Google just released the source for both the Android and web version of their Santa Tracker app. If you’re curious about Android development, Android watch face creation or Polymer-powered and mobile optimized websites, make sure to check it out!
The post Google’s Santa Tracker Open Sourced appeared first on xda-developers.
Users of the Vodafone network in Europe have a new feature that they should be excited about. Vodafone has announced that as of today it has added 4G access to two more pricing tiers for its plans. As of now users on 12 and 24 month bundles get access to the Vodafone 4G network.
Obviously, the user will need smartphones and devices that support 4G access. Vodafone also says that it is giving users larger data allowances. Starting today and lasting until June 2015, EE and O2 customers coming over to Vodafone Pay monthly bundles will get £20 as a welcome aboard gift.
That money would be in the form of a credit on their bill. Under the new plan, Pay Monthly allowances are now called bundles. Standard Bundles offer 500MB or 1GB of monthly data access with 4G service. Red Bundles offer 2, 6, 10, or 20GB or monthly data.
Red Value Bundles give even more data with 2, 4, 6, 15, or 25GB of data. All of those plans except the 2GB Red Value Bundle also get access to Spotify Premium, Sky Sports Mobile TV, or Now TV Entertainment Pass for up to 24 months at no additional cost. The packs also have unlimited landline calls and texts.
SOURCE: Vodafone
Snapchat's much-hated "Best Friends" feature is finally, totally (hopefully) gone. But instead, they have replaced it with (maybe) a more fun way of visually showing your relationship with your contacts. The update to the app also brings with it a special low-light camera mode, and a new way of categorizing contacts that you haven't been paying attention to or those that you've been neglecting lately. The photo sharing app is trying to regain some of the users it has lost to new ephemeral apps that have sprung up in the wake of its popularity.
Instead of adding people to your "Best Friends" list, you now have six main categories, visualized by emojis, that you can add to your contacts. The gold heart is for the people that you chat with the most while a grimacing emoji means that person has the same BFF as you. The smiling emoji is for someone who is a best friend, but not at the top of your list. Emojis wearing sunglasses mark people with whom you have mutual contacts. A smirking one is for those who consider you their BFF but you don't return the feeling. If you have a fire emoji next to a contact, that means you've been snap chatting non-stop for some days now.
The update also brings a low-light camera mode so that when you take pictures in dark places (let's not discuss what those dark places are), then it will not just be a grainy, unintelligible blob. It will also now inform you which of your contacts "need love", meaning you haven't "spoken" to them for some time. They are found in a list in the Recents tab and these are for those you used to chat with a lot, but have now been neglecting.
Don't worry, those emojis you put next to people isn't something the rest of the world will see. They're just for you to privately categorize your contacts. The update should be rolling out to users over the next few days.
VIA: SlashGear
If you're in the mood for a little silliness, twitchiness, and adventure in space (well, from the comfort of your own home, that is), then you can try out this game from developers that know how to make it fun. Flop Rocket is a game from Butterscotch Shenanigans (the name itself kinda says it all huh?) and all you have to do is escape Spaceducks and cave rock-worms and make it through various time-space anomalies, all for keeping your space program afloat.
Flop Rocket is another one of those easy to learn but hard to master kind of games that we seem to be so fond of right now. You get to go on randomly generated missions so that each game you play seems to be different. There are four upgrade tracks that you can master and you collect power-ups and bonuses along the way to help you fly and not flop. If you upgrade to the premium version, you'll get 8 more upgrade tracks, including the ability to build a gun, use your armor slots, etc. Plus, you get to play without any ads, so that's a great incentive.
The developers actually have a whole network going with their BscotchID services which you'll just need to make a one-time payment, and you'll get access to all the games that they've created, including Quadrompus Rampage, as well as cloud services, and even a social gaming network where you can meet players from within your game and the other games in the network as well. The goal of the company (made up of three brothers) is to " build a one-stop mobile empire that fulfills all your gaming dreams."
You can download Flop Rocket for free from the Google Play Store. The premium upgrade, which will also bring you into the world of bscotchID is available in-app.
If you don’t know what the Humble Bundle is all about, we ask you to come out of that rock you’ve been hiding in for this long. The Humble Bundle is not just about giving gamers video games on the cheap, it’s about getting the gamers to give money to great causes and charities – something you wouldn’t have thought possible. Now they’re back with the Humble Mobile Bundle 11 – giving you (initially) 6 games in the bundle, depending on how much you give.
As always, Humble Bundle will give you the chance to pay what you want – and give you three games for that. This includes “Bounden”, “Auro”, and “Avernum: Escape from the Pit”. Bounden is a funky little multi-player dance game, you might want to play this with a friend. Auro is more of a tactical/strategy game. The big boy in this bundle is Avernum, a huge RPG that would normally cost you USD$9.99.
If you pay more than the average, which at time of writing is at USD$4.32, you get very good game apps in “80 Days”, “Kingdom Rush: Origins”, and “Riddick: The Merc Files”. As a bonus, you will get any other game they may want to add in the next few days, and trust us, they will add games.
So if you’re feeling a little generous now, head on over to the Humble Bundle site to get this package of games. Pay as little as USD$0.01 to get some games, but why stop there? Pay over the average and get all of the available games.
SOURCE: Humble Bundle
They say that all great film franchises come in trilogies (well, most of them that are great anyways) and maybe that can apply to games too. The final part of the popular and critically praised Random Heroes trilogy has finally made its way to Android smartphones and tablets. Now you can blast your way into saving the earth from invading aliens through this 2D shooter game.
The side-scrolling shooter game has the same storyline as the two previous installments. You need to save the earth from these alien invaders, but you and your teammates are the most unlikely of heroes (hence, the name of the game). But as long as you shoot everything on sight and get the job done, who cares if you look or seem weird for a hero? There are over 75 levels in this third game, plus more than 25 weapons and 25 unlikely heroes as well. Each of these characters have different abilities that may serve you well in some parts of the game.
While you're just running and shooting all throughout the game, there are also stars and crystal skulls to be collected, an upgrade system to follow your progression, plus large maps and hidden areas to explore. If you don't feel like doing much thinking when you're playing games, then this is something you might enjoy (if you like shooting guns and killing things, that is).
You can buy Random Heroes 3 for just $0.99 from the Google Play Store. There are also several in-app purchases available.
If you’ve followed our reports on Android Auto, you will understand that Google’s efforts towards reaching your car’s dash control is only available in head units at this time – and some very expensive ones to boot. AutoMate may just be the answer to that – it provides a sort of control hub for you while driving your car, but it’s still in beta release at this point.
App developer Kahtaf Alam has made AutoMate available via the Google Play Store, but only for those who want to do beta testing. The app delivers an Android Auto-like experience – bringing messaging, call, navigation and music capabilities together so you can access it while driving.
When you test out the app, it looks very much like Android Auto – that is intentional. AutoMate wants to capture a piece of that experience in app format. The features are still rough, you would expect that in a beta release. But basically, it does everything Android Auto can do – it can read back your text messages (via Google’s text-to-speech), navigate via Google Maps and other navigation apps, play music, and make calls.
If you want to test this out, there is a dedicated Google+ group (see source link) that you can join, and ask how to be part of the beta test. The developers have been very open in their need for quality user feedback, so maybe you can help.
SOURCE: +KahtafAlam