Smartphones News
News: Virtual Reality, Coming to a Dentist's Office Near You
I don't know anyone that likes going to the dentist—few things are more uncomfortable than having someone else's hands in your mouth. But outside of that, not only can the pain of certain procedures be unnerving, the drugs used to numb those pains can be just as uncomfortable. Not being able to feel your mouth for hours on end is a disconcerting feeling. But all that could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to virtual reality.
News: This May Be the Cutest Way to Get Directions Ever
Have you ever looked down to your phone and said "This GPS app works well, but why isn't it cuter?" Well, you're in luck! Tokyo's Sunrise Aquarium has what might be the cutest way to navigate to their facility—just follow the penguins!
News: We Went to the Google Glass Film Festival—Don't Expect Glass-Made Movies Anytime Soon
It was a chilly but otherwise beautiful night at YouTube Spaces LA—food trucks, ping pong, a photo booth, and the chance to view film school projects created completely with Glass. About a year ago, the Glass Creative Partnership was formed to explore how Glass could be used in filmmaking, with partnerships spanning from the American Film Institute to CalArts and UCLA. On July 16, 2014, the products of that partnership were screened under the Southern California night sky. Three films were sh...
News: Snapchat Is Making It Easier for Your Friends to Stalk You
Snapchat recently introduced geofilters to its ephermal messaging platform—cute stickers that you can add on your Snapchat, which showcase your location.
The Passport: BlackBerry's Last Stand
BlackBerry was one of the first companies to put anything that resembles a modern-day smartphone on the market, but now, seeing one out in the wild is like stumbling upon a fossil. Now that they've announced the BlackBerry Passport, it seems as if this is their last-ditch effort at remaining relevant.
News: Supreme Court Rules on Police Cell Phone Searches
Your constitutional right to privacy cannot be violated by police, so ruled the United States Supreme Court in a unanimous decision on two cases from California and Massachusetts—a major ruling for privacy advocates worldwide.
News: T-Mobile Announces Free Music Streaming, New "Test Drive" Program
T-Mobile continues to make waves in the U.S. wireless market behind CEO John Legere's UnCarrier program. At the latest installment in a series of industry-challenging announcements, Uncarrier 5.0 unveiled Test Drive. The new program is set to allow would-be customers to try out the "latest generation" iPhone for seven days on T-Mobile's network without any financial commitments.
News: Get Ready to Send Scents Through Text
Admit it, since childhood you've thought to yourself, "When oh when will they finally make Smell-o-vision?" And while that technology hasn't yet made it to our living rooms, we may soon be a step closer towards that particular American dream with the oPhone.
News: The Finnish-Made Jolla Phone with Sailfish OS That Runs Android Apps
Say "hola!" to the independent Finnish phone company, Jolla, and its new eponymous smartphone of the same name.
News: Daily Show Highlights Public Perception of Glass Explorers
They say that behind every joke is a half-truth. If that adage itself contains a grain of verity, the Daily Show's satirical Glass piece should raise a few eyebrows amongst the Glass Explorer community.
News: Facebook Messenger Gets "Big" Likes & Instant Video Sharing
In a time when messaging platforms may outnumber the people you'd ever want to message, one of the more popular options—Facebook Messenger—received a big update for both Android (must be part of the free beta program) and iOS, going from version 5.0 to 6.0.
Practical & Silly: 3D Printed Accessories for Google Glass
Last year, Todd Blatt ran a Kickstarter campaign to make 3D-printed accessories for Google Glass, and has turned it into a company: GlassKap.
News: Project Tango Brings a Whole New Depth to Tablets
Lately, it seems, that we live in a two-dimensional world. With smart phones and tablets constantly at our fingertips, it always seems as if we are looking into a screen.
News: Amazon Teases Its New 3D-Capable Smartphone
We recently gave you a peek at what Amazon's first smartphone will look like, and its 3D technology. With six (six!) cameras and no-touch motion control, the product is intriguing to say the least. Now, Amazon's put out a teaser video, and it's got Amazon Phone written all over it.
