Amazon’s 2012 Kindle Fire HD Gets Some Love From CyanogenMod

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Although the Kindle Fire HD from a couple years ago is already an older device, that doesn’t mean we can’t breath some new life into it. In fact, if you’re an owner of a Kindle Fire HD and are looking for a way to bring the tablet back from the dead, it looks as though we might have a way for you to accomplish just that. Among other things, the Kindle Fire HD has plenty of potential to be great. The issue is that it can’t access the wonderful nature of things that Android has to offer in its true form simply because it doesn’t run a regular version of Android. Although it is an Android tablet, it’s Amazon’s own re-worked version and for some of us there’s just no replacement for something as awesome as Android the way it was meant to be. The good news for you if you feel the same way is that the Cyanogenmod community has take it upon themselves to get a version of the aftermarket Android firmware running and ready for the Kindle Fire HD, so the awesome hardware can take advantage of truly awesome software.

Before we delve any further into this a couple things should be noted, this is slated for compatibility with both the 7-inch and 8.9-inch models of the tablet, so no worries there, but the software is more or less in a beta or alpha testing stage at the moment. Meaning it’s experimental, which could and most likely does mean bugs. Now onto the fun stuff. First off, this is a version of Cyanogenmod 11, so yes, you would in affect be bringing your Kindle Fire HD forward into the modern age of Android software builds. If you have messed with Cyanogenmod 11 at all before on any other devices, then you already know how awesome of a ROM it is, and will most likely be plenty happy to get it installed on your device.

As expected, your Kindle Fire HD will have to be rooted of course to do anything with this software, and if it isn’t already done we would suggest flipping over to a place like XDA to look up some processes on how to correctly root your Kindle Fire HD, they shouldn’t be too hard. Once that’s all said and done come back to these links(Kindle Fire HD 7-inch, Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch) and grab your downloads, then proceed. Make sure you have at least 200 MB of space left for you to work with, and you should be good to go.

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LG Puts out Connect SDK and wants Chromecast Functionality on their Smart TVs

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LG has been working with Google a lot lately, and it appears they like how the Chromecast works and everything. LG has now open sourced the Connect SDK for their smart TVs, built on WebOS for the recent ones. Basically how LG’s Connect SDK works is it combines all the other technology out there including DLNA, Google Cast, and DIAL. According to LG it’s an abstract layer.

“The Connect SDK currently supports webOS, Roku, Chromecast, Fire TV and older LG smart TVs. LG wants to add support for Apple TV and Samsung devices soon.”

This makes us wonder why LG is making technology that allows us to connect with other set-top boxes that LG is NOT selling. Usually companies want you to buy their products and not use anything else. So why is LG doing this? They’ve basically realized what other companies need to realize. Is that we are using all of these devices. Whether it be the Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, Apple TV, etc. They are all in our living room and being used at one point or another. LG decided to open source it to get the industry going, and lead the way, which is exactly what I believe LG is doing here.

What’s interesting here is that LG isn’t stamping their brand all over the Connect SDK. What they are looking to do is to get everyone out there working together. Which is exactly what the Connect SDK is for. Connecting all your set-top boxes together so you can have a seamless experience. It sounds amazing, and I definitely can’t wait to see how well it works from LG. Obviously it’ll take some time to get it perfect though, but it definitely sounds promising. LG stated “we want to drive the whole industry forward”.

How many of you already own an LG TV? Let us know in the comments below.

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Amazon App Store Has Easter Egg Hunt Sale On Games And Apps

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In the spirit of Easter, and egg hunts, and the two of them together, Amazon is having an Easter egg hunt to be had in their app store in celebration of the day to come. During this celebration of sorts which goes through tomorrow, there will be sales and discounts on apps and games with rewards like Amazon coins for purchasing certain apps. More expensive apps will obviously net more Amazon coins, so buying something for a few bucks will reward you with more coins than something that only costs a dollar. There are a number of different apps that are part of the Easter sale, and some just might catch your fancy.

To find the apps and games that are part of it all you have to do is navigate over to the main page of the Amazon app store in your browser, and then find the egg that has Amazon coins emerging from it, and clicking on that will take you to the page with all the participating apps and games. Some of the apps and games were already to free to begin with, while the ones that cost money like Minecraft Pocket Edition for $6.99 should score you a good little bit of coin. The sale actually seems to contain mostly games, but there’s nothing really wrong with that.

