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While there are certainly many reasons to gripe about Comcast, being forced to rent its modems shouldn't be one of them. As Ars Technica, Stop the Cap! and other websites reported on Wednesday, a Comcast customer in Virginia caused a bit of a stir when he posted in the DSLReports forum that a Comcast customer service representative told him he'd have to rent one of Comcast's modems for $8 a month if he wanted to take advantage of Comcast's 105Mbps broadband service. As evidence for his claim, the user posted a Comcast bulletin supposedly issued on February 26th this year that said subscribers to its 105Mbps service may only use "Comcast issued equipment" because it "ensur…

Tim Cook's eyes might turn into big fat dollar signs once he sees new survey data published by Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt. Per Barron's, a new Raymond James survey conducted with the help of Surveymonkey has found that one-third of American iPhone owners would be willing to pay an extra $100 for an iPhone 6 if it had a bigger display than the iPhone 5s. This means that fully 33% of U.S. iPhone owners might be willing to pay $300 with a two-year contract to get an iPhone 6 if it has a display of between 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches. And considering that Raymond James' latest survey found that 52.3% of all American smartphone owners use the iPhone, it looks like Apple…

The messaging app market has really started to heat up after Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion and after Alibaba's investment in the far more obscure Tango granted it a $1 billion valuation. As popular entries like Viber, WhatsApp and Tango have found big strategic partners, the number of stand-alone messaging apps with more than 100 million registered users has dwindled. BBM and Kik are among the most notable indie messaging apps left looking for sugar daddies and their futures will hinge upon whether they can show real potential to generate revenue. That's why BBM is now at such a crucial juncture: It is dipping its toes in the advertising market for the first ti…

http://androidforum.us/data/MetaMirrorCache/fe076602ab5ece4324aac9afc71f54fe.jpg As we made clear in our HTC One (M8) review on Tuesday, HTC's new flagship smartphone is the best Android phone that has ever been made. Those looking for a more manageable smartphone might find the device to be a bit large though. Similarly, phablet fans looking for a more massive handset like the HTC One max were left out in the cold as well. But just as nearly anyone who follows the industry might have guessed, it looks like HTC is following last year's model and prepping both a smaller and a larger version of the new One (M8) for release later this year. Continue reading... Via…

Glassdoor this week came out with its list of employees' most highly rated CEOs for 2014 so far and the usual suspects in the tech world made the overall top 20, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (93%), Google CEO Larry Page (93%) and Apple CEO Tim Cook (92%). However, one thing we were most curious about was how employees in Redmond, Washington were rating new CEO Satya Nadella so far. And even though Nadella didn't make the top 20, Microsoft employees' ratings of him on Glassdoor make one thing very clear: He's already much more popular than Steve Ballmer was last year. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

The HTC One (M8) is a well-built smartphone that may survive most beatings and even water damage, but once a component breaks – whether it’s a cracked screen, malfunctioning battery or anything else – users are not advised to try to repair the unit themselves. iFixit already performed an “official” teardown of the handset, revealing it’s just as difficult to repair as its predecessor – the device got a 2/10 repairability score. The group even managed to sever the digitizer cable while trying to remove the display. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

In need of a smartwatch at a good price? Best Buy has Samsung’s first generation Galaxy Gear available in all colors for just $99. The catch is that the device has been refurbished. All colors are eligible and the deal will save you $200 and free shipping. Hit the source link for the full range of Galaxy Gear colors being offered at a steep discount. Source: Best Buy Come comment on this article: Samsung Galaxy Gear (refurbished) available for $99 through Best Buy’s Deal of the Day Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more! News via TalkAndroid

HTC is not going to stop with just the brand new HTC One (M8). According to @evleaks over on Twitter, there are two more devices that will join the M8 family. One of them, we have already heard about from him. That would be the HTC One (M8) Mini. Last month, @evleaks provided some specifications for the device including the Snapdragon 400 processor, a 4.5-inch display, and a on-screen buttons like its bigger sibling. The other device mentioned today is the “M8 Ace.” What is this device? It can be one of two things. A phablet, like the HTC One Max or a tablet, something that HTC has moved away from. But remember, there was a report that HTC would be manufacturing a Nexu…

The Slingbox is one of the best personal media streaming devices available, but unfortunately, it doesn’t integrate at all with Google’s Chromecast. The two devices seem like they would work extremely well together, so it’s more than a little disappointing. According to an answers page on Slingbox’s forums, though, it appears that the developers at Sling Media are hard at work on adding Chromecast support to their device. Unfortunately, the answer didn’t give anything in the way of how close they are to officially adding support or any kind of timeframe, but rest assured, they are working on it. Whenever it does happen, I’m sure it’s going to please many cordcutters…

We knew Google was working on adding the ability to upload music files to Play Music directly through Google Chrome, and it looks like that update has finally gone live. It’s still considered a beta lab experiment, so you’ll have to enable it at this link, but once that’s done, you can simply drag music files onto Chrome to upload them to your Play Music library. There are also configurations for uploading tons of music in iTunes, as well as setting up music to upload automatically. In addition to those changes, Google has also added a pop-out mini player to Play Music, as well as the option to download tracks right from the browser. Looks like Google’s download man…

HTC does not plan on keeping BlinkFeed and the Zoe camera application restricted to just HTC-made devices like the new One (M8). In the press release announcing the new flagship, HTC points out that those two services will be heading to the Google Play Store in the future. Yesterday, we found out that BlinkFeed was destined for the Play Store; however, today we are learning about the Zoe camera app being released there as well. Why? HTC wants to give everyone a taste of what they are offering. And, hopefully, owners of a non-HTC device like these two services, they will look further into buying an HTC smartphone. Here is the part about BlinkFeed: Following its…

