Windows 10 lets you flip a middle finger with emoji

Microsoft is being ambitious with Windows 10. Continuum for phones, Windows Hello, HoloLens, and a plan for 1 billion devices running Windows 10 are all new and daring, but the bravest of all is a middle finger emoji. Emojipedia has uncovered a host of new emoji changes in Windows 10, and the middle finger stands out (no pun intended). There’s not just one middle finger to help you flip a friend off, but six in total to cover diverse skin tone options. Microsoft is the first big tech company to include the middle finger in an operating system. Apple and Google do not yet support it in iOS or Android.

Elsewhere in Windows 10, Microsoft is making a lot of changes to closely align its set of emoji with the characters found in iOS. Relieved...

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Source: The Verge - All Posts http://j.mp/1bWWekT

Your free Android apps talk to thousands of ad sites

If you've used ad-sponsored Android apps, you've probably wondered where those ads are coming from, and whether or not there's anything to be worried about. According to French researchers, you have a reason to be cautious. They've found a way to aut...

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Sony makes it easier to put new operating systems on its phones

Sony's Android smartphones haven't been tinkerer-friendly to date -- since you couldn't boot from a recovery partition, you couldn't install CyanogenMod and other unofficial operating systems without jumping through hoops. It should be much easier to...

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May's Essential Apps for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone

April seems to have flown by, but a decent amount of stuff has happened. We saw more glimpses of plenty of upcoming films including Star Wars, Jurassic World, andMad Max: Fury Road. Super hero sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron came out, and it was awesome, LG announced the G4 smartphone at long last, we found out more about Windows 10, Game of Thrones came back, and the Apple Watch got released.

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Source: Gizmodo http://j.mp/1Jj1daB

Free Apps May Be Tracking Your Phone Without Your Consent

Free Android apps are getting a bit promiscuous. That, at least, is the conclusion of a group of security researchers, who find that poorly vetted apps on Google Play are connecting to a massive number of ad and tracking sites—without user being any the wiser.

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Source: Gizmodo http://j.mp/1GSFau8

Schwing! 'SNL' app adds AirPlay and Android support

Since it launched in February I've been a pretty big fan of the Saturday Night Live app, and the latest update should make it quite a bit better. Now there's native iPad support (hooray!) in addition to it being available on Android devices. NBC's al...

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Instagram takes a serious look at how people use emojis

Emojis are starting to flood Instagram, and the website's engineers are on a quest to sort out how people are using the yellow-faced emoticons. Apparently, their popularity skyrocketed after Apple released the iOS emoji keyboard and Android got nativ...

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Google+ Twitter account starts tweeting nearly four years after it launched

Nearly every key Google product has its very own Twitter account. Google Drive, Android, the Nexus program, even Google Glass all have their own Twitter accounts to keep fans up to date on product news, tips and tricks, and occasional random foolishness. Even Google+ — the social network, community, and photo-sharing space that's never quite caught on in the way the company hoped for — has its own Twitter account. An account that has lay dormant for the nearly four years that have gone by since Google+ launched. Until today.

Suddenly, the Google+ Twitter account has come alive, asking the "Twitterverse" to give some love for its #firstweet. There are also a bunch of individual replies to Twitter users, each containing a GIF. It's not a...

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Source: The Verge - All Posts http://j.mp/1FDpHMY

Finally, a Meerkat app for Android you'll actually want to use

The temptation to write off Meerkat -- the live-streaming app that sort of blew up at SXSW -- is tough to resist. After all, Twitter wasted no time releasing a competitor (with a cleaner interface, no less) that slowly seems to be eating Meerkat's lu...

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Meerkat launches on Android before Twitter's Periscope

Live streaming was the buzz word at SXSW this year. Between Twitch, YouNow, Periscope, and Meerkat, the ability to broadcast yourself in real-time is becoming more and more mainstream. Meerkat was the first to garner big hype, but saw that initial buzz fade after the launch of Periscope. Both rely on Twitter for distribution, but Periscope is also owned by Twitter. Today, however, Meerkat launched on Android, beating its larger rival to the punch on the world's most widely used mobile operating system.

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Source: The Verge - All Posts http://j.mp/1FCDmnr

Meerkat Launches Its Android App To All

 Live video streaming app Meerkat beat Twitter’s own Periscope to market on iOS, and now it’s available on Android for all, with no Periscope app for Google’s mobile OS to be seen. The Meerkat app for Android carries a “Beta” label, as did a previous version that was locked down only to a select group of invitees, but it doesn’t appear to have that many… Read More

Source: TechCrunch http://j.mp/1bl8tXX

Sony's Xperia Z3 returns to T-Mobile, but Android Lollipop update could be 'months' away

The peculiar case of the Sony Xperia Z3 in the United States continues with a fresh twist: T-Mobile has gotten fresh stock of the handset and is resuming sales online and, by the end of this week, in stores. It was roughly a month ago that the Z3 made an unannounced disappearance from T-Mobile's retail outlets, seemingly having been discontinued due to lack of consumer interest. At the time, T-Mobile tweeted in response to a disappointed customer with the simple statement that "the Z3 is no longer available."

The Xperia Z3 has not been among T-Mobile's heavily promoted Android handsets, and it's had to contend with being overshadowed by the more recent Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9. It's still a very good smartphone in its own right,...

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Source: The Verge - All Posts http://j.mp/1GBFwQn