Whenever a new device or version of Android is released, more often than not, its exclusive new features are swiftly ripped from within its shell and distributed to the rest of the Android faithful. While the Moto X, the first collaborative product of Google and Motorola since the Big G acquired Motorola Mobility last year, has yet to be officially revealed, there have already been several leaks of the device as well as its software during the course of the last month or so. In the latest, the APK for the device's Camera app has been released into the wild, and you can grab it right now!
Almost everyone has seen Minority Report, and why not - that blockbuster flick was decades ahead of its time in terms of the technological and computing innovation that it presented. One particular theme from the Tom Cruise flick that stuck with viewers and tech enthusiasts for a long time was being able to control and manipulate computer interfaces through gestures and body movement. A lot of developers and companies have attempted to incorporate that one way or the other, with the most successful example being Microsoft’s Kinect accessory for its Xbox consoles.
Among the announcements at yesterday's impromptu Google event headed by Chrome and Android lead Sundar Pichai, the company announced a new, low-cost streaming device aiming to take advantage of the shortcomings and limitations of similar products like the Apple TV. The Chromecast dongle, which plugs straight into the HDMI port of your HDTV, can stream content straight from your smartphone or tablet, and with the ability to let you watch videos while continuing to use your device, it looks a sure-fire winner. With a price tag of just $35, it's a hard one to pass up, and today, Google has released the accompanying app for Android.
Google has taken a leaf out of Apple’s book and announced Google Play Textbooks and Play Games, providing a textbook renting and buying mechanism for students, and offering a gaming portal for Android gamers. We’ll be taking a closer look at both right past the break.
You can now download Google Play APK 4.2.3 for Android, which contains one or two intriguing alterations. The APK also sheds some light on the expected multiple user functionality of Android 4.3.
Folks are always looking for easy ways to make money, and with advertisements as prominent as they've ever been in this Digital Age, it's perhaps more surprising we don't see many more apps like Locket, a new Android gem allowing users to earn a cent by unlocking their ad-befuddled lock screens. With a maximum of $0.03 cents to be earned per hour, the maximum one could amass during the course of a year - working 24 hours day - is little over $250, and considering the amount of effort involved, Locket won't be making anybody rich anytime soon; except its developers.
The thing about Android that I love and appreciate the most is the fact that almost every area of the OS is customizable, all the way from the appearance and outlook to the actual working of the device, down to CPU speed and voltage controls. That said, there is always, almost invariably, room for “something more”. We have the ability to set custom DPI values for individual apps thanks to ROMs like Paranoid Android, allowing the user to experience a tablet UI on a phone with an abnormally large screen. Why not have more for individual apps as well?
Many of you, I imagine, partake in a little casual PC gaming, and as any once-a-week gamer will know all-too well, using the keyboard as a controller can be a rather cumbersome process. The incorporation of a mouse or touchpad can make things worse still, but since you only play on the odd occasion, going out and purchasing a physical control pad is pretty much out of the question. If you like your driving games, are frustrated with your current control setup yet do not see a physical controller as a worthwhile investment, a nifty little app for Android will help turn your device into a makeshift controller for your virtual racing needs.
If you’re at all tech savvy, chances are high that you’ll be a movie junkie as well. And if you qualify this criteria, one of your top visited websites has to include IMDb.
Being a blogger, especially for the tech industry, time to time I come across utilities and tools that are so basic and simple in their working, yet package such convenience that one cannot help but question how we’d survived until now without such a thing. For people who play around a lot with Android and love to modify their devices, having multiple sets of different APKs on their computer is nothing too surprising or even worrisome. What’s annoying, however, is to have several APK files lying around in a folder that you cannot recognize, nor can you even tell what they are unless you install them.
