Today Google has started rolling out the latest update for its Calendar app for Android. Google Calendar 5.1 brings with it a 7-day view for phones. Additionally, you can now add Google Drive files to events, and Drive will even check if everyone who’s participating in an event can open them.

These are the main new features, but there’s more stuff in this update. For example, you can now control whether birthdays from your Google+ contacts are shown on your calendar. This setting will arrive on the Web version of Google Calendar too, but next week. Read more »

Last month, when Twitter rolled out its While you were away feature on iOS, it said that the functionality will arrive on Android (as well as the Web) soon. Now, the company has made good on that promise by making the feature available for users of Google’s mobile operating system.

For those who are not in the know, the way it works is: if you haven’t checked in on Twitter for a while, the feature gives you a recap of some of the top Tweets (determined by engagement and other factors) that you might have missed from the accounts you follow. Read more »

Microsoft is working on a new friend tracking feature in an upcoming app – People Sense for the Windows Phone devices and is internally referred as Buddy Aware.

With this app, Windows Phone owners will be able to share their location in real time with their friends and family. Read more »

The Google Play store for Android is about to receive an updated search bar. The new setup was teased by a Google UI engineer and is due to arrive in the near future.

The new search bar once again sits on top of the application and feature the “Google play” sign. Read more »

On Android, Google Now serves as the virtual assistant Siri is on iOS and Cortana is on Windows Phone. Thus, Google Now can take voice commands and act on them. But up until recently that did not include toggling certain system settings – not directly, at least.

The good news is that as of this moment Google Now is in fact able to toggle your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections on or off, as well as the flashlight functionality enabled by your phone’s LED flash. The one caveat is that you need to be running Android 5.0 Lollipop. Read more »

IF This Then That, otherwise known as IFTTT, is an extremely useful service that lets you create and download ‘recipes’ that automatically performs a task for you when a preset event occurs.

The company has now changed its brand name from IFTTT to simply IF. It still performs the same basic functions, but just has a new name. Read more »

Google has significantly expanded the reach of Inbox by Gmail, its experimental email app. From its launch point and up until now it was only usable on iPhones, Android smartphones, and on the Web in Chrome. But starting today, it’s made its way to many more places.

For starters, you can now use Inbox by Gmail on your iPad or Android tablet. Additionally, if you want to access the inbox.google.com interface from a Web browser, you get two more options. Read more »

Ubuntu started off with big promises for phones – a true phone and desktop hybrid OS. Those lofty goals didn’t pan out and the first Ubuntu phone launched with a more traditional phone OS. The firmware for the BQ Aquaris E4.5 is now available for download.

The phone went on sale ten days ago and offers a 4.5″ qHD screen, quad-core Cortex-A7 processor, 8MP main camera and 5MP selfie camera. Read more »

Dropbox has updated its iPhone and iPad app to version 3.7. The app’s latest build brings a new action extension for iOS 8 that lets you upload files directly from other apps. You will now see a new Save to Dropbox option in the sharing menu for certain types of files, thus meaning that you will no longer have to open up the cloud storage app to perform the task.

To set up the new extension, open the share menu for a file that you want to save, scroll to the far right of the bottom row of gray icons, tap More (…), and toggle on the Save to Dropbox option. You can also drag and place the extension icon anywhere in the list. Read more »

Google Play Music for iOS got treated to a significant update. Version 2.0.3828 of the application is currently available for free in the App Store.

The new app build finally makes it compatible with the Apple iPad. Read more »

Today Microsoft has revealed some more cloud storage integration features for both its Office apps for iOS as well as Office Online. This follows the Dropbox integration that debuted last year.

As it turns out, though, Microsoft doesn’t want to force you to use Dropbox in order to get neat Office integration. So starting today, other cloud storage providers can be natively integrated into the Locations picker in the Office apps for iOS (as seen in the example screenshot above). Read more »

Up until now you have been able to reply to text messages on your computer using Pushbullet – with the Android app installed on your phone and one of the company’s browser extensions or desktop apps running on your computer, of course. But starting today, you can also immediately reply to conversations in some of the most popular Internet-based messaging apps.

So, once you update your Pushbullet app for Android to the latest version (and once you get the newest iteration of the computer browser extension you’re using), you will be able to reply to messages coming into WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Hangouts, Telegram, and Line straight from your computer. In fact, you can do that right from the Pushbullet notification you get on your computer. Read more »

After quite a few months since Google first unveiled its Material Design guidelines, Facebook has decided to follow them somewhat. The world’s biggest social network is now testing a slightly enhanced look for its Android app, one that has been infused with a few Material Design elements.

As you can see, a big blue floating action button is present. Once you tap that a few options show up, which were previously available to you through a floating blue bar at the bottom of the screen. This bundled the “Take a photo” and “Upload a photo” items together, while “Where I am” used to be known as “Check in”. The old “Status” option from the floating bar is now replaced with “Write a post”. Read more »

With Valentine’s Day almost upon us, Microsoft decided to release a couple of new promotional videos for Cortana, its very own virtual personal assistant. As you’d expect given the Valentine’s Day theme, the ads are all about love. The Lumia 635 smartphone is featured in them too, though oddly with a Microsoft logo replacing Nokia’s.

In the first video, one man is happy that despite having broken up with his girlfriend around Valentine’s, which isn’t fun, he’s quickly managed to find someone new. Not only that, but he’s apparently blown away by how well she knows him. Read more »

Microsoft introduced a new type of desktop background in Windows 10 for phones – the wallpaper now spreads over the background space, while the tiles become transparent so you can enjoy the picture behind them.

While this new options was welcomed by lots of people, some of the users still preferred the Windows Phone 8.1 way where the image you’ve selected was displayed on the tiles instead of behind. It was quite a cool and unique feature. Read more »