[Android] Notification Weather puts stylish five day weather forecasts in the notification menu

Briley Kenney — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:24:03 +0000

The Android notification tray can be a fantastic tool when it’s properly utilized by developers. Android 4.1 introduced more advanced notification options that allow application to offer various quick functions directly in the tray. For example, you can reply to emails, pause and fast forward music and even access various [...]

[Windows] ZeZebra is a great way to share files between Windows, Mac, Android, and/or iOS

Briley Kenney — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:33:40 +0000

Desktop to mobile file transfer clients are a dime a dozen. We’ve covered quite a few here at dotTech, such as AirDrop and qrSend. ZeZebra is another program that allows you to share large files from Windows or Mac to Android or iOS devices. Let’s see if it is worth [...]

[Android] Stop apps that are constantly running in the background with Greenify

Briley Kenney — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:27:03 +0000

One of the biggest problems with Android, is that when you have a lot of apps installed quite a few of them end up running endlessly in the background. Some of them drain the battery faster even when they’re not doing anything. Force stopping them through the Android settings menu [...]

Google announces its music streaming service, Google Play Music All Access at $9.99 a month

Enrique — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:48:15 +0000

At Google’s 2013 I/O developer conference, the company announced its long-rumored music streaming service. It’s called Google Play Music All Access and if you’re familiar with services like Spotify or Rdio — it’s basically the same service, from Google with some improvements over its competition.

Users can subscribe for access [...]

With Soundhalo, you can listen to tracks from a live performance just minutes after it happens

Briley Kenney — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:47:01 +0000

Mobile technology has become such a nuisance in today’s world that several music artists are now asking fans to keep their devices pocketed when watching a show. It makes perfect sense, right? You can’t really enjoy a show if you’re too busy playing with your phone and a mobile recording [...]

[Android] notiShare allows sharing to social networks via the Android notification tray

Briley Kenney — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:36:50 +0000

One of the most useful additions in Android 4.1 was the expandable notifications, which allows users quick access to various settings and functions of particular apps. For example, when you receive an email you can archive or reply to the message directly from the notifications tray. Unfortunately, some apps just [...]

Introducing the Vachen Smartwatch, an Android-based smartwatch with a little extra fashion

Briley Kenney — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:40:35 +0000

Smartwatches are crazy popular right now. In fact, thanks to Google Glass, wearable devices are popular all across the board. The problem with a lot of smartwatches, or at least the ones that I’ve seen, is that they look terrible. I mean terrible in the sense that you’ll look like [...]

Google announces stock Android version of Galaxy S4 (aka no TouchWiz), with bootloader unlocked

Enrique — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:35:00 +0000

At their currently ongoing Google I/O 2013 keynote, the company announced a new version of Samsung’s Galaxy S4. This “Google Edition” of the device will not have the usual TouchWiz skin, but will instead be running stock Android. Google says that it will be “Nexus user experience.”

The phone will [...]

[Android] ImGame is a social network just for gamers

Briley Kenney — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:48:26 +0000

Are you a serious gamer? I know I am, although I don’t get to play as much as I’d like to. When it’s time to play it can be a real pain tracking down which friends are playing what, especially when you own multiple consoles or gaming platforms. Wouldn’t it [...]

BlackBerry announces BBM is coming to iOS and Android by the end of this summer

Enrique — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:44:32 +0000

During the company’s BlackBerry Live 2013 conference yesterday, BlackBerry announced something that’s been rumored for over a year now — BlackBerry Messenger is going multi-platform.

The service has always been one of the selling points of having a BlackBerry device, and now it’s coming to both iOS and Android through [...]

Nvidia reveals Android gaming tablet Project Shield details, shipping in June for $349

Briley Kenney — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:38:08 +0000

Nvidia’s Project Shield finally has a release date and an ousted price. The tablet based game console will begin shipping in June for $349, and it will be available at a plethora of retail locations including GameStop, Newegg, Micro Center and Canada Computers. You can pre-order the Shield as early [...]

[Android] Cloudii is a cloud storage manager that connects to Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, and Box simultaneously

Briley Kenney — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:46:47 +0000

Cloud storage is pretty popular these days. In fact, lots of people use multiple services to store and access content. Previously, we’ve covered CarotDAV which is a Windows application that allows you to connect to multiple cloud storage accounts simultaneously through a single portal. It’s great, except the driving idea [...]

