Geeksphone’s OS-agnostic Revolution smartphone to use Intel chips
We’re not yet done with 2013 and already handset manufacturers are tempting us with the products that we’ll see in 2014. Geeksphone, the outfit behind the Peak+ and Keon, has released the spec list for the third of its Firefox OS devices. The two notable things about the Geeksphone Revolution, of course, is that the hardware will feature Intel’s Atom Z2560 processor, clocked at 1.6GHz, and that running Firefox OS is no longer mandatory. Instead, users will have the option to choose between the Mozilla-backed software and an as-yet unknown build of Android. Otherwise, it’s a reasonably standard offering, with a 4.7-inch IPS qHD display, 2,000mAh battery and an 8-megapixel camera. It’ll land in Q1 next year, and we’re sure that Mozilla will be watching to see just how many people decide Firefox OS is preferable to Android.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google
Via: PhoneArena
Source: Geeksphone
Google+ will AutoAwesome your year in pictures and videos
With the year wrapping up, it’s always great to look back on what you accomplished in the past year.
Facebook does this for you with its Year in Review feature and now Google is going to do just the name with with Google+ and #AutoAwesome
You may be familiar with some of the most recent #AutoAwesome features, such as the newest that adds falling snow to your photographs, but Google just announced one more feature, the “#AutoAwesome year in review.”
As with all Google+ updates, your account will be updated automatically, as long as you’ve been uploading photos and videos all year, and you will be notified when your version is ready to share.
Google will then automatically sort through you photos, choose the best content and create a sideshow made up of your photos and videos from the year.
Notifications about the update are expected to start rolling out in the next week or so.
via +AnilSabharwal
The post Google+ will AutoAwesome your year in pictures and videos appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google Shopping Express starts selling gadgets, continues same-day delivery until December 24th
Hey, Bay Area residents: Mountain View’s hoping you’ll bring its online shop your business instead of braving the crowds for some last-minute holiday shopping. Google’s Shopping Express will continue doing same-day deliveries until 5PM Pacific on December 24th, so long as you place an order before noon. Even better, the portal now sells gadgets straight from Google Play. The selection’s pretty slim at the moment, but if you have a relative dying for a Nexus 7/10 or a Chromecast, then you’ve got it made. Sadly, the service has yet to expand to other locations, so everyone else will have to find an alternative, or, you know, grab a Red Bull on the way to the mall.
Filed under: Google
Via: Google Commerce
Source: Google Shopping Express
Recommended Reading: Google starts over, sculpture on the moon and more
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology in print and on the web. Some weeks, you’ll also find short reviews of books dealing with the subject of technology that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.
The Day Google Had to ‘Start Over’ on Android
(1,933 words)
by Fred Vogelstein, The AtlanticPocket!function(d,i){if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(“script”);j.id=i;j.src=”https://widgets.getpocket.com/v1/j/btn.js?v=1″;var w=d.getElementById(i);d.body.appendChild(j);}}(document,”pocket-btn-js”);
Back in 2005, Google had tasked teams of engineers with developing a secret mobile product that would position it to better compete with Microsoft. When 2007 rolled around, teams had worked 40- to 80- hour weeks for almost a year in an effort to revolutionize mobile phones. However, Apple was first out of the gate, revealing the iPhone on January 9th and forcing Google to rethink all the work that had been done. Fred Vogelstein recounts the outfit’s post-iPhone Android development and a touchscreen Dream device built to make up for iOS shortcomings.
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Robot Telemarketer Employer: Samantha West Is No Robot Time’s Denver Nicks examines the work habits of Samantha West, a telemarketing robot that will actually deny that label. She’s really more computer software than robot, though, allowing those who don’t speak English well to wade through prospective buyers. Pocket!function(d,i){if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(“script”);j.id=i;j.src=”https://widgets.getpocket.com/v1/j/btn.js?v=1″;var w=d.getElementById(i);d.body.appendChild(j);}}(document,”pocket-btn-js”); |
This 100-year-old deal birthed the modern phone system. And it’s all about to end. A hundred years ago this week, The Klingsbury Commitment kept AT&T from being another broken-up monopoly that fell under the US anti-trust laws of the early 20th century. Brian Fung takes a look at the letter (one of the first successful PR campaigns) that maintained the company’s hold on telecommunications and the monopoly’s ultimate fall. |
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The mysterious story of the battery startup that promised GM a 200-mile electric car (7,490 words) 200 mile range in an electric car? Well, Envia Systems certainly thought it possible and it struck a deal with GM to power vehicles like the Chevy Volt. One year later, the deal is void, the startup is being accused of misrepresenting its wares and two execs are battling each other in civil suits. So, what went wrong? Pocket!function(d,i){if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(“script”);j.id=i;j.src=”https://widgets.getpocket.com/v1/j/btn.js?v=1″;var w=d.getElementById(i);d.body.appendChild(j);}}(document,”pocket-btn-js”); |
The Sculpture on the Moon (7,060 words) Paul van Hoerydonck is the only artist to have a sculpture on the moon. Slate’s Corey S. Powell and Laurie Gwen Shapiro tell the story of Fallen Astronaut and the Apollo 15 mission that placed the 3-inch aluminum figure in a small dusty crater in 1971. Pocket!function(d,i){if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(“script”);j.id=i;j.src=”https://widgets.getpocket.com/v1/j/btn.js?v=1″;var w=d.getElementById(i);d.body.appendChild(j);}}(document,”pocket-btn-js”); |
