New look, live music video feed for Vevo’s Android app

Right after the resignation of its product head, music video service Vevo announced the design and overall overhaul of its Android app, showcasing a new look and better live streaming services for users. It aims to compete with other music streaming services, but with the advantage of having not just audio, but a visual accompaniment to the users’ music experience.

The real-time music video feed is now faster and better because of the integration with Korean software NexStreaming, which strengthens streaming tech for mobile devices. Music video fanatics can now expect even more music video premieres, exclusive Vevo content, the latest news about their favourite artists and recommended playlists, based on their most listened to musicians. Just don’t be surprised if it gives you a glut of boy bands if you keep on clicking on those One Direction videos.

For the US and Canada markets, there are three available Vevo live-streaming channels: “Hits” which of course brings you the best in pop music, “Flow” for your rap and R&B groove, and “Nashville” for, what else, good ole country music. As it expands to a larger market, expect them to add even more channels. A “K-Pop or J-Pop” channel would be a hit, given its popularity not just in Asia, don’t you think?

Other changes, like the redesigned “browse” area, a much easier playlist creation and playback, replicates the success it has had in its iOS redesign, and maybe convert several users from its major rival, YouTube, which has also seen some updates and overhauls these past few months. The new Vevo app is available for download on the Google Play Store.

VIA: VentureBeat

Motorola video teases Moto 360, still nowhere in sight

Motorola is really building up the hype around its yet to be fully revealed Moto 360 smartwatch, and hopefully, for its sake, it will manage to live up to that. It has just put up on YouTube a new video that tries to answer the question "why a watch?", though consumers are probably more interested in the more specific question "why a round shape?".

According to Moto 360 project lead Lior Ron, up until the last decade, watches have been the most personal piece of technology that people could wear and that it was also a form of self expression. But in truth, smartwatches have become a trend that Motorola simply just can't ignore. As to why it has become a trend, perhaps people are starting to look for ways to remain connected without staying glued to their smartphone screens. Hopefully this time around they won't end up with their faces glued to their watches, which is an even more humorous sight.

As to why the round shape, Motorola's answer is somewhat debatable. Ron claims that the circular shape affords them more screen space, a claim that LG has been all too eager to refute. Especially when you consider that the visible part of screen doesn't take up the whole area of the watch face, with a little section below occluded from sight. The other reason for the unconventional smartwatch shape is that it is a conventional watch shape. The Moto 360 admittedly looks quite classy and classic when placed beside its contemporaries.

How all of these actually plays out in the real world is very hard to judge considering Motorola is keeping the smartwatch under very tight wraps, one of the tightest we've so far seen in any mobile device product. But perhaps it is due to this that people are quite attracted to the Moto 360, willing to hold off on cheaper but already existing Android Wear smartwatches in the market just to see what this circular gadget has to offer. Hopefully we won't have to wait much longer and hopefully we won't be disappointed.

Story Timeline

• Moto 360 hands-on: a well-rounded smartwatch


• Moto 360 official demo video shared by Motorola


• Moto 360 to be released with X+1 and through Moto Maker

Chromecast finally gets Android screen mirroring

Google has finally pushed out a much needed but also much delayed functionality to Chromecast. Now Android users will be able to mirror the full contents of their phone or tablet screen to the streaming HDMI dongle, making it easier to show off the types of content not directly supported by Google's Cast feature.

While it is already possible to share videos and music to a whole crowd via a big screen, some things are just not yet "cast-ready" but are too good not to share. So if you want to let everyone see that hilarious tweet, or show that exotic island resort for the next family vacation, or even simply share some photos, you can now do so from the comfort of your couch. All you need to do is go to the navigation panel of the Chromecast app and select "Cast screen".

There will most likely be limits to what you can stream over to Chromecast, but Google isn't saying exactly which yet. Gaming comes to mind and, considering the relatively slowness of the WebRTC protocol that might be employed here, it will not likely be a pleasant experience anyway. Plus, the functionality is still marked as Beta, so users are bound to bump into some rough edges for now.

Screen mirroring via Chromecast is also limited to a number of devices, the full roster listed below:

• Nexus 4

• Nexus 5

• Nexus 7 (2013)

• Nexus 10

• Samsung Galaxy S4

• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Google Play Edition)

• Samsung Galaxy S5

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3

• Samsung Galaxy Note 10

• HTC One M7

• HTC One M7 (Google Play Edition)

• LG G3

• LG G2

• LG G Pro 2

Google promises that more will be coming soon. iOS users are currently out of luck as well as the feature not yet available for them. The Chromecast app update should be rolling out to users, but, as always, staggered rollouts mean not everyone will get them at the same time.

