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Google released an update for its Calendar app in the Play Store yesterday. It’s not the visual overhaul that was leaked last week, but it does add a pretty nifty little feature when creating an event. Like the web version of the app, the Android version of the app will now suggest locations when creating events. Extrapolated from your location — thanks to Google Maps — Google Calendar will now suggest and autocomplete locations based on businesses and locations near you. This new feature does ask for an extra permission (coarse location) when you go to install the update. It appears to be rolling out in waves as I have yet to receive a notice for the update in the P…

So far we have only heard of Project Ara smartphones, but couldn’t the concept also apply to wearables? According to Toshiba Senior VP and Technology Executive, Shardul Kazi, the answer is yes. While at the Ara Developer Conference, Kazi showed the above slide that represents a module being removed from the phone and inserted into a smartwatch. At this point in the game, this is just a concept and not in development. Assuming consumers adopt this “module” way of thinking, you can clearly see that it’s inevitable that Project Ara could be used for so many other things, including wearables. source: Engadget Come comment on this article: Toshiba plans on bringing …

Yahoo just released a new update to Flickr that completely overhauls the UI. With the new app you’ll be able to capture HD video and share it with Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter — no Google+… sad — while using flickr’s new filters and editing tools to enhance each photo. You’ll be able to change the color balance, contrast and saturation just to name a few. You’ll also be able to take advantage of following friends and world class photographers as well. For those of you who take tons of photos you’ll need not worry about space as everyone who has a Flickr account will receive almost a Terabyte of free storage. You’ll also be able to manipulate a series of privacy setti…

One of the most frustrating things that a consumer can face in buying a new phone is the inability to purchase the device they want due to a lack of product. A device that has been hyped for months and months on end can disappear in a matter of minutes — Nexus devices for example. While it’s certainly not the end of the world when this happens — and patience is a virtue — it can be aggravating nonetheless. The folks at OnePlus know this and are making an effort combat this problem. With its OnePlus One device, the company has created an invite system to combat the frustration that consumers feel while also gauging the demand for the phone. Thanks to the invite sys…

Samsung and Amazon have announced that Galaxy devices will be receiving a custom-built Amazon Kindle store. Launching in the next two weeks, the new store, device owners will receive up to 12 books per year, chosen from prominent books. That’s right, you don’t get to choose the books, but you’ll have the books chosen for you. Lee Epting, Vice President, Samsung’s Media Solution Center Europe, had this to say: “We are delighted to be able to deepen our long-standing relationship with Amazon and offer Kindle for Samsung as the perfect app for reading on a smart device. With this service we demonstrate our commitment to creating and broadening key content partnership…

Tablets are terrific tools that are also fun to use but there are definitely limits to how much you should let your children interact with them. The Telegraph brings us word that the U.K.-based Association of Teachers and Lecturers is claiming that children who spend too much time using tablets are unable to play with standard blocks or write with pens and paper. What's more, they say young children who spend all night playing tablet games find it impossible to pay attention in classrooms because they're seemingly going through withdrawal from being constantly visually stimulated by bright displays. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Google on Wednesday updated the stock Android Camera app and made it available to other Android devices by releasing it to the Google Play Store. The application comes with a new interface and some interesting new features including a new Lens Blur mode, support for 50-megapixel Photo Sphere panoramic pictures, and a feature that should help users ditch their bad habits of recording video in portrait mode. However, the application will only work on Android devices running a KitKat version. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Sony on Thursday announced it sold more than seven million units PlayStation 4 consoles as of April 6, 2014, beating its own expectations for fiscal year 2013 – the company planned to sell 5 million units during the period. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

It used to be that Verizon and AT&T could happily divvy up new subscribers every quarter while perpetual losers T-Mobile and Sprint would see their subscriber numbers shrink. Slowly but sure, however, T-Mobile's "Uncarrier" campaign has helped reignite its growth and has made things significantly less comfortable for America's two largest wireless carriers. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

If there's one thing more annoying than passwords, it's CAPTCHA puzzles that websites use to screen out robots from registering for accounts. However, Google has just developed a new algorithm that's able to read its own CAPTCHA puzzles with 99% accuracy, which is obviously a problem since CAPTCHA puzzles are designed to be used by humans only. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

With Google’s camera app finally hitting the Play Store earlier today, it wasn’t long before the APK was dissected to reveal a little more than what was initially announced. In what has become tradition every time software is released or updated, Android Police took a closer look at Google Camera in order to get a complete understanding. While we already know the features the software is initially launching with, the APK file has revealed some possible features that have not yet been announced. For starters, it seems that there could be as many as 3 new camera modes, including the advanced camera, time lapse, and wide angle modes. The icons pictured below will joi…

Google recently added the ability to cast live streams from YouTube to Chromecast devices, but it was only available via a desktop web browser. Google is now pushing out an update to the YouTube app for Android devices that includes this same feature. As usual, Google is rolling this update out in phases. You can hit the link to Google Play below to see if it is available for your account. If not, you can download the apk for version 5.6.31 and install the new YouTube app manually if you just can’t wait to cast live streams. APK download link Google Play Download Link Come comment on this article: Casting live streams to Chromecast added to YouTube a…

