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Apple Watch found to be getting scratched easily

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Ever picked up an old iPod with a stainless steel back and noticed how the back looks like it was dragged across town? Looks like Apple is using the same stainless steel on the Apple Watch because users have started noticing scratches on it within days of owning it.

Several people are reporting their stainless steel Apple Watch is picking up scratches within days or even hours of using it. The image above is by Michael Kukielka, a.k.a. The DetroitBORG on YouTube, who got scratches on his watch within 24 hours. Read more »

Xiaomi Mi 4i hands-on

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The Mi 4i is Xiaomi’s latest smartphone. Even though the company insists on calling it a flagship device, it’s really a mid-range smartphone with some high-end specifications at a really attractive price.

The company had a global launch event for the first time in India. We had a brief hands-on with the device, and here are our first impressions. Read more »

ASUS elaborates on the ZenFone 2 in a ten minute video

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ASUS recently announced the new ZenFone 2, the company’s newest flagship with all the bells and whistles, most notably the dual-channel 4GB RAM, the first on any phone.

The company has now released a ten minute long video, detailing all the notable features of the phone. It’s a bit indulgent, but if you have time on your hands and are really interested to know more about the phone, catch the video after the break. Read more »

Android Wear 5.1 update to also include pop-up notifications and adjustable font sizes

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Google announced an update to Android Wear, that brings with it many new features, such as a new launcher for apps, always on apps, wrist gestures, and ability to draw emoji, but there are a couple of other features that Google missed out on.

In its blog post for SmartWatch 3, Sony mentioned couple of other features that will be available with the upcoming update. One of them is popup notifications, which means you will get notified even when you are in some other app on your watch. The other is adjustable font sizes. If you ever had a problem reading the fonts on your watch, this should hopefully fix that. Read more »

Best Apps and Games of the Week

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Here are some of the best apps and games that came out this week.

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Chrome OS update brings new Launcher with Google Now integration

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Google has released a major update for Chrome OS, which brings with it several changes. For starters, there is now a new Chrome OS Launcher, which has better search experience, voice search, and Google Now integration.

Other than that there is also a new Files app, which has been updated with new Material Design interface. Other changes include a new Calculator app, support for password-protected ZIP files, and default typeface on all Chromebooks being updated to Roboto Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts. Read more »

Google Play Services update gets rid of pesky Android Wear notification

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If you’ve used Android Wear with your phone, you’d have noticed the annoying persistent notification that sits in your phone’s notification drawer, telling you that an Android Wear device has been connected to your phone. As if you wouldn’t notice the watch sitting on your wrist.

With the latest Google Play Services update, Google has gotten rid of the notification. This means there isn’t another notification sitting permanently in your notification drawer that you couldn’t get rid of anymore. Read more »

‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ trailer leaks [Update: Official trailer released]

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Zack Snyder’s upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is one of the most anticipated superhero movies (or just movies) right now. For the first time, we will be seeing Batman and Superman duke it out in live action on the big screen.

The movie is still a year away from launch and other than a few images of the characters we haven’t seen much. Until this drops by. Somebody managed to record a video of the teaser trailer that was screened in some places and so here we are. Read more »

Chrome for iOS update brings widget, pull to reload, and extension support

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Chrome for iOS got a major update today that added several useful new feature. The first one is a new widget that sits in your Today view. The widget allows you to open a new Chrome tab or do a Google voice search right from the notification window. And if you happen to copy a URL from some other app, the URL will appear in the widget so one click will open it straight into Chrome.

Another addition is pull to refresh, which lets you refresh the web page by pulling down on it, which was first implemented in the Android version of the app. What wasn’t in the Android version, however, was that you can pull down and then slide your finger left to quickly open a new tab or right to close the current one, which is displayed with a neat little animation. Read more »

Multiple companies exit Facebook’s internet.org initiative in favor of net neutrality

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Net neutrality has been a hot topic of debate in India the last couple of weeks. The issue started after Airtel announced plans of charging VoIP calls separately and later snowballed into a larger movement when the company announced free access to Flipkart on its network.

But Airtel wasn’t the only one violating net neutrality laws. Facebook’s internet.org intiiative, in collaboration with Reliance, did the same, giving free access to several sites to those on Reliance’s network. While this is a move was in the interests of the customers, especially those who cannot afford to pay for data packs to access the internet, it still violates the principles of net neutrality that dictates that all data should be treated equally. Read more »

Google lets you search for your Android phone by simply typing ‘Find my phone’

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Google has had a phone locating service in the Android Device Manager website for a while now. The company has now implemented the functionality within its search engine itself.

You can now simply search for ‘Find my phone’ on Google and a small window appears on the search page showing the map and your phone’s current or last known location. From there you can choose to give your phone a ring to help you find it if it’s around. You can also choose a different device from the drop down menu at the top if you have more than one Android devices. Clicking on the map will take you to the Android Device Manager website. Read more »

Apple prohibits using selfie sticks at WWDC

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Apple has banned people from using selfie sticks or similar monopods within Moscone West or Yerba Buena Gardens during WWDC. The company has mentioned it as such on its WWDC General Instructions webpage.

To be fair, Apple has prohibited people from bringing any kind of serious photography equipment at the event and the selfie stick rule is to prevent people from blocking other people’s view with their obnoxious sticks. Read more »

Origin Humble Bundle 2 features, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Dead Space, and much more

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If you’re into gaming you would already be familiar with Humble Bundle. They did an EA bundle a while back and have now released their second EA bundle.

The Origin Humble Bundle 2 comes with Dragon Age: Origins, Peggle, Dead Space 2, Medal of Honor Allied Assault War Chest (includes Medal of Honor Allied Assault and two expansion packs, Spearhead and Breakthrough), Command & Conquer Generals + Zero Hour. All of this can be had for as low as $1. Read more »

‘Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft’ now available on smartphones

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Extremely popular online card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, based on World of Warcraft characters, is now available on smartphones. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android smartphone, you can now download and play the game on the small screen.

Hearthstone is originally a PC game that was ported over to the iPad last year and later on to the Android tablets. Since then it was limited to the tablets, which made sense since the game requires moving around small objects that may not have worked well on small screen phones. However, with phones getting bigger every year, that may not really be a concern anymore, so it’s logical to have the game running on smartphones as well. Read more »

ASUS announces new VivoWatch with 10-day battery life

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ASUS has announced a new fitness-centric smartwatch for your phone. Called the VivoWatch, the device is geared more towards fitness applications such as tracking your activities, heart rate, sleep pattern, etc.

The ViVoWatch seems to have a black and white display to save on power with a green LED strip below. The watch has a stainless steel body and an IP67 certification for dust and water resistance. Read more »