Android has reportedly earned Google $31 billion since the mobile operating system’s inception, according to a stat revealed during the company’s ongoing court battle with Oracle.
Users of Google Chrome on both the desktop and mobile should see a speed improvement soon when it comes to loading web pages. A Google engineer confirms that a new type of data compression is ready to ship, with the next release of Chrome set to be the first browser with the new technology baked in.
The improved compression engine, dubbed Brotli, is said to be up to 26 times faster than the current solution, Zopfli.
The app that has become famous around college campuses is now ready to show itself in a different form: as a desktop website. The creators have been testing a web version of Yik Yak in private beta for a while now, but as of today the site is open for public use.
Compared to some of the other automotive naysayers, Ford has been outspoken about the fact that Silicon Valley might (shock horror!) actually be able to successfully disrupt the car industry.
Now a Ford exec says his company actually welcomes the competition from companies like Google and Apple.
Apple and Samsung have been locked in a never-ending legal battle seemingly forever, but yesterday a federal court in California agreed to finally ban the U.S. sale of several Samsung smartphones which infringe on patents owned by Apple.
The bad news? The phones are now so old that they’re not really sold any more. But there’s some good news, too.
Amnesty International has accused Apple, Samsung, Sony and other smartphone makers of not making basic checks which would have prevented their using batteries made with minerals mined by children.
In a report focused on cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, children as young as seven were found working in unsafe conditions. Cobalt is an essential part of the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries.
Are you willing to die with your boots on? Do you know the number of the beast? If so, you’ll want to keep an eye on this upcoming mobile game from heavy metal band extraordinaire, Iron Maiden.
In conjunction with Roadhouse Interactive and 50cc Games, the legends of metal are putting together a free-to-play role-playing game, due out this summer, on iOS and Android. It’s called Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast (naturally), and will apparently include characters from the long history of Iron Maiden album art, as well as a soundtrack that has previously unheard live recordings from the monsters of rock.
WhatsApp will ditch the service’s annual subscription fees, after founder Jan Koum admitted that the $1 per year payment concept “doesn’t work that well.”
Apple has beaten Samsung to claim one of the top three places in the United Arab Emirates’ Annual BrandIndex Buzz Rankings — knocking Samsung from its previous No. 1 position down to No. 4.
That wasn’t Apple’s sole placement on the list either, since the iPhone (placed at No. 7) was the only handset brand named. Other notable tech entries included Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube.
Google’s answer to Apple Pay may have been late to the game, but it’s already leading the way with a new rewards program — and it’s awesome.
Dubbed “Tap 10,” the program offers up free Google Play content simply for using Android Pay on a regular basis, and there’s even a mention of Chromecast giveaways.
Nintendo’s first smartphone game was nowhere near as exciting as we all expected it to be, but the Japanese company promises it has greater things up its sleeve for 2016.
Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima has confirmed plans to bring the characters we know and love to mobile titles this year, but we’ll have to wait to find out which faces we will see.
In news that is sure to disappoint some, Netflix is cracking down on customers who use proxies or “unblockers” to trick the streaming video service into thinking they’re in a different country as a way of accessing extra content.
Have you heard the one about the phone encryption bill in New York that will fine retailers $2,500 for each cell phone they sell that can’t be decrypted?
That set-up is its own punchline. This bill is a terrible idea.
Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S7 will reportedly ship with a new feature called “Vivid Photo,” a clone of the Live Photos function on iPhone 6s that lets users automatically capture images that come alive when they are pressed.
Amazon made Prime an even greater deal this week by adding 20% off the latest games, but if that couldn’t persuade you to finally sign up, perhaps a discounted membership will.
This weekend only, a year of Prime will cost you just $73 — down from $99.
If you’re dreaming about being a software engineer at either Google or Apple, you should brace yourself for an ordeal.
A new report comparing the difficulty, experiences, and lengths of interview processes from a variety of tech companies says that a Google interview is the hardest one you can undertake. Apple did slightly better in that regard; it was the fourth toughest. But the data suggest that one of those two processes is considerably more pleasant.
As it stands now, self-driving cars may be more accident report than Minority Report.
In a disclosure to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the search-engine giant outlined specifics of its driverless-car testing from November 2014 to December 2015. Demo vehicles reportedly logged about 423,000 miles over that period. During that time, testers recorded over 300 “anomalies” that required them to take control from the vehicles, either through hardware malfunctions or on their own judgment.
The report suggests that we’re not quite as close to the fully autonomous future that science fiction and our amazing dreams have hoped.
Apple’s latest iPhones are proof that mobile devices don’t need octa-core processors and bags of RAM when they have the right software. Despite lagging behind rivals on paper, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus were the most powerful smartphones of 2015 — by a mile!
It was only six years ago that Skype video calling premiered on mobile phones, setting one-to-one video calls free from the laptop or desktop.
Now, you’ll be able to group video chat via Skype on Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows 10 Mobile. Here’s a cute video Skype created to celebrate.
Internet Explorer is dead, and some nerdy designers are taking their good-riddance to Kickstarter.
The campaign will produce classy, poster-sized screen prints of a fictional speech that perfectly captures how little anyone will actually miss the maligned web browser. It’s seeking a measly $500 to start production, with extra money going toward making the prints available in additional languages.
If you’re not already subscribed to Amazon Prime, you’re missing out on what might be the best deal on the planet. And today it gets even greater, because Amazon is now giving all Prime subscribers 20 percent off pre-order and newly-released video games.
Apple’s enterprise mobility head for the India region has quit to set up a new Indian smartphone company, selling Android devices.
Sharad Mehrotra joined Apple in October 2007, the year that Apple launched the iPhone. Since then he has worked to build Apple’s brand in India, which the company has been particularly keen on pushing over the past several years.
Amazon is reportedly working on a smaller, battery-powered Echo that will go on sale “in the coming weeks.” The device is designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand, but it will be missing one of the existing’s Echo’s best features.
AT&T is bringing back unlimited data plans after killing the offering two years ago.
The new data plans will cost $100 per month for one smartphone, but there’s a big catch if you want to sign up: You have to be a DirecTV and U-Verse subscriber.
Android users have been jumping ship to iPhone 6s at an unprecedented rate, but as per a new report, Apple is being pressured to create a tool that would make it simpler for former iOS users to transfer their data from iPhone to their new Android device.
