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Tech NewsAppleMicrosoft Is Slowly Buying Its Way Onto Your Smartphone
Like a penny-pinching extreme couponer, Microsoft has an eye for good deals—especially wonderful productivity apps for iOS and Android. In its latest mobile app bargain, Microsoft is reportedly buying Wunderlist, a well-loved to-do list app, which would basically make Microsoft the unofficial monarch of mobile productivity. The $100-200 million asking price, if it goes through, … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsGoogle
Everything Google Stayed Curiously Quiet About at I/O This Year
In tech journalism, rumors are like editorial gambits. Some seem like a sure thing, some just smoke and mirrors, while others still are very real but very far off. Earlier this week, I took a good guess at what I thought might pop up at Google I/O 2015. But there were a few things that … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsGoogle
Google Now Just Became the Most Compelling Reason to Use Android
In the early years (like 5 years ago tbh), iPhone and Android were at odds. Closed vs. open; Design vs. customization. Now, those lines are more blurred than ever. But Android has always had one absolute ace, and Google I/O 2015 just proved it: Google Now. I don’t really need to explain that Google Now … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsGoogle
Google’s New Android Features, As Told By GIFs
Android M is here! Ok, the developer preview is here but still. It’s got Android Pay. It’s got battery-saving superpowers. It’s got a more powerful Google Now. Here’s the very first look at Android M in the subtle art of the GIF. Pick-and-Choose App Permissions In today’s Android Lollipop world, if you download an app … Continued
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Tech NewsAppleOur Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week
This week is the big annual tech holiday for Android fans (with Google Photos as a present), and Apple enthusiasts big day isn’t far behind, but we still got some great apps to talk about amidst the big headlines concerning new OS features and the like. Android gets completely caught up in the world of … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsGoogle
Android M Is Here, and So Is Google’s Smartphone Future
The future of Android is here. Android M (I’m still hoping for Muffin) is the software that will power Android smartphones starting this fall. Aesthetically, everything looks familiar, but there’s a lot buried under that Material Design exterior. Let’s take a look. App Permissions Google’s Senior VP Sundar Pichai introduced M saying that Android focused … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsGoogle
What to Expect From Google I/O 2015
Google I/O is the annual tech holiday for all fandroids and lovers of Mountain View moonshots. It’s a software party mostly, so check your new hardware expectations at the door. It’s a full two days for Google to showcase the future—or at least the next 12 months—and it all starts today. Considering Google has wedged … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsLenovo’s Mulling a Bizarre Smartwatch With a Second Screen
Lenovo just announced a bunch of stuff at its first ever tech conference in Beijing (which you can read more about here and here), and as is true of most of these big events, Lenovo showed off tons of stuff dotting the spectrum from real products to moonshot ideas. This crazy-lookin’ smartwatch is one of … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsApple
Apple May Be Creating a Google Now Alternative for iOS 9
The iPhone’s big software version for 2015 seems surprisingly dull. Security and stability are always good things, but iOS 9 had appeared to be more about maintenance than a makeover. However, a new rumor about a feature called “Proactive” suggests iOS 9 might have a few tricks up its sleeve. The Google Now personal assistant … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsGoogle
A Speculative Look at the Future of Google’s Nexus Devices
Google’s huge developer conference, Google I/O, is this week(!), and while it’s not normally a place for a hardware announcements, a lot of rumors surrounding Google’s 2015 Nexus devices are already frothing toward the surface. Bottom line: Smartphones are in, tablets are out. Technology is filled with all kinds of rumors and speculation — real … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Reviews
Stratos Card Review: This Smart Credit Card Is Still Too Dumb
Technology is a conquerer. The evidence can be seen in mounds of dead pagers, flip phones, and CDs. When companies and startups agree to kill something off, it’s usually not long for this world. But one piece of tech has become an unkillable cockroach—the credit card. Apple has Apple Pay. Samsung has Samsung Pay. Google’s … Continued
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Tech NewsMicrosoft
The Fantastic Pushbullet App Has a Competitor With Microsoft OneClip
I use a 15-inch MacBook Pro and one of several Android phones laying around the Gizmodo office, and sharing content between those two ecosystems is a bunch of garbage. Third-party apps like the fantastic Pushbullet app every phone should have help, but Microsoft thinks it has a better solution for the Windows crowd with OneClip. … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsAppleOur Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week
This Thursday we’ve got apps you’re going to want to download on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Microsoft ups its Android app game even further by pushing out Office for Android phones (finally). One of the best and exclusive readers out there gets a snazzy new iOS app. And if you’re a Windows Phone acolyte, … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech News
Spotify Wants To Be Your Endless Source for Video and Podcasts, Too
Spotify just revealed a huge service overhaul that adds video, podcasts and improved discovery to its massive streaming music service. During a New York City press conference, CEO Daniel Ek expounded how his company wants to be a comprehensive source for every type of entertainment media possible through its formerly music-only platform. That means podcasts … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech News
The Apple Television That Never Was
The fabled Apple TV may be the most on-again, off-again gizmo to ever exist, seeming every sixth months a rumor would surface about its impending existence. Now, despite the protestations of billionaire Carl Icahn, Apple has reportedly quietly shelved the idea of making an Apple-branded television. Technology is filled with all kinds of rumors and … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech News
The Government Has a Plan to Prevent Bees From Going Extinct
A federal task force appointed last year has released its strategy to help save declining bee populations. Bees, along with other insects, bats, and birds, play an important role in agriculture by pollinating crops, but they’ve been dying off in numbers that beekeepers say aren’t economically sustainable. The task force’s plan includes guidelines from the … Continued
Kiona Smith-Strickland -
Tech News
ASUS Zenfone 2 Hands-On: Less Than Meets The Eye
ASUS’ Zenfone 2 is a smartphone Trojan horse. On the outside, it looks amazing. A huge 5.5-inch Full HD display, 64GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, and a 2.3 GHz Intel quad-core processor—all for just $300 on Amazon starting today. That’s stupid cheap. But once you power up the phone, you might feel differently. For … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech News
The Next Apple Watch Already Sounds a Lot More Useful
The Apple Watch’s launch was a shaky one. Yeah, Apple sold a ton of them (as Apple is wont to do) but a few hardware and software snafus provided painful flashbacks of Apple’s troubled history with gen one devices. But 9to5Mac reports that at least some missing Watch OS features may be coming soon. According … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsAppleA Few Choice Excerpts From Tim Cook’s Commencement Speech
Apple’s CEOs are fascinating: Where Steve Jobs cultivated a shrewd genius persona, Tim Cook’s journey to Apple’s upper echelon is equally inspiring. In his George Washington commencement speech this weekend, Cook shared some details about that journey—and threw in an iPhone joke or two. Commencement speeches tend to be part humblebrag and part sickening optimism, … Continued
By Darren Orf
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