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Top Google Glass fan Robert Scoble is a fairly excitable personality and he's written a fairly excitable post on his Google+ page discussing his fears that Google might be about his favorite headset the old heave-ho, much as it did to past products such as Google Wave and the Nexus Q. What set Scoble off this time was that Google CEO Larry Page took the stage to deliver a keynote at the TED conference Wednesday... and he wasn't wearing Google Glass. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Google on Wednesday updated its Google Search / Google Now app for Android with new voice commands that will supposedly let users take pictures and record videos even faster. Instead of looking for the camera app, users will be able to say one of the two new commands, including “Ok Google, take a photo,” and “Ok Google, take a video,” to quickly launch the appropriate camera mode. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

After a few reports from Taiwan suggested Google is considering launching an 8.9-inch Nexus this year instead of a third-generation Nexus 7 device, IHS Technology chimed in, telling CNET that Google is planning to release an 8.9-inch tablet this year. According to director of tablet and monitor research Rhoda Alexander, the tablet would be a “high-performance” model, that could be more expensive than what users expect to pay for new Nexus devices. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

The Android 4.4 KitKat update is now available as an OTA for the international LG G2. The KitKat version has been available for the Korean LG G2 since last December, and AT&T G2 users got their hands on the KitKat update last month. The update will be a staggered one so it might take a few days or weeks before it will be available for your device. The latest KitKat update brings an improved user interface and battery life, faster processing speed, cloud print feature, and an improved “Kock On” feature. Source: GSMArena Come comment on this article: Android 4.4 KitKat update now available for the international LG G2 Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, An…

According to some information given to Dropbox for Business customers, Dropbox has a press event planned on April 9th to unveil a new feature that will let users switch back and forth between multiple accounts in the Dropbox application. This will be extremely helpful for customers that like to manage both business and personal accounts from one device. This sounds like it’s going to be a nice feature to add to an already solid platform offered by Dropbox, but there’s still some mystery about whether or not Dropbox will drop their cloud storage rates to compete with Google’s outrageous price drops. Dropbox charges $49.99 per month for 500 GB of storage, while Googl…

Good news for Flappy Bird fans but don’t get too excited. Flappy Bird developer, Dong Nguyen, tweeted earlier today that his popular game, Flappy Bird, will be returning. In a reply to a tweet which asked whether Flappy Bird would be back, the developer replied “Yes. But not soon.” We were once astonished when the game was suddenly pulled, but now we can keep our hopes high and expect the game to make a return. Dong hasn’t mentioned whether the game would be available again on the Google Play Store or the iOS App Store but it would most probably be available for both platforms. In an interview with Rolling Stone last week, Dong Nguyen said that the game may be makin…

A few weeks ago, Huawei’s Chief Marketing Officer, Shao Yang, said that the company is planning to release a Dual OS smartphone powered by Android and Windows Phone and that it would be available in Q2. However, according to a recent report made by FierceWireless, Huawei said that the company has no plans to release a Dual OS smartphone denying a recent statement made by its executive. “Huawei Consumer Business Group adopts an open approach towards mobile operating systems to provide a range of choices for consumers,” the company said in a statement to FierceWireless. “However, most of our products are based on Android OS, [and] at this stage there are no plans to laun…

Last November, Turntable.fm made an announcement on its blog that its shutting down to focus more on the ‘Live experience’ and develop its new Turntable Live service. “For over 2 years, we’ve improved and evolved the turntable.fm experience. We made rooms expand to unlimited sizes, made thousands of UI improvements, launched GOLD, built a mini-player, designed tons of avatars and listened to our community, trying to make the experience as wonderful as possible. Over those two years, the community has played over 400 million songs in about a million rooms.” Now, a few months later, the company is shutting down that service as well. As for the future plans, the company’s…

Apple sold more iPhones during the holiday quarter than it has ever sold before. At 51 million units, Apple's record iPhone sales helped push the company's holiday-quarter profit to a whopping $13.1 billion. The March quarter that follows always sees a notable slowdown after the holiday shopping rush, of course, but one of the most respected Apple analysts out there believes Apple is going to surprise us next month and report fiscal second-quarter iPhone sales that top expectations by a huge margin. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Samsung seems to know that it's stuck using another company's platform for its smartphones and tablets for the time being since its user base has come to expect Samsung devices to have tight integration with Google apps and services. However, that doesn't mean Samsung is giving up on its long-term goal of breaking free from Google's influence. The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung sees the burgeoning smartwatch market as the best way to drum up enthusiasm for its Tizen mobile platform and that it's been courting manufacturers to make Tizen-based smartwatches just as Google has been courting OEMs to make devices based on Android Wear. Continue reading... V…

Motorola's Moto 360 is the best-looking smartwatch we've seen so far, as it's ditched the boxy square frame used by watches such as the Galaxy Gear and the Pebble in favor of a more stylish and elegant round display. The Verge has scored an interview with Motorola design chief Jim Wicks, who said that he and his team weren't satisfied with anything they created until they literally started thinking outside the box by building a round display. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Assassin's Creed, one of the biggest multiplatform video game properties, is reportedly double dipping on the release schedule this fall, making separates appearances on the recently released Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as well as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Samsung has filed a new patent in South Korea, the Wall Street Journal reports, in which it describes a new camera concept that apparently fixes a camera issue users may have not been aware of – the lack of direct eye-contact. The patent proposes a device with a transparent screen, that will allow users both to look at pictures that were taken with the device, but also see the subjects of their photo sessions through it while taking photos. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

