If you've splurged on one of the new Android Wear watches then you'll know it's very much a case of learning as you go. Since you probably won't immediately know what these devices are capable of, so here are 12 useful voice commands you can experiment with to get your watch to do your bidding.
If you haven't had your fill yet of location-based services that will help you navigate your way through unfamiliar places, then if you haven't been using Waze yet, the newest update might just convince you to get the app. Version 3.9 introduces a whole slew of new features, with the greatest of them being the addition of Places, which will create a crowd-sourced wealth of information regarding both businesses and residential areas.
Just like Foursquare (now Swarm) and to some extent, Google Maps, Waze's Places allows users to add information like landmarks, pictures to help identify unfamiliar locations, and even best parking areas in or around the place. Users can also edit and update details about certain places, which is all and good for the really helpful users but some trolls may just cause confusion and blacken the name of a place, a risk you take when using crowd-sourced apps and programs like this. Waze has also redesigned the preview screen so that it will be easier for you to see the info added by other users on the place where you're going to.
What makes Waze different from other location-based services is that it focuses more on driver-friendly options and information, like the aforementioned feature regarding parking availability. Another very useful feature, particularly for those who are very forgetful about where they parked, is the ability to add automatic parking pins so you won't spend countless minutes trying to figure out where your vehicle is. If you're competitive over how helpful you can be to other drivers, adding information to any of the places will earn you points, and you'll be able to see your leaderboard ranking.
Since it has been acquired by Google, you can expect to see that some of Waze's features will eventually be incorporated into Google Maps and Navigation, so Places will most likely make its way there. For now, you can update your Waze app or download it from the Google Play Store.
SOURCE: Waze
Naysayers about Chromebooks' usefulness for more "professional" work beyond cloud-based document editing now have one less argument to use. Google has just announced that the Chrome OS-toting laptops can now be used for photo editing and digital painting thanks to Adobe's Creative Cloud and Photoshop.
For those unfamiliar with Adobe's lineup, the Creative Cloud is its newest and somewhat highly controversial offering that will eventually displace the popular Creative Suite or CS. It is controversial because it is a cloud-based, subscription-based system where users who wish to be able to continue using software like Photoshop or Illustrator will be basically renting the software instead of owning them as in the previous CS system.
Photoshop Creative Cloud edition takes a different form when it comes to this new Chromebook incarnation. Whereas Creative Cloud desktop apps like it get installed directly on PCs, the Chromebook version will actually be streaming the app from a virtualized environment hosted on Adobe's servers. In short, Project Photoshop Streaming, as it is called by Adobe, will basically be a web app, which is a perfect fit for Google's Chromebook environment.
This kind of system has several advantages, at least from a Chrome OS and Chromebook standpoint. Given how underpowered most Chromebooks are, streaming Photoshop instead of running directly on the metal lowers the hardware requirement considerably, a minimum of an Intel Pentium 4 and 512 MB RAM to be exact. The partnership with Google also means that users won't have to worry about Photoshop PSD files taking up huge amounts of space on their hard drive as they can work on files stored on Google Drive directly.
While that may be a Chromebook user's dream come true, the offer comes with a price, figuratively and literally. First is that you need to have a Creative Cloud account, which starts at $13 per month at the lowest. But for this particular product, it will be initially available to US-based Adobe education customers only. Adobe's FAQ reveals that the project will run for six months only, something Google has not mentioned in its announcement. No other Adobe products will be available for streaming.
The OneDrive team recently rolled out a new update to the mobile app. The developers have been working hard to improved the app across all platforms and a newly improved version is now ready for Android.
OneDrive app is formerly known as SkyDrive. You can say it’s just another cloud storage program but it’s one of the most efficient apps today. The free online storage can save all your files—documents, videos, and photos or just about anything you want to store on your account. It can be integrated with SharePoint Server 2013 and Office 365 to use for work and share important business files.
With the OneDrive app for Android, you can manage and share personal and work files, open OneDrive files in other apps, quickly access recent documents, as well as, invite more people to use the same app for future file-sharing. With the Android 4.0+ version, OneDrive users can automatically upload photos and videos using the Camera backup feature, search/sort folders and files, and select multiple files to download. The OneDrive app for Android also boasts of improved support for working with Office Mobile for Android and OneNote.
With this OneDrive 2.8.1 app update, you can now easily share files to your contacts, move and rename business folders, and search for documents. Shared view for business accounts have been added, as well as, a new photos view (All Photos View) of photos currently stored in your OneDrive account.