If you find yourself in need of some Amazon coins than this sale is a great way to stock up especially if you were planning on loading up on a few games for the weekend. We did however find at least one game that is quite a bit cheaper in the Play Store than through the Amazon app store, which was Need for Speed Most Wanted. It costs $4.99 through Amazon but is only $0.99 in the Play Store, so if you don’t really care about the Amazon coins aspect than you might as well just save yourself a few bucks. Everything else though seemed to be the same cost in both places, so if you were in the market for a few more titles, you might as well get some free stuff out of it right?

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Deal: Mpow Portable Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Stereo Speaker for $45.99

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Mpow’s newest portable Wireless Bluetooth speaker is on sale today. It’s on sale for just $45.99. That’s about half of the normal price. This speaker has Bluetooth 4.0, so it’s pretty good on battery for both the speaker and the device that you are using with it, i.e. your smartphone. As far as battery life goes, it will last about 8 hours of continuous use. Also it’ll shut off after 10 minutes of no activity. Which is good for those that forget to turn off their speaker. On the side it has the on/off switch as well as the 3.5mm jack and a microUSB port for charging the speaker. It’s a really nice looking speaker. While I haven’t reviewed this speaker from Mpow, I have reviewed another smaller one – which is priced at around $25 normally – and it was amazing. So I’d expect the same out of this one. You can buy it by hitting the link below.

Mpow® Portable Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Stereo Speaker with AAC aptX for CD Quality Sound and Support Hands-Free Calls

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These Unadvertised Galaxy S5 Features Will Make The Phone That Much More Enjoyable

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Samsung may have opted to highlight only a few of their best features with the newest flagship device, the Galaxy S5, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t tons of other useful functions that one might stumble onto that Samsung is proud of. Admittedly, there are actually a bunch of great little features that Galaxy S5 owners might find useful or just downright awesome. We’ll go through ten of some really cool features that Samsung didn’t really advertise but they’re definitely worth mentioning to users. First up is the Kids mode feature. This has infinite useful capabilities to the parent who loves to share their tech with their kids. No longer will you have to worry if they’re getting into things they shouldn’t be. This is especially great if you want to limit them to certain apps and games.

Priority senders is another really cool feature that we found to be handy. It’s kind of like favorites in the stock android people app, but it takes things a bit further by adding in some extra functionality. You can basically prioritize your top 25 people that you tend to contact the most, and make it so they appear at the top of your messaging list when going in to send a text, thus eliminating the need to scroll through your contacts. It also lets you see recent interaction you’ve had with any of the people that are designated as a priority contact when you call them and see their recent G+ posts. Definitely one of the cooler features that many people might not know about is the ability to use a regular pencil as a stylus with your galaxy S5. It’s an option called increase touch settings, and can be found inside display settings if you want to toggle it on or off.

One of the best things about smartphones now a days is the vast capabilities with music. With the Galaxy S5, you can have the phone pop up a list of similar songs to what your listening to in the music player just by tilting the phone a little while it’s in landscape mode. If you don’t really listen to music on the device but you do shoot a lot of pictures, than you might find the virtual tour with snapped photos useful, and it’s always nice to have quick access to the camera to take pictures in the first place, which you can set up by simply adding a camera button option to the lock screen. That one in particular is nothing really new, as plenty of Android phones already have that, but it’s cool nonetheless and a useful feature to have for on the fly moments.

We know that other people picking up your phone and choosing to browse through it or play with it will sometimes be inevitable, which is why Private Mode is one of the better functions on the Galaxy S5. You can choose to designate media like videos or photos, as well as documents from prying eyes, and anyone who you just don’t want looking through your stuff. One of my personal favorites is the call pop up feature, which basically allows for the call notifications to come on the screen in a pop up window over whatever you’re already doing. This is great for someone like me who always plays games on their device, as I can continue playing without having to dismiss the call or close the game out first. The last feature, called toolbox, basically allows you to choose your favorite apps and place them inside the toolbox so that you can access them quickly from a floating menu, that can be opened from anywhere no matter what you’re doing. We hope the Galaxy S5 owners found this useful and enjoy some of the features as much as we did.

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Sprint Edits the Nexus 5 Software Update Page to Reflect no Android 4.4.3

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Earlier in the week, Sprint had posted on their support site that the Nexus 5 was getting Android 4.4.3 this week. In fact, it was supposed to come on Monday. It never did. Nor on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…you get the gist. So now when you go to the same software update page from earlier in the week, it now says that the latest update was Android 4.4.2 which was pushed out back in December.