News: Sprint Agrees to Buy T-Mobile for $32 Billion
Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed to a $31.6 billion deal that, if it gets through federal regulators—which is far from a sure bet—would create a formidable carrier to really compete against AT&T and Verizon. The deal comes packaged with a $1 billion "breakup" fee that Sprint would have to pay T-Mobile in the event the deal does not go through. After the deal, Deutsche Telekom, which owns about 67% of T-Mobile, would maintain a 20% ownership stake.
News: Android Maintains Lead in Platform Market, Apple Dominates Device Market
For the month of April, Android maintained it's edge over Apple's iOS platform, 52.5% versus 41.4%, with Blackberry, Microsoft, and Symbian rounding out the top five (2.5%, 3.3%, and 0.2%, respectively). Due to the vast number of OEMs that manufacture Android smartphones, Apple does have a solid lead in the device market, with a dominant 41.4% market share, with Samsung, LG, Motorola, and HTC rounding out the top five (27.7%, 6.5%, 6.3%, and 5.3%, respectively). The research, compiled by comS...
News: Apple Finally Fixes Its Massive iMessage Failure with a New Deregister Tool
It took many months of cries from all around the internet—and a particularly large groan from an ex-Lifehacker editor-in-chief—but Apple has not only acknowledged the existence of its iMessage problem, it's promising a fix.
News: Google Just Acquired Instant Translator Word Lens—All Language Packs Free for a Limited Time
According to a statement on its website, Quest Visual, the company behind the highly-regarded live translation app Word Lens, has been purchased by Google. This news has ripple effects across both the Android and iOS platforms, as it is likely Word Lens will be discontinued in the near future in favor of incorporating the technology into Google's own Translate app. For now, however, Quest Visual has made all Word Lens language packs available for free in celebration of their new deal with Goo...
News: Emergency 911 Text Messaging Coming May 15th to All U.S. Carriers
How do you call 9-1-1 when you need to remain silent or can't speak? It's a great question that will finally be answered on May 15th.
News: Major Google Maps Update Brings Uber Integration, New Navigation, & More
This week, Google sidestepped their usual "Update Wednesday" strategy by dropping a huge update to their Maps app for both Android and iOS. We're accustomed to seeing new features and bug fixes to their stable of apps on Wednesdays, but today's Maps update was presumably big enough to get its own release day (it's Tuesday, folks).
News: Jury Awards $120 Million to Apple, Far Less Than the $2 Billion It Wanted from Samsung
The second patent trial between Apple, Inc. and Samsung Electronics has effectively ended, with a jury ruling that Samsung did in fact infringe on two of Apple's patents. The reward of $119.6 billion is far lower than the $2.2 billion in damages that Apple seeked.
News: Snapchat Sees Major Update with Temporary Chat Messages & Live Video Chatting
Popular photo-sharing service Snapchat has released a major update to both its Android and iOS applications today, bringing secretive chat messaging and live video chatting.
News: Facebook Introduces "Nearby Friends" for Increased Stalking Power
Facebook today has unleashed a new way to creep...er...keep in touch with "friends" using the official Facebook apps on Android and iOS.
Join the Party: Now Anyone Can Become a Glass Explorer
Update: April 24, 2014 Looks the the one day availability was a precursor to a wider launch, as now anyone can buy a pair of the Glass Explorer Edition without needing an invite. Check out Google's Glass Shop for some easy ordering, still with the $1500 price tag.
News: Doctor Says Google Glass Saved His Patient's Life
There's been a lot of discussion lately about the practical uses of Google Glass. Sure, you can use them for translating text instantly or further engraining yourself in social media, but how about saving someone's life? That's precisely what Dr. Steven Horng of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has says happened with a recent patient of his. After launching a Google Glass pilot program late last year, the device was seen as a critical factor in saving the life of a patient in January.
News: The End of Dead Phone Batteries Is Closer Than You Think
The old "my battery is dead" excuse for not calling your mother may soon be a thing of the past. A team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), led by Professor Jo Byeong-jin, has developed a "wearable thermo-element" that can be built into clothing to power your electronic devices. The science behind the innovation converts body heat (thermal energy) into usable electric energy. Made with lightweight glass fiber, this small thermo-element strip can produce about ...
News: Microsoft's Cortana Just Blew Siri Out of the Water
As Microsoft unveiled their new Windows Phone 8.1 software update yesterday, undoubtedly the most memorable takeaway was their showcase of Cortana. Competing directly against Apple's Siri and Google's Now, Cortana is Microsoft's entry into the digital voice assistant fray, and the official replacement to their search app.
