Amazon Android app disappeared from Google Play store

Amazon’s primary Android app is rather mysteriously missing from the Google Play store. The application is not completely gone of course, but has been pulled from the official store and no longer pops-up in searches, although it is accessible through a direct store link.

This comes as a direct consequence of Amazon’s fairly recent addition of an “Apps and Games” section into its main application.

Microsoft announces January 21 event for Windows 10 consumer presentation

Microsoft will hold a Windows 10-related event on Wednesday, January 21, 2015. Terry Myerson, Joe Belfiore, and Phil Spencer from the Operating Systems Group will all be speaking, as will CEO Satya Nadella.

The company has only published its official invite for now (which you can see above), choosing not to specifically say what the event will be about.

Speed test pits the iPhone 6 against the Nexus 6 and Galaxy Note 4

The age-old question – which device is faster? – has received an answer in a video, at least when it comes to the two current ‘kings’ of Android and Apple’s finest. Someone decided to pit the iPhone 6,Motorola Nexus 6, and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 against one another in a speed test of sorts.

The test itself is pretty simple. At the beginning, a timer is set on each device.

Microsoft gifts 100 albums on Xbox Music

If you are using Microsoft’s Xbox Music streaming service, you can now download 100 popular albums for free. Microsoft is giving those away those albums to citizens in the USA only (damn licensing rights!), who are subscribers to its music app with Xbox Music Pass activated.

Hangouts for Android gets Material Design update, stickers, video filters, and more

If you have been using Hangouts for some time now, you’d know the app was in some serious need for overhaul. Not only was it not updated to Google’s new Material Design but also had several other issues.

That all seems to have been taken care of in the latest update, however, which not only brings an updated design but also several other features and improvements.

United Airlines will hand out 23,000 iPhone 6 Plus devices to its flight attendants

United Airlines announced that it will hand out 23,000 iPhone 6 Plus devices to its flight attendants. The airline will begin distributing Apple’s phablet during the second quarter of next year.

As expected, the iPhone 6 Plus units that the crew members will have a number of work tools preloaded.

Here Maps for Android is now available from the Google Play Store

The Nokia that still exists after Microsoft bought off its mobile device-making unit has been working on a version of its Here Maps app for Android for quite a while now. A beta version has been available through sideloading since October, and today it arrived in the Google Play Store.

This will surely make it a lot more accessible for more people, as not everyone with an Android device knows what sideloading is or how to do it.

Telltale’s ‘Game of Thrones’ now on Android

Last week we took a look at Telltale’s latest game based on George R R Martin’s series of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ books (and the subsequent HBO show). Back then iOS was the only mobile platform where the game was available on but you can now also purchase it on Android on Google Play Store for $4.99 for the first episode, with subsequent episodes costing $4.99 each.

Lollipop update for Android Wear might be coming tomorrow

On the phone and tablet side some devices have already been updated to run Android 5.0 Lollipop, the latest version of Google’s OS. But the company’s Android Wear platform has not yet made the jump. That could all change tomorrow.

A new rumor says that’s when the update to Android 5.0.1 Lollipop for Android Wear will start rolling out.

VLC for Android drops beta tag, brings bug fixes and improvements

After spending over 2 years in beta, the VLC for Android app has finally graduated to stable release. Although the stable release brings a host of bug fixes, no new features have been added. In fact, Chromecast streaming support, which was promised earlier this year, is still missing.

Specifically, the release fixes Android 5.0 crashes as well as issues that affected devices with ARMv8 processors.

Microsoft offers 12 days of holiday promotions

Just like last year, Microsoft is again organizing a 12 day long holiday promotion with price cuts on various devices. Much like an advents calendar the US tech giant will be unveiling the special offers one at a time, every day until December 19.

The campaign is, sadly, only available in the US and Canada and kicked off yesterday with the Toshiba Encore Mini tablet. 

Samsung Gear VR listed for $200 in AT&T site and available online

The Samsung Gear VR is available now online from AT&T so be sure to act quickly before it is all gone!

The Samsung Gear VR is perhaps one of the most interesting smartphone-based hardware kits ever, not to mention the trendiest at the moment.

Apple releases new iPad Air 2 commercial

Apple recently launched the new iPad Air 2, which is the company’s thinnest and most powerful tablet so far. The original Air was already a super thin tablet but the new one is even thinner while being more powerful and having similar battery life.

The company has now released a new commercial for the product.

‘Game of Thrones – Episode 1 – Iron from Ice’ game review

Game of Thrones is the latest series of games from developer Telltale Games, who very recently brought us titles such as The Walking Dead series and The Wolf Among Us series.

