When we talk about security and the maintaining of privacy in the digital world, we're not simply talking about whether the lock screen of our smartphone or tablet is as secure as it should be. Many of us utilize technology for means of security for the brick-and-mortar of our homes, but while expensive alarm and CCTV systems can be very expensive to purchase, one Indiegogo campaign has a much cheaper, intuitive alternative. Canary is ideal for keeping tabs on the movements of your cherished abode, and with the ability to learn your movements and adjust itself accordingly, it's also incredibly smart.
It is strongly suspected that Google will unveil the sequel to the Nexus 7 at its recently-announced event in New York City later on this week at a dedicated Android event, and as well as having a rough idea of the device's specs, it now looks as though we've a matching visual courtesy of Evleaks. The famed @evleaks Twitter handle, notorious for dropping photographic evidence of upcoming tech products, has leaked what appear to be press images of the 7-inch tablet, and with just a couple of days to go until this impromptu event kicks off, we're inclined to suspect it's legitimate.
If you've been making considerations and provisions for your next big smartphone purchase; the Nokia Lumia 1020, Samsung Galaxy S4 or perhaps even the Glamour Red HTC One; you may wish to put those plans on hold just momentarily. The hugely-anticipated Moto X smartphone looks set to be revealed on August 1st with Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility finally bearing some fruit, and although we already have a relatively strong idea of what's in store for this handset, the Big G's invitation spree suggests we won't have to wait very long to see it in all its glory.
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.
Apparently, a certain Jeff Williams got his hands today on a used Nexus 4 from a Googler – which was purportedly running Android 4.3. What was immediately discarded as a hoax turned out to be true just hours later, when certain individuals well-versed with Android helped Jeff get a system dump of the build that was there on his Nexus 4. From there, it was merely a matter of minutes to reach to a point where anyone with a Nexus 4 can play around with the “leaked” build and experience Android 4.3 before official release.
There's nothing worse than being in the middle of an action packed multiplayer shooter on your smartphone only to have someone call you right at the worst moment. You're immediately kicked out of the game you were playing, and if you're really unlucky that game will have reset, losing all your progress since the last save. It's an annoyance that's not just reserved for games, either, and something that many jailbreak tweaks on iOS have sought to correct.
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?
The follow up to the Nexus 7 has been a hot topic in the blogosphere of late, and now, we may well have the prices of each different configuration of the forthcoming device. Through a leaked inventory screenshot, which could easily have been faked, show a 16GB model priced at $229 along with a 32GB version, which hits the mark at $269. As we've come to expect from the entire Nexus range, the prices are more than competitive, and with an impressive list of rumored specs to match, there's much to look forward to with the next-gen Nexus 7, or the Nexus 7 2 as we like to call it.
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.
In the modern Digital Age in which we live, the smartphone seems to follow a very uniform design pattern. The large, touchscreen display is a form factor very few stray from, and besides the odd physical keyboard from BlackBerry, very few vendors can be seen breaking the mold. However, Samsung could be about to roll the years back once again with its second attempt at revitalizing the old folder phone design with a follow up to last year's release of the flippy SCH-W2013.