So what happened here? We’re not sure. It could be a bunch of things. Could be that Sprint jumped the gun. Maybe Google had planned to push the update out this week and they found a bug. There could be a million reasons why. But we have heard from a few sources, reliable ones of course or we wouldn’t be writing this, that KTU84F is the last build for Android 4.4.3. And that it’s just about ready to roll out. Hopefully it comes sooner rather than later, since I know a lot of people are having issues with Android 4.4.2 on their devices.

Hopefully we’ll see Android 4.4.3 next week, although we’ll be saying that every week until the update actually rolls out. Watch Google push it out as soon as I hit “Publish” on this post. The update is said to be mostly bug fixes, and nothing really new with KitKat. We are expecting to see all the new goodies at Google I/O in June. Which we will be there to cover it. So make sure you follow us so you don’t miss a beat during those two days in San Francisco.

How many of our readers are waiting on Android 4.4.3 for their Nexus 5? What kind of bugs are you experiencing on your device? Hopefully Google fixes them all in this update. Let us know in the comments down below.

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Smart Glasses? How About Smart Headphones with 3D Audio and GPS Support?

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We’re all pretty familiar with Google Glass and other smartglasses that are on the market. We also have lots of options for other wearable devices like smartwatches and similar accessories. But what about a smart headset? The concept is not one that we’ve seen from a lot of companies yet, but it seems pretty obvious. A Danish company called GN wants to introduce us to their new smart headset, called the Intelligent Headset. It can run apps and knows which direction you’re facing. It also plays 3D sound and can give you directions audibly, eliminating the need for a screen in front of your face all of the time. Sounds pretty cool, huh? GN has been hard at work on their Intelligent Headset, and they’re almost ready to introduce it to the masses.

The Intelligent Headset looks like a normal pair of over ear wireless headphones. You’d never know that they are packed with extra features and sensors. Lars Johansen is one of the developers of the smart headset. “It took us under two years to develop the headphones, which are based on our sister company Jabra’s Bluetooth headphones, upgraded with a gyroscope, GPS and compass integrated into the top band,” Johansen said. “They connect via Bluetooth to a smartphone or tablet and allow us to use 3D positional audio to give the wearer real-time audio feedback on their actions or location – they’re like an audio version of Google Glass.”

GN is not limiting their design to just GPS and guidance support, though. There is potential for lots of other uses. Apps could be developed for gaming, music, and other audio functions. They could even be used for accessibility for those who are vision impaired. GN has opened the Intelligent Headset up to third-party developers, and their current team is also working on new uses for them.

Johansen has already created a game called Zombie X that uses 3D audio to create a 360-degree area filled with zombies that the wearer must track down and eliminate using just their ears. More conventional uses that GN is demoing include audio-guidance for museum tours, enhanced with sounds that tied in with the exhibit the user is viewing.

Pre-orders for the Intelligent Headset are open now. The device is $420 and should ship sometime in July of this year.

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Lightening Deal: Transcend 64GB SD Card

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Amazon’s lightening deal right now is a brand new 64GB Transcend SD card. This is a regular sized SD card and not a microSD card. So it won’t work for the Galaxy S5 or the HTC One (M8), but it will work great with cameras, like the Galaxy NX Camera or the Galaxy Camera 2. It’s on sale for the next hour for just $29.99. After that it’ll be going back to its normal price of $56.99. So be sure and get your SD card before time runs out, or supplies run out! How many of you are going to pick one up?

Transcend 64GB High Speed 10 UHS Flash Memory Card TS64GSDU1 (up to 45 MB/s, 300x)

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Two New DROID MAXX Colors Appear at Verizon but Feature Less Storage

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Between phones like the HTC One M8 and the Samsung Galaxy S5, consumers looking for the perfect high-end phone certainly have their work cut out for them. If you’re not crazy about the idea of spending a lot of money just to get one of these new flagships out of the gate, then Verizon has a new deal you might want to consider. The carrier has just launched two new colors for Motorola’s DROID MAXX, and though the phone is getting up there in age, it’s still a solid device in its own right.

One of the new colors is being described as “High Gloss Red,” while the other is black with chrome accents. In other words, hopefully you’re fine with either black or red, because you don’t have any other options when it comes to the DROID MAXX, as these two new color schemes are joining the standard black model. Either device can be had for $99 if you sign up for a two-year commitment, which isn’t too bad a deal for those looking to get a good handset without breaking the bank.

