Nvidia's 4K Android TV game console is now available

As promised back in March, the Nvidia Shield Android TV console is coming this month — today, in fact. The company has announced it's now available to order from Amazon, Best Buy, and its own website.

The new Shield — a thin, angular console with a sharp green streak of light — is powered by Nvidia's Tegra X1 mobile "superchip" with 3GB RAM. The main platform here is Android TV, and Shield is capable of streaming 4K video from compatible services (which include Netflix, YouTube, a handful of others). It's also a gaming device; Nvidia is touting over a dozen exclusive titles in addition to those already compatible with Android TV. It's also capable of streaming games via its GRID service.

The $199 standard model comes with 16GB storage,...

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Google Cardboard app launches on iOS

Google has launched its Cardboard virtual reality app on iOS. The new app will let iPhone users explore city environments, use a virtual kaleidoscope, and view 3D objects from a museum collection. Until now, the official Cardboard app was available only on Android, where it has been downloaded over a million times.

Cardboard, which fits lenses and a magnetic "switch" into a paper box, was announced at I/O 2014. It was far from the first low-cost cardboard headset, but it's since become synonymous with them, as Google turned a literally throwaway design into the basis for a VR platform. It's also inspired a new wave of cheap viewers — so many that it created a certification system in April to guarantee that apps would work across all of...

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Google announces new Photos app

Google has announced a new Photos app that's able to organize, back up, and share your images. One of the big features here is that Photos will automatically analyze and sort your images. On stage, Google showed how it could sort out photos of skylines and beaches — it's a lot like what Flickr rolled out this month. It'll also identify people, so that you can scroll through images of them over time.

Developing. Check out our Google I/O Live Blog for the latest updates and our Google hub for all the news!

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Google Now gets smarter with 'Now on Tap' and ability to work inside apps

Google Now is getting even smarter. At the company's I/O 2015 keynote moments ago, Google unveiled a new feature that lets Android's personal assistant examine whatever is happening on your screen and automatically take relevant actions. Basically, Google Now is being infused into every aspect the Android operating system.  "You’re deluged with a lot of information on your phones," said Google SVP Sundar Pichai. The evolution of Google Now is aiming to fix that. "We have the biggest investment in machine learning over the last few years, and we believe we have the best capabilities in the world," Pichai said. He then handed things off to Aparna Chennapragada, Google Now's product director.

"We want to proactively bring you answers,"...

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New apps coming to Android Wear include Uber and Foursquare

Google announced today that 4,000 apps have been developed for Android Wear in the year since its debut. With the rest of that growing library, the platform now features new, more powerful apps — Uber, Foursquare, and Citymapper, among others.

Uber for Android Wear is probably the most impressive of those demonstrated onstage today. The app allows to user to simply say "OK, Google, call me a car" and an Uber driver will be summoned to their location. Apps like Foursquare will provide glanceable updates about restaurants nearby, and Shazam will detect songs using the smartwatch's internal microphone.

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Google's Brillo, an operating system for the Internet of Things, is coming in Q3

Android M will Doze your phone to make it last longer, add USB-C support

It may sound odd, but Google's perpetual effort to make Android better will involve sleeping more this year. Or in Google's parlance: Dozing. A new feature just announced for Android M, 2015's big update for the Android OS, will include a Doze mode that intelligently powers down your phone or tablet when it's not in use for a long period of time, extending its standby endurance significantly. Google describes it as "trading a little bit of app freshness for longer battery life," and cites testing on Nexus 9 tablets that showed "devices with M lasting up to two times longer in standby."

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Android M developer preview available today on Nexus devices

Google's new version of Android will be available to developers starting today, when they'll be able to install it on the Nexus 5, 6, 9, and Player to start trying it out. Android M includes a number of important and interesting changes to the operating system, including a mobile payments system and more intuitive app permissions. The OS will likely receive a public release this fall, but Google is releasing this preview now so that developers can make sure their apps run properly and take advantage of the latest features.

Check out our Google I/O Live Blog for the latest updates and our Google hub for all the news!

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Google introduces Android Pay, a replacement for its wallet app on mobile

Another year, another attempt by Google to get mobile payments right. Today, at its I/O developer conference, the company unveiled a new app, called Android Pay, that will take the place of Google Wallet on your phone.

Android Pay will power in-app and tap-to-pay purchases on mobile devices. Google Wallet will stick around, but it will power Play Store purchases outside Android, say on the web, and facilitate peer-to-peer payments you can make through the app and on services like Gmail. Confused? Let the new branding wash over you, and stop worrying so much.

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Google has over a billion users of Android, Chrome, YouTube, and search

Google is kicking off I/O 2015, its big developer showcase for this year, with one very round and large number: a billion users. The Mountain View company now has over a billion users each for its core services of search, Chrome, Android, and YouTube. Gmail is only a hair's breadth away, with a total of 900 million active users each month. Sundar Pichai opened the keynote presentation with these numbers and observed that everything Google has ever done has been with the goal of the widest possible accessibility. "Each of these products work," he says, "at scale for everyone in the world." Well, they work for the first billion people in the world, at least.

