Apex Launcher updated with material design

One of the things that many people love about Android devices is the ability to customize the device to suit their needs. An app has been updated called the Apex Launcher that promises to make customizing the homescreen of your Android smartphone or tablet a snap.

The app brings a customizable homescreen grid size and up to nine different homescreens. The dock is scrollable with up to seven icons per page and up to five pages. The home screen is infinitely scrollable and supports elastic scrolling as well. Different transition effects and the ability to hide elements like the search bar or dock are included.

The desktop can be locked to prevent accidental changes and settings can be backed up. There is a paid pro version of the app that brings unlimited drawer tabs and customizations. Dock swipe actions are featured in the pro version along with gestures and enhanced folder support.

The most recent update for the app brings a new UI using material design and various tweaks for Lollipop users. The app is 4.4MB in size and has as many as 10,000,000 installs. Android 4.0.3 or higher is required.

SOURCE: Google

Look At Me app to help children with autism in communicating

Technology has brought so many changes in our lives, and yet it sometimes still gets a bad rap for how it has changed the way we communicate. While there are both great things and bad things that can come out of it, we choose to highlight the benefits it can bring. One such project is Samsung's Look At Me app which aims to help children with autism communicate more effectively through exercises and fun games.

The particular problem of children with autism that Samsung wants to help with is their struggle to make eye contact and sustain this in order to actually communicate. And because there are studies that show that these children respond more to smart devices, the Korean OEM decided to collaborate with doctors and professors to help develop the app. There was a clinical trial with 20 children and in the eight weeks that they conducted it, 60% of them showed improvement in terms of making eye contact, as well as in determining emotional expressions in other people.

The app has fun interactive missions that make use of the smartphone's camera function so the children learn how to remember faces, analyze what kind of mood is being experienced by the person they're looking at, and even take pictures of themselves expressing these emotions. It also has a points and rewards system to encourage them to use the app and participate more.

The idea for the app actually came from their Launching People Campaign that asked people for submissions on how they think technology can change the world. The result of one of the suggestions is this app and we think it's a pretty nifty way of helping kids with autism become more connected to the world around them. Look At Me can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store and is optimized for Samsung devices like the Galaxy series ( Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Zoom 2, Galaxy Zoom and Galaxy Tab S)

SOURCE: Samsung

MMO strategy game Total Domination: Reborn hits Android

Total Domination: Reborn is a massively multiplayer online “freemium” game that was originally released on iOS and is now hitting the Google Play Store. The game is now a year old, released back in May 2013, but still boasts of a huge player base, most of them carried over from when the app was released as a Facebook game.

It has taken a while for the game to make it to Android, but scratch that, it’s now here. This is a strategy game about futuristic desert warfare, so if you like that kind of thing, this is the game for you.

Success in this game depends on how much strategy you can squeeze out of your brain. You'll need to use your wits in placing defenses around your base using the resources you mine from the soil. And then when you feel strong enough, you can march your army of soldiers and cyber dogs to engage other camps and bases in battle.

The game is free to download, check out the source link, with in-app purchases. If you’re looking for a game you can sink your teeth into and spend time on during the holidays, this should be the game for you.

DOWNLOAD: Google Play Store

Story Timeline

• World of Midgard MMORPG makes you say "WoW"


• Soul Taker-Face of Fatal Blow: an MMO with luscious graphics


• Cubic Castles: a sandbox, platformer, MMORPG, puzzle game all in one

Amazon offers big discounts, great digital content deals this Christmas

Two more days 'til it's Christmas and I'm pretty sure you're not done with shopping for gifts yet. Why brave the crowd in the mall when you can do your shopping online? Amazon is one popular destination this season and the e-commerce website has been offering a lot of great deals from apps to videos to music, gadgets, ebooks, and more. Amazon started the Christmas week right by offering the lowest prices on content you can find on the Amazon App Store, Amazon devices, Kindle Books, Amazon Music, and Amazon Instant Video.

Even if you've decided to give a Fire phone, Kindle, or an Amazon Fire Stick to your friends and loved ones, they would still need the most popular and latest digital content. Go ahead and complete their holly jolly Christmas this year by throwing in content you can find with big discounts.

On the Amazon Appstore starting tomorrow, December 24 until the 25th, you can get the Free App of the Day bundle. It includes games from developers like Sega of America, Rovio, and Halfbrick Studios. Apps ranging from $0.99 to $64.99 are now offered free as part of the special bundle. Customers can save up to $220.

For the avid mobile gamers and those who like in-app purchases, there are Amazon Coins you can get with up to a 30% discount. You can get in-app items like gems for Brave Frontier, lollipop hammers for Candy Crush Saga, gold for Game of War-Fire Age, and card packs for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. Other games from Sony Pictures Televsion, Gameloft, and Disney will be offered at discounted prices too until the New Year.

For those who want to watch kids and holiday movies and TV shows, Amazon is offering up to 50% discount on title like White Christmas, Home Alone, Polar Express, Elf, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas as part of the Amazon Instant Video—Movie and TV Streaming deals.

