Android - page 7

VR in the OR: Doctor will livestream cancer surgery

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"OK, now let's cut this guy open."
Photo: Florian Pircher/Pixabay. Licensed under CC0 1.0

Next month, St. Bartholemew’s Hospital in London will live-stream an operation, letting anyone with virtual-reality goggles see the procedure from any angle.

Dr. Shafi Ahmed, the colorectal and laparoscopic surgeon who will perform the surgery, has broadcast from the O.R. before using Google Glass. But this will be the first time a stream will include 360-degree video that will let viewers observe from any angle.

“You’ll be with me in the operating theater,” he said.

Googlebot ditches iPhone disguise to become an Android

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iPhone Android Samsung
See ya, Safari! Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Googlebot, the giant webcrawler that Google uses to scan webpages and update its index, is ditching its iPhone disguise to become an Android.

Rather ironically, the tool has been masquerading as an Apple device running iOS 8.3 for years, but it will soon become a Nexus 5X running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow to become more efficient.

LastPass aims to make two-factor authentication less annoying

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Use LastPass with even fewer actual codes.
Use LastPass with even fewer actual codes.
Photo: LastPass
Making two-factor authentication a little simpler. Photo: LastPass
Making two-factor authentication a little simpler. Photo: LastPass

Two-factor authentication is super secure, but incredibly annoying when you’re in a hurry. LastPass, one of the front-runners in password managers on desktop and mobile, might have the solution with a new mobile app that will simplify the login process to LastPass, which can then manage your many web accounts with ease.

Instead of entering a passcode to get into LastPass, you can have its new mobile Authenticator app send a simple verify button that will let you sign in with one tap. Here’s a quick video to see how it works.

Google is pushing to encrypt more of its services

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Google is finding increasingly effective ways to keep its data secure.
Photo: David J. Roger

The latest Google Transparency Report shows that since January 23, 77 percent of all requests to its servers have used encrypted connections.

The numbers on the new report are current as of February 27, and the company says it’s “working hard” to achieve full encryption across all of its services.

New Android app design guidelines ripped from iOS playbook

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More of your Android apps are going to look like this.
More of your Android apps are going to look like this.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
More of your Android apps are going to look like this. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
More of your Android apps are going to look like this. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Your Android apps are going to get an iOS-style makeover soon, thanks to new design guidelines from Google.

Mostly concerned with the bottom of Android apps, Google is looking to have its developers place a bar across the bottom of their apps that will let users navigate between different sections of the app, just like iOS currently does.

Samsung’s answer to iPhone SE to be just as powerful as Galaxy S7

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Samsung's Galaxy S7 mini could be pretty special.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Galaxy S7 gold front
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 mini could be pretty special. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Samsung is already developing a Galaxy S7 mini that will go head-to-head with Apple’s upcoming iPhone SE, according to a new report — and it won’t be a disappointing version of its latest flagship like previous iterations of the Galaxy S mini series have been.

Instead, the new device is expected to pack exactly the same processor — and exactly the same punch — as its bigger brother.

Samsung Galaxy S7 is the smartphone to beat in 2016 [Review]

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Good luck finding a better phone than this today.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Good luck finding a better phone than this today. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Android
Good luck finding a better phone than this today. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Android

Building a smartphone that beats the Galaxy S6 has likely been Samsung’s biggest challenge so far. How do you improve upon an already stellar design and one of the best smartphone cameras on the market? You build the Galaxy S7.

With its curved glass back, larger battery, Dual Pixel camera and even more powerful internals, the Galaxy S7 is the smartphone to beat in 2016. 

Oops! Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt spotted using an iPhone

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The iPhone camera app is clearly visible.
Photo: Osen
The iPhone camera app is clearly visible. Photo: Osen
The iPhone camera app is clearly visible. Photo: Osen

Eric Schmidt has been outspoken about his belief that Apple’s smartphones are nothing but a Samsung Galaxy clone, that user data is safer with Google than Apple, and that (slightly oddly) jumping ship from iOS to Android is not dissimilar to switching from PC to Mac.

So why wouldn’t Alphabet chairman and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt use an iPhone to document his recent trip to South Korea? Makes perfect sense to us!

Nintendo’s first mobile game will debut on March 17

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Coming soon to a smartphone near you. Photo: Nintendo
Coming soon to a smartphone near you. Photo: Nintendo

Nintendo’s first ever smartphone game will finally land on iOS and Android this month — and we now know when and where it will be making its world debut.

Called Miitomo — and described by its creators as a “smart-device app that sparks one-of-a-kind conversations between you and your friends” — the game will first be available to download in Japan on March 17.

Chrome update sports a boatload of new features

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Google

Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Prepare for even better browsing on mobile. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Prepare for even better browsing on mobile. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Google’s mobile Chrome web browser gets a new update today, which — according to the Chrome team — has “more than a barge full of performance and stability fixes.”

We’re not sure how many software fixes a barge would hold, but we feel confident in saying it’s a whole lot.

Google swipes iPad’s killer work features for Android N preview

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Split-screen finally comes to stock Android.
Photo: Google
Split-screen finally comes to stock Android. Screenshot: Google
Split-screen finally comes to stock Android. Photo: Google

Google I/O doesn’t kick off for another two months, but Google won’t wait that long to drop its next-generation Android N upgrade.