With that being said, there is one problem with these new versions of the DROID MAXX: internal storage has taken something of a hit. While the standard DROID MAXX model sports 32GB of internal storage, the new models can only boast 16GB. Provided you don’t go too crazy with app and music downloads, 16GB should prove to be enough storage for your needs, but it’s still disappointing to see the internal memory slashed on a device that doesn’t have the option of using microSD cards. The original DROID MAXX is still available at Verizon – complete with its full 32GB of storage – but nabbing one of those will cost $149 with a two-year contract.

If you decide you can live with the reduction in available memory, there’s still a lot to love about the DROID MAXX. It offers a 5-inch display, 2GB of RAM, a dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro clocked at 1.7GHz, and a very beefy 3,500 mAh battery. That battery is really the star of the show, as it provides usage and standby times that are greater than what you’re probably used to seeing from other smartphones. Verizon says it will begin offering this deal in stores on April 22, though it appears to be live on Verizon’s online store this very minute. Are a couple of new color options enough to convince you to take the plunge on a DROID MAXX?

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Discover Friends Near You With Facebook’s Upcoming Nearby Friends Feature

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With some of the already available options out there to locate friends that are close by to you whereabouts, Facebook seems to want to enter the game with their own feature that introduces a friend finder of sorts. Nearby friends is an upcoming feature that Facebook is slated to introduce to the iOS and Android apps in the very near future, that would allow you to use the app to find which of the friends that are your list who are near you at any given time. Among already existent privacy concerns about the favorite social media app of many, this new friend locator seeks to dig up some new ones that people are sure to love and hate once it shows its face. The catch that Facebook is hoping will save it from too much backlash from users, is that it’s completely an opt-in service, so the choice to see and be seen is up to the user entirely.

When this feature hits, basically what it will do is allow you to opt in so friends can find you if you want to hit the town together. They also have to be opted in of course, or the feature will do no good. This could play out in many ways, from letting people sneak by others they don’t really care to converse with even if they are just around the corner downtown, to letting close friends know that you’re hitting up the local pub for a quick beer or late night snack. The nifty thing about the feature if you choose to use it is that you can designate groups of friends who can and can’t see your location. If there’s only one person however that you want to avoid, you can block that person specifically from seeing where you are, and open up your location to all others. The same goes for anyone that’s on your friends list, as they can choose to single you out too, so your goal is to find out who does that and then block them back, cause why would you want to find anyone that doesn’t want to find you right?

Not only will you be able to complete searches and look for friends on a whim, Nearby Friends can notify you when it finds a friend that is close so you don’t have to worry about checking. This makes the feeling of finding a friend who is near the same place more natural and makes it seem less like your hunting someone down. The feature will of course need access to your GPS if it’s to operate properly, so expect it to either kill your battery if your always using it, or rack up a hefty amount of data usage by keeping in a constant alert mode where it can ping you at a moments notice. The feature has yet to be updated into the app, but it’s coming soon so if you’re interested keep your eyes peeled. Until than, you’ll just have to stalk your friends the old fashioned way, by crawling their Facebook page looking for random posts about where they are, or just plain old bombarding them with text messages asking what they’re doing.

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Hidden Goo.gl Links Offer Up The Chance To Buy Google I/O Tickets

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Tomorrow is the last day to submit your registry for the Google I/O 2014 lottery, which is the first time Google has decided to actually hold submissions to attend the developers conference instead of just letting anyone go and buy up the tickets. The lottery doesn’t guarantee you a spot, but rather puts you in a pool of applicants who are also interested in going to this massive event held every year by the worlds largest Search company. The funny people that Google are though, have decided to offer up tickets in another way, by hiding them through out the Google Developers website in various spots which if found, will actually guarantee you the opportunity to buy a ticket. The cost of the tickets is still $900 as one would expect, but if someone were to end up finding one, than they wouldn’t have to end up worrying about the lottery.

The hunt for the tickets basically comes down to stumbling upon found goo.gl links that were spread across the Google Developers website. They are supposedly hidden everywhere, and if you find one and click on it you’re seemingly taken to a quirky little webpage that has you play out a sort of funny little text based game, which eventually leads you to finding out if the code was valid or not. It’s a hilarious little way to give out some stuff like the guarantee of entry to an event, and the way it was done is all Google. We’d expect nothing less.