[Android] Dreamboard is a personal journal that helps you analyze your dreams

Briley Kenney — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:29:24 +0000

Have you ever wanted to make sense of your dreams? I know I have plenty of times. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to remember a dream after you’ve been awake for a while. It’s even harder to analyze what a dream means in the general scheme of things. Wouldn’t it [...]

[Android] Convert your RSS feed and text-based web content into MP3 podcasts with SoundGecko

Briley Kenney — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:25:58 +0000

My RSS feed is full of content, and so is my personal collection of stories that I’ve saved for later with Pocket. It’s all just sitting there waiting for me to read it. I don’t always have the time to read a lot of the stories I like, though. For [...]

Google Play Games leaked, shows plans for achievements, matchmaking, leaderboards and more

Enrique — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:25:05 +0000

It might be safe to say at this point that Google will indeed by introducing a new, fully-featured games service at Google I/O. A previous leak from the Google Glass companion app revealed lines of code referring to the unannounced service, but now another leak also courtesy of Android Police[...]

[Android] Block Story is a great free Minecraft clone for Android, with extra features too

Briley Kenney — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:30:49 +0000

I’m sure many of you are aware of Minecraft. It’s a pretty straightforward simulation type game that allows you to build and survive in an open and very pixelated world. I have Minecraft Pocket Edition on my Android (what Minecraft lover doesn’t, right), but the updates seem to take forever. [...]

[Android] Create beautiful animated collages and share with Flayvr

Briley Kenney — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:29:16 +0000

Let’s be honest, the stock Android gallery is alright but it’s not anything special. It lacks a certain, innovation when it comes to organizing and viewing photos or albums stored on your device. What if you could view your photos via a beautiful and fully animated interface without an active [...]

Microsoft might be buying Nook for a whopping $1 billion [Rumor]

Enrique — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:23:40 +0000

Internal documents obtained by TechCrunch have revealed that Microsoft may be planning to buy Nook for $1 billion. More specifically, they’d like to purchase the digital assets of Nook Media LLC, which would include the entire ebook and device ecosystem.

According to the report, this move makes sense for Microsoft [...]

Amazon is making a smartphone with a 3D screen, according to WSJ [Rumor]

Enrique — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:22:35 +0000

Late last year, rumors circulated that Foxconn was manufacturing a smartphone for Amazon. Now, a report from the Wall Street Journal is saying that Amazon might not only be working on a smartphone, but two smartphones (who’s operating systems are not yet known but probably will be Android), an audio-streaming [...]

[Android] Schedule automatic messages or emails through SMS, Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter with Schemes

Briley Kenney — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:36:35 +0000

Have you ever missed a special moment before and then felt guilty about it after? I’m specifically talking about those times where you forget to wish someone a happy birthday or congratulate them on an engagement or milestone. It actually happens to me more than I’d like to admit, mostly [...]

[Android] Hide call logs, messages, contacts, photos, and files with Text and File Hider Plus

Briley Kenney — Tue, 07 May 2013 06:47:27 +0000

Sometimes it’s necessary to hide files/contacts/messages/photos/calls/etc. on your device. With smartphones that’s not always so easy to do, but there are apps like Hide It Pro, that allow you to mask sensitive files and data. Text and File Hider Plus, or just Hider+ for short, is one such application [...]

Samsung releases new iPhone-bashing ad, shows it hasn’t lost its marketing touch [Video]

Enrique — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:54:11 +0000

A new Galaxy phone is out, so you know what that means… that’s right! The return of Samsung’s iPhone-bashing commercials.

This latest ad takes place in a graduation pool party where all the adults have “outdated” iPhones and all the hip kids have brand new Galaxy S4′s. All the new [...]

LG is working with Google on the next Nexus phone [Rumor]

Enrique — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:44:47 +0000

This is getting interesting. First we heard rumors that Google’s next Nexus phone would once again me made by LG. Then after some time, the fabled X Phone from Motorola, which is running stock Android, shows up on camera. Now, there is word that LG is indeed working with Google [...]

[Android] Jiffy helps you easily track the amount of time you work on specific tasks or projects

Briley Kenney — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:48:33 +0000

As a freelancer, one of the things I have to do often is keep track of my time. Every once in a while I’ll land a project where I have to record my work hours and then turn them in. Normally I just use a spreadsheet setup through Google Drive. [...]

