ground a little quicker. The program aims to help early stage start-ups take advantage of the cloud and quickly scale their ideas without going broke attempting to do so. In order to be eligible for a $100,000 worth of Cloud Platform credit you need to be in an approved Accelerator, Incubator or VC fund, never received Cloud Platform credit in the pat and have less than $5 million in funding with less than $500,000 in annual revenue.
This offer supports our core Google Cloud Platform philosophy: we want developers to focus on code; not worry about managing infrastructure. Starting today, startups can take advantage of this offer and begin using the same infrastructure platform we use at Google.
Not a bad way to start off your start-up. If you want further information point your browser over to the Google Cloud Platform developers page.
Source: Google Via: 9to5Google
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The post $100K in Google Cloud Platform credit being given to eligible start-ups by Google appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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Google buys an online polling startup to help improve Google+
You know what Google+ really needs, more than anything else? Polls.
Right, maybe not, but Google did just acquire a startup (yes, another one!) called Polar that specialized in crafting buzzy online polls like “Who did a better job hosting ‘The View’?” and “Is WhatsApp worth $16 billion?” (no, really) for media outlets and website operators. While it wouldn’t be impossible for those sorts of click-driving questions to find a new home in Google+, that’s not really why Google opened its checkbook. As the New York Times points out, this was actually an acquihire — a deal meant more to snag the people behind the product than the product itself. Those folks (including co-founder Luke Wroblewski, a big proponent of mobile-first design) are joining the Google+ team to do, well, no one really knows yet. Google VP of engineering Dave Besris cryptically noted on his own Google+ page that they’d be working on making the maligned social service “even more awesome,” which in this case apparently means helping fine-tune the Google+ experience, especially when it comes to those small screens we carry with us everywhere.
Via: New York Times
Source: Polar
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Is the new iPhone a threat to Android?
Every year, when Apple introduce their new iPhone to the world, everyone is asking the same question – Is it good enough to be a threat to Android? It’s one of the most complicated questions, but the answer to it in simple way is that Apple iOS 8 or even the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are definitely not a threat to Android, but why not?
When we talk about Android, we talk about all the OEM’s like Samsung, LG, Sony, HTC and many more. For a comparison, let’s look at the results of last year, when in Q3 2013, more than 250 million smartphones were sold and out of that number, more than 200 million phones were powered by Android. Even when the most competitive rival Apple and Samsung are compared to each other, Samsung sold around 80 million smartphones while Apple made it to 30 million smartphones only.
Yes, Apple new iPhone series might be a threat to the flagship Android smartphones, even TechRepublic thinks that Apple might give Android a run for their money, but I think otherwise. For example, they call the new design ‘elegant’ but I think they forgot when it is about elegance, there are devices like the HTC One M8, LG G3 and many others which are a symbol of elegance. They also mentioned about the mobile wallet and the wearable device, but on Android, we already got that.
We did a little comparison of iPhone 6 with Galaxy S5 and Note 4, and also of iPhone 6 Plus with One Plus One and Note 4. All the ‘magical’ features of the new iPhone 6, most of them are already available on different Android devices. Tim Cook told Wall Street Journal that he is expecting Android users to switch to iPhone, but that number will be nothing but just a small fraction in our opinion.
Ron Amadeo of Ars Technica also shared a comparison of iPhone 6 with the Nexus 4. Yes, Nexus 4 which was released in 2012, and you will be amazed to see that both smartphones have a lot of features in common.
Android is leading the smartphone market with more than 85% share, so I think it’s safe to say that the new iPhone(s) will never be a threat to our beloved Android. The Android flagship smartphones will definitely face a tough time from it, but in the end, we all know who will win. Are you planning to switch to the new iPhone or you are happy with what you have right now? Let us know in the comment box below.
The post Is the new iPhone a threat to Android? appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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How to set up 2-step Google account verification (step-by-step)
You can never be too safe when it comes to your online accounts. Luckily Google has a way to make it nearly impossible for anyone to log into your account even if they have your login credentials. 2-step verification is a truly great way to keep intruders out of the picture and if you’d like to find out how to set it up… read on.
Visit this link where you’ll find all the required information about the 2-step verification and why it might be a good idea for you to set it up for your Google account.
- You’ll see a “Get Started” icon in the upper right corner, click it.
- Enter your credentials and sign in to your Google account
- You’ll see some more information and a blue “Start setup” icon on the right, click it.
- Enter your mobile phone number and choose how would you like Google to send you codes (more on this later), via SMS or by a voice call and confirm
- You’ll get a 6-digit code on your phone, enter it and click “verify”
- Next step will ask you if you trust the computer you’re doing this from, if you confirm that Google won’t ask you to enter the 6 digit code again, same thing goes for all your devices if you choose it to be so.
- The last step gives you a short description what you just did and ask you to confirm the changes one last time.
- That’s it, you’ll need to sign in again to your Google account (this goes for every device you’re using your Google account with)
Google will now require a 6-digit code when someone tries to sign in to your account and you’ll be the only one who can get it (it will be different every time) via your phone. If you mark a certain device as a “trusted device”, you won’t be required to enter the code there any more. This is a great way of doubling your security and I do recommend to every single one of you to active this feature.
There is even an official app available in the Google Play Store that can verify codes for you even if you’re in airplane mode, you can get it HERE.
Image: ocean.eu
The post How to set up 2-step Google account verification (step-by-step) appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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Your dorm room, upgraded
It’s autumn once more and that means you’re back at school. The car-load of Craigslist-sourced furniture is unpacked, you’ve already had the first (of likely many) arguments with your roommate about a spilled bowl of ramen. Not to mention, you’ve probably already been through a glut of syllabus readings and awkward around-the-room introductions. So, you have the essentials for the next two semesters covered. But, financial aid disbursements are direct-depositing their way into bank accounts everywhere right about now. You’ve already bought your books, so what’re you going to do with the rest of that “free” money? Make your dorm the envy of everyone on your floor, that’s what — and we’ve a few suggestions of kit to help do just that from sun up to sun down.
[Image credit: Jeff Dlouhy/Flickr]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Laptops, HD, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, Google
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The first four Android apps for Chrome OS are here
Google promised that Android apps would eventually make their way to Chrome OS, and, well, here they are – the search giant announced that the first batch has just gone live in the Chrome Web Store. We knew that Vine and Evernote were on the short list of Android apps to make the leap, but there’s no sign of Flipboard yet. Instead, we also got startup Duolingo’s excellent language learning app and something called Sight Words, a tool to help little ones identify and recognize words (aww). Four apps may not seem like much to get worked up over, (especially since Duolingo and Evernote work just fine in a web browser) but it’s just a start. Google says it’ll work on getting more developers to use its App Runtime for Chrome “over the coming months,” so don’t go expecting a full-on Android invasion of Chrome OS any time soon.
Source: Official Chrome Blog
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AIVAnet 
