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Google already notifying winners of the I/O 2018 ticket drawing

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The ticket drawing period for Google I/O 2018 opened last week and just closed yesterday afternoon. This morning, Google is notifying the winners of tickets for its annual developer conference. Nintendo Switch Email notifications for winners of general tickets began going out at 10AM PST. According to Google , winners are selected at random "from among all of the qualified applications" received during the five day period. For 2018, general admission remained at $1,150 as did academic tickets at $375. There is a new "Community partners" tier at $750, though that was not publicly visible during the registration process and likely limited to pre-selected attendees by Google. I/O 2018 begins  on May 8th and runs till May 10th at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. Located next to the Googleplex, this is the third year that the event has been hosted at what is traditionally a concert venue. An outdoor event, Googl

2018 Samsung QLED TVs will be revealed on March 7

At CES 2018 , Samsung showcased its vision for TVs and other home appliances in the IoT era. Though the company showcased  'The Wall,' its first 146-inch modular MicroLED TV , and an 8K QLED TV at the event, it didn't launch any of the mainstream QLED TVs for 2018 at the event. The more mainstream SmartTVs were expected to launch at a later date. 2018 Samsung QLED TVs will feature Bixby Earlier this month, a report from Korea stated that Samsung is going to launch a new Bixby-powered TV in New York in March. In line with the news, Samsung has scheduled an event titled 'The First Look' for March 7 at the American Stock Exchange in Manhattan, New York. It will be part of Samsung's global launch event for its 2018 QLED TV lineup. Samsung has already  outlined the new features coming to the 2018 SmartTV lineup . In line with the messaging at CES 2018,  Bixby will play a central role  in the new SmartTV experience. Most of the features are centered around a

Cortana adds floating launch button in latest update [APK Download]

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... Even though Cortana can't match most of Google Assistant's functionality, it's still very handy if you have a Windows 10 PC. The app can mirror notifications to your PC, sync reminders, and provide contextual information based on your email and calendar. About a year ago, the Cortana app added an optional launcher to the lock screen , and now there's another way to open the assistant.     The latest update adds a new option, called "Cortana on Home Screen." It adds a floating Cortana button to your device, similar to a Facebook Messsenger chat head. Tapping on it opens the app instantly. Despite the name, it actually appears on the home screen and all your apps, unless you give Cortana permission to see which app is currently open (so it can tell if you're on the home screen or not). The button is also customizable - you can choose between the Cortana logo, a circle showing your next calendar appointment, or a small r

OneDrive 5.4 adds new tools to Scan, photo library fast scroller, and in-app camera [APK Download]

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Microsoft's OneDrive app for Android received a bump to v5.4, which focuses on things related to photos. Users can expect a new Scan tool complete with basic editing tools and a faster way to scroll through their libraries, plus the ability to take photos directly within OneDrive and save them to the cloud. Here's the changelog: Crop, rotate, and choose from new filters to digitize your physical world with our enhanced Scan feature Quickly navigate and find photos from a long time ago in a place far far away with our new fast scroller in the Photo view Save space on your phone by capturing photos and saving them directly to OneDrive within the app This new Scan feature seems a bit odd to me, but things of that nature rarely grab my interest. Adding a speed boost to scrolling through the photo library is a great idea, though if you use Google Photos, it's old news by now. Above the rest, however, I was curious about that last bullet point. At

Best Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ Deals

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The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ go up for pre-order in most parts of the world from March 2 including the United States. Samsung is among the very few companies that has a habit of making pre-orders for its flagship handsets live within a few days of its official unveiling and then shipping it out to customers within a couple of weeks from then. Continue reading →

Google IO 2018 events schedule released: Device Future Teasing

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This morning Google posted their event schedule for Google I/O 2018, showing the many ways in which they'll invigorate their developer masses. The schedule is set for Monday the 7th of May until the 10th of May, 2018. The first day – the 7th – will be exclusively all about pickup of badges. There won't be any keynotes about how … Continue reading

Streamza: Finally a Safe Way to Torrent Files

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Downloading torrents is a great way to get hold of almost any media. There are millions of movies, tv shows, and music files online   just waiting for you to come get them. Unfortunately they're in a minefield of viruses and shady sites.   Streamza offers you a solution, and today we're spotlighting some great deals on its service. Streamza is essentially a safe and speedy way to torrent files. It's a cloud based program which also stores all of your torrented files in a personal online library , so no space is taken up on your computer. Naturally this also means you can access your files from any device with an internet connection. Handy. There are other perks of torrenting to an online library too. For instance, your IP address remains hidden because it's the Streamza server downloading the files, not your computer. The extra bandwidth of the Streamza server also means that files are downloaded a lot faster than with a torrent client. Your IP ad