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HBO Now is coming to Android

HBO's standalone subscription service, HBO Now, is ending its period of Apple exclusivity and coming to Android. Google SVP Sundar Pichai just confirmed that an app is coming to the Google Play Store — but he stopped short of offering an exact date. Still, the announcement is huge for HBO, expanding its potential customer base by millions.

HBO Now costs $14.99 per month and offers subscribers full access to the premium network's original shows and large catalog of Hollywood movies. Currently, Apple's iPhone and iPad are the only mobile devices that can stream content from the service. But as Pichai made clear, that's set to change. HBO has long offered its HBO Go app, which requires a cable account, on Google's mobile operating system.

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Google announces Android M, available later this year

Google has just made the next version of Android official. During the keynote address of its annual developer conference, Google unveiled that Android M will succeed Android Lollipop this year. Google says that Android M, which is debuting as a prerelease version today with a full release later this year, brings a host of new features and performance enhancements. But at the same time, Google's Sundar Pichai says the company has "gone back to the basics" and improved quality of the platform. Google isn't saying what the version number or name of M will be just yet, but it is showing of a lot of what will be part of the update.

Dave Burke, vice president of engineering at Google, says that the company has been watching what device makers...

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Google's ambitious Inbox app is now available to everyone

After eight months as an invitation-only app, Google's Inbox is now available to everyone — and it's getting some new features to mark the occasion. The email app was first released in October last year as Google's attempt to reinvent its email offering. Available on iOS, Android, and in the Chrome desktop browser, Inbox has a number of useful tricks up its sleeve, including the ability to snooze messages; a feature that automatically bundles emails together in groups like Purchases and Travel; and a Google Now-style card system that scoops important details out of your emails to save you from hunting through your inbox for information like flight times.

Inbox lets you undo sent messages for the first time on mobile

As part of the...

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Live from Google I/O 2015

Sundar Pichai will take the stage and give us an update on all things Google. We're expecting a new version of Android, a new photos app, and much more.

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Google I/O 2015: everything you need to know

Google is expected to unveil its next-generation Android M operating system at today's big event, but that'll likely only be one of many announcements from the company. Stay tuned here for all the news.

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The best email app for Android

If we all have one thing in common, it’s that we hate dealing with email. Whether it’s personal or professional, it’s something we just can’t escape. The best way to deal with email is still at the desktop, but mobile apps are catching up fast. So which ones can help you get the closest to inbox zero nirvana?

More than anything, a good email app should be fast. Refreshing your inbox, loading messages — none of these things should take more than a second or two. It should also give you plenty of different ways to deal with the daily email deluge. That means letting you do things like reply, archive, delete, or schedule messages with swipes or taps, while also giving you easy access to other services like calendars and files.

Beside...

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Google I/O 2015: Keynote, live stream, schedule and more for Day 1

Follow along with our live blog right here!

Google I/O 2015 is about to overwhelm guests at San Francisco's Moscone Center with big announcements for the company's latest projects. We are on the ground to bring that experience to your eyes and ears during the event, spanning May 28th and 29th, but that shouldn't preclude you from enjoying the two-and-a-half-hour keynote and numerous sessions in real time.

What should you expect to see? An excellent question from a curious mind! The biggie is Android M, the latest version of Android revealed in the I/O schedule with this vague detail:  "[Android M] brings power of Android to all kinds of workplaces." Hopefully we'll learn its real name, so we can stop using what sounds like the codename...

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The Lenovo Cast is a $49 Chromecast competitor

Lenovo has announced its own media streaming device, the Lenovo Cast. Like Google's Chromecast, it connects to your TV over HDMI and serves as a quick way to beam content like photos and videos from your phone to the bigger screen. Unlike the tiny Chromecast, though, it takes a more traditional puck form factor along the lines of the Apple TV; it's 70mm across and 15mm high.

The Lenovo Cast works with the Google Cast standard for Android and Chrome, but also supports Windows 8.1 and iOS devices through Miracast and DLNA. It supports 5GHz Wi-Fi networks, too, which could give it a performance edge over the Chromecast. It'll be available worldwide for $49 in August, but don't set your money aside just yet — Google I/O kicks off later...

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Apple is reportedly planning to add a rewards program to Apple Pay

As Google is reportedly revamping Android Pay, Apple, too, is apparently planning to update its own wireless payment system. According to The New York Times, the company is set to announce details about enhancements to Apple Pay at next month's WWDC conference, including a new rewards program that could benefit people who regularly use the mobile wallet.

The publication cites two sources reportedly briefed with Apple's plans, but doesn't offer any further details about what the rewards will entail, or how users will be able to get them. Nevertheless, a reward structure could entice people to start using Apple Pay over its competitors, cash, or credit cards, at a time when there still aren't that many solid reasons to do so.

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Revamped Android Pay will reportedly make it easy to send money to your friends

Google announced the existence of Android Pay back in March at Mobile World Congress, but details were fairly slim at the time. Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Android, Chrome, and Apps, called it an "API layer" that would let other companies support secure payments for Android both in apps and in physical stores, but how exactly it would work remained unclear. However, one day before Google I/O kicks off, we're learning more — The New York Times just revealed some new details on Android Pay.

Perhaps the most interesting is the concept of a competitor for Square Cash — the report indicates that Google is revamping Google Wallet and re-introducing it as a "peer-to-peer payments app" that lets users pass money back and forth to...

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