Tag: Google

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One Today brings charitable crowd-funding to your smartphone – 1 new cause every day.

WP_20131122_19_11_06_ProWhat could you do with $1? Probably not a lot right.

Well what could 100 people do if they each chipped in a dollar? A thousand people? A million?

It’s the spirit of giving, and it’s important that we check in from time to time. Our tech can be used for trivial things and terrific things.

When it comes to crowd-funding, million dollar projects take up most of the mind share, but we haven’t completely exhausted the idea of bringing a crowd of people to contribute money to an idea. One Today is one possible solution for finding and funding.  A new project is highlighted every day, and users can decide whether they wish to contribute a dollar.

Projects run the gamut of social causes, from protecting coral reef, to fighting malaria, or contributing to the World Food Program. A new cause every day is served up right to your phone.

The idea of small, painless transactions makes a lot of sense. Even a relatively small group can quickly build a significant amount of capital. To that end, just as you might easily share a picture on social networking, One Today provides participants with easy tools to help spread the word on causes they care about.

Google One Today

One Today on Google Play

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Google Wallet Card now Available for Everyone

google wallet cardGoogle has found itself in a sticky situation when it comes to Wallet. While trying to move forward with Tap+Pay NFC functionality, it ran into security road blocks with the major cell phone carriers who were developing their competing ISIS payment system.

Recently, Google has evolved what Wallet is. Starting with a more PayPal-like money sending service tied to GMail, including membership and rewards cards, and now moving Wallet out of its digital app situation and into your real-world um… wallet.

Now you can grab a Wallet card, which ties to your online Wallet account. If you have funds in Wallet online, you can use your card anywhere Mastercard is accepted to pay for goods and services. You can also use it to make cash withdrawals at ATM’s. As other online payment systems have started making inroads into the general shopping experience, none of them have been able to rival old fashioned plastic, so this Mastercard compatibility is pretty key.

It’s a handy end-run around the Tap+Pay fiasco, though I do hope we can see some of the NFC functionality return to non-Nexus handsets outside of Sprint (currently the only carrier supporting NFC Wallet). The timing on this is also critical as we’re about to see Amazon’s payment system go wider with a new set of developer API’s allowing smaller merchants to use Amazon’s one-click payment system on other sites.

(via Google Wallet)

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T-Mobile selling 16GB Nexus 5 for $449. Should you buy it?

Nexus 5Google’s newest pure Android phone is officially a part of the T-Mo roster.

Lil’ Magenta is listing the new Nexus 5 for $449 if you want to buy it outright through the carrier. If you’re buying the phone upfront though, it might make more sense to buy it direct from Google Play where the handset will cost $100 less.

Why you MIGHT want to buy it through T-Mo is if you’re looking to subsidize and pay for it over time. A  down payment of $41.99 is required, but then your monthly payments are only $17 over two years. I’s certainly an option, but if you can afford to buy it outright, that’s the better deal.

Full PR after the jump.

Continue reading “T-Mobile selling 16GB Nexus 5 for $449. Should you buy it?”

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New YouTube options for channel owners, merging comments with Google Plus.

YouTubeIt looks like YouTube will be rolling out some new useful features for its channel owners in hopes to curb the trolls when comments are made on a channel.  There is nothing like going to see what new content your favorite YouTube channel has posted and seeing rude or degrading comments that may discourage the channel owner and friends of that YouTube channel. After all it is the internet and trolling is inevitable. Could this be the end of the Wild West like trolling? Possibly.

YouTube will be giving channel owners more options to moderate and block comments while a new sorting system will move the most relevant discussions to the top making for a better engagement with your subscribers. The new options can be customized for each YouTube viewer. Each YouTube user will be able to start a new conversation which will only be seen by their friends on Google+,their subscribers and an option to follow a particular thread by Gmail.

With these new options in place you will have the ability to block certain words to help keep a family friendly environment on your YouTube channel with another option of auto approving comments from your favorite subscribers and friends on Google+. I believe these new options will make for a better YouTube experience.

Official YouTube Blog

Some Gadget Guy YouTube Channel Continue reading “New YouTube options for channel owners, merging comments with Google Plus.”

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Ask Juan: Why is Google Text-to-Speech a separate app now?

Screenshot_2013-11-07-10-38-28Starting today you’ll start seeing an app to update you’ve probably never seen before: Google Text-to-Speech.

This is Google’s software engine which drives all of the speech capabilities on your phone. Every time your phone talks to you, it’s using some kind of software library to translate text into that helpful robotic voice which gives you turn by turn directions in Google Maps or answers your questions in Google Now.

This is a service which until now was built into Android and only updated whenever an update for the OS was pushed to phones and tablets. Like the  Google Keyboard, now this service lives on its own in the Google Play app store.

