Google is rolling out a new messaging app called Hangouts which combines some of the features of Google Talk and Google+ Hangouts. It’s a single service that lets you chat with friends in one-on-one conversations, participate in group chats, or make video calls. Hangouts is a cross-platform service. It’s available for Android, iOS, and the Google Chrome web browser. It’s…
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At Google I/O today the company announced several updates and enhancements to Google+, including a bunch around photos. Now when you upload images to the social network you’ll get access to a bunch of tools for enhancing them as well as more space for full size storage. It’s not as extensive as Photoshop or even Photoshop Express, but these tools…
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Want a Samsung Galaxy S4, but don’t wand to deal with Samsung’s custom version of Android? Starting June 26th, you’ll be able to pick up a special edition Galaxy S4 directly from Google. It’ll feature stock Android 4.2 software and sell for $649. The special edition phone will have an unlocked bootloader and support for T-Mobile and AT&T’s wireless networks….
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Google is rolling out a new subscription-based music service called All Access. It’s available for Android phones and tablets, and you can also use it from the web. All Access is built on top of the Google Play Music service which has been around for a few years at this point. Users can still upload up to 20,000 songs to…
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Google is rolling out a series of updates to its tools for Android app developers. To be honest, you probably don’t care about most of them — but here’s a fun one: Developers will now be able to release beta tests and offer staged rollouts of apps and app updates. Up until now, developers have been able to release an…
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As expected, Google is rolling out a new service called Google Play games. Game developers can tap into the API to synchronize game data across devices and add social elements to their games. Some of the APIs aren’t only available for Android, but also for web and iOS, which means you’ll be able to compare high scores and play online…
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Now that tablets with Tegra 4 processors are on the way, it’s not surprising that prices of last year’s Tegra 3-powered devices are starting to fall. But here’s the thing about Android: Most people still have hardware that’s a generation or two old, which means that most developers write apps, games, and other content to work nearly as well on…
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Lenovo is getting ready to update last year’s ThinkPad X230 notebook. The model released in 2012 sports a 12.5 inch display and a reasonably compact design, measuring about an inch thick and weighing just under 3 pounds. The new Lenovo ThinkPad X230s measures 0.7 inches thick and weighs just 2.8 pounds, thanks to a carbon fiber design. Lenovo hasn’t officially…
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Can’t decide if you want a tablet or a notebook? No problem. There are plenty of hybrids that you can use either way. But what if you also can’t decide if you want a model that runs Windows, Android, or Linux? It turns out there’s at least one hybrid tablet designed to run all three. Italy’s Ekoore has released an…
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HP’s SlateBook x2 is a 10.1 inch Android tablet with a detachable keyboard that lets you use the system like a notebook. It’s part of the company’s expanded x2 family, which also includes the Envy x2 11.6 inch Windows tablet and Split x2 Windows tablet with a 13.3 inch screen. While HP is hardly the first company to launch an…
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HP is expanding its x2 line of tablet/notebook hybrids. Earlier this year the company launched the HP Envy x2 Windows 8 convertible with an 11.6 inch display and an Intel Atom Clover Trail processor. Now HP is adding a larger, more powerful Windows model to the lineup, as well as a cheaper Android convertible. The new Windows model is the…
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BlackBerry made a few big announcements during the kick-off to the BlackBerry Live conference today. There are over 120,000 apps available for BlackBerry 10. BBM is coming to Android and iOS. And the BlackBerry Q5 phone is coming soon to emerging markets. But what about tablets? It’s been a few years since the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook, and judging…
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Asus has started offering a new version of its Zenbook UX51 15.6 inch ultrabook, featuring a high-resolution 2880 x 1620 pixel display. The company’s been offering 1920 x 1080 pixel screens for a while, but this is the first Asus laptop to ship with a higher-than 1080p screen. Unfortunately it only appears to be available in Germany at the moment….
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Archos is showing off its first Android tablet with a Rockchip RK3188 processor. That’s one of the fastest ARM Cortex-A9 chips around, and I’ve been pretty impressed with its performance in Android tablets and TV boxes. The Archos 97b Platinum features a 9.7 inch display. Archos hasn’t announced a release date or price, but the company has released a few…
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Vizio may be getting ready to launch its first Windows 8 tablet. The company unveiled an 11.6 inch tablet with an AMD Z-60 Hondo Processor and Windows 8 software at CES in January. And now the Vizio MT11X-A1 has shown up at the FCC website. While the FCC documents don’t tell us much about the tablet’s specs, the model Vizio…
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