News: An Album Just Launched into Space—Listen to It Based on Your GPS Location
John Frusciante, of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame, has just launched a new album, literally. His latest work, Enclosure, was loaded up on Sat-JF14 satellite inside the payload bay of the Interorbital Neptune Rocket on March 29th and launched into orbit.
News: Google Adds Serious Style to Glass with New Partnership
They may not be the coolest looking things in the world, but Google is addressing some of the shortcomings of its Glass hardware by announcing a partnership with Luxottica Group. The company, with over 5000 retail stores in the US, has a strong portfolio of brands under its belt, including Amette, Persol, Ray-Ban, and Vogue. And for this Glass Explorer, the news is welcomed with open arms. Admittedly, these bad boys have come a long way over the past couple of years, just take a look at the i...
News: Want to Explore with Google Glass? Now's Your Chance
With all signs pointing to a late-2014 release of Google Glass, the company is opening up their Explorer program to the masses. If you're a US resident who is at least 18 years old, sign up right now to be a part of the initiative. It seems as if Google is really expanding the program, as invites are being sent out in masses. I'm happy to report that I received mine this morning, as did a slew of others. So, ready to explore? Sign up, become as early adopter, and stay with us for all the late...
News: The Government Is Stealing Your Data from Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Facebook, & Other Mobile Apps
If you're spending hours on your phone playing games like Angry Birds and Candy Crush Saga, or posting online to Google+ and Pinterest, you're probably being spied on. The latest releases from NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden reveal that the National Security Agency, and its UK counterpart, GCHQ, are mining the ad networks utilized in these apps to collect a trove of information on you.
News: Google & Samsung Sign Patent Agreement
According to the electronics giant, Samsung and Google have signed a global patent license agreement that, according to Samsung's official blog, "covers the two companies’ existing patents as well as those filed over the next 10 years." The patent war in the smart device realm has been raging for years; whether it's Apple and Samsung at each other's throats or one half of the tech sector suing the other, litigation has been the main weapon in a conflict that used to be won with innovation.
News: Sick of Your Phone? Upgrade in 30 Days with Verizon's Edge Plan...with Some Huge Catches
The in-fighting between the major US carriers just got a little more interesting. In July of last year, T-Mobile introduced their JUMP! plan, letting customers upgrade their devices after just six months, up to twice a year. Buy a device, split up the price into monthly payments, and pay an additional $10/month to enroll in the service.
News: Save Your Data! Google Optimizes Chrome to Save You Up to Half Your Bandwidth
Data restrictions suck, but Google wants to make it suck just a little less. Rolling out is the latest update to their mobile Chrome browser, Chrome 32.
News: The Police and Your Cell Phone Carrier Make a Great Team—Maybe Too Great
You know that feeling when your cell phone gets stolen and you figure it is pretty much lost forever. You could've used one of the millions of device managers and trackers, but ya didn't. And the Good Samaritan is not coming to your rescue.
News: How Spammers Can Steal Your Personal Info from Snapchat
For a photo- and video-sharing app based around privacy, Snapchat sure has a lot of security holes floating around. At one time, you were able to take screenshots of Snapchats in iOS 7 without the sender knowing, which is something that you can still do on rooted Android devices.
News: Top 10 BlackBerry OS Secret Codes for All BlackBerry Phones
These codes contain a lot of important information, such as BlackBerry version used, PIN, IMEI, the duration since the last BlackBerry activation, signal strength, battery power, storage capacity, and the total memory capacity of the phone.
Smartphone Data: Where Is It All Going?
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News: What the Laws on Jailbreaking, Rooting, & Unlocking Mean for You & Why the White House Is on Our Side (Updated)
UPDATE (February 26, 2014) Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1123 with a 295-114 vote decision. The ruling repeals the 2012 Library of Congress (LOC) decision that limited the ability to legally "unlock" your smartphone (see below).
News: Move Over Apple Maps, Google Maps Is Back on iPhones!
Yes, you read that right—you can now get Google Maps back on your iPhone again. It may not be officially replacing Apple's notorious Maps app, but it sure is a sight for sore eyes.