Lindsay Lohan enters mobile gaming market with Price of Fame

What do you do when your movie career is heading nowhere, you've become the butt of jokes of comedy writers, or worse, an object of pity as a "former child actor gone horribly wrong" cautionary tale? Why come up with a branded mobile game or app of course? The latest to enter the fray, after Kim Kardashian's extremely successful Hollywood game, is Lindsay Lohan with her "Price of Fame" app, now available on Android.

Lest you think the game will be all complicated and confusing, it's actually pretty simple (well, on the surface that is). All you have to do is swipe upwards on the screen and if you swipe as fast as you can, the more fans you get and the more coins you'll unlock at the end of each level. You'll then be able to use the coins to get further ahead in terms of status and lifestyle.

But if you look deeply (well, as deep as you can get when reviewing mobile games), there is a certain cynical and hard-edged quality to the game, poking fun at the things the media and people in general find fascinating about celebrities. You can upgrade to ridiculous items like butt implants, stints in rehab, and even to the point of faking your death for popularity. You can also buy entourage members like your weed dealer and if you're narcissistic enough, a clone of yourself.

But even if it's all fun and games, there's a possibility that Lindsay Lohan will be laughing her way to the bank, if it becomes as successful as Kim K's. There are in-app purchases and ads galore that you will probably accidentally click on, especially if you're swiping fast. You can download Lindsay Lohan's The Price of Fame from the Google Play Store for free from the Google Play Store.

VIA: SlashGear

Keewifi Router needs no passwords for secure connection

Normally when you set up a WiFi network in your home or office for your Android devices and other items, it takes a lot of configuration and typing in of long keys to get online. A new router has surfaced called the Keewifi Router and it aims to make setting up your wireless network much easier.

The device needs no password to set up secure networks and is designed to work right out of the box. The router supports 802.11ac networks. To put a device on the network all users have to do is hold any WiFi enabled device close to the router and it will authorize the network in seconds.

Proximity tech inside the router authenticates devices to the network. The only way a device can be placed on the wireless network with the Keewifi router is by physically touching it against the device. That means people outside your home or office without physical contact with the router can't gain access to the network.

Keewifi supports both 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz networks. The device is on Kickstarter now seeking $50,000 and has raised over $72,000 with 21 days to go. A pledge of $69 or more will get you a Keewifi router with shipping estimated for July 2015.

SOURCE: Kickstarter

Yatse remote for XBMC/Kodi gets Material Design love

For you to be familiar with Yatse, you have to first be acquainted with XBMC – recently renamed to “Kodi” for copyright and legal reasons. Kodi is one of the most complete media player suites out there, bar none. That is the reason for its popularity in the media enthusiast community, but it’s about time that you get to know it as well. Yatse is the remote app that brings it all together, and it just got recently updated with some Material Design aesthetics.

Firstly, to introduce Kodi is to introduce a media software suite that can practically do anything multimedia related and be extremely efficient at it. Throw what you want at it – movies, music, games, photos – it will handle it. It is also runs on almost any platform – from Windows to Android, and even on Linux platforms like the RaspberryPi.

The Yatse remote app has been updated and the update builds on the already impressive experience that Kodi provides. The app started as just a simple remote app, but has evolved to become a superb media managing app for devices without standard inputs. Now it has slick features like voice commands, offline playback and library, video streaming with UPnP/AirPlay/Chromecast and even full support for Android Wear.

If you want to try out Kodi, don’t forget to download Yatse for your device. The Material Design feel now blends it in with the Android 5.0 environment, so everything seems to be good, aesthetically as well.

DOWNLOAD: Google Play Store

Story Timeline

• G-Box Midnight MX2 runs Android and XBMC


• XBMC 13.0 "Gotham" Beta1 brings a ton of Android goodies


• OUYA "Chupacabra" system update brings in XBMC audio passthrough and revamped pages

Netflix’ Social Recommendation features now available for Android

One of the better things that have come out from this whole social network revolution is that recommending things we love to our friends has become easier and faster. The days when we listen to what critics or advertisements tell us to watch or listen to is all but over. One of the biggest pop culture enablers, Netflix, has finally added the Social Recommendation features for Android devices, months after it launched on other platforms.

Part of the joy of finishing a great movie or TV show episode is getting your friends to watch it too. Netflix makes it easy for you to do so by connecting your account to Facebook and then using the social recommendation feature. Don't worry, it will not tell the whole world that you've watched the One Direction documentary 13 times. All recommendations are private (unless you choose to post it on your FB wall) and will only be seen by those you want to see it. And if they watch it or add it to their list, you'll know that your pushing some buttons was not in vain.

Because of Android 5.0 Lollipop's push notification capabilities, the Netflix app has added images and buttons for you to quickly respond to recommendations from your own friends, to thank them, or watch a video they're telling you that you must see. And the latest update to the app now supports Android Wear integration, so you get your notifications on your wearable.