Google has had issues with device and feature fragmentation, and other companies often install their own TTS engines, which is why Samsung and LG phones have a slightly different “personality” than their Nexus counterparts.

Let’s take a look at the what the service does, and what it sounds like!

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Google escalates war with Microsoft, Shutting down 3rd Party Google Voice apps on Windows Phone

nokia lumia 1020 google voice metrotalkThe cold war between these two tech giants is heating up fast.

Google is taking an extremely aggressive stance towards Windows Phone. None of Google’s services are currently officially available for Microsoft’s mobile operating system, and Google has been very vocal about not developing for the platform. Recently Google forced Microsoft to remove a nice and functional Youtube app from their Phone Store and replace it with a lame browser based version. Now Google has set their sights on 3rd party Google Voice apps.

As their Hangouts app looks like it’ll become the single backbone service for all of Google’s text, audio, and video communication they’ve issued a notice that all GV apps must be shut down by May 1st of 2014. Google Plus Product Manager Nikhyl Singhal had this to say: Continue reading “Google escalates war with Microsoft, Shutting down 3rd Party Google Voice apps on Windows Phone”

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SomeAudioGuy Top 5 for the week starting Oct. 28th – Apple & Nokia reign supreme!

auto awesome google plus photo editing 3Yup. Apple and Nokia took our top spots last week in terms of tech coverage, with Google sneaking in at the last spot. What was most important to the readers of SomeGadgetGuy last week? Here’s our run down of the most read and most shared.

5. Google announces TONS of new features for Hangouts, Google Plus, Photo & Video sharing 

People still make jokes about G+ being a ghost town, but the insane number of new features and add ons for Google’s social backbone service caught a lot of attention this last week. Whether it was improvements to broadcasting video, or improving the look of your photos online, there was something for everyone during this morning keynote. And of course you can get in on the fun by adding me to a circle…

4. The iPhone 5S in Action! Testing the Speakers and Camera of Apple’s Newest Phone

apple iphone 5s gold speakers headphone jack audio quality review somegadgetguyIn covering smartphones, each review is now so large that we can’t do just one post or one video to fully explain a new device. These two videos are part of our standalone coverage of phone and tablet cameras and speakers. We here at SomeGadgetGuy have the most comprehensive collection of speaker and video tests on the web, testing performance in a variety of scenarios. The iPhone 5S is going to be a hot seller this year, so it’s only fitting you should be able to see how it performs against the competition!

3. Hands on with Nokia’s Lumia 2520 Tablet, 1520 & 1320 Phablets

nokia lumia 1520 hands on video youtubeNokia might be getting swallowed up by Microsoft, but they’re definitely going out with a bang. Introducing the first Windows Phone phablets and a new Windows RT Tablet (which looks like it’ll give the Surface 2 and iPad Air a run for their money), Nokia cemented their position as the premier Mobile Microsoft Manufacturer.

2. A MONSTER Video Review of the iPhone 5S from a Windows Phone/Android User

apple iphone 5s gold camera lens sensor dual LED flash review somegadgetguyBut camera and speaker tests aren’t enough for you folks! You want the FULL run down, and our number 2 story isn’t a surprise. A proper review takes time, and since we’ve had a little time to get to know the iPhone 5S, it’s time to share our experiences using Apple’s new premier handset. How does it stack up when reviewed by an Android user? Watch on friends!

1. Real Person Review: Tony Talks About His Nokia Lumia 925

nokia lumia 925 review (3) charging fatboy wireless somegadgetguyThese reviews are my favorite to write up. While it’s nice knowing what the techie folks think about new gadgets, it’s also nice to check in with “real people”, and see how these devices are working out for them out in the real world. My pal Tony writes up a great post on his experiences making the switch from an iPhone to a Windows Phone. It looks like you readers responded as it was our number one most shared story of the week!

We’re nothing without you readers, and we certainly can’t compete against the big blogs by ourselves. We always greatly appreciate not only the likes, but the sharing on social sites like Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. The more we get to talk with other tech fans, the better we get, and soon we’ll be able to reward that participation with some fun contests coming up soon! 

Thanks for reading, and if you feel we missed a big story this week, or you have a hot tip, please drop us a line on our Contact Page!

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Weekly Tech Roundtable: Nexus 5, Lenovo Yoga, and #iVerge Outrage – Google Hangout Video!

weekly tech roundtableIt’s Saturday! Which means we spend the morning wrapping up all the week’s tech news. Catch opinions from the editors of Boored At Work, Mobile Burn, BWOne, and yours truly as we chat out this week’s headlines.

On the docket:

  • Nexus 5 is ALIVE
  • We ask for more Android 4.4
  • Lenovo’s Yoga bends and twists our opinions
  • What’s up with the PS4 and MP3’s
  • And The Verge wins our USELESS award of the week

Sit back and relax. We’ve got tech to talk!

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