Search in private on your Android with Disconnect Search [App of the Day]

Sometimes it’s nice to be off the grid for awhile. What if you need to look something up, but don’t want it to be recorded everywhere? Now there is an app out there for your incognito needs.

Disconnect Search lets you search on Google, Yahoo, Bing, blekko, or DuckDuckGo, completely untraceably. It stops search engines and ISPs from tracking your searches and IP address by anonymizing the search through Disconnect. It also stays away from recording personal info from your device, allowing for complete anonymity.

It’s a bit more secure than using something like Incognito Mode on Chrome, and it’s way easier to use. It comes with a nice widget, and is super simple to use.

If you’d like to be a bit more secure when you browse, head to the Play Store to download Disconnect Search today.

The post Search in private on your Android with Disconnect Search [App of the Day] appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Starwood’s app for Google Glass will let you search and book hotels

Imagine walking into a hotel lobby and telling the wearable on your face to pull up your reservation details. Starwood, the company behind properties from the Aloft to the W to the St. Regis, is hoping to up its hospitality game with an app tailor-made for Google Glass. Currently in beta, the upcoming SPG app for Glass will let guests search Starwood properties around the world, get turn-by-turn directions to a particular hotel and explore room photos, amenities, dining options and more. It looks like you’ll also be able to book a reservation directly from the Glass app and — importantly — call a hotel if you get lost.

This isn’t the first time Starwood’s demonstrated an interest in bringing tech to its properties. This year it announced plans to swap out room keys for a mobile app, so its interest in Mountain View’s wearable is no surprise. Google has long touted how useful Glass can be when it comes to travel with apps such as Field Trip, so bringing those geolocation and search capabilities to your hotel stay is a logical next step. And Google Glass may not be the only wearable device SPG has its sights on; in a statement it explained, “[Our] goal with Glass and other wearable technologies is to explore what kinds of new features and services are possible, and to learn from guests.”

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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Source: SPG for Glass

Project Tango teardown reveals the wonders of the phone’s 3D sensing tech

Want to get a better understanding of Google’s 3D-sensing Project Tango smartphone beyond the usual promo videos? iFixit is more than happy to show you now that it has torn down the device for itself. The close-up identifies many of the depth mapping components in the experimental handset, including the infrared and fisheye cameras (both made by OmniVision), motion tracking (from InvenSense) and dual vision processors (from Movidius).

However, the real centerpiece is the infrared projector. As you can see from the pretty light show pictured here, Project Tango maps the environment in much the same way as the original Kinect: it’s creating a grid of dots that it measures to calculate distance. Other parts are relatively pedestrian, such as the Snapdragon 800 processor and 5-inch display, but it’s clear from the teardown that they play second fiddle here — this is an imaging device that just happens to double as a phone. You can see this for yourself at the source link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Source: iFixit

How Google’s internet-balloon idea got off the ground

On paper, the notion of balloon-provided internet sounds more than a little ridiculous, but that’s just how Google X rolls. Mountain View’s far-off research division has recently spilled (some of) its guts to Fast Company, detailing the process for bringing something like Project Loon from concept to reality. To start, every X project must address a problem that affects possibly billions of people and it has to use a radical solution that resembles sci-fi to do so. Oh, and it needs to utilize tech that’s “very nearly” obtainable, if it already isn’t available, too.

Loon began as an idea concerning device-to-device connections, but in June 2011 it was shifted to boosting internet access in rural areas. The team then riffed on Lockheed’s plans for a high-altitude, stationary comms airship idea to come up with balloons for the delivery method. From there, the group cobbled together radio transmitters, cardboard boxes and weather balloons, launched the prototype and drove under it to test the gizmo’s mettle. Google X execs commissioned the experiment as an official project that August, and then a small house was built in the lab to test antenna designs. Almost two years later, Project Loon went for an official test run over New Zealand in June 2013. Today, the search giant is weighing what types of business models could work best for the service, from a number of telco suitors. Fast Company‘s lengthy feature offers a pretty fascinating look inside Google’s secretive lab — including why X abandoned its space elevator and teleportater projects (yes, really) — so be sure to check it out.

Filed under: Wireless, Internet, Google

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Source: Fast Company

Daily Roundup: Amazon’s first phone, Project Ara developer conference and more!

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Here’s Amazon’s phone: six cameras and a 4.7-inch screen

We’ve all heard the rumors, but BGR claims it’s gotten hold of Amazon’s first phone — and it has six cameras. The 4.7-inch handset (shown above) might not appear very sleek or attractive. But don’t worry, that’s just an enclosure.

Apple CarPlay coming to Pioneer’s in-dash systems this summer

Pioneer’s NEX line of five in-dash entertainment systems will get Apple’s CarPlay support through a firmware update set to arrive this summer. Owners with an iPhone 5, 5c or 5s will be able to take advantage of Apple Maps, Siri and more!

Office 365 Personal now available for $7 per month

Microsoft’s hoping to reel in new Office 365 subscribers by offering a cheaper, leaner iteration for only $7 a month or $70 annually. There isn’t an exact launch date yet, but remember, it’ll be just $3 cheaper (per month) than the full version.

Google’s Project Ara developer conference is live, watch it here

Day one of the Project Ara developer conference has begun. Needless to say, most people probably can’t catch a flight to Mountain View. Thankfully, though, anyone can keep up with Google’s modular phone because the entire event is being streamed live.

Filed under: Misc

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Google built a machine to test the speediness of laptop trackpads

An unresponsive trackpad can ruin a laptop. But how do you test for that without having access to ready-made equipment? If you’re Google, you build your own machine. The company’s Chrome OS team has created the Quickstep, a USB add-on that uses a laser to gauge trackpad latency on Chromebooks. Whenever you break the laser’s beam with your finger, Quickstep measures the delay between that and the registered touch input. The device only looks for drag activity, but it’s simple — you can even build it yourself, if you’re handy with electronics. Whether or not you’re that interested, Google’s project should take some of the frustration out of future Chrome hardware.

Filed under: Laptops, Google

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Source: Francois Beaufort (Google+), Google Docs