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Verizon’s HTC One M9 is receiving Android 5.1 tomorrow

Good news for owners of the HTC One M9 on Verizon: Tomorrow the Taiwanese company is pushing Android Lollipop 5.1 to the flagship device. The news comes straight from Mo Versi, HTC’s VP of Product Management:

[tweet https://twitter.com/moversi/status/634105557234769920 align=’center’]

The update includes all the standard bug fixes and operating systems improvements that are baked into 5.1 — like improved Quick Settings and the new Device Protection tool — as well as a patch for the nasty Stagefright exploit. The 3 and 7 bands have also been activated, useful for when you find yourself roaming internationally.

Keep in mind that just because it begins rolling out over-the-air tomorrow, that doesn’t mean you’ll receive it right away. It could take a few days, and just to be sure the update hasn’t reached your device yet you can check for it manually by visiting Settings > About phone > System updates.

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Evan Blass shares new GIF showing Blackberry Venice in all its glory

After sharing this morning a render of the slide-out keyboard on what is ostensibly an Android-powered BlackBerry Venice, a device which the Ontario-based company has teased but made no mention of what OS its powered by, respected leaker Evan Blass is back with more goodies for the BB faithful. This time he has tweeted out a short video that shows off a render of the smartphone from all angles, with dramatic transitions and animations in tow.


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Bose SoundSport In-Ear Headphones $79, 2TB portable hard drive $69, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Bose SoundSport In-Ear Headphones: $79.95 shipped with promo code EMCAWKX23 (Orig: $149.95) 

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Sony (SRS-X3) Portable Bluetooth NFC Speaker: $71.99 shipped with promo code EXTRA (Orig: $149.99) 

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Xbox One bundle + $50 Xbox gift card + Assassins Creed Unity: $399 shipped (Orig: $460+)

MORE DEALS FROM TODAY:

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WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive: $69.99 shipped (Orig: $110) 

Kitchen/Home Oral-B 1000 electric toothbrush $29 (Orig. $60), Deep Sweep 5000 $113 (Orig. $133+), more

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Amazon has the Oral-B PRO 1000 Electric Rechargeable Toothbrush Powered by Braun for $29 with free shipping for Prime members (free trial) or on orders over $35. Be sure to clip the $5 coupon on the listing page. That’s about 35% under the original listing, $5+ under the average selling price.

You’ll also still find the Oral-B Deep Sweep 5000 w/ Bluetooth Electric Toothbrush for $113 shipped with the $20 on-page coupon (Reg. $133+) and up to $30 off Oral-B toothbrushes, brush head re-fills and more.

DEALS STILL ALIVE:

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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Never lose your keys again with the new-and-improved Tile Bluetooth tracker

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Train to be a Jedi with this oversized Yoda toy you will

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The new AfterShokz headphones bring bone conduction audio to Apple Watch

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Project Ara was delayed in part due to electropermanent magnets not holding together well (Updated)

Update: Project Ara has just tweeted that the strength of the magnetic forces holding together the Ara phone modules is not, in fact, a problem — apparently that was a joke. We’ve since heard that the strength of the magnetic fields produced by the magnets being used is approximately 30 Newton-meters, more than enough strength to hold a 30 gram electronic module in place. The comments about building a better attachment/detachment solution still seem to be true, however, with the tweet also saying that, “We have been configuring a new solution. It’s better too.” The team is also working on improved camera and battery modules.

Google’s Project Ara, the name of the modular smartphone system the company is building that would enable anyone to put together a phone on their own, has run into problems that have impacted its public test roll-out. The team behind it has been cheeky and somewhat coy in explaining why it has delayed a test launch of the unique system, but a concise message posted to Twitter today might at least partly explain the delay.


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AdSense v3.0 for Android receives Material Design treatment

AdSense, Google’s publisher ad network used by millions of websites across the web, has just seen its Android app brought up to the company’s Material design language standards.

The app itself is mostly read-only, meaning you can quickly see data on your performance like how much money you’ve made from your ad placements over different time periods, but you cannot create new ads to place on your site from within the app. That would be cumbersome from a mobile device, though, as it requires copying and pasting HTML code into your site’s backend.

AdSense 3.0 also brings with it a new logo the company unveiled back in June. It looks like this:

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And for the curious, here’s what the app looked like before today’s update:

The update hasn’t propagated completely in Google Play yet, but it’s available as a direct download through APKMirror right now.