Game of Thrones follows the episodic release nature of Telltale games and tells the story of House Forrester that happens concurrently with the fourth season of the eponymous TV series on HBO.

YouTube for Android is the latest app to get material design

YouTube for Android got received a major update. Version 6.0.11 of the application brings Android 5.0’s sleek material design to the popular video sharing platform.

In addition to the fresh new look, the latest YouTube for Android offers revamped navigation panel.Search has also been improved – it now offers new filters.

Qualcomm will be forced to lower licensing fees in China after antitrust investigation

The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission has been conducting an antitrust investigation of Qualcomm’s activities in the country for quite a while, and now we get an idea of what the outcome of that will be. Short version: not good for Qualcomm.

The mobile chip maker will have to pay “huge fines” for “monopolistic” behavior, but that’s not all.

Google Messenger updated, now allows you to choose contact colors

Just a few weeks after releasing it, Google has updated its Messenger app with the ability to allow you to choose your own colors for individual contacts, a feature requested by many. Earlier, the app used to do this automatically.

To access the feature, go to the “People and Options” button from the overflow menu and select the color you want to assign to the contact.

Bluetooth 4.2 will carry new features and improved speed

Bluetooth Special Interest Group announced version 4.2 of the wireless protocol. Bluetooth 4.2 delivers a number of improvements over its predecessor headed by the ability to connect to the internet.

The new Bluetooth version will be up to 2.5 times faster than past releases thanks to a tenfold packet capacity increase.

Samsung ranked as world’s second-biggest R&D spender of 2014

Barring Volkswagen, Samsung Electronics has surpassed all other global companies in terms of R&D spending this year, according to a report from Strategy&. The South Korean company has been ranked No. 1 among all technology companies and No. 2 across all industries.

Google Play Store updated to v5.0, gets more Material Design elements

Google has started rolling out v5.0.31 of the Play Store for Android. The major difference here is in the UI, and it’s approximately 600% more Material Design now.

First up, the action bar on top is now teal (or something close to that) with a new side menu and a cool animation for the hamburger button.

Interbrand: Apple is top value brand in the world, Google comes second

Brand consultancy firm Interbrand has released its report on the most valuable brands in the world and has placed Apple in first place. The brand of the Cupertino based tops the list containing 100 companies and is valued at $118.9 billion.

It is followed by Google, which isn’t too far off with a brand price of $107 billion.

HTC RE action camera goes official – 146-degree 1080p videos for $199

HTC has decided to step out of its smartphone comfort zone and announce an action camera. Dubbed simply the HTC RE, the camera boasts a 16MP 1/2.3″ CMOS sensor with an 146° ultra wide angle lens. And since it’s an action camera, the RE is IP57 dust and water resistant (you can optionally bump the certification to IPx8 with an accessory cap).

HTC’s first action camera records 1080p@30 fps video and 720p@120fps slow-motion video.

Galaxy Note 4 goes through the bend test

In case you are not aware, the whole iPhone ‘Bendgate’ controversy was started when YouTuber Unbox Therapy bent an iPhone 6 Plus into a boomerang on video using just his hands. This sparked a lot of debate, ranging from the validity of these tests (I say these because everyone else started doing them as well) to the legitimacy of the original video. He later did another video in public where he bent another iPhone 6 Plus out on the street on camera.

Samsung looking to settle its patent dispute with Microsoft through arbitration

The long-standing patent fee dispute between Samsung and Microsoft, which first made headlines this summer, apparently continues to be an issue as still neither can come to an agreement.

In an attempt to put the issue at rest, Samsung has filed for arbitration under the International Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

Nokia disses Google Maps, calls its offline functionality “a glorified screenshot”

Free from Microsoft influence, Nokia quickly reoriented and made its HERE maps available on Samsung devices. And it would have you know it’s so much better than Google Maps where the offline mode is “a glorified screenshot.”

Google is an Internet company so offline mode was never much of a priority, while Nokia has been offering navigation software on its phones since less than 10 people had mobile Internet.

Samsung shows how tough the Galaxy Note 4 is with drop test video

Samsung has released a second video of the Galaxy Note 4 testing facilities and it shows the phone in a series of comprehensive drop tests. While in the previous video, Samsung focused on bending the Note 4, here the company goes medieval on it with hundreds of drop and tumble tests.

Surprisingly, the Galaxy Note 4 walks out of all of them with the screen intact and working perfectly.

Nvidia launches GeForce GTX 980M and GTX 970M for mobile gamers

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M and GTX 970M went official today offering superior performance over the Kepler series of GPU they replace. The GTX 980M and and GTX 970M use the company’s latest Maxwell graphics architecture, which also powers the company’s latest desktop GPU line-up.

