Category: News

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Google Giving Nexus 5 and 7 Owners a free copy of the film ‘Gravity’

Screenshot_2014-10-30-18-01-44To 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) 

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Microsoft Unveils Health App and $199 Band Smart Fitness Tracker

microsoft band smartwatch fitness trackerThe 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.

microsoft band smartwatch fitness tracker exploded view disassemblyInterestingly 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.

microsoft band smartwatch fitness tracker heart rate monitorThe 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!

 

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First Minute Free on International Calls Through Google Hangouts for the Rest of 2014

google hangouts dialer on LG G3 free minute calling 2014A 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!

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AT&T Confirms LG G Watch R Will Join Its Wearable Portfolio

lg_g_watch_r_black_storyCarrier 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”

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Microsoft Unleashes Unlimited OneDrive Storage for Office365 Users!

OfficeUNLIMITED_SISU_finalBrandedThe 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.

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PSA: This is the last week to Double Your Data on AT&T!

double_data_chart.jpg.thumb.282.611Just a friendly reminder! Last month AT&T started up a promotional plan for their Family Share Plans, doubling the data you can use per month for the same price. Those promotional plans will disappear after October 31st. It’s a pretty solid deal if you’ve got a number of devices on one plan. You can catch more info at http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html

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AT&T Bundling Kindle Fire HDX 7 Tablet for $50 with Fire Phone Purchase

ns_amazon_fire_tablet.jpg.thumb.432.946After catching the news that Amazon is sitting on millions of dollars worth of Fire Phones, it would seem they’re throwing a bone to their launch partner AT&T.

Starting today you can score a Kindle Fire HDX 7″ tablet for $49.99 with the purchase of an Amazon Fire Phone, which you can actually score for pretty cheap at the moment.

If you’re shopping an inexpensive two screen solution, and you’re a fan of Amazon services, you can catch more info on the AT&T Kindle Fire page.

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Amazon Writes Off $170 Million During Earnings Call Following Weak Fire Phone Sales

I’m not sure what Amazon could have done to be honest. Even if they had been substantially more proactive, putting people on the ground, building a grass roots fan base, courting influencers and creating evangelists, instead of the top-down marketing and outreach they decided on, it still might not have meant success for their first phone outing.

Launching a new phone in this market is a near guaranteed failure. While Amazon has found quite a bit of success with their Kindle series, tablets are companion devices. Second screens. Phones are mission critical communication devices for most folks. That makes consumers far more conservative. We’re a lot less likely to take a risk with a phone.  Continue reading “Amazon Writes Off $170 Million During Earnings Call Following Weak Fire Phone Sales”

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