Things have generally gone poorly for HTC over the past two years. While it has seen its profitability and market share erode, its rival Samsung has thrived to the point where it has become nearly synonymous with Android phones in the minds of many consumers. However, as HTC looks to make a comeback with its just-announced HTC One (M8), it takes the stage under circumstances that are far more favorable than when it first launched the HTC One last year. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

The recently launched HTC One (M8) comes with a brand new version of Sense on top of Android 4.4 KitKat that brings several new software features and improves existing ones. To help users better understand Sense 6 and what it has to offer, HTC has published seven videos on its channel, in which it demos some of the most important Sense 6 features – additionally, the company has also released three First Look videos highlighting the new HTC One’s design and camera features. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Responding to allegations from TechCrunch former editor Michael Arrington that Google had accessed his Gmail email address to trace a leak from inside the company, the search giant said this week that it didn’t do so, and that it doesn’t employ such practices, Re/code reports. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Let's say you've already beaten Infamous: Second Son, you're anxiously awaiting the next big release, but you have no idea when anything is coming out. Well, the fine folks at the PlayStation Blog have done us all a favor and put together a list of every single PlayStation 4 game that has been announced for 2014 so far. The list is broken into games that have already released, games coming out in the coming seasons and the games that haven't been given firm release dates yet. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Between an upcoming flagship smartphone and a whole line of new wearables, Samsung has put tablets on the back burner for now, but a recent leak might be our first look at the next Galaxy Tab. The ever-reliable @evleaks managed to snag yet another set of press photos on Wednesday morning, purportedly showing off the 7-inch model of the Galaxy Tab 4, one of three different sizes rumored for the device. As Android Central notes, these aren't exactly the highest quality renders we could have hoped for, with an uncentered screen and a wonky home button, but it certainly looks like a Samsung tablet in every other respect. Take a look at the device in black in the image below. …

We already had Square Mountains' gorgeous Peek Calendar app on our radar to feature in an upcoming piece on beautifully designed iPhone apps, but we had to let you know about it a bit early. Why? Because the price of this fantastic iPhone app was just dropped from $2.99 to $0. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of iPhone 6 concepts: Those that try to faithfully imagine what the iPhone 6 will really look like and those that are way off in la-tee-da fantasy land. MacRumors points us to a new concept from iCulture and artist Martin Hajek that falls squarely into the latter category, although it's certainly an intriguing idea that does have some small basis in reality when it comes to possible future iPhone designs. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

When BGR reviewed the brand new HTC One (M8) on Tuesday, we noted that its performance somehow managed to match its gorgeous design fairly closely. AnTuTu benchmark tests we ran during the review process yielded a top score of 30,921, which was bested only by three widely available smartphones in the world. As we also noted in our review, the HTC One (M8) version available in Asia is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5GHz instead of 2.3GHz, as it is elsewhere. And as it turns out, that extra oomph makes all the difference in the world. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

So... Microsoft buys Nokia, Yahoo buys Tumblr, Twitter buys Vine, Google buys Nest, Facebook buys Instagram, Facebook buys WhatsApp, Facebook buys Oculus Rift. Notice the pattern in the recent big tech acquisitions? Facebook is really, really spending big on getting all futuristic. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

BlackBerry CEO John Chen really doesn't mess around. In a new blog post on BlackBerry's official website, Chen vowed to crack down on leaks of future devices and products and said that his company would seek criminal prosecutions against any and all leakers, whether they come from within or from outside the company. Chen acknowledges that BlackBerry fans enjoy seeing devices leaked before their launch but says that they're doing too much damage to the company to be left unchecked. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Nvidia has announced a few things concerning the SHIELD gaming platform today, including a new software update, allowing for a number of new games. The biggest change to the platform is that it now adapts better to PC gamers. SHIELD was released to be an ultra portable gaming platform for hard-core gamers, and this new update should help that become more of a reality. With this update, users will now be able to play PC games outside of their home. This feature is still in beta. Users will also now be able to take advantage of the wake-on LAN support. To further accommodate for PC gamers, users will also now be able to connect Bluetooth keyboards and mouses. Furthe…

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!! Hands on with the All New HTC One (M8) Apps HTC follows Motorola and releases core apps in the Play Store [updated - Google Play Edition incoming] College student discount for Spotify offered in U.S. Cameras Samsung Galaxy S5 ‘Zoom’ specs leak, will feature a slimmer body and 20 MP camera Carriers AT&T, Sprint among the carriers said to be getting the Samsung Galaxy S 5 Active HTC One M8 avai…

NVIDIA unveiled the new Jetson TK1 DevKit powered by Tegra K1 at the company’s GPU Technology Conference on Tuesday. It enables the development of applications which employ computer vision, image processing and real-time data processing. The developer kit provides developers with tools to create applications that allow robots to “navigate, physicians to perform mobile ultrasound scans, drones to avoid moving objects and cars to detect pedestrians.” More interestingly, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, who unveiled the new Jetson TK1 at the conference, invited an Audi executive on-stage where he demonstrated company’s future of self-driving cars by displaying a car which drove all by…

We have a good news for those who keep their presentation slides in Google Drive. Google announced Tuesday on its blog that images can now be edited by users in Google Slides and Drawings. The company introduced a range of tools which enable image editing directly from within Slides and Drawings. These include cropping, applying masks, and adding borders to the images. These tools are quite useful since most of us usually end up noticing that some of the images in the slides require a little editing and with these new tools, we no longer need to depend on an external image editing program. “Google Slides and Drawings make it easy for you to tell a story and share yo…