Do you like retro style arcade games? Well then you need to check out HeroCraft’s latest effort, Neon Commander. This game is kind of like Space Invaders meets Breakout. In this game, you will need to stop alien spaceships from taking down your city. In order to do that you will draw on the screen to bounce their shots back and hopefully hitting those enemies. This is called PlasmaShield technology. At the beginning of the game, you will draw simple lines that bounce the laserballs in the direction of the angle drawn. As you progress, you will find other shapes, like circles that force the laserballs to go in different directions. Along the way, you will find vari…

We’ve heard rumors of an interface redesign for many of Google’s core apps, including Gmail and the calendar app, so it makes sense that a redesign would follow to the Google+ app. Some leaked screenshots from Yoel Kaseb on G+ show the app in action, and although he said the app is pretty unstable as is, I doubt Google would go through that much effort to redesign something unless they were serious about moving forward with it. The action bar in the redesign is colored, like we’ve seen in other apps. The bottom content bar where you post updates and upload pictures is also gone in favor of a circular button that handles content creation. The circular button looks mu…

With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!! Apps Google releases stock Camera app in the Play Store Google’s new Camera app introduces Lens Blur via software optimization Chrome Remote Desktop exits beta and can now be used by anyone Casting live streams to Chromecast added to YouTube app Carriers Android 4.4 now available for AT&T’s Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active Chromecast Casting live streams to Chromecast added to YouTube app Googl…

In addition to creating its own voice-based virtual assistant that can stand its ground against Siri and Google Now, Microsoft appears ready to offer even more personalized search features to users in order to better compete against its main rival when it comes to search. The company on Wednesday announced on its Bing blogs that Bing.com is getting “more personal,” a feature it teased at Build 2014. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

OnePlus has gradually revealed on its social channels the countries where its One flagship handset will be revealed in, all while confirming pricing details for these markets once again. As previously teased, the handset will be available in 16 markets at first, and with exactly a week to go until OnePlus officially unveils the smartphone, the company has listed all those markets. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

When Samsung launched the Galaxy S5, it did so amid fears that the smartphone market was becoming saturated. However, based on recent reports about launch-day sales of the S5, it looks like Samsung will do just fine this year. According to a report from CNET, the Samsung Galaxy S5 sold at more than twice the rate on its first day at U.K. mobile phone retailers Phones 4U and Carphone Warehouse. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Sorry, Bitcoin fans: You're never, ever, ever getting all your precious pieces of cryptocurrency back from Mt. Gox. The Wall Street Journal reports that Mt. Gox, the one-time Magic Card trading website that transformed itself into the world's largest Bitcoin exchange before it collapsed earlier this year, has filed for liquidation. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Is Hulu even trying to compete with Netflix anymore? There are days when you really have to wonder. While Netflix is offering up a barrage of critically acclaimed exclusive series such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, Hulu is offering up... well, pretty much nothing that people are getting excited about. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

HTC has released their SDK for the duo-cameras on the HTC One (M8) for developers to take advantage of. The SDK contains plenty of APIs, libraries, and samples for reference, so it shouldn’t take long for a developer to work that into an app. To download the SDK, you’ll have to create an HTC Dev account, but after that, it’s free to use. Now that it’s available for everyone, we just have to wait and see how many apps take advantage of the unique features that HTC’s camera offers over the competition. source: HTC Dev Come comment on this article: HTC releases duo-camera SDK for developers Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much m…

AT&T announced today that the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active will be their next device to receive Android 4.4. The device launched last summer at Android 4.2.2, before it received an update to 4.3 in January. The 4.4 KitKat update brings all of the regular UI, system, and app enhancements. If you haven’t already received a notification to download the update, head to the Settings icon in the apps menu > Select the More Tab > Tap About Device > Select Software Update > Select Check for Updates and follow on screen instructions. Source: AT&T Blog Come comment on this article: Android 4.4 now available for AT&T’s Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active …

It has been rumored for months now that LG is planning on producing its very own mobile processing chip dubbed as “Odin.” Today LG has finally came forth to end those rumors and confirmed that those reports are indeed true and that they are working with TSMC to make it happen. The SoC will feature LG’s very own ARM-based design with rumors having it at four 2.2GHz Cortex-A15 cores and four Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.7GHz with the GPU being a PowerVR Series 6. There’s a chance that we could see this chip with the upcoming LG G3, but with that device releasing within the next month or two, I think there’s a small possibility that LG won’t be ready to mass produce the…

Today a mystery LG device surfaced in AnTuTu’s Benchmark site that bears similar resemblance to the G3, except that it’s resolution is 1080p. This device could very well be the LG Liger (LG-F450). Upon further investigation, the phone has three different model numbers for three different Korean carriers: LG-F450K, LG-F450L and the LG-450S. With the specs of the device almost exactly like the G3′s , could we be seeing maybe a G3 Mini? Or perhaps a cheaper G3? Stay tuned! source: Phone Arena Come comment on this article: Mystery LG device hits AnTuTu Benchmark site Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more! News via TalkAndroid

When Google released their Camera app on Google Play earlier today for users who have Android 4.4, one of the new features noted was something called Lens Blur. This is a new mode Google has introduced that enables a software based shallow depth of field. One of the main uses of a shallow depth of field is to create a bokeh effect where the primary subject of a photo is in focus while the background is blurred. HTC recently enabled this in their new HTC One (M8) through hardware consisting of a dual camera system. Google’s new Camera app achieves this entirely with software. A shallow depth of field has historically been confined to single lens reflex (SLR) cameras wit…