Google Continues Midweek App Updates With Google Play Newsstand

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If you use Play Newsstand to read just about all your news and magazines you might love the update that Google is steadily pushing out. Middle of the week is usually when we expect Google to send out any sort of updates that they have ready for their core apps, and Google Keep was already updated earlier. Google Play Newsstand seems to be the third app on the list today with Google Play Movies also getting an update, and with this new update it brings a list of new and useful features as well as optimizations and enhancements/improvements, or whatever you want to call them. We’ll start with the obvious improvement which is bug fixes. Just like any new update to any Google core app, or really any app for that matter, tweaks and enhancements to has out known bugs is something you can always expect, and it’s always appreciated.

Moving along, this new update brings Google Play Newsstand forward to version 3.2.0, and you can now view headlines on your home screen with the Play Newsstand widget, as well as scan for headlines more quickly now with the new mini cards option, which makes the cards smaller, and is accessible by going into menu/mini cards. You can also now organize magazine issues by publication date when that specific publication allows, and translate news sources instantly, so there’s no more waiting period if you want or need to read your news or magazines in another language. The update also throws in support for RTL languages.

Among the those changes Play Newsstand has also consolidated a couple things within the menu that you access by swiping inward from the left edge. My library now encompasses both the my news and my magazine into one easy, more manageable section, and the main page when you open the app known as the Read now tab has everything split off into relevant categories across the top bar which you can move between by swiping either left or right. Other than that there really isn’t anything else to tell in terms of changes. The app seems to work nicely, and we’re particularly fond of the mini cards feature. Do you find yourself using Play Newsstand and now with these changes will you use it more often?

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Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 10.1 Review

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Gameloft Optimizes Three Games For Amazon Fire TV At Launch, More On The Way

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The Amazon streaming device has been officially outed. They announced this morning that Amazon Fire TV will be their new streaming TV product that we have heard about for months. And that Bluetooth game controller that we’ve been seeing images of all over the web? Yeah it’s for Amazon Fire TV too. The reason being is because Amazon Fire TV will be optimized for gaming as well streaming media like TV shows, movies, and other video. So far we have learned about at least one game built completely from the ground up for Amazon Fire TV specifically, called Sev Zero which is developed by Amazon Game Studios and brought to our attention by the fine gents over at Android Spin. What about games that already exist though? Not to worry, because existing games will end up getting optimized as well, and Gameloft is leading the way with some of their existing games.

Gameloft has just announced today that they will be optimizing some of their games for play on Amazon Fire TV, and of the games they have that already exist for Android and other platforms, three have already been optimized for play on Amazon Fire TV at launch. Their popular FPS title Modern Combat 4 is one of those games, so if you are looking to pick up an Amazon Fire TV streaming box and haven’t yet had the chance to play Modern Combat 4 on the big screen by any other means, now will be your chance. Along With Modern Combat 4, Gameloft has also optimized Despicable Me: Minion Rush, a cheeky endless runner style game that lets you play as the adorable and hilarious little minions from the Despicable Me films, and of course one of their biggest titles to date, Asphalt 8 which is the newest in their popular Asphalt franchise of racing titles.

Gameloft has pointed out that Asphalt 8 was specifically demoed off on Amazon Fire TV at the event this morning to display just how much the game has been enhanced for the big screen and really show off the game’s amazing graphics. The game already looks great on tablets and smartphones, so it’s good to know that Gameloft was able to bring that same striking visual quality to a larger screen that you can play from the comfort of your couch with a traditional controller. The Amazon Fire is available for order starting today, and the quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM really drive home that it can serve as a great way to play games and not just movies.

Amazon Fire TV

Amazon Fire Game Controller

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Google Is Beta Testing Chrome Remote Desktop App For Android

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There are plenty of remote desktop clients on android, and there are a few really great ones that allow for tons of uses and include many features. Even though we have yet to see something from Google in this particular category, according to a reader of Droid Life, Google has began beta testing their new Chrome Remote Desktop app for android this week. The beta test apparently went live just a few days ago, and the anonymous reader was given access to the app during testing of its beta period. Like many remote desktop client apps already out there, its main function is to provide you fast access to your desktop PCs when you’re away from home or just don’t want to leave the other room, and it sounds like that’s exactly what this app will aim to do.

As of right now the app is only accessible through an invite only basis. So those of you who were excited to try this out will just have to wait a little while like the rest of us to get our hands on it and try things out. As we understand it, the beta invites only went out to those who showed some interest in signing up for the beta to try out the app, which is how this reader was able to get the app installed on their device. Connecting to the computer of your choice is as simple as downloading and installing the chrome remote desktop app from the chrome web store, and the android app version on your device, then proceeding to select the desktop you wish to access remotely from within the android app. This is Google after all so security is a must have, and you can expect the option of a PIN requirement to be input before access is given as depicted in the image below.

For right now there isn’t a lot of details about what other features the app will have in the future if any, or if it will continue to look the same once it has reached completion and gets rolled out for everyone. We have no idea exactly how long the beta will last but you can bet we’ll update you as soon as the app is open to all.