Of course, Amazon Prime members can also enjoy more movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video. For the music lovers, Amazon is offering All Is Bright, a holiday playlist that includes 40+ holiday songs from Brandi Carlile, Amanda Palmer, Ashley Monro, Yoko Ono, and PHOX among others. Songs are offered for unlimited ad-free listening on Prime Music. Prime members can also listen to popular Christmas albums for free. You can enjoy listening to Christmas albums from Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, and Pentatonix, as well as, other holiday classics and favorites. And on December 25, the latest popular albums like Frozen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Ariana Grande—My Everything, Imagine Dragons—Night Visions, OneRepublic—Native [+digital booklet], and Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) will be offered for only $3.99.

For Kindle book lovers, a number of popular titles will be offered with big discounts starting on Christmas day until the New Year. Books from authors like Kristin Hannah, Sandra Brown, Rick Riordan, David Baldacci, and James Patterson will be part of the special deal. And as part of the Amazon Device Deals, you can get the Amazon Fire TV for only $79, Fire HD 7 for $114, Kindle Paperwhite for only $99, and the Kindle for only $59.

All these digital content can make someone's Christmas very merry. Head on to Amazon and get these great deals for Christmas:

• Kindle

• Amazon Coins

• Amazon App Store

• Amazon Music

• Amazon Instant Video.

SOURCE: Amazon

Story Timeline

• Amazon App Store offers free Android apps worth $135


• Amazon Appstore merged into main Android app


• Amazon app update: Lollipop and Android Wear support

Air Control 2 now available for Android devices

One of the more unheralded heroes of the aviation industry (well, at least in the public's eye) are air traffic controllers. You hear of kids saying that one day they would like to be pilots or flight attendants, but you rarely hear them say that its is their dream to be air traffic controllers. But now you get to experience being one through an Android game and see how difficult but exciting their job could be.

Air Control 2 is the sequel to the game of the same name and simply put, you get to direct the incoming and outgoing planes on the runways and avoid any kind of incident. You think that would be too uncomplicated and boring. But the game actually is "surprisingly addictive". If you're an aviation nut, you would also enjoy seeing all the different kinds of planes and choppers that will try to land and take off, including zeppelin airships and also the world's fastest plane, the SR-71 Black Bird.

You also get to direct air traffic in different locations around the world, from hot desserts to freezing mountains, experiencing what actual controllers feel during the different seasons they have to work in. And on the occasion that the plane hits a radio jam, you will need to get out of that situation alive (the plane and passengers too!).

The game also has multiplayer coop maps so you can play the game with a friend while using the same tablet. You can get Air Control 2 free from the Google Play Store, but with in-app purchases available.

LG to showcase WiFi speakers series in 2015 CES

The 2015 CES is still a month away, but already OEMs are trotting out (on the Internet at least) their products that will be on display during the expo. Aside from the usual smartphones or tablets, get ready for a glut of other devices, specifically wearables and music or video accessories. One of the first out the door is LG, which will be unveiling their Music Flow Wi-Fi Series.

All of the devices in the series can function individually but they also can be interconnected wirelessly if you decide to get the entire set as a New Year's gift for yourself. It uses the Advanced Wireless Network and Dual Band Wi-Fi and even if someone calls your smartphone while it is connected to the speakers, the music or sounds will not be interrupted. You can also broadcast music from streaming services like Deezer, Naposter, Spotify, and TuneIn.

Included in the series are the LG H4 Portable, which is their first ever foray into wireless speakers, plus two Wi-Fi Sound Bars, the HS7 (seamless HD sound) and the HS9 (deep acoustics), and the Streaming 3D Blu-ray Player. The H4 has a built-in battery so that you can carry it to whatever room you'd like to play your music or videos in. As a whole, the system can be played in Home Cinema Mode to immerse the viewers in its own version of surround sound. Each of the speakers can be set to match where it is actually placed and the Blu-ray player can be connected to the speakers to stream sound from either a DVD or a USB drive.

Another cool feature is that you will be able to control the devices using the LINE messaging app from your smartphone or tablet through the LG HomeChat. You can send commands through text, like setting how long the music will play or even setting alarms and notifications for event alerts. LG still hasn't released price and availability so we need to wait for CES which will happen on January 6-9 to find out.

SOURCE: LG

Certification docs point to underwhelming ASUS CES phone

Some certification documents coming from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) are pointing to an ASUS smartphone device with modest specs, and not the flagship level device we were hoping for. There seems to be no sign of the dual camera setup that we thought they teased in the past few days, or is it still there?

The device is code-numbered ZC451CG is described as the successor to the ASUS ZenFone, but the specs are not up to par with the flagship devices that might be launching at CES 2015. Looks like ASUS is still targeting the lower market niches with this device. The new phone will still be sporting a dual-core Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM, a 4.5-inch 480x854 display, and a 2,100mAh battery.

Regarding the cameras, the document says “Dual Cameras (Front and Rear)” which is an odd way to phrase that spec. They’re listed at 5MP and 3MP respectively, but dare we hope that there will be dual cameras in both front and rear of the device? We’ll just have to wait and see won’t we?

The aforementioned leak did visually show some sort of dual-camera setup. But that may just be video editing for you. What do you guys think?

VIA: Android Police

Story Timeline

• ASUS ZenWatch now available, sort of


• ASUS launches mid-tier ZenFone 5 Lite


• ASUS teases dual camera setup for ZenFone, CES 2015 reveal