Last night, Google announced KitKat, the next version of its Android operating system. To mark the occasion, it released a video showing the unveiling of the new statue, but what's this? Eagle-eyed phone fans over at Android Policespotted a new Nexus blower in the vid. Could it be the Nexus 5...
Read the full story here... Source: CNET
A leaked image seems to suggest that the T-Mobile Moto X version will be available only from the Google Play Store, although nothing is official just yet.
TmoNews has posted a purported T-Mobile screenshot that says the Moto X will be launched via “Google Play only,” with the actual launch date still “TBD” – to be decided. Pricing details for the handset aren’t mentioned either...
Read the full story here... Source: Android Authority
Along with support for Bluetooth Smart and Restricted Profiles Google has added some stronger security features to the latest release of the Android mobile operating system. Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, which Google is calling “a sweeter Jelly Bean”, adds support for Wi-Fi configuration on WPA2-Enterprise networks as well as a variety of internal changes that make it more difficult for hackers (and the NSA) to exploit security vulnerabilities...
Read the full story here... Source: Android Authority
One of the few OS perks iPhone owners have still held over the heads of their Android compatriots is Apple's official -- and free -- app for locating and remote wiping a lost device.
After years of user complaints and shoddy third-party variants, Google has finally answered iOS's "Find My iPhone" feature with a locator of its own: the Android Device Manager.
To be released later this month, the app will let Android users find and ring a misplaced or stolen device on a map in real time, as well as wipe its contents remotely. The feature will be available for users running Android 2.2 or later.
Google's solution to the increasing problem of device theft comes at a time when smartphone manufacturers have seen mounting pressure from authorities to add software-side features that could help curb what has been called a violent crime epidemic. Some initiatives, discussed at a meeting between lawmakers and tech giants like Apple and Samsung in June, have included the potential for a "kill switch," which would permanently brick a stolen device and make it worthless for resale.
But just how violent is smartphone theft -- which has picked up the unique law enforcement nickname of "Apple picking" -- becoming these days? Examples abound, including the killing of a 26-year-old Museum of Modern Art employee for his iPhone in the Bronx and the mugging of a Crown Heights, Brooklyn woman over her Android device at gunpoint.
Source: CNET
When it comes to its ambitions for television, Google's hoping that the third time's the charm.
This morning the company unveiled Chromecast. Google's latest foray into the television is a low-cost stick that plugs into a HDMI input to let a wide swath of smartphones, tablets, and devices using the Chrome browser seamlessly fling what they're playing onto the TV.
Google argues that it is solving a unique problem, but it really isn't. In fact, a myriad of devices already exist to do just that. But by coming out with a cheaper, more innovative offering, Google fired its loudest shot across the bow of Apple TV and all of the other streaming TV peripherals with the Chromecast. And at $35, it claims to have a winner.
The television is "the most immersive experience in the house," said Sundar Pichai, Google's head of Android, Chrome, and apps at the breakfast unveiling Wednesday in San Francisco. He noted more than 200 billion online videos are watched globally by users every month, and Netflix and YouTube combined represent nearly half of peak downstream Internet traffic in North America.
"It's very difficult to get your online media onto your television in your house," said Pichai.
True enough. It has been difficult, but largely only for Google...
Read the full story here. Source: CNET