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Rumor: Google Now Potentially Getting Update To Set Timers Instead Of Just Alarms

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Google Now may not be as new anymore, but it still continues to delight us with the new features it receives, and even when we’re greeted by old ones. Seeing package tracking information or flight information pop up in your status bar thanks to Google Now is still exciting for those of us who don’t see those pop up as often, but we love new features. New features are great, and with that said, there is a rumor going around that Google Now will at some point in the near future be able to use voice search to set a timer for any allotted amount of time you wish. Within reason of course. For example, say you’re cooking something on the stove and you need to attend to it in 15 minutes. With this new rumored feature you can simply use voice search within Google Now to set a timer for 15 minutes and Google Now would set that timer within your devices clock app. The clock app already has a built in timer so Google Now wouldn’t need to do much work.

Google Now already has a similar functionality that allows users to set an alarm, but that is of course inherently different than setting the timer itself. You can still at this point in time use Google Now to set an alarm for the time that you need, but that would only set up an alarm to go off after the time you requested and not he countdown timer itself. So if it’s 6:30 and you need 15 minutes, than you’d set an alarm for 6:45. As we said this is still a little different than setting an actual timer, so it’ll be nice if we get the ability for Google Now to properly set a timer instead of alarms.

Google Now is one of those ever updating features that plenty of people get many uses out of. While this feature seems like a no brainer and seems like something Google would love to add in, rumors are still rumors. The images posted here are also just our own interpretations of how this feature would look if already available. Would you find this feature useful if it was already something usable within Google Now?

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Google Play Movies Updated to v3.1 With Slightly Updated Slide-Out Menu

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As #UpdateWednesday continues, we’re looking at an update to Google Play Movies and TV, which brings it to version 3.1. It brings a few smaller tweaks to the UI, including the slide-out menu. It has a slide-out menu similar to the Google Play Music and Google Play Store. So you’ve got the Watch Now, My Movies, My TV Shows, On Device, and Shop there. But you’ve also got the Settings and Help & Feedback on there as well. Which with this update, Google has made the physical menu button useless on phones like the Galaxy S4, LG G2, and a few other devices.

There’s a few more changes to the app as well which is the improved seeking behavior, closed caption system override, closed caption indicator icon and the episode synopsis. Additionally, Google has added the new Chromecast icon which we saw them announce and change in the design guidelines a few weeks ago. I’d expect to see that icon in more Google apps as well, as that’s their new guidelines for Chromecast functionality.

For those of you interested, we do have the APK to side load onto your device to get v3.1. For those that don’t know, you can simply download the APK onto your phone, make sure Unknown Sources is enabled in the Settings > Security, then just follow the on-screen prompts. It’s just that easy. The APK is about 3.9MB in size, so if your download is a bit smaller, you may want to retry the download again as your download was likely corrupted.

The Google Play Movies & TV app is a pretty nice app, but it’s nice to see these smaller updates for the Google Play Movies & TV. How many of you are side loading the updated onto your smartphone or tablet? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.

Download: Google Play Movies & TV v3.1

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Say Goodbye To Shelfies, Say Hello To Custom Gmail Themes Instead

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Among all the April Fools pranks from yesterday one of the more tame things we saw came from Google with the Shelfie Gmail theme. Gmail themes themselves weren’t new, but seeing as how the selfie was a popular topic and word usage to describe people taking pictures of themselves, Gmail thought it would be hilarious to create a new theme for Gmail for yesterdays pranks, allowing users to either create their own custom shelfie theme or use one from the selected list of trending shelfies. What exactly is a shelfie? As Google described it, it’s a selfie that you share hence the name shelfie. April Fools is over and Shelfies are now long gone, but Google got an overwhelming positive response to the idea of using custom themes inside Gmail, so they decided to make it an ongoing thing.

We can now create our own custom themes and share them with whomever we like. Your custom themes can be of just about anything. A trip to the beach, that perfect sunrise, pets, cats, you name it. Google even points out that custom themes can still be made up of selfies. Indeed since you can create your own custom theme now for Gmail and share it, you can take a selfie and make that your theme and share it with the world. It won’t be a shelfie anymore though.

Google and the Gmail team are urging us to share our own custom themes since Shelfies are so yesterday. Really.. they were yesterday. Not only do we get custom themes, but the Gmail Google+ page is also holding a Theme Tuesday where every week they’ll be sharing some of their favorite custom themes. Think you got a great custom theme? Share it and it could end up on Gmails G+ page. Custom themes within Gmail will definitely add another layer of individuality to one of our favorite Google services, and there should end up being some really awesome themes to come. I already have a few in mind myself. If you already have a custom theme set and you want to share it, doing that is simple. All you have to do is go to your themes page under settings inside Gmail, and there will be a new button for you to click(clicky things are good, we love clicky things) that will allow you to share it Google+ of course, through Gmail if you want it going to specific people, or you can just copy and paste the link where ever you like.

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