Google’s Play Store Now Shows All Your +1s and Ratings On the Desktop

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Google has been bringing more and more of their mobile features to the desktop. We have seen Chrome Browser getting updates that allow for Google Now windows on your desktop. Now we are seeing an update to the desktop version of the Play Store. This update is being called “My Activity” and, as you may have guessed already, this is where you will find all of your recent activity in the Play Store.

In case you didn’t know, Google has made commenting on apps in the Play Store only possible through Google+. For some this is an inconvenience and for others it makes a lot of sense. The Google+ requirement allows you to find out if friends like the app, most simply through a +1. When you +1 an app, that action goes straight to a recent activities tab on your mobile device Play Store app, and helps keep track of what you like, in case you forget. Though with this update to the desktop version of the Play Store, you will be able to see this activity on your desktop.

This update hasn’t been fully completed as of yet, though we imagine it will be soon. Once finished, it has been assumed that you will not only be able to see your activity, but your friends activity as well. This could come in handy if you are looking for some new games or apps to try out, but only trust your friends to leave honest comments. Where can you find this my activity section of the web-based Play Store?

It is actually very easy to find it, on the right hand side, right under the “Devices” link, you will find “My Activity. Once you click it, you will be taken to a page that looks like the header image, all of your recent 1+’s will show up as well as comments. So now it is easier to track your history, and possibly in the near future, your friends history from the web-based Play Store.

What do you think though, do you like having access to your history, or do you find this useless? Where do you see the benefits and where do you see some downfalls to this function? Let us know down below, or on our Google+ page.

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Nest’s Learning Thermostat Now Available in the UK; Starting at £179

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When Google purchased Nest a little while ago for a pretty large sum of money, our UK readers were probably interested in what all the fuss was about. Much like Google’s own Chromecast, Nest’s learning thermostat had been available for some time in the States and was making quite a name for itself in the tech media. The smart and simple way to monitor heating in your home, to keep things efficient and ultimately save you some money was catching on fast, and Google now own Nest after paying the handsome sum of $3.2 Billion. Now, Nest is available to purchase in the UK, but the question is after all this waiting should you care?

Well, if you’re a techie (which let’s face it, you are) then you will more than like already care about Nest. Reasons you should care however, range from being able to save some money on your heating bills and creating a gentler climate in your home without ramping the heating up, down or on, off all the time. In the UK, companies such as British Gas are selling similar solutions like Hive, but Nest is the original good-looking and slick learning thermostat. Over the first few days of being installed in your home, Nest learns from your heating habits and after that will smartly adjust to what it thinks you want from your heating system. Using sensors in the device, Nest can tell if nobody’s around and will cleverly turn off your heating in order to save a little cash, too.

For UK buyers, things are a little different than the US version as it comes with the Nest Heat Link which connects directly to your boiler and then relays info back to the main unit. Speaking of which, you can purchase your own from the likes of B&Q, Amazon, John Lewis and of course their own website for £179, or £249 with installation. A stand is also available for £29 if you’re not going the hard-wired route and npower customers will be offered the device from their provider as well. We love hearing from our readers – especially those in the UK – so drop us a line in the comments below if keeping tabs on heat in your home matters to you or not.

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Samsung Claims Their Ad Campaign For The Next Big Thing Caused Apple To Become Obsessed

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The Apple vs Samsung trials have officially kicked off this week as of yesterday, and part of Samsung’s defense in this case which has Apple seeking over $2 billion in damages over patent infringement, revolves around a series of documents that contain internal Apple correspondence over matters like Samsung’s Next Big Thing ad campaign. We’re all familiar with these ads. Mostly commercials, they started off as making jokes that legions of loyal Apple fans waiting to pick up the next iPhone, were intrigued over seeing the next device from Samsung being used right in front of their eyes. Samsung’s lawyers are claiming that the ad campaign which jabbed at Apple with a gentle ribbing, drove Apple absolutely crazy and proves that Apple was concerned about not only Android as a whole, but mainly Samsung since they are androids largest OEM in terms of sheer number of devices sold.

John Quinn, who is representing Samsung in this case, is attempting to point out that Apple became so obsessed(Phil Schiller in particular who is the marketing chief at Apple) that they went so far as to send a personal email that stated simply “we have a lot of work to do to turn this around,” and even suggesting to Tim Cook they might need to consider switching ad agencies, which Apple actually held board meetings with executives over.