Google X Phone is leaked in photos, and it looks awesome [Rumor]

Ashraf — Sun, 05 May 2013 22:48:42 +0000

Last week we shared with you photos of what is most likely going to be the Google X Phone for AT&T. While those images were nice, they showed the X Phone (or ‘XFON’ as it is labeled) in a case… so we couldn’t really get a good look at it. [...]

[Android] Use your smartphone as a dashboard camera with AutoGuard Blackbox

Briley Kenney — Sun, 05 May 2013 12:11:16 +0000

In Russia, nearly every driver equips their car with a dashboard camera. There are many reasons for doing so, namely the sheer size of the country and because of the corruption rate with law enforcement over there. Other places in the world don’t see as many dash cams. However, regardless [...]

[Android] Remotely wipe data, backup contacts, lock down, and locate your device with NQ Mobile Easy Finder

Briley Kenney — Sat, 04 May 2013 12:00:44 +0000

These days, a smartphone is an extension of the owner. We carry our smartphones with us everywhere, and we do pretty much everything on them. It stands to reason that our smartphones have some pretty sensitive material on them. That information ranges from finance data, login credentials, personal photos and [...]

[Android] Toshl is a simple but useful finance tracker for managing your budget

Briley Kenney — Sat, 04 May 2013 11:47:41 +0000

Let’s be honest, managing your finances sucks. Unfortunately, it’s something that we all have to do, because it helps you live within your means. Although, I’m sure some people don’t know how to budget, but that’s a different story altogether. Most finance tracking tools that I’ve come across are complicated, [...]

The HTC One Design Story shows how one of the best-looking phones today was made [Video]

Enrique — Fri, 03 May 2013 23:51:42 +0000

It’s kind of hard to deny that the HTC One hardware is one of the most beautiful available today. To a number of people in the industry, it matches the quality build of the iPhone, maybe even surpass it. So a releasing a video about the phone is made is [...]

False advertising? Samsung Galaxy S4 16GB version actually only has 8GB usable

Enrique — Thu, 02 May 2013 23:43:16 +0000

What does Microsoft’s Surface tablet and Samsung’s recently released Galaxy S4 have in common? False advertising about storage space.

Users that purchased the 16GB version of Samsung’s latest flagship phone have discovered that half of that advertised memory is already taken up by the phone’s operating system and built-in apps, [...]

Leaked Motorola phone shows off stock Android and ‘XFON’ label, could be rumored X Phone [Rumor]

Enrique — Thu, 02 May 2013 23:28:28 +0000

It’s been quite some time since we’ve heard anything out of Motorola, and while this is far from an official reveal from the company, it’s nice to see that they’ve definitely been working on something. And this is quite a something: leaks are floating around of a Motorola with stock [...]

[Android] Transfer files wirelessly from Windows, Mac, or Linux to Android with qrSend

Briley Kenney — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:48:03 +0000

Do you often transfer files from your computer to your Android smartphone? Do you hate messing with pesky cables and software clients in order to transfer a simple file? There are a lot of reasons why you would want to transfer files to a smartphone, but the process can sometimes [...]

Microsoft helps Android users migrate to Windows Phone with Switch to Windows Phone app

Enrique — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:28:05 +0000

Microsoft’s latest attempt to get more users on their platform is an interesting one. The company has released an app called Switch to Windows Phone on the Google Play Store — and it’s of course designed to make switching, a little easier.

What the app does is it scans your [...]

[Android] Use your device as a wireless gamepad for your laptop or desktop with WanderPlayer [iOS]

Briley Kenney — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:13:41 +0000

Do you hate playing games on a laptop or netbook with a touchpad? Do you ever feel like there may be a better way to game? WanderPlayer for Android is an application that allows you to connect your Android to your PC as an extended game controller.[...]

What is it

Samsung just made its own version of Gangnam Style for the Galaxy S4 [Video]

Enrique — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:26:22 +0000

If you were lucky (or unlucky) enough to catch Samsung’s Galaxy S4 unveiling, you might think that smartphone launches couldn’t get any weirder. But let me tell you know that you are very, very wrong.

Samsung’s launch party in India for the Galaxy S4 featured one of the strangest things [...]

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