Deal: Maxboost Electron 10,000mAh External Battery Pack for $38.95

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Here’s another battery pack that’s on sale today. This one is from Maxboost, who makes some pretty good battery packs. This one probably isn’t the best looking battery pack out there, but for $40, it’s hard to find one with this type of capacity. It’s available in black and has two USB ports so you are able to charge two devices at once. This one also has a digital display which shows you the percentage of battery left, which is a bit nicer than just 4 LED lights on the battery pack, at least in my opinion it is. It can charge most devices 3-5 times, of course that all depends on the device and the size of battery it has. Like it can charge a Moto G about 5 times, but a Droid Maxx might be closer to only twice, because the size in batteries there vary quite a bit.

This one is on sale for $38.95 right now and will probably jump in price pretty quickly, much like the CITUS battery pack that was on sale yesterday and is now available for “pre-order”. How many of you are planning on picking one up?

Maxboost Electron 10000mAh Dual-port 3A Premium USB Portable External Power Bank Backup Charger Battery Pack for Samsung Galaxy S5 ; iPhone 5S 5C 5 4S 4 ; iPad Air 5 4 Retina 3 2 1, The New iPad ; iPad mini retina 1 2; Google Nexus 5 4 7 FHD 2 ; Samsung Galaxy Note 3 , Samsung Galaxy S5 S4 S3, Galaxy S4 Mini S3 Mini; HTC One M7 Mini M4 ; LG Optimus G2 ; Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 8.0 10.1 ; Nokia Lumia 1520 1020 920 900

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LG G3, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and Pantech Vega Iron 2 All To Be Water-Resistant

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It appears that the water-resistant trend has finally caught on. After Sony has been water-proofing their phones for a few years now, Samsung finally made the Galaxy S5 Waterproof and now the Galaxy Note 4 will be, which isn’t a real surprise there. But also the LG G3, and the Pantech Vega Iron 2 – which we probably won’t see in the US – will both be waterproof, or at least water-resistant. It’s actually a really cool feature, and one that I’m glad has finally caught on. After using phones like the Xperia Z and Xperia Z1s, last year and this year respectively, I’ve wanted more OEMs to come out and make water-resistant phones. Not because I want to be able to take my phone in the shower with me, but because sometimes I’m outside and it starts raining, or it gets dropped in a snow-bank – during the winter obviously – and I won’t have to worry about it getting damaged by the water.

This report about LG and Pantech’s future smartphones, that should be released this year, being water-resistant actually came from the Korean media. Which kind of makes sense. After all, all three of these OEMs are in Korea. That’d be Samsung, LG and Pantech. And sure I know that LG likes to copy everything Samsung does, but in all actuality Samsung and LG both copied from Sony, if you want to go that far. This report also says that the LG G3 has been pushed up to a May 17th launch in Korea, which I think is a bit early. Also, I’m not sure if the Snapdragon 805 processor will be available then. As I think if they keep to the Snapdragon 801 in this successor to the G2, that not a lot of people will be happy.

So water-proof all the things. Sounds like a good idea right? Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments down below.

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San Francisco Hotel Offers Complimentary Drink to Glass Wearers

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If you have never been to San Francisco,or the surrounding cities and area, known as the Bay Area, then you really should plan a trip. Not only because of the history and welcoming feeling you get being here, but because of the way technology is accepted. When planning your stay, you may want to choose to stay at the Stanford Court, which is in the Nob Hill District of the city. Why stay there you may ask, well simple, you are bound to run into some Google Glass explorers, and be able to try them out yourself, for free.

Like most cities, there are always controversies, but San Francisco being so close to the Silicon Valley, which is home to numerous tech companies, there are tech nerds everywhere. So the version of controversy is different, to a degree. Take Google Glass for instance, there are places around the country that have banned people from wearing the device. There are many reasons behind this idea of banning them from using the device in their business, and for now, they have the ability to do so. No shirt, no shoes, wearing Glass, no service. However, one part of being in San Francisco more so than any other city, is diversity, enter the hotel Stanford Court, and you will see this in tech terms.