Thanks to the Maxwell architecture, the two mobile GPUs are more power efficient and offer greater performance. The GTX 980M and GTX 970M feature 1536 and 1280 CUDA cores, respectively.

Opera Mini is the first web browser for Samsung Gear S

The Tizen-based Samsung Gear S now has its very own full web browser thanks to Opera.

The Opera Mini will allow you to browse the internet on your wrists and has the familiar features – mobile compression that shrinks pages to as little as 10% of their original size and speed dial with your recent pages.

Consumer Reports delivers its own take on the iPhone 6 family bend test

Hot on the heels of Apple’s official response to the iPhone 6 family bending controversy, Consumer Reports performed its own bending test on the duo of devices. In order to make things more interestingiPhone 5, LG G3, HTC One (M8), and Samsung Galaxy Note 3 joined Cupertino’s finest.

Consumer Reports put the devices through a “three-point flexural test.” The latter is similar to Apple’s own three-point bend test that we told you about yesterday.

Moto 360 gets its first ad, which focuses on its design

Now that the Moto 360, its first smartwatch running Android Wear, is already available, Motorola has started the ad campaign for it. The first one-minute ad for the Moto 360 was released earlier today, and it seems to be all about design.

Or specifically, the design of the smartwatch itself, of course. The theme is something along the lines of – “it’s time for a modern timepiece”.

Asus joins #bendgate fun, mocks Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus

After Samsung, LG, HTC, and even KitKat, Asus has joined the #bendgate fun party by mocking the iPhone 6 Plus too. The Taiwanese company is also promoting two of its products while it’s at it. First up, the Zenfone 6, as you can see.

But the Transformer Book Flip gets compared to Apple’s bendy phablet too, in the next image.

Sony Xperia Z3 stars in an underwater unboxing

Sony prides itself with the Xperia Z3‘s IP68 certification, which allows the smartphone to dive over 1 meter for over 30 minutes without breaking much sweat. As a result, Carphone Warehouse decided it was time to do one of the coolest unboxing videos we’ve seen – on the bottom of a swimming pool.

Sure, the box doesn’t fare too well, nor does the documentation inside. We’re also not to sure about using the charger after it has been submerged in water.

GoPro HERO4 leaks with 4K 30fps video and touch display

Details of the GoPro HERO4 have now surfaced revealing there are two versions: Black and Silver. The Black is claimed as the most advanced GoPro camera ever and boasts improved image quality in addition to twice the processing power of its predecessor. Moreover, these are the first GoPro cameras to feature touchscreen display.

redditor explains why the aluminum iPhone 6 bends and the plastic Note 3 doesn’t

We have all had our fun with the BendGate jokes. But sometimes it’s important to set the jokes aside and ask why is it that it’s happening and how come some of the other devices don’t share the same problem.

Most people have blamed the aluminum shell on the iPhone 6 for being the culprit here, because aluminum is a soft metal.

This is how Apple tests the iPhone 6 durability

After today’s official response to the iPhone 6 Plus bending controversy, the company took an extra step to clear the air. The Cupertino giant granted opened the doors to its secret testing labs to select media.

In order to cope with daily use and abuse, Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus feature high-grade aluminum bodies with stainless steel and titanium inserts.

LG makes fun of the iPhone. From an iPhone.

It’s always fun to see other companies trip over themselves trying to come up with a joke on Apple every time the latter is going through some sort of controversy. This time it’s BendGate (yeah they just add -gate to everything now), where some iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were found to be getting bent if enough force was applied to them (we’ll keep aside the fact that few were actual incidences and most were done on purpose on YouTube to get pageviews for now).

Will it bend? The iPhone 6, One (M8), Moto X and Lumia 1020 edition

Everyone knows that once a potential flaw is discovered in the new iPhone then all phones in existence must be tested for the same flaw. It happened with Antennagate and now it’s happening with Bendgate.

The Apple iPhone 6 Plus proved easy to deform under pressure so the smaller iPhone 6 was put under the same test along with the iPhone 5s, the HTC One (M8), another aluminum phone, the Motorola Moto X (2014) and the Nokia Lumia 1020.

Samsung joins LG at the Apple iPhone 6 #bendgate mock fest

Just like we suspected you yesterday, Samsung is joining LG at the Apple mock festival. Naturally, Samsung’s latest jab at the Cupertino company is regarding the iPhone 6 Plus bending problems.

“Curved. Not bent” reads Samsung Mobile’s latest tweet, while showing a picture of the Galaxy Note Edge.