Download: Chromecast app on Google Play Store

SOURCE: Google (1) (2)

Free Gameloft football, RPG, racing games for Nokia X series

Looks like the Nokia devices on the Android platform, the Nokia X, X+ and XL are trying to positing themselves not just as your normal smartphones. It has partnered with Gameloft to provide loyal users with several free apps these next two months to turn their gadgets into lean, mean gaming machines.

Since the whole world (yes even the US!) is still crazy over the beautiful game as the World Cup draws to a close, you might want to try and become a virtual footballer yourself with Real Football 2014. Just like its previous edition Real Football 2013, it is a highly addictive game that gives you a good idea of what it is to play in an actual match, complete with the crazy stadium atmosphere, screaming fans, and an opposing team that will humiliate you if you don’t know how to play proper football, or soccer, as they still call it in the US.

Asphalt 8 is an arcade racing game on full throttle, allowing you to drive your dream car, whether it be a Ferrari or Lamborghini, through different exciting locales, like the Nevada desert or the streets of Venice. You can also get the Prime Car Pack that will get your car of choice to do stunts like barrel rolls and 360-degree flips.

Dungeon Hunter 4 gives you and your friends a chance to literally slay some demons in an exciting role-playing game, complete with drama and action.

All in all, these 3 games are worth around $54 when bought as regular games. But if you are a proud owner of these Nokia X series phones, and you have enough memory on your device (if not, they are expandable up to 32GB with a microSD card), just go to the Nokia Store, look for the “Exclusive Free Offer” in the Collections section and then choose the game you want to install. Or you can just simply search for these three games on the Nokia Store as well. You can get them for free until August 31.

SOURCE: Nokia

Google Camera update lets Android Wear call the shots

Google is starting to pull in Android Wear integration into its set of Android apps. First to get that smartwatch treatment is Google Camera which now lets a paired Android Wear smartwatch control the camera shutter and all other kinds of remote functionality you might need to take a clandestine shot.

OK, so maybe you won't exactly use this new feature to take photos without looking like you're taking a photo. The remote shutter function will let you set up your phone at a distance, probably to cover more ground or people, and then take that shot, without tripping over yourself and others in an attempt to beat the camera's timer.

And speaking of timers, you can also set up Google Camera's timer, which was just a recently added feature, using Android Wear as well. And you can also preview the recent shot that was taken from within that minuscule smartwatch screen, just to make sure you don't need to redo the shot.

As with Google apps updates, these new features will be rolling out to Google Camera users in staged rollouts. Considering there are relatively few Android Wear users out in the wild at the moment, this doesn't seem like something that needs to be rushed out. At least, not yet. But in case you do already have a smartwatch on your wrist and haven't received the update yet, you can hit the download below for the APK.

Download: Google Camera (Google Play Store) (APK)

Story Timeline

• Google Camera app arrives in the Play Store


• Google Camera video snapshots and multiple Wallet accounts arrive


• Google Camera 2.2 adds fish-eye, crop options, and timer

Flappy bird wanna-be Flopsy Droid now on Android Wear

Just when you think the Flappy Bird phenomena and its subsequent clones and wanna-bes have already saturated the market, app developers have found a new platform to explore for this kind of game: Android Wear. The game Flopsy Droid has become the first among the bunch to launch an app that is specifically for the first batch of wearables in the new platform, namely the LG G Watch, Moto 360, Samsung Gear Live and other Android Wear smartwatches.

Flappy Bird became a giant hit among mobile game addicts earlier this year, specifically because it was extremely hard to win or even get a score. The iPhone game involved users trying to get the aforementioned bird to navigate its way through differently shaped pipes. Its surprising success led to the Vietnamese developer deciding to pull it out of the market, for reasons that continue to baffle some people. But of course it led to even more clones trying to replicate its success, not always successfully though.

Flopsy Droid basically follows the same concept as its inspiration, but this time, it is meant for the smaller screen of the smartwatch. The developer, a young computer science student from Germany named Sebastian Mauer, said that the game is actually better suited for Android Wear. It uses resources from Replica Island, an open source platformer for Android that uses side-scrolling and the game is also based on the libGDX engine. Mauer has generously released the full source code for his game on GitHub.

With smartwatches fast becoming the wearable du jour for this year, expect even more games, original and otherwise, to come out of the woodwork in the next few months. You can download Flopsy Droid for free on the Google Play Store, all ready to install into your smartwatch of choice.

VIA: 9 to 5 Google

Google appears to have removed the Play Edition of three Android devices -- the Xperia Z Ultra, LG G

Google appears to have removed the Play Edition of three Android devices — the Xperia Z Ultra, LG G Pad 8.3 and HTC One M7 — from direct sale. Maybe the rumored Android Silver is on the way?

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