Cult of Android - page 42

Not content with stopping game creators from using the word “candy” in their titles, Candy Crush Saga developer King is now trying to block indie developers from using the word “saga,” too. The company has filed a “Notice of Opposition” against Stoic for its Viking-themed role-playing game The Banner Saga.

If you’ve been thinking about ditching your iPhone for an Android-powered smartphone, but you’ve been put off by the time and effort it takes to transfer all of your data, you no longer have an excuse not to make the move. Motorola just updated its Migrate transfer tool to support iPhone users who want to make the switch.

Using Migrate, users can transfer all of their contacts and calendar entries from their old iPhone to a new Motorola handset in just a few simple steps. It all happens without wires, and it’s completely free.

There are bound to be teething problems as Google Glass rolls out to users. Back in October last year, Cult of Android reported on the Glass user given a ticket for “driving with monitor visible to driver.”

Now we have the not dissimilar case of a theater-goer removed from a screening for alleged piracy.

The viewer in question was watching Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit with his wife at an AMC movie theater in Columbus, Ohio, when he was roughly removed from the screening by Department of Homeland Security officials.

With Nintendo recently admitting that its Wii U console has flopped — slashing its sales forecasts for the device by 70 percent, despite U.S. spending on games consoles reaching a three-year high — the rumor mill has been abuzz with reports that the Japanese games manufacturer would exit the hardware business altogether, and instead focus on creating games for existing smartphones and tablets.

Google has removed two Chrome extensions from its web store after it was discovered that they were serving unauthorized ads in violation of the company’s terms of service. Both “Add to Feedly” and “Tweet This Page” contained hidden code that served “undesirable” ads to their users while they were browsing the web, The Wall Street Journal reports.

I crossed the 3-million Google+ circles line this morning.

It’s weird and thrilling to have so many “followers,” and to be sandwiched in circle counts between Paris Hilton, who has a couple hundred thousand more circles than I do, and Rihanna, who will probably catch up to me and pass me at some point in the future. (One of the great things about Google+ is that the geeks hold their own against entertainers in popularity.)

But mostly, it’s been an eye-opening adventure for me. Here’s what I learned along the way. 

BlackBerry and Windows Phone might be having a hard time trying to break up the monopoly on mobile software held by Android and iOS, but that hasn’t stopped the Chinese government from having a go with a platform of its own.

Built by a company called Shanghai Liantong in conjunction with ISCAS (Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences), COS — which stands for China Operating System — aims to take on Android and iOS by providing better localization for things like language input and cloud services.

Finger prick testing could soon be a thing of the past for people with diabetes, thanks to new smart contact lenses being developed by Google that measure glucose levels in your tears. The lenses have tiny chips and LEDs embedded within them, which light up to notify the wearer that their glucose levels have crossed certain thresholds.

DoubleTwist, the company that has long been helping Android-powered devices work harmoniously with iTunes, today released a new Android app that lets users rip songs from iTunes Radio. Called AirPlay Recorder, the app essentially turns your Android device into an AirPlay receiver, then records all the audio that you play through it.

But is it legal?

The team behind CyanogenMod has released a new CyanogenMod Installer tool for Mac that makes it easy to load the latest versions of its custom ROMs with just one click. Compatible with both smartphones and tablets, the installer does not require devices to be rooted or an unlocked bootloader.

We’ve been waiting for Google to bring Google Now to the desktop via Chrome for over a year now, and today the feature finally appeared in a new alpha version of the browser, called Chrome Canary.

Now is baked into Chrome’s new notification center, and functions just like its Android counterpart, providing users with real-time weather updates, sports scores, and travel information. Not all of its Cards are available on the desktop yet, but we expect that to change by the time it is ready for its public release.

Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box yesterday — and had a few things to say about the state of the high tech nation.

Isaacson — who is currently crowdsourcing editorial comments for his new book on digital innovators throughout history — claimed that Google is outgunning Apple when it comes to innovation.