Its first developer preview is out today for Nexus devices, and it comes packing a number of features swiped from iPad Pro and iOS, including split-screen multitasking, picture-in-picture mode, and bundled app notifications.

5 ways the Galaxy S7 beats the iPhone 6s

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Samsung-Galaxy
Yup, water-resistance is one of them!
Photo: Samsung
Yup, water-resistance is one of them. Photo: Samsung
Yup, water-resistance is one of them. Photo: Samsung

As the iPhone’s biggest rivals, Samsung’s latest Galaxy smartphones have to be good enough to convince consumers that they’re a better buy. None do that better than the new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

According to the overwhelmingly positive reviews published today, the duo have a number of big advantages over the iPhone 6s. Here are 7 of them.

Smartphone fingerprint scanners fooled by inkjet printer

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It’s as easy as that!
Photo: Michigan State University
inkjet fingerprint
It’s as easy as that! Photo: Michigan State University

Your fingerprint is supposed to be the most secure method of locking your smartphone, but that’s not the case if your device can be easily fooled. Researchers have been able to hack those from Samsung and Huawei using only an inkjet printer and conductive ink.

iPhone 6s destroys brand new Galaxy S7 in speed test

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The S7 Edge shows that on-paper specs aren't everything!
Photo: Evan Blass
The S7 Edge shows that on-paper specs aren't everything! Photo: Evan Blass
The S7 Edge shows that on-paper specs aren’t everything! Photo: Evan Blass

Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 edge isn’t officially out until later this week, but according to some early out-of-the-box speed test comparisons it’s doesn’t fare too well against the six-month-old iPhone 6s Plus — despite having twice the RAM of Apple’s 2GB handset.

Check out the video below:

Galaxy S7’s camera is so good, it makes DSLRs look bad

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Galaxy S7 continues to amaze. Photo: Samsung
Galaxy S7 continues to amaze. Photo: Samsung

We’ve already watched the Galaxy S7 batter the iPhone 6s in a series of camera tests, but how well does it stack up against a professional DSLR? When it comes to phase detection autofocus, surprisingly well, actually.

See Samsung’s new smartphone make the Nikon 70D look bad in the mind-blowing autofocus test below.

Amazon’s new approach to encryption is the exact opposite of what you’d expect

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You might want to avoid Amazon's Fire OS 5 update.
Photo: TechSmart/Flickr CC

While Apple is embroiled in an ugly battle with the FBI in the hope that it can protect the privacy and security of its users, Amazon is throwing away the encryption it previously offered its own.

With its latest Fire OS 5 update, the company has removed the ability to encrypt data on its Fire tablets.

Google’s next Nexus to rip off iPhone’s 3D Touch

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3D Touch is awesome on iPhone 6s.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
3D Touch is awesome on iPhone 6s. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
3D Touch is awesome on iPhone 6s. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Google’s next-generation Nexus smartphone will adopt the iPhone’s 3D Touch technology, according to an “insider” familiar with the company’s plans. It’s thought HTC will be tasked with building the device, and it should arrive later this year.

Samsung won’t commit to supporting Apple in FBI standoff

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Samsung supports Apple... kind of.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr CC
apple-samsung-iphone-galaxy-patent-war
Samsung supports Apple… kind of. Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr CC

Chiming in on one of the biggest tech stories of the year, Samsung says that customer privacy is “extremely important to it” and argues against software backdoors — but won’t totally commit to supporting Apple, either.

New torture tests pit Galaxy S7 edge against iPhone 6s Plus

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Samsung's IP68 rating keeps it usable and safe underwater, but not so much when it gets dropped. Photo: EverythingApplePro/YouTube
Samsung’s IP68 rating keeps it usable and safe underwater, but not so much when it gets dropped. Photo: EverythingApplePro/YouTube

In the endless battle for supremacy between Apple and Samsung, the Korean company has leaped ahead of Cupertino when it comes to water-resistance. But the iPhone 6s Plus still reigns supreme in terms of shatter-resistance.

A YouTuber set the new Samsung Galaxy S7 edge next to an Apple iPhone 6s Plus in a big deep tub of water, then dropped them both from different heights, and the results are pretty predictable (yet still fun to watch).

The results definitely aren’t pretty.

Switch-hitting cord flips from Lightning to micro USB

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LMcable Kickstarter
The LMcable can connect to most of the stuff you own. Source: LMcable

It might sound like the black-and-white portion of a late-night informercial, but the fact is that we have a lot of stuff that needs charging and syncing, and not every cable will work. But the LMcable, which is currently seeking support on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, aims to take some of that pain away.

It’s a cool idea: One end of the LMcable is a standard USB plug that fits into your computer or wall adapter. The business end, however, is a multitasker. Orient it one way, and it’s a micro USB bit; flip it over, and it fits the Lightning port standard to Apple’s mobile devices. And anything that might help out our increasingly tangle-prone cord storage is alright by us.

Google Photos now lets you edit your snaps online

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Google Photos
Filters! Finally! Screenshot: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Google Photos users can finally edit their images on the web, thanks to new browser-based tools that are available today.

The update sidesteps the need to use a third-party editing app to apply filters, effects, and other modifications — and allows you to view your images on a larger screen while perfecting them.