‘Asphalt Overdrive’ now available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone

Gameloft has released its newest game in the Asphalt series, called the Asphalt Overdrive. Overdrive is a spinoff of the successful Asphalt series. This isn’t exactly Asphalt 9 that you may have been waiting for and features a different gameplay mechanic.

Asphalt Overdrive is essentially like an endless runner game but with cars.

Apple iPhone 6 Plus faces liquid nitrogen and a sledgehammer

Destroying stuff is cool, especially when done with a creative flair. Too bad for the iPhone 6 Plus that it gets to star in most of them nowadays. The latest batch of videos is done by a popular YouTuber, who specializes in obliterating most of the hot tech to have come in the past couple of years.

The latest efforts of RatedRR focus on the iPhone 6 Plus and include five videos (one more is on the way) showcasing how Apple’s biggest smartphone to date can take a beating.

Microsoft outs NFL-infused ad for the Surface Pro 3

The latest ad for Microsoft’s latest tablet, the Surface Pro 3, is all about football. And the NFL. And specifically, the Seattle Seahawks. The whole idea is that the Surface Pro 3 is “trusted by the pros”, yet “built for the fans”.

Since Microsoft has a $400 million advertising deal with the NFL, perhaps this ad shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

Throwback Thursday: Why is Apple called Apple?

Apple is one of the most celebrated brands in history, boasting a mammoth base of customers and fans that 

span the entire globe. With the iconic Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad lines of products squeezed into its 

portfolio, it's easy to see why.

Far and away the premier consumer technology company in the world, Apple is one of few firms that still 

manages to whip up a real frenzy whenever it launches a new device (even if its products, technically 

speaking, aren't exactly the best on the market).

IBM Watson vs Food: Supercomputer takes to the food truck for its latest cognitive computing challnge

Watch out Gordon Ramsey, Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver, there’s a new celebrity chef in town.

Not content with taking down Jeopardy, IBM’s Watson supercomputer has turned its hand to becoming the 

next Masterchef through a new cognitive cookery system that has its roots in IBM’s Cloud and can create 

surprising recipes in eight steps.

LG Electronics UK trolls the bending iPhone on Twitter

When it comes to Apple, phone manufacturers act as predators waiting for any hint of weakness from its latest smartphones and today it’s open season. LG has taken a jab at the latest report of the bending issues, which the iPhone 6 Plus is experiencing.

The company’s UK branch posted on Twitter a hashtag #bentgate, referring to the video showing how the iPhone 6 Plus bends.

Check out how the new iPhone 6 camera stacks up against the previous seven generations

The iPhone camera has come a long way. From the archaic (even for the time when it was launched) 2 megapixel sensor with fixed focus, no video recording, and no flash on the first two generations to the advanced 8 megapixel shooter with phase detection autofocus and 1080p60 video on the current generation model.

But while we often see the new device’s camera being compared to the previous generation model or with those of the rivals, we rarely see it being pitted against all of its predecessors.

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have the most capable cameras according to DxOMark

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus took the top spot in the prestigious DxOMark photography test. The camera performance of Cupertino’s duo is considered “gold standard” for smartphone image quality at the moment.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus earned 82 points each in the highly contested DxOMark photography test – the highest mobile score to date. 

Samsung is exiting the notebook market in Europe

Samsung will stop selling laptop computers in Europe. The word about the decision arrived via a statement from the Korean giant to PC Advisor.

The decision includes notebook running Google Chrome OS notebooks as well. 

Asphalt Overdrive for Android, iOS, Windows Phone launches on Thursday

Just two days separate us from the next release in Gameloft’s Asphalt series of games. It’s going to be called Asphalt Overdrive (and not Asphalt 9, as you may have expected), and it will be out this Thursday, September 25, on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Windows 8. It will be free to download, but will feature in-app purchases.

This won’t be an arcade-style racer, but an endless racer. It’s like an endless runner, but with cars.

Microsoft’s Chromecast competitor gets official as the Wireless Display Adapter

Today Microsoft has officially unveiled its Wireless Display Adapter, which will serve as its competitor for Google’s very successful Chromecast dongle. Microsoft’s product first got leaked back in August.

The Wireless Display Adapter uses Miracast technology, so any Miracast-enabled device can send stuff to it.

Apple outs first iPhone 6 ads featuring Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake

The Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have enjoyed immense popularity during their first week of availability, and now Apple is trying to capitalize on that by enlisting some high-profile celebrity talent.

The TV spots were teased during the launch event for the new Apple devices, and now we get to see the real thing.