Thanks to the release of Chrome 32 for Android and iOS, users of Google’s mobile OS will have the option of reducing their browser’s data usage by up to 50 percent.

Gmail now lets you star contacts in the web app, and if you use an Android phone then those stars will sync across to your mobile address book. They’ll also be added to a special starred section of your contacts list, and sync with your Android Favorites.

Having your phone calls listened to and your text messages read remotely is a genuine concern for many smartphone owners now that we’ve gotten an insight into the activities of the NSA spies. We’ve quickly learned that our seemingly secure devices are like an open book for those who have the knowledge and the power to get into them.

But the Blackphone, an Android-powered smartphone from Silent Circle and Geeksphone, is designed to ensure that your private data remains private, and cannot be obtained by even the snoopiest of snoopers. 

Samsung wants all the beautiful people to use its phones (and, probably more importantly, to be photographed using them). So how does the South Korean company get its latest, greatest smartphones into the hands of celebrities hooked on iPhones?

One method for getting Samsung gear into the manicured hands of Hollywood’s biggest stars is the company’s White Glove program, which smooths the way for the rich and powerful to make the big switch away from Apple’s shiny gadgets.

The future looks grim for Microsoft. The world is quickly turning mobile and post-PC, two categories Microsoft hasn’t succeeded in.

Recent reports from Gartner and IDC show just how dire the situation is. PC sales, which are directly tied to sales of Microsoft Windows, are in a free fall. Between 2012 and 2013, PC sales dropped by 10% (that’s 35 million fewer PCs).

Gartner says only 15% of Internet-connected devices sold in 2014 will run Windows.

That’s Windows’ real market share: 15%.

Having tried everything else, maybe the solution for Microsoft is to be a software company. That would mean embracing Android with everything they’ve got. 

Google controversially brought Gmail and Google+ closer together this week by introducing a new feature called Email via Google+, which allows anyone with a Google+ account to send messages to your Gmail inbox — even if they don’t have your email address. Unsurprisingly, most Gmail users aren’t so keen on it.

But you’ll be pleased to know there is a quick and easy way to disable Email via Google+ — just follow the steps below.

Android-powered video game consoles like the Ouya haven’t exactly been a huge success, but Chinese electronics maker Huawei is hoping to change that with Tron, a device that looks remarkably similar to Apple’s new Mac Pro — albeit a lot smaller. It’s powered by a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor and 2GB of RAM, and it’s expected to cost less than $150.

Snapchat has today issued a new update for Android and iOS that allows users to opt out of linking their phone number with their username. The move comes after 4.6 million phone numbers were leaked on New Year’s Day following “abuse” of the Snapchat API — which Snapchat has apologized for in a new blog post.

Line, the hugely popular messaging service that boasts more than 300 million registered users worldwide, today launched its new Whoscall app for smartphones. Available now on Android, and coming soon to iOS, the app allows users to identify mystery callers and avoid unwanted calls.

Apple and Samsung have agreed to a mediation session — to be held on or before February 19 — prior to their March court date regarding smartphone patents.

T-Mobile is planning a big announcement at CES in Las Vegas later on today, but thanks to a leaked ad that’s been making its way around the web this morning, we already know what it has up its sleeve. As part of its Un-carrier 4.0 scheme, T-Mobile will pay your whole family’s early termination fees if they switch carriers and trade in their old smartphone.

According to research group Gartner, more than one billion Android-powered devices will be sold in 2014.

The consultancy claims that some version of the Android OS will be found on 1.1 billion tablets, smartphones, watches and other gadgets purchased this year — an increase of 26 percent compared with 2013.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2014 – Hyundai will reveal an app for its 2015 Hyundai Genesis vehicle that will allow drivers to wirelessly operate certain features using Google Glass and other wearable devices.

The remote features (currently still under development) work via Hyundai’s cloud-based Blue Link platform.