We’re not exactly sure what Samsung’s argument is in the matter, but it’s clear that they are putting up a fight with whatever they can to succeed in this trial. The case is expected to run all month long , and the honorable Judge Koh will be presiding over this trial as well just like the last one. The case is taking place in California, and if Samsung succeeds in becoming the victor over Apples newest claims, they’ll end up getting $6.9 million in damages over everything. I know we’re not the only one that finds these trials ridiculous. Do you find these trials between both companies a complete waste of time? It’s not clear whether the case will actually run through the entire month of April or not, but hopefully things will end sooner than later.

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This Is The Story Of How Gmail Went From Closed Beta To Public phenomenon

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Many of you may not remember, but Gmail wasn’t always so popular. It also wasn’t always meant for the wide range of general public. Once decided though that Google wanted to share the joys of Gmail with everyone, it entered a closed beta and well… the rest is history as they say. Fast forward to today and Gmail is probably one of if not the most widely used email service. Interested in knowing how Gmail came to be and ended up as one of the most commonly used services of people on the web? Good. Because we were too and we want to share the story. As I said, Gmail wasn’t always meant for the general public. However today marks the 10th anniversary of Gmail’s launch, and it’s quite interesting to think that most people saw this as a simple April Fools joke back then.

Gmail has seen a wide range of changes since it all began, launching it into the upper echelon of email powerhouses that we know and use in today’s day and age, but we shouldn’t forget it’s humble beginnings. Gmail for those of you who don’t know, actually started with search, or rather with a search feature, which if you think about it is kind of ironic given the nature of Google’s main service offered, which to this day is web searches. Gmail’s creator, Paul Bucheeit, began work on Gmail in 2001 but had previously attempted a web email service years earlier in 1996. Drawing from his experiences over the years, and gathering feedback from fellow engineers at Google who suggested that Gmail incorporate searching emails into its list of features and functionality, giving users the capability to search within their own email inbox to find specific content that they might have forgotten about, built Gmail with the idea that it could allow users to virtually keep their emails forever, and finding old mail by searching for it. This coupled with the decision to give users a large amount of space for storing emails made Gmail one of the most revolutionary web mail services at the time, and it still continues to innovate with fun and exciting new features.

Even Gmail’s design and look on a user based personal level has come a long way, offering things like the infamous Shelfie theme users can apply to their Gmail inbox as part of the April Fools set of gags this year. Gmail didn’t always look like this though. You didn’t always have the option for things like themes. just like most other web mail services, it had a basic design to it that had just the right amount of Googleyness, which we can thank Kevin Fox for,(Gmail’s designer)who was a new Google employee at the time. Gmail was finally launched in 2004, and Google had in fact methodically selected April 1st as the date to announce the release of Gmail to the public, because they knew that it would lead some people to believe it was just another one of their April Fools Day pranks. The jokes started for Google in 2000(Y2k as we might fondly remember), which is why they had a good idea that people would claim the Google email service as a fallacy. The date wasn’t the only factor which played into this theory, as the amount of storage space also had a small role to play, since 1GB of storage space for any email service at the time was unheard of. However, Gmail to much of the public dismay was not a prank, and now it is the proverbial champion among similar services. How do you use Gmail? Do you keep your inbox relatively clean or do you let things go on and on and on until the end of time?

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Draw Awesome Pictures With Your Friends With The New Chromecast Game Doodlecast

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Do you all remember Draw Something? It was insanely popular for a time and those that remember its inception and have actually played it know that it was a god among men(for games), sitting high atop the throne just like games before and after it. The basic idea of the game was to try and draw something for an opponent who you played against online and they would end up having to guess what it was. Almost like pictionary. If it was your turn to draw, you would pick a category from which to be given something to draw for your opponent, which would end up being something random within those category guidelines. While the original Draw Something was quite fun in its own right, it would be much more fun when played as a party game or in the company of real friends who you have actually met and see face to face on occasion.

This is where the game Doodlecast comes in. It’s a great new game for Chromecast that allows you a similar style of play for the big on screen experience that you get when streaming other already available games to Chromecast. It isn’t the first game to launch for use with the streaming media dongle, others like Dehumanize your friends(previously known as casts against civility, the Cards Against Humanity clone) and others have already been out for a little while, but for the pictionary fans out there this proves to be one game that can be fun for the entire group.

