Tuesday, February 28, 2017

BMW says ‘nein’ to Android Auto

img_20170228_171902 Like CES, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona also now attracts its fair share of car makers. Ford was an early adopter a few years ago, and now others are joining the fray, too. I sat down with Dieter May, BMW’s Senior Vice President of Digital Services and Business Models (in an i3, of course). Read More


Source: TechCrunch http://j.mp/2ll4rnD

Samsung Galaxy S8 Rumors: What to Believe

Samsung has dominated the Android phone market for at least a half-decade, but the Galaxy Note 7 debacle last year lost the company goodwill with customers after its phones exploded in pants, hotel rooms, airplanes, and elsewhere.

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Source: Gizmodo http://j.mp/2mBfJpA

Google Play now considers user engagement, not just downloads, in ranking games

Nexus 5X smartphone, co-developed by LG Electronics Inc. and Google Inc., and manufactured by LG Electronics, sit on display at the NTT Docomo Inc. unveiling in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. Docomo, Japans largest mobile-phone carrier by subscribers, introduced 10 smartphone models today. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images Google is making a significant change to how its app store, Google Play, will work in terms of making the best games more easily discoverable by end users. At the Game Developers Conference, the company announced that it recently tuned its app store algorithms to take into account user engagement, and not just downloads in order to better reward quality titles, as opposed to those that are… Read More


Source: TechCrunch http://j.mp/2mHoIVz

The 5 Best Apps for Recording Calls on Your Phone

Whether you’re interviewing rock stars, planning an event with folks from work, or just need to get your grandpa’s rants down on (digital) tape, there are plenty of apps ready and waiting to record your calls for you.

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Source: Gizmodo http://j.mp/2lSSN5D

Monday, February 27, 2017

Google at MWC: Daydream trees, cherry blossom, and nougat smoothies

dsc07215 Every year, Google mixes up its presence at MWC a bit. After a few years of handing out smoothies and Android pins inside one of the halls here in Barcelona, Google made the move outside in recent years. That works great when it’s warm, but on a chilly day, it doesn’t exactly make for a pleasant experience. Here is what Google had to offer this year. Read More


Source: TechCrunch http://j.mp/2l4PY3T

Kinetise now lets you download the code you make in their drag and drop app creator

c5734cdd-06dc-4bd4-9190-6abf044180a2-1 The world of mobile development is a hairy one. You can code things yourself and hurt your brain on React Native or you can use a drag-and-drop editor and get locked into one platform forever. But now app development house Kinetise is offering the best of both worlds. Kinetise, who I’ve talked about for years as an interesting alternative to coding your own Android and iOS apps, came… Read More


Source: TechCrunch http://j.mp/2mm6Svf

Jolla inks exclusive license to kick-start its Android alternative in China

jollac_press_03 Mobile OS maker Jolla, whose Sailfish platform remains one of the few smartphone alternatives in play these days, has signed an exclusive license to a Chinese consortium to develop a Sailfish-based OS for the country. Read More


Source: TechCrunch http://j.mp/2mC6EfD

Who the Hell Is Going to Buy Sony's Weird Android Projector?

The new Sony Xperia Touch is very cool. You watch this tiny 720p laser projector in action, and even when it bugs out and doesn’t immediately respond to your every fat fingered press it’s still so neat you’re almost inclined to not care. But I have no idea who is going to buy this €1600 device. That’s nearly $1700 at…

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Source: Gizmodo http://j.mp/2lLg4I1

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Sony stays in the picture with premium Xperia camera features

sonyxperiax2 For all of its consumer electronics prowess, mobile has always been a tough proposition for Sony. The Android market is overcrowded for one, and the company hasn’t really done all that much to set itself apart from the pack — save for one key saving grace: really great cameras. Imaging is once again the standout feature on the trio of Xperia handsets announced this morning at… Read More


Source: TechCrunch http://j.mp/2lfb4Ie