Google Now has finally made its way onto Chrome Canary, which is Chrome’s beta channel. The feature has been in the works since March last year and now its ready to be widely tested by Canary users.

The feature is available in version 34.0.1788.0 of Canary for Windows and Mac. After enabling it, you’ll see a Chrome notification icon in the status bar – clicking it pops up your Google Now cards. Naturally, you’ll have to be logged in your Google account in order to get it to work. Read more »

It seems Apple’s desktop operating system gets a lot of attention from Android developers these days. Just after the JOdin 3 flash tool got its Mac OS release, Cyanogen has also made its CyanogenMod Installer available for the Apple desktop OS.

CM Installer, as its often referred to, allows for easy flashing of the CyanogenMod ROM on Android phones and tablets, without having to do a lot of tiresome hacking. There is a bunch of devices that the CM Installer works well with – they’re mainly from the Nexus family as well as most Samsung Galaxy S and Note members. The HTC One is also supported. Read more »

Intel has revealed that it’s going to delay the opening of its completed chip facility in Chandler, Arizona. Called simply Fab 42, the facility lacks the robots and infrastructure to actually produce processors.

Instead of investing in Fab 42 right now, Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy has shared the company’s plans to upgrade three of is other factories. The reason behind the decision is that Intel will be able to use the existing equipment that is already present. Read more »

Being a mere smartwatch doesn’t save the Samsung Galaxy Gear from the developers’ desire at getting deep into the gadget’s core. And now, courtesy of XDA Developers, comes the first custom kernel for the Gear.

The Samsung Galaxy Gear has already got its first custom ROM, showing that developers aren’t afraid to get creative, but the new kernel finally shows that they are also now ready to go one level deeper. The first custom kernel allows for the Gear to run at the maximum frequency of its dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, which is 1.6GHz. Read more »

Samsung has already put its flexible display technology into production with the Galaxy Round, but the company is going one step further as it has showcased its first foldable screen. The demo has been conducted at CES to VIPs in the Encore, Las Vegas, where, according to the ETnews sources, the company has shown a 5.68″ prototype.

Interestingly, the display of the AMOLED variety, but unlike the flexible display of the Round, the new method used in the foldable display allows it to bend in two. Read more »

Chinese phonemaker Gionee hasn’t been the most prominent player in the smartphone market, but the company wants to start making dents with its latest candidate – the Elife E7. The company claims the Elife E7 to pack the best Android camera on the market and at least on paper it’s hard to argue with that.

That’s why we were eager to pay the Gionee both a visit and see for ourselves what the phone is all about. The phone itself was announced at the end of November last year and its CES 2014 appearance marks its US debut, which is in line with the company’s plans for distribution outside China in early 2014. Read more »

Gaming company Razer famous for its gaming mice, keyboards, headphones and a gaming laptop, has announced at CES 2014 its latest endeavour – the Nabu wristband. The company calls the Nabu a smartband, as it connects to your smartphone and feeds you all sorts of notifications in addition to pulling off some fitness tracking duties.

The Nabu is a rubber wristband that holds two displays. While carrying the Nabu, the front screen will be the one you’ll quickly glance at for not so private notifications, while the secondary screen is on the back of the wristband. To see it, you have to twist your wrist on the side – it’s useful for reading SMS messages, for example. Read more »

Samsung and BMW have collaborated on a rather cool use for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch. At CES 2014, Samsung showcased a specially developed application, which connects to the BMW i3′s “i Remote Application” allowing it to control some of the car’s functions and give you status information.

The Galaxy Gear will be able to show information of the BMW i3 such as door and window status (opened or closed), battery charge levels and drivable range. Read more »

Yahoo! continues its shopping spree and the latest item in its shopping basket is the popular homescreen replacement app Aviate. The homescreen replacement is unique in its contextual features and tracking the usage patterns of its users to provide better experience.

Yahoo seems to be quite fond of these capabilities of the app, which also lay the foundation of automatic homescreen layouts. The possibilities that open up with are quite great – you can get different widgets (such as weather, news, etc.) for the different times of the day or shortcuts which are rearranging themselves so the most often used ones are always nearby. Read more »

Alured by Google’s success with the Chromecast, Alcatel has decided to make its own plug-n-stream device for TV sets. It’s called the Alcatel Home V102, which isn’t really as snappy a name as the Chromecast.

Nevertheless, it can play 1080p videos at 30fps and supports 5.1 channel surround sound audio. Similarly to the Chromecast, the Home V102 connects to the TV via HDMI and gets its power from a power outlet. Read more »

Better late than never. That’s what T-Mobile and Sony must’ve thought when they decided to help the Sony Xperia Z1 swim across the ocean and hit the US carrier’s domain. Dubbed, the Sony Xperia Z1S, the phone isn’t too far off from its international brother and we’re here at the showroom floor at CES 2014 to tell you what has changed.

On the outside, Sony has kept the beautiful exterior of the Z1 and has made tiny alterations to the overall design. The Xperia Z1S is still built around the same 5″ full HD TFT LCD display and packs the gorgeous glass-body of its surrogate. The water- and scratch-resistant capabilities remain intact as well. Read more »

Parrot, the company behind the popular AR Drone 2.0, has added two new smaller flying toys to its family of drones – the Parrot MiniDrone and Parrot Jumping Sumo

The Parrot MiniDrone is a smaller version of the aforementioned AR Drone 2.0 that almost fits in the palm of your hand. As a result of the smaller size, the MiniDrone is more simple than its bigger brother and doesn’t have a camera on board. Read more »

LG has just announced its smart wearable Life Band Touch. Equipped with Bluetooth 4.0, the high-tech wristband is water resistant and capable of keeping track of your workouts, runs, step counts, calorie consumption as well as distance walked.

Those are nice features, but are quite common, which has made LG up the ante by also making this a fitness accessory. As a result it sports a special earphone, called the Heart Rate Earphone. Read more »

LG has kicked things off at this year’s CES with its latest 4K OLED TVs. Part of the EC9800 series, the company has 55″, 65″ and a 77″ panels for visitors of the show to ogle.

As you’d imagine, the most interesting of the new family is the 77EC9800, which with its huge 77″ screen diagonal and 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution should be a welcome guest in any living room. All of the models also feature a slight curve of their OLED panels, which helps reduce reflections. Read more »

Alicia Keys has left her position as a Global Creative Director at BlackBerry only a year after she was hired.

The singer is just a drop in the sea of employees and senior executives that BlackBerry had to let go in order to keep its losses to a minimum. In the last quarter alone, the company clocked a loss of $4.4 billion. Read more »