After initially only being available in the US, Cortana was enabled for China and the UK too this summer. And now Microsoft’s virtual assistant is making it to four more countries: France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Today, Microsoft has announced that it will start rolling out an update for the Windows Phone Developer Preview Program which will make Cortana available in these new places as an “alpha”. Read more »

Google is about to launch a redesigned Play store app for Android. Version 5.1 of the application features refreshed looks and layout changes.

The upcoming new Android Play store features full-height navigation drawer and real-time card shadows. Read more »

Just a few weeks after releasing it, Google has updated its Messenger app with the ability to allow you to choose your own colors for individual contacts, a feature requested by many. Earlier, the app used to do this automatically.

To access the feature, go to the “People and Options” button from the overflow menu and select the color you want to assign to the contact. In addition, the update also brings some Material Design related animations following complaints of a significant delay and lag in the old sliding animation. Read more »

One of the main purposes of the fingerprint scanners, incorporated in various current devices is user authentication. But besides trivial tasks, like unlocking, which is often more of a novelty that an actual useful feature, fingerprint identification has a much more serious possible use – verifying online payments.

PayPal has had a successful partnership with Samsung, bringing the futuristic security feature through its Android application to supported devices. Until now, however, this was done on a separate branch of the PayPal app that was only distributed through Samsung’s own Application Store. Now the internet payment giant has taken another step forward in the utilization of the technology by incorporating support for fingerprint authentication in the Google Play Store version of the PayPal app as well. Read more »

AirDroid for Android has been given a major update in v3.0. The app now has companion desktop apps for Windows and Mac that brings iOS Continuity like features to your Android device.

With the new desktop app, you can get notifications from your phone on your computer. You can reply to SMS from your computer or pick up or receive calls (calls can only be answered from the phone, however). You can also mirror apps on your computer, so you can, for example, reply to WhatsApp messages from your PC. Mirroring apps only works on rooted devices for now. Read more »

Google News & Weather for Android received a major update. Version 2.0 of the application features new features and refreshed design.

Users of the stock Android app can now utilize a sleek-looking dark color theme. Read more »

There’s a new Android app in town from Google itself, and this one helps you understand what isn’t working right in your mobile device – be it a phone or a tablet. Device Assist provides tips and “proactive troubleshooting” when it auto-detects possible issues.

The downside here is that Device Assist is only offered for the Nexus line, Android One smartphones, and Google Play Edition devices – and only on Android 5.0 Lollipop. Read more »

Twitter first introduced filters to its official app two years ago in December, now it’s time to actually make theм work well (the whole thing was a knee-jerk response to a soured relationship with Instagram).

The official apps for Android and iOS (which are rolling out today) abandon the 3×3 grid display for filters for a more traditional approach. Read more »

I know there isn’t a shortage of messaging apps available on mobile devices but every once in a while something new comes up that manages to grab your attention. One such app is Wire.

Wire is a new messaging and calling app for Android, iOS (iPhone and iPad), and OS X, with a browser version arriving later. The app focuses on a simple, minimalist design with a gesture based interface for navigation. The UI features large, legible fonts with inline previews for images, YouTube, and SoundCloud links. Other than one to one chats Wire also supports group messaging. Read more »

Android 5.0.1 factory images have made their way to the Android Open Source Project database. The new OS build is available to download for the wi-fi versions of HTC Nexus 9, Asus Nexus 7, and Samsung Nexus 10.

As its release number suggests, Android 5.0.1 Lollipop will be a minor update over version 5.0. Read more »

Gmail users can now edit office documents straight from their inbox. The button for the new feature is available alongside the options to download a file or save it to Google Drive.

When a user selects the newly available option, Gmail saves the file to Google Drive and automatically converts it to Google’s own office format. Read more »

Microsoft acquired the developer of Acompli – a popular email client for iOS and Android. The deal is reportedly worth more than $200 million.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft plans to merge the high level of functionality of Acompli with its own Outlook platform. Read more »

Opera is now offering mobile operators an easy way to set up their own, customized and branded mobile application store. The service builds upon Opera`s already existing extensive library of applications across multiple mobile platforms, including Android, Java, Symbian and BlackBerry.

Besides access to one of the three largest app stores in the world, Opera also offer mobile operator a very specifically tailored market model. Read more »

Microsoft has updated Skype for Android with support for picture-in-picture, allowing you to keep a video call going while multitasking.

This means that now you can come out of the Skype window in the middle of a video call, switch over to another app, and continue with the conversation. The feature, which is already available on tablets, should be rolling out to smartphones very soon. Read more »

Earlier this month, Dropbox and Microsoft announced a broad partnership that would see the two companies’ mobile apps working together – allowing you to edit Office files from the Dropbox app and access your Dropbox from Office. This integration is now live.

The latest version of the Dropbox app for iOS and Android lets you open any Office document, spreadsheet, or presentation. And the new Edit icon (seen in the image above) lets you start editing stuff in the latest Office apps. Read more »