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Apple updates iOS Podcasts app

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With the launch of iOS 6, the podcast feature in the music player app was dropped in favor of a standalone app that had to be downloaded separately from the App Store. As is the trend with recent Apple apps, the Podcasts app made heavy use of skeuomorphism for the UI, with a very realistic looking tape deck UI that had moving elements that kept track with the playback of the podcast.

Unfortunately, all that is gone now with the latest update. The new v1.2 brings with it quite a few new features but gets rid of the tape deck UI for a more conventional playback screen that looks like any other music player. Read more »

Eric Schmidt on Google Now for iOS: “You’ll need to discuss that with Apple”

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So it’s not a pipe dream after all – Google Now for iOS may even be in the works. At the Big Tent summit in India Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt was asked point blank when could we see Google Now on the iPhone and had this to say – “You’ll need to discuss that with Apple”, “Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted into its store, and some of them they approve and some of them they don’t,”.

Although skillfully avoiding giving a direct answer to the question Schmidt didn’t dismiss it entirely giving this blogger the idea that just like it did with Gmail, Maps, Drive and Chrome, Google intends to push its Now service over to iOS. Read more »

HTC releases BlinkFeed video ad to keep the HTC One hype alive

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HTC One production has been troubled lately by component shortages lately and the Taiwanese were even forced to delay the smartphone launch in most of the markets. Yet, HTC is keen to make you so excited about its flagship that you wouldn’t mind waiting a bit longer to get it. Each week we get new videos through the HTC’s YouTube official channel and the newest one advertises the smartphone’s signature BlinkFeed feature.

HTC BlinkFeed is the leftmost pane of the homescreen. It aggregates posts from your social networks and news from over a thousand news sources. You can pick what topics you’re interested in and BlinkFeed will automatically pull up interesting news. You can also use the search function if you’re looking for something in particular. Read more »

Exploit allows you to completely disable the TouchWiz lokscreen passcode

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The latest way to bypass the Galaxy S III/Note II/Note/S II lockscreen has been modified and now allows you to completely disable the devices’ locksceens. We already saw this exploit about three weeks ago, but back then it didn’t appear too dangerous as it only gave the intruder access to what’s on one of your homescreen panes.

Now, however, the author has found a way to use it to gain full control of the smartphone. You’ll need lots of time, patience and precision timing to accomplish this trick, but as you’ll see in a second it’s possible. Read more »

BlackBerry 10 World app catalog reaches the 100,000 mark

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We have some good news about those planning to get a BlackBerry 10-running smartphone. Today BlackBerry announced the BB10 OS app catalog already offers more than 100,000 titles.

The announcement comes a day before the BlackBerry Z10 flagship launches in the USA and should help ease those concerns of severe app shortages. Read more »

Google launches Google Keep, a new cloud-based note taking app for Android

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A few days ago, Google prematurely released the Google Keep service, only to pull it back down on the same day. For those who missed that, Google Keep is a note taking application for Android that syncs with your Google Drive account.

Now, the service has been officially announced in the form of the Google Keep app on the Play Store. It is a very basic note taking app meant for quickly jotting down your thoughts without any unnecessary frills. Read more »

Redesigned Google Play Store app makes an appearance

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Right after its first birthday, it looks like the Google Play Store is has a major redesign coming our way. A revamped app has made an appearance, thus giving us a glimpse of the Play Store’s new look.

As you can notice in the trio of screenshots above, the interface of Google Play Store 4.0 has been given the Holo treatment. Read more »

Minuum virtual keyboard could revolutionize the way we type

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A recent Indiegogo project that has caught our eye is a nifty new virtual keyboard called Minuum that could forever change the way we type on a mobile device.

It does this by squeezing down the full QWERTY keyboard into one row, no longer forcing you to choose between precision and accuracy. Read more »

CyanogenMod won’t come to the Samsung Galaxy S4

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We have some bad news for those who’d love to run a cleaner Android version on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 flagship. The CyanogenMod developers have come up with a statement announcing they are not going to support the smartphone.

Not a single guy from the CyanogenMod team considers buying the device and give it a shot. Read more »

Gmail for Android update brings notification screen shortcuts

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Google has updated the Android version of the Gmail app and has added a very useful new feature for Jelly Bean users. As you may know, Jelly Bean features expanded notifications, which allows applications to integrate additional functionality within the notification screen, a feature the Gmail app now takes advantage of.

If you have a device running Jelly Bean, you will notice Gmail notifications now have a reply and archive button within the notification screen itself. This way, you don’t have to launch the app to reply, for instance, and can do it from the notification screen directly. Read more »

Here’s an infographic on the Samsung Galaxy S line, up to number 4

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Since its arrival last week the Galaxy S4 has been all the rage, easily topping our website’s daily interest chart and being all over the tech-oriented web.

But the guys over at Toptienmobiel.nl decided to take a look at the roots of the flagship, down to the first Samsung Android flagship – the Galaxy S. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy S4 promo video gives you the features rundown in little over 4 minutes

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Samsung has posted the first Galaxy S4 promo video on YouTube. As usual the clips goes through the phone’s design, software and hardware perks, and does so with a catchy background music and a patterned background to match the pattern of the smartphone itself.

We get to see Air View, which lets you hover a finger over the screen and get a thumbnail preview pop up. Smart Pause, which can monitor if your eyes move away from the screen and pause a video for you. See the S4 operated with gloves and much more. Read more »

Samsung launches a new version of S Health app to take advantage of the Galaxy S4 sensors

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The Galaxy S4 has no shortage of cool new features, but undoubtedly one of the most interesting among them is the updated version of the S Health app the company launched last year.

In its latest version, S Health will be taking advantage of the specialized sensors found in the Galaxy S4, namely the built-in pedometer, temperature and humidity sensors. Read more »

LG announces Smart Video feature, bound to hit the Optimus G Pro as part of a Value Pack upgrade

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LG continues trying to steal Samsung’s thunder ahead of tonight’s Galaxy S IV show and has just announced a new software feature dubbed Smart Video.

Destined to hit the Optimus G Pro, Smart Video works pretty much the same way as the Smart pause feature we saw in thoseGalaxy S IV leaks – videos get automatically paused when you’re not looking at the screen. Read more »

Google Now for iOS discovered in a leaked video

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In the recent past, Google has been showing a lot of love for Apple’s iOS platform. It makes sense really, considering Google is in the business of advertising and collating user information, so supporting one of the biggest platforms out there is a no-brainer.

Few months back, Google added the voice search functionality to the Google Search app for iOS. Although quite useful, it’s not quite on par with the excellent Google Now feature currently found only on Android Jelly Bean devices. But it looks like that’s about to change shortly. Read more »