If you ever thought about buying an Oppo phone, but hesitated for whatever reason, that might change with the Oppo Find 7. After several months of leaks, Oppo finally took the wraps off, and although there really isn’t anything that surprised us, it doesn’t take away the fact that this phone is a serious beast. The heart of this phone is in the camera, which is a whopping 50-megapixels and sports an f/2.0 aperture. 50MP samples are coming in at 8,160 x 6,120 and a size of 10MB. The signal processor, Pure Image 2.0, allows for a Super Zoom feature, which takes 10 burst shots and then automatically picks the best four shots to combine into a 50MP still. You can see a cou…

The Moto 360 smartwatch appears to be what everybody wants in a smartwatch. It’s not only useful, but it looks gorgeous. The round design is refreshing, but it might also cause a few manufacturing hurdles. A pretty reliable Motorola leaker says the Moto 360 won’t be easy to manufacture. The round design is what makes it so challenging. Cutting circular panels can be a wasteful process as well as placing internal parts in the device. The source suggests that it will probably only be offered in select regions. Based on what we saw with the Moto X, I would expect the Moto 360 to be offered exclusively in the U.S., at least at launch. Similar to the Moto X’s cutting e…

One of the most anticipated movies (at least for me) of the year is coming this May. That’s right Godzilla!! Those that want more than just the movie will be happy to know that the mobile game is coming as well. Rogue Play just announced that Godzilla – Smash3 will land on Android and iOS devices on May 16, the same day the movie is released in theaters. The game promises to give fans complete control of of Godzilla, including his epic roar. It will be a RPG-style game that will feature puzzle mechanics and 3D visuals. Hit the break for the game trailer as well as the full press release. Click here to view the embedded video. Rogue Play, along with Warne…

At some point this year, Samsung is going to reveal tablets that feature an AMOLED display. We already reported on at least one such tablet, but we didn’t know the display size. Thanks to GFXBench, we now know that they will at least offer an 8.4-inch version. It goes under the model number of SM-T700 and will sport an AMOLED 2560 x 1600 display. This is a pixel density of 359ppi, just like the IPS-LCD TabPRO version that is available now. We can also confirm the specs, which include a 1.9GHz octa-core Exynos 5, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 7MP rear camera, 2MP front-facing camera, and Android 4.4.2 KitKat. The Exynos 5 will feature big.LITTLE technology…

We have good news for those of you in the UK. As you know, the Chromecast is now officially available in the UK, among other countries. It was already reported that the BBC iPlayer app would support the Chromecast soon, but it’s already working. Apparently you don’t even need to update the app. You will be looking for the standard Chromecast logo at the top of the app. It might take a minute to show up or you might need to close the app and relaunch. Once you see the Chromecast logo, you are good to go. Just cast away. If you haven’t grabbed your Chromecast yet, you can do so at Google Play, Amazon, PC World, or Currys for £30. BBC iPlayer download links after the b…

Google unveiled its vision for Android on a smartwatch – dubbed Android Wear – and announced the first partners that will make devices based on the new smartwatch-optimized OS. But one of those devices may actually become the first “Nexus” smartwatch, a device that will highlight Google’s own smartwatch vision – and it appears to be LG’s G Watch. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Earlier this week we wrote about the Holy Grail, a new smartphone screen protector that maker Sir Lancelot's Armor touted as being made from "bulletproof" glass. Yes, there was a reason that we put the words "bulletproof" in scare quotes: While such glass may indeed be the same type of glass used in bulletproof windows, it probably wasn't strong enough to stop an actual bullet from doing serious damage to your iPhone. And sure enough, Ars Technica has decided to do yeoman's work by actually firing a gun at a Holy Grail-equipped iPhone... and the results were not pretty. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

When it comes to smartwatches, I'm not sure I could possibly be any more indifferent about the category right now. Some people love them, most people laugh at them, and they don't really do much of use beyond saving the wearer the second or so that it takes to pull a phone out of a pocket to check an alert. Simply put, smartwatches have no real purpose in their current state. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Has it only been a month since Flappy Bird mania gripped the world? Sadly, it has and Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen seems to have realized that he walked away from a huge pile of money when he quickly dropped his game from the App Store and Google Play back in February. Gawker has spotted a message sent out by Nguyen on his Twitter account letting a fan know that he does plan on bringing his highly addictive game back to the App Store, "but not soon." This means that you shouldn't expect Flappy Bird to un-retire Jay-Z-style for the next few months although Nguyen would be wise to get it back as soon as possible before the world moves onto the next huge mobile game. …

Slowly but surely, Microsoft is taking baby steps to appease longtime Windows desktop users who absolutely hate the changes Microsoft made with Windows 8. Earlier this month, we wrote about the experiences of U.K.-based tech writer James Woodcock, who did a nice job of outlining all the new features in the soon-to-be-released Windows 8.1 Update 1 that should appeal to spurned mouse-and-keyboard users. And now InfoWorld's Woody Leonhard, who has been a diehard Windows 8 hater from the start, has penned his own review to Update 1 that similarly finds some things to like for desktop users. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

The pay TV industry may not be sweating the cord cutting trend just yet but for the first time in 2013 it had a reason to take notice. According to new data from Leichtman Research Group, pay TV providers posted a net loss of 104,000 subscribers in 2013, the first time the pay TV industry has ever lost subscribers year-over-year. The biggest losers were Time Warner Cable and Comcast, which respectively lost 825,00 and 305,000 pay TV subscribers each. Given how poorly both those companies have fared in multiple customer satisfaction surveys, this isn't too surprising. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Apple on Wednesday was granted 38 patents, Patently Apple reports, including a Siri-related patent that stands out not only for describing advanced features for a voice-enabled assistant of the future, but also because the patent was first filed in early September 2006, well ahead of the first-generation iPhone’s debut. Even though work on iPhone and several of its components including a voice assistant has started well ahead of the phone’s launch, Siri was only added in late 2011, with the iPhone 4S becoming the first Apple handset to offer users the unique set of voice-based features that many have grown to love. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report