While other places are banning the technology from entering their stores, Stanford Court is welcoming. In fact, they are offering a free drink to those who are wearing Google Glass at their bar. A spokesperson for the hotel told the SFGate, “The complimentary drink is geared towards the local tech crowd who own a pair, and might feel like an outcast or nuisance due to the recent string of negative press.” Continuing to say, “[We] want them to feel at home.”

This hotel is starting a trend that we hope to see more and more. The trend is welcoming tech into our lives, and in every aspect imaginable. They offer support for those with most forms of technology, not always in the form of a drink, but in the form of WiFi access, and easy charging in their bars. Stanford Court is even planning to offer a Google Glass Package at some point. It seems as though the hotel will be offering a pair of Google Glass to essentially come with your room. Of course you will need to return them after your stay, and we imagine there will be some sort of deposit for using them, still, this sounds like an impressive embrace of technology from a non-tech business.

Now with every coupon there is fine print, and this deal has some fine print as well. In order to get the complimentary drink, you need to be wearing Google Glass while at the bar, as well as take a photo of either the drink or the hotel. Of course you can use your Google Glass to take this pic, then you need to post it to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using, #stanfordcourt. Small task for a drink that can cost upwards of $17 for a martini.

Google Glass has really opened up the discussion for how far society is willing to go as far as acceptance of technology is concerned. So how far do you want it to go, are you excited about the idea of tech-hotels, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, stores, etc. or are we just asking for a robot apocalypse?

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Chromecast Now Available For Purchase In The UK And Various Other EU Regions

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Earlier today we reported that starting on March 19th, which is tomorrow here in the U.S., that Google’s HDMI streaming dongle known as the Chromecast would be available to pick up in the UK. It’s now after 1 a.m. there, and the Chromecast is now officially on sale and can be purchased if you haven’t already imported one in from the US. The kicker here is, the UK isn’t the only country seeing the Chromecast show up for sale. Canada, and nine other countries within Europe also now have access to the wonderful little plug in device that allows access to all kinds of Google media content as well as various other applications for streaming video and music.

This is a big step for the Chromecast, as it hasn’t been available for sale officially outside of the U.S. since its release. That was last summer in July, so now around eight months later more regions are starting to get their first taste of this product. That is to say for the consumers that were waiting to grab in their area. We reported that we weren’t sure if the Chromecast would be available to buy through Google Play itself in the UK, but as it turns out Google wasn’t about to make it difficult for consumers there to get a hold of one and is allowing purchases via the Play Store web portal. It’s also available through other online retailers like Amazon, Currys, and PC World, and it costs £30 from all those retailers.

As for the other regions that the Chromecast is now available in, the sales we can presume are all through Google Play for now, while other brick and mortar retailers in those countries may pick up and sell the device at a later date. The nine EU countries that consumers can now buy the device in are Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Finland(Nokia and Rovio’s Home base!) Now that this awesome little device is up for sale, who’s buying one and what’s the first thing you’re going to use it for? Do I smell some consumers catching up on House of Cards Season 2 via Netflix? If not, you should. I’m only one episode in and already I’m addicted.

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Featured: Incipio NGP Case for the Moto G

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As always, Incipio has made some nice looking cases for the Moto G. Today, we are taking a look at the first of three cases for the Moto G. This one is the NGP, which is basically a TPU case for the Moto G. It comes in plenty of colors as well, the one we have here is obviously turquoise, it’s also available in gray and black. This case is available from Incipio for just $20, which may seem a bit pricey, but it’s definitely worth it, at least in my opinion. This NGP case from Incipio is a pretty high-quality, yet its still nice and thin and will protect your Moto G from just about everything.

The NGP Case uses Incipio’s stretch and tear resistant Flex2O material which provides excellent shock absorbance. It’s also easy to slide your Moto G inside, since it is flexible. Now we didn’t attempt to do a drop test with the Moto G in the NGP case, but it feels like it can withstand a drop, as long as it doesn’t land on it’s face. The case only adds a little bit of bulk to the device, which isn’t too bad. But as far as how it feels, it feels nice, and looks even better.