Aside from the stability improvements and bug fixes for the Android version, the OneDrive team has been announcing other good news for users of OneDrive on other platforms. Recently, the free storage on the Microsoft vesion was increased to 30GB. The Android version was also increased from 7GB to 15GB for free users and up to 1TB for the paid subscribers. A few months ago too, the mobile app combined Personal and Business accounts on one app for easier access and more efficiency. The OneDrive Kindle Fire and Fire Phone version has rolled out as well. Looks like the OneDrive team isn’t going anywhere and it will only improve on the app and release many versions of it.
Download updated OneDrive from the Google Play Store
SOURCE: OneDrive
If you fancy yourself the brainy type, then this new game that popped up at the Google Play Store should be a favorite for you. The game is built on letting you challenge other people to play short brain games with each other, anywhere in the world – as long as they’re online, of course.
The game is super-quick and each session rarely goes beyond 4 or 5 minutes. The users log-in either with Facebook or just a nickname, and they can promptly hit the challenge button. The app then randomly matches you with someone else in the world (we hope). From there, it’s basically “Brain game on!”
The session will consist of three short brain tests that both players will have to complete. You play with your opponent and you can see their scores as you go along. Finish the three tests and then the game adds your scores up. Whoever’s on top of the scores wins. Easy, right?
The game is not just about winning though. The results page of each session measures you in terms of speed, judgement, calculation, accuracy, observation and memory. Once you try it, it will invariably be nothing short of addictive. Believe us, we’ve tried. Players can invite and challenge their Facebook friends and family, which adds to the fun. Check out the game via the source link.
SOURCE: Google Play Store
Just when we've despaired that Samsung would never come out with an ad that will not disparage its competitors (and when we say competitor, of course we mean Apple), the OEM surprises us with a hilarious, if a bit long, video. The almost 4 1/2 minute video is a refreshing ad for the Galaxy Note 4 that banks on sense of humor rather than just poking fun at Apple products and hopefully heralds the dawn of a new kind of campaign for its smartphones and tablets. Well, at least when it comes to advertising.
"Despite being Note-orious for its large display, the Galaxy Note 4 is so much more. It’s Note just a phone – it’s a conversation starter," thus reads the description of the video on its YouTube channel. Based on that and on the ad's title, "Note Pun intended," then you have an idea what the video is about. Two guys try to outdo each other by coming up with Note-related puns during conversations with each other, ordering in bars and coffee shops, and even picking up women. "Note in my house" "Pi"note" noir", "I'm note pregnote," are just some of the ways they inject the word in different situations, even involving the girlfriend/wife of one of the characters.
Aside from the non-bashing of any competitor, what also makes this ad stand out is that it doesn't even mention or highlight the features of the Galaxy Note 4. The different situations they are in show some functions of the phablet, but it doesn't hard sell them to viewers. It may even have a bigger impact than having to outline and stress what the newest gadget from Samsung can do, as it will entice the viewers to buy or consider buying the Note 4 when it is shown in actual real-life situations.
Samsung is known for having one of the biggest advertising budget among the OEMs. But it has been facing criticism lately for flagging a dead horse situation as their ads keep bashing Apple products like the new iPhone 6. People were getting tired (and annoyed) with this tactic, and this new fun and pun-filled ad will restore some faith in Samsung. Now let's see if Apple takes note (oh wait, isn't that how you do it?)
It looks like Samsung is committed to pushing their “premium feel” phones further, as after the Samsung Galaxy Alpha, the recently outed Samsung Galaxy A5, and the leaks for the A500, another one from the “A Series” is on the pipeline – it’s name-coded as the SM-A3000, with pics leaking from China source TENAA.
As we can see from the pics – and as with the A500 – we can see the design of the phone harking back to the first iteration of this series, the Galaxy Alpha. We can’t be sure if it still carries the metal bindings of its higher-priced, better-specced predecessor but the design language definitely fits the bill.
Specs will be kind of incomplete as is usual from TENAA, but from what we can see, the new device will have a 4.5-inch quarter HD 540×960 display. It will be powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor (we don’t know of which make) and supported by 1GB RAM. The phone will have 8GB of internal storage, expandable to 64GB via microSD. The SM-A3000 will also have an 8MP/5MP camera combo.
For a mid-ranger, the fact that it will have LTE connectivity is a real selling point. It would be fair to expect this to sell at around USD$200 or thereabouts. As to what market Samsung is targeting, we have no information yet. But it shouldn’t take too long for them to officially announce this phone.
SOURCE: TENAA