Let's Talk Tech
Microsoft’s dominance of the consumer PC market is largely due to system makers making entry level gear. This situation has been rough on Windows 8, as the OS is more fun to use with a touchscreen. This is exactly the market Lenovo is trying to crack open with the C260 budget All-in-One PC. Let’s take a look!
Shop the Lenovo C260 on Amazon.
More info on Lenovo products.
To entice select Android owners to try screen casting through Google Play compatible devices like the Chromecast, Google realized people might want to stream things other than Youtube videos.
If you have a Nexus 5 phone or a Nexus 7 tablet, opening the Google Play Movies & TV app might present you an offer for a free copy of Gravity. Fantastic film to stream onto a good TV.
No word on how long this deal might last, so you might to jump on it sooner rather than later. Just no one tell Google that after I grabbed the film from my Nexus 7, I immediately fired it up on a Note 4 to stream to my Chromecast OK? Cool?
***UPDATE***
If you do not have a Nexus, apparently you are offered a copy of Shaun the Sheep: The Big Chase… Not quite as nice as Gravity, but that’s still better than nothing right?
(via Slickdeals)Â
The rumors of a Microsoft smartwatch are true!
Taking the wraps off of a new app and new hardware, the Microsoft Band will retail for $199. It features a 320×106 pixel capacitive touchscreen, built in GPS, a heart rate sensor, skin temperature sensor, Galvanic skin monitor, UV and Ambient light sensors, and a microphone. They’re only rating it as dust and splash resistant, so it might not be a good option for swimmers.
Interestingly enough, there are two 100 mAh batteries, about half the capacity of the new LG G Watch R, but Microsoft is estimating 48 hour battery life.
While it’s built around fitness tracking, it will also pair with phones over Bluetooth for the standard collection of notifications and alerts. Happily, Microsoft is making this watch cross platform, so it will work with Windows Phone, iOS, and Android, though only Windows Phone users will have access to Cortana from their wrist.
The Band is being launch alongside a new Health app, which is also cross platform for Windows Phone, iOS, and Android. While Health is designed to be a fitness tracking service, both the Band and the app will leverage cloud services and will work with other fitness services like RunKeeper and UP by Jawbone.
Are these the features you’ve been looking for in a smartwatch? Leave us a comment below!
A nice little touch for the holidays, Google is cutting Hangouts users a break on international calling for the rest of 2014.
If you have voice calling activated through the Hangouts dialer, the first minute of your call will be free to twenty five participating countries.
Don’t worry, you wont have to memorize which countries are free, as a little pop up will notify you of your first free minute. You can say a lot in a minute, but really, anything that can the edge off of the costs of international phone calls is always going to be appreciated.
Hit the Google Support page for the full scoop!
Carrier stores have become full service tech retailers. It makes sense that when you front your cash to pick up a new phone, you might also want to make sure you leave well accessorized.
This is pushing into more supplemental devices like wireless speakers and now wearable tech. AT&T is confirming they will carry the upcoming LG G Watch R when it’s released later this year. Of course, like LG, they are remaining tight lipped on what the pricing will be.
In competing against online retailers, this might be another good opportunity for folks to be able to play with one of these things in person.
Full PR Below.
Continue reading “AT&T Confirms LG G Watch R Will Join Its Wearable Portfolio”
The cloud storage wars rage on! This is really helpful for me as I’ve got promotional DropBox space expiring this month, but I am an Office365 subscriber!
Starting today, if you’re paying for the monthly version of Office, you will now receive unlimited storage from Microsoft, with no restrictions for Home, Personal, or Student customers.
To put that in perspective, DropBox or Google Drive will cost you $9.99 a month for 1TB of storage, OR you could pay $9.99 for 5 PC’s and 5 tablets to have monthly access to Office, one hour of Skype calling, AND unlimited cloud storage through OneDrive.
Not bad at all. You can read all the deets on Microsoft’s OneDrive blog.
Email is one of my biggest time wasters when it comes to getting my work done, and I’m pretty terrible at organizing it consistently. Any tools that can actually help me clean out my inbox are greatly appreciated, and that’s what Google is aiming to do with this new Inbox app. At the time this video was shot, it was an Invite only public BETA, so let’s take a look!
I’ve been a long time fan of OtterBox cases, and since the weather has been so nice lately, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to get out of my office to review the new Defender case for the iPhone 6!
Shop the Defender case on Amazon.
More info on OtterBox Products.
How the hell do you remove a defender case???