Category: News

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Entry Level Moto E Smartphone Official at $129, Moto G Gains LTE

Moto_E_White_ShellsAfter the leaked and blurry pictures, it’s nice to see Motorola continue applying pressure to the entry level market.

The Moto G started a “low cost” conversation, and we’ll see it get a nice little update. Already showing up on MotoMaker and Amazon, G gets LTE support and still maintains its $229 price point.

Moto_E_Single_NAThe big news is Moto E however, as it steps into an even lower cost market. Motorola is delivering a solid spec sheet for a $129 price. A 4.3″ qHD screen (960×540) will be powered by a Qualcomm 200 dual-core and 1GB of RAM. A 1980 mAh battery should get this low powered wonder through a solid day, and a 5MP camera is on board for photos and vids. Plus the phone will feature a removable backplate to customize the design.

It’ll also offer up some great “Offline” features like an FM Radio and a MicroSD card slot, notable as this phone will be targeted at areas where data coverage is spotty or prohibitively expensive.

Exciting stuff, as less than three years ago this would have been a premier phone in the $600 price range. Motorola released a fun welcome video, and you can read the full PR below.

Continue reading “Entry Level Moto E Smartphone Official at $129, Moto G Gains LTE”

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‘Breaking Bad’ Coming to Netflix in 4K!

breaking bad 4k netflixNetflix debuted their Ultra-HD service this year with the second season of House of Cards, allowing viewers to watch the series with an image resolution four times that of 1080p.

Now Netflix has announced via their blog that the next series to make the transition to 4K will be Breaking Bad, giving me yet another reason to re-watch the whole series… Again…

Netflix recommends at least a 20Mbps data connection to stream 4K video, as the stream stream clocks in at around 16Mbps. Puts that “50 megs innernet” offered up here in LA into perspective. The future is coming, and our current infrastructure probably wont handle it well.

If you’re groovy enough to own a 4K TV, be on the look out for Breaking Bad in Ultra-HD starting in June.

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Netflix Hikes Price for New Subscribers, Current Users Stay at $7.99 for 2 Years

netflix price increaseWe’ve already heard rumblings of the Netflix price increase. New customers will see a $1 rate increase to $8.99 for unlimited streaming.

Confirmed via an email which was sent out today, current customers will have their $7.99 rate locked in for the next two years. It’s a nice gesture, and one which is appreciated considering the extra expenses Netflix might face fighting for Net Neutrality and negotiating bandwidth with carriers and ISPs.

To continue adding more movies and TV shows and delivering a great streaming experience, we previously announced that we planned to increase our price slightly for new members. That increase is happening today. We are increasing the price of our service by US$1 a month for new members. Existing Netflix members get to keep their current (US$7.99) price for two years, enjoying HD-quality movies and TV shows on any two screens at the same time.

Not bad at all as we’re also going to see a lot of new original content going into production soon as well.

More info on the Netflix Blog

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PSA: Windows Phone Users Only Have One Week Left to Use 3rd Party Google Voice Apps

unhappy windows phones google voiceJust a friendly reminder folks. This is the last week to use those terrific 3rd party Google Voice clients like MetroTalk on our Windows Phones.

Rumors are pointing towards merging Voice and Hangouts on Android handsets, but that’ll leave WP users out in the cold as there is no Hangouts app for people who happen to prefer Live Tiles.

Live it up. Send a few extra texts. Make a few more phone calls. In seven days the cord gets cut.

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Nintendo Unveils NFC Action Figures For Future Wii U Games

Nintendo NFC Figure 2During Nintendo’s fiscal year briefing, after announcing four straight quarters of losses and acknowledging the luke warm reception the Wii U has received, Nintendo released info they hoped would generate some excitement within their fan base.

First we got confirmation on Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart 8, and it was announced that Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire from the Gameboy Advance will be getting remakes.

What was also announced was a new gaming platform built to leverage Nintendo’s insanely popular characters, using figurines with NFC chips built into them. Following the success of Activision’s Skylanders franchise, and Disney’s attempt at cracking that market, Nintendo has to know they’re sitting on a potential gold mine with the first party IP they own.

Nintendo NFC Figure

Dubbed “NFP”, for “Nintendo Figurine Program”, players will be able to collect figurines which are then scanned by the Wii U controller, and will be compatible with various software title. Small pieces of information can be stored on the action figures, so while the exact plans haven’t been announced for future games, it’s not difficult to image each figure retaining leveling stats like Skylanders toys can.

It’s another platform for parents to invest in, but with franchises like Super Mario, Kirby, Zelda, Metroid, and Pokemon available, this could be a smart tactic for Nintendo to explore. We’ll have more info on NFP during E3 this year in June!

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Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and More Stand Against FCC Proposed Rules

Nothing like waiting until the last minute right guys?

FCCWhile Netflix had been a common talking point for illustrating the concept of Net Neutrality, pretty much any company doing business online should be interested in how bandwidth is regulated.

Now the big boys are starting to make a little noise. In a letter sent to the FCC yesterday, 150 companies including those listed in the title of this post, signed on in opposition to the FCC’s proposed “fast lane” rules. The proposed rules will allow carriers and ISP’s to negotiate separate deals with individual companies for consistent bandwidth.

The FCC will vote on the proposal in one week. If you’re interested in voicing your concerns to the FCC and your elected officials, we’ve put together a contact list here.

You can read the letter below.

Continue reading “Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and More Stand Against FCC Proposed Rules”

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Google Camera Update Includes Photo Capture While Shooting Video

google camera iconThe Google Camera was recently unleashed on the Play Store for any phone running KitKat. It provides a consistent and super simple interface for photos and vids no matter what phone you use.

For being so streamlined, it does pack some handy features like PhotoSphere, HDR, exposure control, and panorama modes. Google is now rolling an update which will allow users to take still photos while shooting video.

While shooting a video, just tap the screen and it’ll grab a 2MP screenshot. Super simple.

This isn’t exactly mind blowing on its own, but this update process is what’s exciting. It’s a small update for one app, and users are getting it directly. We aren’t being forced to wait for a full OS update which may or may not be sent down from the carriers.

And for folks curious how the Google Camera app works, we have a full hands on review below!

Google Camera on Google Play

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Google Adds Lane Guidance and Uber Support to Maps!

Google Maps Navigation with Lane GuidanceThis has always been one of my biggest complaints about turn by turn apps in general, and Google Maps specifically. Unless a turn is intermediately following another direction, Maps will only give you one instruction at a time, with little guidance as to which lane you’ll need to be in.

To address that issue, Google is now building Lane Guidance into their turn by turn directions. When you approach a turn or intersection with multiple lanes, the app will try to highlight which lane you should be in, and what direction each lane will travel. A terrifically welcome update to Google’s mapping app.

Google is also improving the offline caching for maps. Going on vacation? You can search a locale, save it offline, and name it for quick reference.

Also added to the navigation options, Google has included support for Uber. After searching for directions, you’ll now have the option to tailor results to Uber, and selecting that will automatically open the Uber app on your phone.

It’s a pretty substantial update for one of the best mobile mapping experiences available, and should be rolling out to all phones over the next couple days.

More info on the Google Maps blog.

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