The game while awesome, does its few downfalls, one of which is a low number of possible words and phrases to be drawn out. Although this is a minor setback, the app is in its complete infancy so expect plenty of updates in the future that should expand on its vocabulary and give the players more value in it. The game does well to put some more variety into what’s available for the Chromecast owners who enjoy games, and just like the other games on Chromecast, it’s turn based, so each person that connects up to the Chromecast will take turns choosing a word to draw which appears up on screen. If you enjoy a good game of pictionary, this is certainly a must have to play on the Chromecast. Doodlecast is free, and you can grab the game from the link here.

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Oppo Giving Away Three Free Accessories To Find7a Pre-Order Customers

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Are you going to be one of the first in your group of friends and family members to obtain the Oppo Find 7a? you probably already know that Oppo will be starting pre-orders this next week on Monday, April 7th, but what you may not have known is that those who pre-order the device will get a few accessories for free along with their phone when it arrives. Or perhaps you did know but just like the rest of us you just weren’t aware of what the complimentary items would be. What do you get? Something every device owner could use, a spare battery. That’s not all though as Oppo is also going to be sending pre-order customers an easy style cover to go along with the device as well. That sounds like a great deal to us.

While a spare battery and a free easy style back cover for the phone are great, what has our interest piqued is the third freebie that Oppo says is going out to those who pre-order the device. The company announced all this on their Facebook page this morning, but looking closely at the image accompanying the post we can see that they have an unannounced item going with the first two that they will unveil on April 4th. That’s just a few short days away from now and only a few days before the pre-orders begin, so if you want to get in on this awesome deal from Oppo it would be advantageous to scrounge up $499 which will be the cost to pre-order the Oppo Find 7a on the 7th. For those who are more interested in the Oppo Find 7 2K model, you’ll end up having to cough up an extra $100 to get your hands on it.

The oppo Find 7a comes powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU, and has 2GB of RAM to allocate for all those memory intensive tasks. Worried most about the camera quality? Don’t be. The rear camera will give you stunning(although we have yet to test it for ourselves) 13MP quality images, and for the selfie aficionado there is a 5MP shooter on the front. All those pictures will look great on the 5.5-inch 1080P display and you have no problem storing all of them with the 16GB of internal storage, although if you need more you can simply slide in a microSD card in the expandable storage slot that is included. Sadly there’s no Android kit kat, but hopefully that’ll come down the road. Looking to pick one of these up? Get your wallets ready for the 7th, and stay tuned to find out what Oppo is giving away as the third free accessory.

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Humble Bundle:PC And Android 9 Is Here With Six Totally Awesome Games

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This is not a joke people. I repeat, this is not a joke. Humble Bundle has indeed launched Humble Bundle: PC and Android 9 today, the page is live, and you can pay what you want to help charity and get six awesome games to play on either PC through steam, or on the go via your Android device of choice. As we all know with Humble Bundle game packs, there are usually four games in the pack that you will get for whatever amount you wish to pay to help charity,(a little bit of the money can go to the devs and Humble Bundle as well, so be a little generous) while the other games included are unlockable, meaning you have to pay the minimum average amount to unlock those games and take your gaming to epic new heights.

The games included in this bundle are Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror, an interactive adventure game with great cartoon style art visuals, Bridge Constructor(just in case your life long dream has been to become a civil engineer and build bridges, now you can!), Type:Rider which is an immersive platformer that tasks you with exploring typography like never before, and Ravensord: Shadowlands, the award winning open world RPG from Crescent Moon Games. Still hungry for more games? Great! The good news is that if you pay the minimum average amount which is $3.49 at the time of this publication, you’ll also unlock two additional games, Kingdom Rush, and Knights of Pen and Paper.

That’s six awesome games, for just a little more than the original cost of Ravensword: Shadowlands by itself. Should you decide that you want to play the games on both platforms, you can do that. Just sign into your humble bundle account on either your PC or your android device and download the appropriate game file to proceed. The bundle remains live for about two weeks, but like many bundles who have come before it, Humble Bundle: PC and Android 9 will most likely end up having games added to it as extra unlockable titles, which you’ll gain access to at no additional cost if you have paid the minimum average amount. While there is no guarantee that Humble Bundle will add in extra titles to unlock, it happens near every time so it’s safe to assume there’s a good chance with this bundle as well. Get Humble Bundle for PC and Android 9 while the average price is low for the absolute best deal.

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