Plenty of codes have already reportedly been redeemed, but we’re also told that Google is constantly adding these all the time, although with the amount that has already been found it might be a bit harder to track them down. The goo.gl links are hidden everywhere from text, source code, Google Dev YouTube videos you name it. If it has to do with the Google Developers site, there’s a chance that there might be a hidden goo.gl link. This is certainly a little bit of an odd way to guarantee at least some people a spot at I/O, but as odd as it is whoever ended up finding unused codes is probably more than excited. If you’re particularly adventurous, feel free to hunt for one yourself.

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Samsung May Implement Android Wear with the Galaxy S Fitness

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Wearable tech has gotten a lot of news lately. The tide has turned for the desire for wearable technology and it shows no signs of slowing. Even Google has realized the demand for wearable tech and has released Android Wear for OEMs to implement into their devices. This Android Wear release has given Samsung yet another operating system to play around with. Earlier this year, Samsung’s Gear 2, and Gear 2 Neo were released with Samsung’s Tizen OS while the Gear Fit was released with RTOS. This was expected by the tech community because it could be believed that Samsung wanted to try and get its content and various services out in the forefront and therefore rely less on Google’s services. Not only that, but it also allowed the tech Giant to put light-weight OS’s in lower powered hardware and get great performance and battery life out of the devices.

Samsung’s Senior VP of Product Strategy, Yoon Han-kil, went on the record with Reuters to discuss Samsung’s future use of Google’s Android Wear. He did not give a great deal of detail but he did divulge that Samsung has plans to use the Android Wear OS on a smartwatch sometime later this year. Yoon also disclosed that a high-end Tizen Smartphone is on the horizon for launch as well. This is pretty good news for a company this is trying to keep its dominance in the mobile space.

With the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit Samsung is currently trying to occupy the general public’s minds while working effectively to empty their wallets. This being the case, it can be assumed to be a doubtful chance that Samsung will put the Android Wear OS on a wearable and announce it any time soon. The company will more than likely want to make sure that their newly released product gets into the hands of as many consumers as possible before they push a new fully Google supported wearable out to the masses. I think this would be a wise decision as too much too soon can hurt profits. Having choices is good but having too many choices can spread your profits thin.

Samsung recently filed for a trademark this week on devices called the Galaxy S Fitness, Galaxy Now and Galaxy Solo. It is unknown which of these would have Android Wear OS on the inside but, if the past is any indication, the Galaxy S Fitness stands a good chance of being the one since the current Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo have no Galaxy in their name and run Tizen OS. Time will tell what Samsung decides to do. It does make for some interesting speculation and something to watch in the future.

So, what do you think about the possibility of seeing an Android Wear OS Smartwatch from Samsung this year? What features would you like to see it have? What do you think the devices’ name should be if it is not called the Galaxy S Fitness? Please leave your interesting comments in the section below or on our Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus pages. Keep it locked to Android Headlines for more news and reviews.

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Google Wants Potential Explorers To Try Glass On At Home Before They Purchase

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Just in case you haven’t had the opportunity to try Google Glass on for yourself, and you aren’t willing to pony up the dough it’ll cost you to actually buy it, you may be in luck if you were looking forward to seeing how you look when your face is adorned with Glass. Google is reportedly setting up and deploying home try-on kits to potential Glass explorers, so that they can test each one on and see how it looks, fits and might function if they were to enter the program. As most of you probably already know, the cost to be a Glass Explorer is $1,500, which is no small fee and thus the reason many have shied away from the opportunity, waiting until the price comes down which is suspected to be sometime at the end of or near the end of this year with Google Glass going full production ready in consumer launch.

You may also know that Google gave anyone in the U.S. an opportunity to buy glass just a couple days ago for one day only, just in case there were some people who haven’t previously gotten invites to the Explorer program and wanted to buy. With that day come and gone, users are left with no way to actually purchase Glass at the moment, but there will likely be more opportunities in the future. Until then, it looks like users will at least potentially be granted the chance to try on the advanced eyewear, with the home try-on kits coming in four of the five colors: Shale, Sky, Charcoal and Tangerine.

The deal with the home try-on kit is fairly simple. You would essentially call the number listed in the image we have below that shows the message from the Glass team, upon which you would let them know you’re interested in the kit. They place a hold of $50 on your credit card while they send out the kit, and you receive it in the mail shortly to put on the non-functioning units with destroyed micro USB charger ports(to prevent charging of the device and getting them to power on)and see how they fit. Not only do you get four non working units of Glass to try them on, but the kit apparently comes with a set of all the frames to test out the style and fit of those too. If you’re actually interested in buying Glass but have wanted to try them on first, this isn’t a bad way to do it, provided you’re actually able to get in on the try-on program.

