Google updated the Play Services quietly to add a couple of new security options. Smart Lock got new Trusted Places along with the existing Trusted Faces. To take the Smart Lock further, Google is now rolling out an “on-body detection” feature in the Smart Lock mode.

The idea is to let your phone detect its proximity to you in order to save itself and your data from being stolen. The new on-body protection feature uses the accelerometer to estimate whether you’re holding the device or it is in your pocket. Read more »

Google has recently updated its availability support page, and there are five new names eligible for the tech giant’s own digital book store – Google Play Books. The list now includes Bulgaria, Croatia, Iceland, Slovenia and Slovakia, which should now be able to access the service.

Play Books hosts both paid and free digital copies and has a formidable database, which, of course, is not really surprising, considering all the effort Google has been putting into digitizing content in recent years. The service is also quite convenient, as it allows you to upload your own books, acquired outside Play Books and read them as well. Read more »

Google has rolled out a nifty update for its Docs app for Android devices. The new version brings the capability to review a document in full screen mode.

At times, one just has to read an entire document before editing the text and saving the changes. Read more »

HTC Dot View case for One M8 became the best-selling accessory HTC has ever released. It was made available for other smartphones following the M8 success – Desire 510 and Desire Eye. Quite naturally HTC will be launching a One M9-copmatible Dot View case in time for the flagship’s official release.

As a preparation for the upcoming One M9 and One M9 Dot View case, HTC updated the Dot View app with new features. Those should be compatible with all existing Dot View cases and devices, of course. Read more »

Facebook has just announced the latest feature addition for its Messenger app – support for quickly sending money to your contacts. The company hopes you’ll use its solution for this purpose instead of other options like PayPal.

The unique differentiating factor here seems to be how easy it is to send money to someone. It’s done right inside the chat view with a contact, and after you’ve added your card once, it’s basically all a matter of choosing a sum. Read more »

We got a new bunch of screenshots of the Windows 10 for phones, which give us a better idea on the user interface and icons of the platform in its latest update.

One of the noteworthy things is the LED notification setting which will effect only select handsets such as Lumia 730, Lumia 735 and Lumia 930. Read more »

Apple has promised to make the Apple Watch available on April 24 and pre-orders will commence from April 10.

Meanwhile, the companion app for the Apple Watch is getting ready for formal launch as well. Read more »

Microsoft has been fine tuning its digital assistant – Cortana for the Windows Phone platform to support more languages and regions. In the meantime, the software-giant is reportedly working to make Cortana available on Android and iOS platforms as well.

After impressing many on the Windows Phone platform, Microsoft is reportedly working on a project called Eistein to bring Cortana as a standalone app for the Apple iOS and Google Android platforms. Read more »

Foursquare has released a new update for the Swarm app and axed the Plans feature to introduce private messaging.

About a year ago, Foursquare spun off the Swarm app to let its users check-in at locations and even make plans to hang out with friends or other contacts on the list. Read more »

Today Dropbox has released the latest update for its Android app. This will roll out to users from across the world within the next few days. It brings with it two new features: a built-in PDF viewer and in-document search.

The PDF viewer gives you rich previews for all of your PDFs stored on Dropbox, regardless of where they came from. You can also use the Dropbox PDF viewer to take a look at PDFs from elsewhere – for example, those you receive as attachments in your email, or some you may already have on your device. Read more »

Google could be working on its very own VPN service for Android, which might get an official launch at some point in the near future. This revelation comes from a look at one of the apps that are bundled in the Android 5.1 Lollipop update for the Motorola Nexus 6.

After applying the update, among the list of installed apps is something called Google Connectivity Services. You can’t see this in the app drawer, but it’s listed under Settings > Apps > All. You can run it, but only after fiddling with a dedicated app for handling the launch of activities (the string is quite long). Read more »

You know Snapchat right? That kind of weird photo messenger that allows exchanging self-destructing shots. Well it turns out, that what started as a silly university startup has grown into one of those rare businesses that everybody wants in on.

Industry sources now hint that Alibaba, China’s online shopping giant is also taking a huge interest in the service and plans to invest $200 million in it, on a valuation of a whopping $15 billion. In fact, just last month, the Los Angeles-based chat company was in talks to raise another $500 million, independent of Alibaba’s offer. This would price the company even higher, between $16 and $19 billion. Read more »

Google updated its popular Messenger app for Android. Version 1.2 of the application is now available to download and install from Google Play.

The new Google Messenger build brings a couple of new features to users. Read more »

In late 2013 Nokia pulled the plug on its Here Maps for iOS because, well, it just wasn’t very good. After a successful launch on Android, Nokia has brought its app back to iOS and this time it’s built from the ground up for a great, native experience (the old one was a packaged HTML5 app).

The new app comes with all the bells and whistles, including offline navigation and public transport. Read more »

Apple’s “Spring Forward” event, held this Monday definitely put the Cupertino company back under the spotlight. And after all the discussions around the Apple Watch and the new MacBook, people have naturally set their sights on the upcoming iOS 9 update.

The new OS version, codenamed “Monarch”, should be arriving sometime around the WWDC conference in June, so there is still some waiting to be done. There have already seen some bits and pieces of information, surrounding iOS 9 and everything seems to point towards improved performance and a lot of bug and stability fixes, instead of a barrage of new features Read more »