Razer’s Android TV-running console is now available to purchase from Google’s hardware store in the US and Canada. Oddly enough, though, you can’t get it in standalone fashion – just bundled with the Serval Bluetooth gamepad. For both you need to pay $149.99, the same amount that Amazon has been asking ever since it started taking pre-orders for the Forge in April.

If you want, you can purchase the Serval controller separately, but it’s been priced at an eye-watering $79.99. On the other hand, you can also use it for gaming on your Android mobile device, and it even has a phone clip included. So it’s not limited to serving as the controller for the Forge. Read more »

At $349, the LG Watch Urbane is anything but a cheap Android Wear smartwatch. That said, it now looks like LG might be preparing an even more expensive version of its latest wearable.

What you see in the screenshot above is a trademark filing by LG Electronics for “LG Watch Urbane Luxe”. This has been revealed today, and it obviously makes us think that a higher-end iteration of the watch is in the works over in South Korea. Read more »

We often see carriers offering low-end or midrange smartphones for free as long as you sign a new two-year contract. Now though T-Mobile is trying something similar for a tablet, the LG G Pad F 8.0.

As a Father’s Day promotion, the magenta carrier is basically offering to give you one of those for free – no upfront cost, and no monthly payments either. The one condition it has is for you to activate and keep a data plan (with at least 1GB of traffic per month) for the tablet for two years. Read more »

Remember Pulse? Once a very well regarded news reading app for mobile, it got acquired by LinkedIn back in 2013, and we haven’t heard much about it since. Until today, that is. LinkedIn is now relaunching the app in both the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store.

The new Pulse has been rebuilt from the ground up to deliver personalized news that’s based on your LinkedIn connections. Or, as the company puts it, “your professional world”. Read more »

Back in May a leaked report claimed HTC was gearing up to introduce ads to its BlinkFeed app, and today the Taiwanese company itself has confirmed this. Furthermore, the promotional content will start showing up in BlinkFeed today, at least for users in certain regions.

So if you have an HTC device with BlinkFeed on it and are currently in the US, UK, Germany, Taiwan, or China, expect to start seeing ads such as the one in the screenshot above very soon, if you haven’t already. Read more »

Last month AT&T finally started pushing out the Lollipop update for its version of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S 10.5, and today it’s time for that device’s smaller sibling to receive the tasty treat too. We’re talking about this carrier’s iteration of the Galaxy Tab S 8.4, of course.

In its unlocked form, the tablet started getting the update in early May in certain markets. If you bought yours from AT&T, though, only now can you truly celebrate. Read more »

Following the lead of Facebook, its perpetual competitor in the social network space, Twitter has today announced it’s enabling autoplay for videos. This goes live today on iOS and the web, and it will come to Android soon through an update for Twitter’s app for Google’s platform.

This means exactly what you think it means. From now on, while scrolling through your timeline, videos will automatically start playing. This works with native videos, Vines, and animated GIFs. Read more »

Motorola is planning a summer sale for the UK, which will take place from tomorrow, June 17, and until June 30. The two devices involved are basically the company’s flagships at the moment – the Moto X (2nd Gen) and the Nexus 6. The former being the one for people who like ‘normal’ sized phones, while the latter should fit fans of the phablet genre perfectly.

So, starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to save a whopping £166 on the second generation Moto X. The 16GB model will be offered for just £229, compared to £395 right now. If you want more storage, the 32GB version will go for £269. Read more »

We’ve known that Microsoft is working on bringing Cortana to iOS and Android since last month, but today we’ve received an actual release time frame from the software giant. At least for the Android version, that is.

According to Microsoft itself, we should expect to see a beta version of Cortana for Android hit the streets in July. No information has been shared about the iOS release at this time. Read more »

Facebook has released a new mobile app today. It’s called Moments and it’s already available for iOS and Android, at least in the US. The idea behind it is simple. At many events such as weddings, but also smaller gatherings like nights out, many people take photos – but you don’t have an easy way to share these with the people who participated.

Moments privately syncs photos you and your friends have taken in the same place at the same time. It doesn’t make any of the images public on Facebook, but it does give you a way to easily give specific friends your photos from an event, while at the same time receiving theirs. So after using Moments you’ll all have all the captures you snapped together. Read more »

For fans of old Xbox 360 games, here’s a bit of very good news: Microsoft is finally making it possible to play Xbox 360 titles on the Xbox One. This was demonstrated onstage at E3 with Mass Effect. The setup seems to be similar to the way you played original Xbox games on the 360.

You put the disc in (or download the game), and your Xbox One will play it. You will also get One-specific features too, like taking screenshots, game streaming, and game DVR. Read more »

At E3, Microsoft has announced that Xbox Game Preview will become available later today. This is a scheme through which you’ll be able to try games before you buy them, but also before they’re released.

So it’s part beta testing, part free trial. The community could get involved into the development process in this way, but there’s also the neat fact of playing new games for free for a while until you decide whether they’re worth purchasing. It’s similar to Steam’s Early Access program. Read more »

At its E3 press event, Microsoft has officially unveiled the Xbox One Elite Controller, which will become available sometime this fall. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet. It’s wireless (as you’d expect), and it has a textured rolling pad that replaces the traditional D-pad.

The new controller takes the regular Xbox One gamepad and adds all the features you could possibly think of. Among other things, it has hair trigger locks, paddles for precision driving, buttons that can be remapped, as well as hot-swappable components which let you personally alter its configuration. Read more »

Sony has put up a new promotional website for its recently launched Xperia M4 Aqua smartphone. That said, this is anything but a normal such venture. It’s called “Dirty Phones”, and focuses on, well, how dirty phones can be. Literally, that is.

First, the company scares you with words such as the ones you can read in the image above. It claims that there are about 25,000 germs per square inch on the average touchscreen phone. Furthermore, according to “research”, 92% of handsets have bacteria on them, while ‘just’ 82% of hands can boast the same thing. 16% of hands and phones unfortunately have E.coli, a bacteria found in feces. Read more »

The rumors were true, as it turns out. After it didn’t manage to purchase Twitch last year (which eventually got grabbed by Amazon), Google is launching a competing service. It’s called YouTube Gaming (and not YouTube Live as previously leaked), and it will become available “this summer”. YouTube Gaming will first be offered in the US and UK.

It will come with a new website and app, which will feature gaming-related videos and live streams, powered by what Google calls “the biggest community of gamers on the web”. Read more »