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Google Glass And Commercial Air Drones Get less Optimism Than Future Tech

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According to a study done by Pew Research, Americans were asked a series of questions that pertained to their feelings over matters like scientific and technological advancements in the future. More specifically over the span of the next fifty years. Surprisingly some were quite optimistic about certain things while others were less so over stuff that is already here and making its way to the consumer market for purchase. The study asked some 1,000 Americans for their opinions on such advancements, and the final report by Pew Research stated that they found that the American public anticipates that the coming half-century will be a period of profound scientific change, as inventions that were once confined to the realm of science fiction come into common usage.

What was interesting about the study shows that people are more in high spirits and had a more positive outlook when it came to questions about technological advancements that were set out to be 50 years from now, with 59% saying they were optimistic that technology would help improve the quality of life in 50 years, while an astounding 81% think that we could have the capability to grow organs in a lab for people that need them in that same 50 year timeframe. The funny thing, is that those ideas of technological advancements are more openly accepted and yet so far off, compared to things like Google Glass which is a hit or miss.

There are plenty of people who love Google Glass, but it seems like there is an almost equal amount that have negative feelings towards it. According to the survey done by Pew, 53% said that wearable devices-like Google Glass for example-which kept us in a state of constant connection would make things worse. An even larger number-63%-think it would be a bad idea if commercial and personal drones, like the ones that Amazon is trying to get approved for super fast delivery, became something that was possible and mainstream. While it is cool to think about some of the technological advancements that we could be looking at 50 years from now, it’s interesting to find out what people think of the things that are being researched now and are almost here. What will people think in 50 years of the same technological advancements that they’re currently intrigued with? Will they have just as much of a positive outlook then?

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Deal: Lepow Moonstone 6000mAh External Battery for $19.99

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Today, Lepow Moonstone External battery pack is on sale for $19.99. Now it’s a 6000mAh battery pack, so it’s not all that big, but it’s big enough to charge your device in a pinch when needed. It has two USB ports, one is a 1A and the other is a 2A, obviously the 2A is for tablets while the 1A is for smartphones and such. It’s a really nice looking external battery pack and it comes with a ton of accessories though. It works with just about every device. This includes iPhones, the Nexus 10, Nexus 7, Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 10.1, 12.2, Galaxy NotePRO 12.2 and everything in between. If you’re interested in picking one up, check out the links down below.

• Lepow Lepow Moonstone 6000mAh External Battery for Smartphones and Tablets – Battery – Retail Packaging – Glossy Black


• Lepow® Moonstone Series 6000mAh External Battery (Power Bank, Portable Charger) with Dual USB Ports and Lithium Polymer Battery – Compatible with Samsung Galaxy S4, S3, Note 2, Note 3, HTC One, Moto X, Nokia Lumia 1020, LG Nexus 5, Blackberry Z30, (Apple Adapters – 30 pin and lightning, not included). Different fashionable colors available – Ivory White


• Lepow® Moonstone Series 6000mAh External Battery (Power Bank, Portable Charger) with Dual USB Ports and Lithium Polymer Battery – Compatible with Samsung Galaxy S4, S3, Note 2, Note 3, HTC One, Moto X, Nokia Lumia 1020, LG Nexus 5, Blackberry Z30, (Apple Adapters – 30 pin and lightning, not included). Different fashionable colors available – Sunfire Yellow


• Lepow® Moonstone Series 6000mAh External Battery (Power Bank, Portable Charger) with Dual USB Ports and Lithium Polymer Battery for iPhone 5, 5C, 5S, 4S, 4, iPad, iPad 2, iPad Mini, iPods, Samsung Galaxy S4, S3, Note 2, Note 3, and other USB Charged devices (Apple Adapters – 30 pin and lightning, not included)-RoseRed


• Lepow® Moonstone Series 6000mAh External Battery (Power Bank, Portable Charger) with Dual USB Ports and Lithium Polymer Battery – Compatible with Samsung Galaxy S4, S3, Note 2, Note 3, HTC One, Moto X, Nokia Lumia 1020, LG Nexus 5, Blackberry Z30, (Apple Adapters – 30 pin and lightning, not included). Different fashionable colors available – Yellow Duck

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New Patent Application Reveals Apple is at it Again

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Well Apple is at it again folks. Still in courtrooms fighting Samsung. Still trying to make their case that Samsung has infringed their patents. While all of that is going on, they are filling for a new patent. Nothing out of the normal here yet, until you see what they are trying to patent. An unlock gesture that is essentially the same as an Android version of the same. Though in Apple’s defense, they did add a thing or two to make it their own.