Best Boost Mobile deals

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Store holiday hours If you are looking to switch to a contract-free prepaid carrier in the U.S., Boost Mobile is one of the best options around. It has a wide range of premium and affordable smartphones available, and provides quite a few deals on devices and plans. Here's a roundup of some of the best Boost Mobile deals currently on offer! While you're at it, also stop by our guide to find out the best Boost Mobile phones you can buy. Unlimited Plus offer Boost Mobile is one of the best choices if you're looking for unlimited data plans. Priced at $60 per month in a limited time offer comes unlimited data, calls, and texts, with a boost in hotspot data and HD streaming from 8 GB to 20 GB. You can also add up to 5 additional lines to create a family plan, priced at $40 per month per line. This plan is available till April 5, 2018 and for both new and existing customers.  Get the deal Unlimited Gigs family plan A new family plan is available for just $25 pe

Lenovo teases Motorola Razr comeback… again

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WhatMobile Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing hinted at MWC 2018 that the Motorola Razr series could make a comeback. The devices may feature a foldable display, suggested Yang. The comments follow a similar statement the CEO made at MWC 2017. Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing has hinted that the Motorola Razr series could make a comeback. Yang made the comments during an interview at the  MWC 2018 trade show in Barcelona (via TechRadar ) following a  similar statement  made at MWC 2017. "With the new technology, particularly foldable screens, I think you will see more and more innovation on our smartphone design," Yang said. Editor's Pick Here are the best Lenovo smartphones currently available Lenovo is best known for its laptops, but it has a number of great smartphones in its lineup too. In the western  world, Lenovo phones certainly aren't as popular and in markets like the US, … "So hopefully what you just described [the Motor

Xiaomi opens its first Mi Home Experience Store in India

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Xiaomi has opened its first-ever Mi Home Experience Store today in India. This is the first experience store in India, although the 25th Mi Home store in the country. Mi Home stores are Xiaomi's flagship offline stores that allow customers to experience, assess, and buy all Xiaomi India products under one roof. The store in Chennai will showcase several smart home products ranging from Mi Kettle, Mi Bike, Mi Rice Cooker to Mi Weighing scale, and Mi Ninebot above all products available in India. The Experience Centre will give customers an opportunity to have a first-hand experience of the vast and diverse array of products that Xiaomi has to offer on a global scale. These products will not be available for sale, mind you. The company says that the significant feedback that will be gathered from the users will be incorporated into future offerings by Xiaomi in India. According to Manu Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi and Managing Director, Xiaomi India, the Mi Home Experie

Nokia 8 Sirocco hands-on: High-end Android One

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Nokia just unveiled a number of new devices  at MWC 2018 , bringing the company back into the modern landscape with a slew of new Android devices. From the ultra-low-end reboot of the Nokia 8110 to the mid-tier flagship Nokia 7 Plus , the company is certainly starting its year off right. The star of the show, however, is the brand-new Nokia 8 Sirocco. The company is bringing the iconic brand name back with a bang. Editor's Pick Hands-on with Nokia's new lineup from MWC 2018 HMD Global had a great start with their Nokia line up last year, and it looks like they are keen not to lose any of that momentum. At MWC, the company is announcing a line … The glass-and-steel body curves around the sides of the device to create a sharp edge that's more stylish than functional. It's pretty difficult to hold since the edges are so sharp. Still, the Nokia 8 Sirocco looks like a piece of art. While the phone does come with extra features lik

Google I/O 2018 Schedule is Filled With Android and Assistant

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The first Google I/O 2018 schedule went live this morning (now that registration is closed ), giving us a first look at some of the areas of focus that Google has in-store for their developer festival. From Android and Android Wear to Google Assistant, I/O 2018 will be packed with news surrounding the stuff we care the most about. Google was careful this year to not give up anything specific in this first schedule release, but we can already tell that Android will be everywhere. There are scheduled sessions to discuss not only what's new in Android in general, but additional sessions for security, memory management, runtime, etc. I would pay close attention the session on Android Wear, because it's about time for Google to deliver a big Wear update (maybe 3.0?). Google's wearable platform has been stuck in a weird spot since the release of Wear 2.0 . While that new version was adopted, I'm not sure it did enough to get people more interested in owning a smartwat