The NGP uses a smooth matte finish and is comfortable to hold in the hand. It also comes with a nice lifetime warranty, which is always a big selling point. It has cut outs for the microUSB port, camera/flash, speaker, and the headphone port up top. There’s no cut outs for the power and volume rocker, but those are still easily press-able.

Incipio has the NGP case for the Moto G both on their own website for $19.99 and on Amazon for $19.99 as well. On Amazon’s site, some colors are cheaper.

Video Review

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Rumor: Samsung Working On A Gear 2 That Makes Calls Free Of Smartphone Connections

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There has been so much buzz around Android Wear since this morning that Samsung could have almost been forgotten, but don’t worry Samny fans because now that all the excitement with Google’s new wearables software build is starting to wind down for the day, we have fresh rumors regarding what Samsung may be working on in the wearables department for the future. According to the Korean Herald, Samsung may be working on a Gear 2 smartwatch that has independent calling capabilities, which would certainly be something to see. Currently the way the Gear 2 and really all other forms of smartwatches that have the ability to answer and make phone calls, use the connection via Bluetooth to your handset to actually place the call. The smartwatch isn’t really doing any work here as it’s serves the same purpose that a Bluetooth headset would. It’s the conduit, the vessel. This new rumor states that Samsung is reportedly working on a new version of the Gear 2 smartwatch to be released later on this year, that will have a USIM module built inside of it. Having a USIM inside for those that are unaware is what would make it possible for this alleged new Gear 2 smartwatch to make a phone call without having to connect it up to your actual smartphone device. The rumor further goes on to explain that if actually released, it would start out as only being initially offered in Samsung’s home market of South Korea, but that the possibility of it coming to other markets is something we shouldn’t dismiss. This is of course assuming that Samsung is indeed working on such a product. Right now there are a few hurdles that Samsung would have to overcome before they seriously consider releasing a device like this, and a major one is battery life. The battery life is said to be better on the Gear 2 devices, but ultimately it would still need some improvements to cover the heavy drain that would undoubtedly come from being able to make phone calls all on its own. Second, a smartwatch that can also make independent calls sounds like it would cost quite a bit more money, and the Gear 2 is already fairly expensive for a wearable piece of technology in the smartwatch market. After everything we’ve seen today with the many companies that are going to start offering smartwatches with Android Wear, do you see this as something that could make in the US market, or anywhere? Would you buy one?

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Oppo Reportedly Confirmed To Release A 5-Inch Mini Version Of The N1

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Oppo’s upcoming Find 7 is not the only device that they have planned, as reports are suggesting that the Chinese manufacturer is looking to release a mini variant of the Oppo N1 from last year. Now when we say mini, we don’t really mean that mini, because the rumor is that the device will sport a 5-inch display. Most mini devices come with smaller screens closer to the size of 4.3-inches, but in comparison to the Oppo N1 and it’s 5.9-inch screen with 1080p, the 5-inch display is definitely smaller.

In regards to what kinds of stuff we can look forward to seeing on the inside of this mini Oppo N1, sources are stating that it will be an Octa-Core processor, but there was no mention of what OEM would officially be handling this task. There is talk of MediaTek, which wouldn’t be too hard to believe since they are based out of China as well and have been producing some powerful stuff for a lower cost lately, rumors also suggest Samsung could provide them with the latest Exynos octa-core. It’s also rumored that the Mini version of the N1 will have support for multiple network bands. This particular rumor doesn’t have much in the way of details either, just that the mini N1 would have LTE and non-LTE models.

We should hear an official announcement from Oppo about this new device sometime closer to the summer, specifically in May or June. If we hear about the phone officially at that time, that is most likely when we will hear about an actual release date and possible location availability, as well as pricing information. We may also hear about that well before then as this is just starting to develop. Chances are though that we can expect the mini version of the N1 to be priced somewhat lower than the standard N1 from 2013. How much lower we have no idea. If we had to guess though we’d say a competitive price point would be around $500 or less. Even though this isn’t too much of a Mini device, it will still probably grab plenty of peoples attention who like powerful smartphones in smaller packages, especially since this device won’t be that small to begin with.

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