Too bad changing a few things isn’t making it your own in any world. Apple’s or Android’s. This new patent application(complete with photos) is an obvious rip off of Android. The most interesting part, is that this unlock gesture is not something new to Android. Instead it has been around for years. If you haven’t caught on, the gesture we are referring to involves grids of dots. On Android, you slide your finger-in a preset pattern- over the dots to unlock your device. Essentially playing connect the dots.

So how can Apple get away with something like blatantly copying Android gestures? Simple really, they change it up in even the smallest way and then apply for a patent. Let’s take a look at what Apple thinks is a fair chance to patent their “new” idea.

First, on Android these dots are not customizable, (though there didn’t seem to be a need for that) Apple has made them customizable. This means you can move them around, changing the way the pattern would look. That’s not the only change here. Apple has also made “invisible” dots. These “dots” are essentially the empty spaces between the visible dots. The other way Apple has changed things up, is by adding speed and stops into the pattern. Meaning you can go from the first dot to the second dot fast, then stop for a second before continuing. The speed and stops will be configured into the code, and if not done correctly, will not unlock the device. These changes do seem more secure, but they also make things more confusing for the common user. The last thing Apple has added is a password strength bar. That is all they needed to do to apply for a patent.

Patents are a natural aspect of the industry. It is only fair that everyone has the right to own their ideas. However the question we all are asking is why would Apple apply for this patent. Let’s not forget Apple is the first company to introduce the fingerprint scanner on their device. The main purpose-and biggest selling point-was for security on your device. This is how Apple sold the fingerprint scanner. As a security measure-and if we aren’t lying to ourselves-that was well received. On Apple it is called Touch ID, and should be an end all security unlock feature for the iPhone. So what’s the deal?

Let’s go back to that courtroom that Apple is in with Samsung currently. Slide to unlock seems like a basic and almost essential part of any smartphone. However, Apple had a patent, therefore have the right to pursue Samsung legally. It is entirely possible that Apple has only came up with this patent, to make sure that Android can’t go any further with the unlock pattern. Not to use the patent-but to hold it. If Apple’s new patent application makes it through the US Patent Office, it will essentially be like Apple has a toy. This toy is not something they will play with, instead they just don’t want anyone else to play with it. This is a common practice, and the only people who are truly affected, is the consumer.

What do you think? Will Apple make it through the USPTO with a patent filing on something that so closely resembles Android? Let us know down there in the comments or on our G+.

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Frontback, Dual Camera App Now Available on Android

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It seems as though the camera aspect of our smartphones has become more popular. We loved the idea of a camera on our smartphones, but with social media and sharing moments of our lives-the camera has become more important. With such a popular piece of hardware that is (for the most part) included with our smartphones; it is no wonder why apps utilizing the camera have become more popular. One such app is called Frontback, and it is finally available on Android devices.

So the use of the word “finally” is loose, since the app is about eight months old. Still, Frontback has been available on iOS for those eight months. During that time it has gained over 1 million downloads. This growth was slow in the beginning, though in the last couple of months downloads have doubled. Frontback hopes that with an Android version they will see a huge boost in downloads. However Android users expect a bit more from their apps than iOS users. Naturally, Frontback has added some a new feature just for Android-for now.

Firstly, you may not have heard of Frontback, so lets cover what it did on iOS. You may have guessed from the name, that the app uses both the front and back facing camera- see what they did there? Yes, this is much like dual capture mode that we are already used to seeing. The app just seems to have a different way of providing the finished product. The front picture ontop and the back picture on bottom. Then you can share across all your social media, easily adding hastags and short descriptions. That’s it, but for Android users they have added a feature.

The new feature is an offline mode. This will allow you to take a picture using their app, and then save it to share later. Could come in handy sometimes, and will be a feature going to iOS at some point down the line.

If you feel the need to check out this app, a download link is provided below. If you are using or have tried this app, let us know what you think. There is space down there in the comments section and on our G+ page.

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