Hangouts Chat w/ bots and deep Google integration available today for all G Suite users

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Last March, Google revamped Hangouts for the enterprise by splitting it into separate Meet and Chat apps . The former is for video conferencing and has been available for several months now , while the latter messaging component is launching today . Nintendo Switch Hangouts Chat is now avilable for all G Suite users after several months of private testing in the Early Adopter Program. As a Slack competitor, Hangouts Chat features many of the same features popularized in recent years. This includes the ability to create dedicated rooms that support up to 8,000 participants, threaded conversations, and bots. As a core G Suite service, Google is leveraging how Hangouts Chat is deeply integrated with its other work offerings. This includes uploading items from Drive, as well as collaborating in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Meanwhile, it is integrated with Hangouts Meet for video and has access to a powerful search feature to find past conversations and files.

Download the official Samsung Galaxy S9 & S9+ wallpapers here [Gallery]

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Before its launch, one of the Galaxy S9 wallpapers leaked . Now that Samsung's latest flagship has been announced and people have gotten their hands on it, we have the entire collection of wallpapers from the Galaxy S9 and S9+ for you to download and use on your smartphone… Cell Phones from Amazon Pre-orders for the Galaxy S9 don't even open until March 2, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying some of the upcoming phone's exclusive artwork. As you can see below, the wallpapers vary in style between colorful light gradients, a closeup shot of a dandelion, and even several that highlight the number "9." Below is just a sample of the wallpapers from the Galaxy S9. SamMobile has compiled all 19 high-resolution image files that can be downloaded here . The images offer a resolution of 2560×2560, so they should be large enough to work on your phone, tablet, and even computer. Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:

Improving Stability by Reducing Usage of non-SDK Interfaces

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Posted by David Brazdil, Software Engineer In Android, we're always looking for ways to improve the user and developer experience by making those experiences as stable as possible. In this spirit, we've been working to ensure that apps don't use non-SDK interfaces, since doing so risks crashes for users and emergency rollouts for developers. In Android N, we restricted the set of symbols that C/C++ code could use . This change ensured that apps using C++ rely on stable NDK interfaces rather than incur the incremental crashes caused by reliance on unstable, non-NDK interfaces. Starting in the next release of Android, we will further increase stability by expanding these restrictions to cover the Java language interfaces of the SDK. What behavior will I see? Starting in the next release of Android, some non-SDK methods and fields will be restricted so that you cannot access them -- either directly, via reflection, or JNI. If you try, you can see errors such as NoSuchFie

[TA Deals] Become a full stack developer with this discounted eBook bundle

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One of the best ways to make yourself more valuable in the web development world is to learn the entire process of building a website, from the back end tech to the front end design. We're offering a full bundle of eBooks to help you get started with that. The Full Stack Developer bundle includes […] Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Become a full stack developer with this discounted eBook bundle Visit TalkAndroid

New ways to help teams work faster and smarter with G Suite

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Today's workplace is vastly different than it was 30 years ago. It used to be that a business could rely on a single team in a single location to get things done. These days, business is more diverse, dynamic and distributed than ever before. Decisions have to be made fast, teams need to align quickly and time can't be wasted on repetitive, manual tasks. Consequently, companies that rely on decades-old, legacy work systems may find they aren't agile enough to compete and stay relevant. Imagine that your team needs to close a major sales deal. Stakeholders in multiple locations have to be consulted on the strategy. Customer needs have to be identified, a winning pitch must be drafted and the entire team must align on the right pricing approach—all before the end of the quarter. G Suite makes this possible. It transforms the way teams collaborate, with intelligent tools that help them solve problems faster and focus their time on work that matters. Today, we're an

Update Samsung Galaxy A8 with February 2018 A530FXXU2ARB6 Security Patch

The 2018 model of the Samsung Galaxy A8 can be now updated with the A530FXXU2ARB6 firmware package. This is the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat software released by Samsung and made available for your device. It's a minor OS improvement that can be OTA and manually applied as both the OTA and the full firmware package […]

Samsung Galaxy S9 vs Asus ZenFone 5Z vs Sony Xperia XZ2: Price, Specifications Compared

Samsung Galaxy S9 price, specifications, features are very competitive, and we compare them with those of the Asus ZenFone 5Z and Sony Xperia XZ2.

SikurPhone With a Secure Cryptocurrency Wallet Unveiled at MWC 2018

SikurPhone debuted at MWC 2018 with features to secure your cryptocurrencies.