Filed under: Misc
Google Play Music gets a new look for iOS 7 and ‘I’m feeling lucky’ radio
If you’re an iOS user that stuck with Google Play Music past the free All Access promo, a new update brings this refreshed UI for iOS 7 and a few new features. As promised at launch, it now supports “I’m feeling lucky” radio which randomly assembles a playlist based on recent listening habits. Also new are themed auto-playlists built around tracks in your library and those you’ve given a thumbs-up to. Google’s iOS team added genre radio stations for All Access subscribers too, and the ability to search by genre for everyone, bringing this version’s features up to par with its Android counterpart. With the amount of countries where the service is now available, that shouldn’t leave many people out — unless they live in Canada, that is.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Google
Source: iTunes
Google tightens Chrome Web Store rules to prevent toolbar overload
Many web veterans can share horror stories of friends and family who installed a few too many browser toolbars, some of them by accident. Google is clearly eager to avoid those disasters in Chrome — it’s instituting a new Chrome Web Store policy that will limit extensions to a single purpose. From now on, new extensions can’t sneak in toolbars, secondary extensions or other features that aren’t part of the core functionality. The move will create problems for honest developers who simply want to make rich add-ons, but Google is giving these code writers until June to either slim down or split up their current extensions. Although we doubt that everyone will like the stricter measures, they may be worthwhile if Chrome stays largely clutter-free.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Via: The Verge
Source: Chromium Blog
Google Play Books for Android temporarily loses PDF upload support
We hope you weren’t too attached to Google Play Books’ PDF upload support on Android, because you just lost it — albeit temporarily. Following some code sleuthing, Android Police has confirmed that Google removed PDF uploading; for now, you’re limited to transferring EPUB books. The PDF support was experimental, Google says, and should come back with a future app update. That’s unfortunate for anyone hoping to save documents to Play Books, but we won’t object too much when there are at least a few alternatives for sending PDFs to the cloud.
Filed under: Cellphones, Storage, Internet, Mobile, Google
Via: Talk Android
Source: Android Police
Google+ is automatically creating your own year in review video
If you’re anything like us, the thought of sifting through mountains of media to create a year in review video is more than a little intimidating. However, it just got a lot easier for some Google+ members. The social network is now using Auto Awesome to create year in review clips for anyone who has been uploading enough photos and videos throughout 2013; if you’re one of the lucky ones, the clip should be available in about a week. It won’t be quite the same as a lovingly crafted highlight reel, but it could prevent a few headaches during the holidays.
Source: Anil Sabharwal (Google+)
We’ve got 6 Google Glass invites – want one?
We’re giving away a half dozen Explorer Edition invitations over the next few days
We’re trying to be most un-Grinchest people this holiday season here at AndroidGuys, so in addition to our 12 days of Christmas giveaways, we have one more present, well six more, for you guys.
We have six invites to giveaway for V2 of the Google Glass Explorer Edition (this is the version compatible with prescription Glasses and includes a mono earbud).
Want an invitation?
If you’d like to enter our little contest for one, entry is simple. Just leave a comment below about why you want Google Glass and what you would do with it. We will then pick six people, which we feel have the best and most innovative answers.
The contest will run from today (Friday) until noon Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013. After that time you be contacted and need to send us your name and email address by Monday to have it sent to the Glass team for your invite.
An invitation, not the glasses
Please note that this contest is for an invite only and you will still have to purchase Glass from Google for $1500.
There are some additional terms and conditions set out by Google Glass Explorer program, according to which:
- Explorer must be a resident of the United States.
- Must be aged 18 years or older.
- Purchase Google Glass for $1500 using the invite.
- Provide a U.S. based shipping address OR be able to pick up Google Glass at one of Google’s locations in New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles.
We can’t wait to see what you guys say! Good luck!
The post We’ve got 6 Google Glass invites – want one? appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Android smartphone made of solid titanium now available for $1,800
In the past, luxury handset manufacturer Gresso has been known for dressing up iPhones with diamonds (and charging $30,000 for the deed) and producing featurephones, but now it’s getting into the Android business with its limited edition Radical smartphone series. The bottom-line model, the Radical R1, goes for $1,800 and is made of grade 5 solid titanium, while you can also grab a $2,300 version, which features a logo plate adorned with your choice of white or yellow 18K gold (everything else is exactly the same, however). Not too shabby, but the downside is that they don’t necessarily come with the flagship specs you might come to expect from phones that cost a third of the price: The 219g (7.73-ounce) Radicals come with Android 4.1.2, a 4.5-inch qHD screen, dual SIM support, an 8MP rear camera, 36GB internal storage and a quad-core 1.2GHz processor. Don’t wait long to decide, however — only 999 units are available.
Update: we originally reported the R1′s price at $1,500, where in fact it is actually $1,800.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google
Via: PhoneArena
Source: Gresso
AIVAnet 