As video on demand streaming services continue to challenge the traditional way to consume video content, expect companies like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu to offer features and deals that will further convince users that this is the way to go now. If you haven't yet started on your VOD mobile journey, you can download the Netflix app for free from the Google Play Store, but of course you need a subscription to be able to access the videos.

SOURCE: Netflix

Gartner: Smartphones in emerging markets rise

The era of feature phones might be coming to a close. That is one of the possibilities coming from Gartner's analysis of this year's third quarter smartphone sales. The mobile phone market has practically stagnated compared to the same period last year, thanks to the rise of low-end Android phones. This is most especially seen in emerging markets like Eastern Europe and the Middle East, while Western Europe's smartphone sales reveal a disheartening downward trend.

Feature phones are usually chosen because of their price point and their simplicity but smartphones have started to cannibalize on the former with more and more budget models coming out. The lure of a smartphone that has a mobile phone price tag but with the functionality of an Android smartphone is just something too hard to resist. This particular push can be seen coming from Chinese vendors, who are starting to rise to prominence, at the expense of key players in the market. While they are a long way from toppling the top two smartphone sellers, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Lenovo do already make up the rest of the world's top 5.

While Samsung does remain ahead of the pack, it's position isn't exactly favorable last quarter. As already reported before, Samsung's sales saw an unprecedented drop in numbers, from around 80 million to 73 million. In contrast, Apple's sales rose last quarter as expected, due to the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the first large screen iPhones to date. And as mentioned before, Xiaomi's rise was quite remarkable, entering the top 5 within just a year. Gartner believes that this Chinese push will continue and other industry players should take heed.

In terms of platforms, of course Android has a far lead from Apple, making up 83.1 percent of the smartphone sales last quarter, up from last year's 82 percent. iOS similarly enjoyed a slight bump, from 12.1 percent to 12.7 percent, again attributed to the newly released iPhones. Windows Phone, on the other hand, experienced a slight drop in sales but still remains far ahead from BlackBerry.

SOURCE: Gartner

Viber Games to come soon to your Android smartphones

Nowadays, just being an "ordinary" messaging service may not be enough anymore, given the fierce competition with all the free messaging apps available for mobile devices. Viber is one of the most popular ones, but they're not resting on their laurels. They recently announced a new platform called Viber Games, which will be rolling out to several countries in the next few days and is expected to launch worldwide by January 2015.

Viber has teamed up with several game developers to come up with the first batch of simple but fun and possibly addictive games that you can play on your own or in competition with your Viber friends who are also on the platform. Viber Candy Mania is a puzzle adventure game featuring well-known characters from the messaging app like Violet and Legcat. Viber Pop meanwhile is a bubble puzzle game where your aim is to destroy the Evil Bubble Wizard (such a scary name yes?) and rescue the buddies that he has as hostage. Wild Luck Casino is dangerous for you if you're addicted to slot machines since it gives you an "authentic slots experience".

Aside from the games itself, Viber Games also gives you new things you can do with your Viber friends virtually. You can send virtual gifts to them and in return, you'll get rewards from Viber. If you're the competitive sort, you can interact with your friends who are also playing the games by telling them when you've beaten their high score, or constantly checking out the leaderboards and your friends' progress on the various games. You can also invite your friends who aren't on Viber Games yet.

Viber has been on a roll the past months, almost launching a new feature or platform every month. There was Mobile Video Calls and Viber Public Chats. Viber Games is now available in Belarus, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore and Ukraine, but will be rolling out to other countries soon.

SOURCE: BusinessWire

Story Timeline

• Viber sold for $900 million to Rakuten


• Viber transmits and stores images and videos insecurely


• Viber 5.0 brings video calling to Android devices

Samsung reportedly stopping its development of ‘U Series’

There were rumors last month of Samsung coming out with another series of smartphones which will parallel the single letter naming convention of the Galaxy S line and the more recent “A Series”. The then-upcoming “U Series” was rumored to be a high-end line, focusing on super-slim form factors. But whispers from within the company are saying that this development may be on hold.

The South Korean gadget giant’s flagging sales has been the catalyst for the outfit to ring the changes internally – these include changing the leadership of its phone business and visibly changing the strategy. There is now movement to decrease the number of models that the company has in the market, while consolidating products which have overlap in parts.

The “U Series” was supposed to be part of the consolidation, it’s first release rumored to be an ultra-slim phone at 6.15mm, sporting an octa-core Exynos 5433 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, a 16-megapixel rear camera, 8-megapixel front-facing camera, 16GB of expandable storage, a 2,360mAh battery, LTE connectivity, and Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Those are not bad specs at all, especially taking into consideration the super slim form. Ostensibly, some of these specs will overlap with other devices – like the Exynos 5433 proc, which looks to be Samsung’s standard octa-core proc for a long stretch. But that seems to be all for naught now, as development was cancelled. No reasons have been given to the halt in development.

VIA: Sam Mobile

Story Timeline

• Samsung to cut up to 30% of phone models, protect profit margins


• Insiders say Samsung Galaxy S5 sales 40% lower than expected


• Samsung’s Exynos reportedly developing a Cat.10 LTE modem