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Opinion: Fake HTC leak proves smartphones have become totally commoditized

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Vice president of market research firm IDC Bryan Ma speaking to CNBC last week after Samsung’s unveiling of the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+:

If you look at the rest of the Android space, admittedly even the stuff they announced last night, it kinda just blends in with the rest of the market. I don’t know if there was that much that differentiated it from the rest of the pack aside from some minor features. And that’s what’s hitting other players like HTC… It’s really just the case where a lot of these products are becoming a lot of the same thing.

I’m not trying to be a negative nancy here, but to prove Ma’s statements here look no further than the “leak” of a purported new HTC phone that spread around the blogosphere this morning (mockup turned out to be one that popular leaker @evleaks created back in 2013). 6-inch display, 4GB RAM, 3,500mAh battery capacity, water-resistance, extremely thin bezel, similar rear design to every other flagship HTC smartphone from the past few years — nothing outlandish, nothing hard to believe.

And that’s kind of the point. It’s so easy to make up a spec sheet like this out of thin air, and there wouldn’t be many around to doubt that HTC might make another phone with just marginal changes. I could have made up a spec sheet in real-time as I wrote the post about it and mine would’ve been similar to the one that spread around this morning.

Not that this lack of annual user-facing revolutionary hardware changes is a bad thing….
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Moto X Play available in Canadian retail stores this Friday, August 21 (Update: $420 CAD)

Update: Canadian mobile operator TELUS has just posted its pricing for the Moto X Play, and it will be $50 CAD on a 2-year plan or $420 CAD unlocked.

Are you a Canadian eagerly awaiting the day when you can finally get Motorola’s new Android-powered Moto X Play in your hands? Well, this weekend is going to be great for you, as Motorola Canada has just announced that will be available in retail stores starting this Friday.

[tweet https://twitter.com/Motorola_CA/status/633735528110649348 align=’center]

Earlier today we saw Motorola begin to accept orders for the Moto X Play online through its Moto Maker personalization tool for approximately $400 USD. Orders through that system have been displaying an estimated delivery date of the 26th and 27th for some of the 55 countries (Europe, Latin America, and Canada) that the new phone is being sold in. Motorola Canada’s website has yet to be updated with pricing information, and the company has traditionally only sold its phones through carriers in Canada — not unlocked. There’s no word on when the Moto X Play will make it to retailers in the other 54 countries.

The Moto X Play is quite similar to the Moto X Style, also unveiled at the same time, but compromises on internal specifications in favor of a water-repellent design and quoted 48 hours of battery life. Where the Moto X Style is more beastly than the X Play is in its display, processor clock-speed, and total RAM — the X Style has a 5.7-inch Quad HD display, a 1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, and 3GB of RAM, whereas the X Play has a 5.5-inch Full HD display, a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 615, and 2GB of RAM. You still get the same 21 megapixel camera, 5-megapixel front-facing camera, and the battery capacity is 3630 mAh versus 3000 on the X Style.

As with all Motorola smartphones these days, expect a very light Android experience (Lollipop until Android Marshmallow comes out) with almost no Motorola-preinstalled software save for well-regarded features like Moto Assist. That is, after all, one of the main selling points of Motorola phones today aside from their reasonable prices off-contract.

Motorola Canada’s The United States was left out of this phone’s release, but Motorola says that it will be bringing more new offerings stateside sometime in the near future.

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Acer Chromebook 15 $259, amiiqo $73, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Klipsch (Sub-12HG) Synergy Series 12-Inch 300-Watt Subwoofer: $199 shipped (Orig: $499)

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Acer Chromebook 15 Laptop: $259.99 shipped (Orig: $350)

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Apple 12-inch MacBook w/ Retina display 1.2GHz/8GB/512GB in all colors: $1,500 shipped (Orig: $1,599)

MORE DEALS FROM TODAY:

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Mackie CR3 powered speakers + Audio-Technica ATH-M40x Pro Headphones: $130 shipped (Orig: $199)

Back-to-School Essentials up to 80% off – Sharpies, notebooks, scissors, Kitchen Food Scale $8 (Reg. $14+), more

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Today only, as part of its Gold Box Deals of the Day, Amazon is offering up to 80% off a wide selection of Back-to-School Essentialsincluding notebooks, binders, Sharpies, post-it-notes, scissors, tape, pens, and just about everything else you’ll need. One standout is the 3-Pack of Scotch 8-inch Precision Ultra Edge Scissors (1458-3AMZ) for $9.95 with free shipping for Prime members (free trial) or on orders over $35. That’s as much as $14 under some bloated listings and the best price we can find by $3+.

Perfect for going back to school or around the office, these multi-colored scissors are the best selling option on Amazon and have received a 4.7/5 star rating from over 1,600 Amazon customers. Here are some more of our top picks from the sale:

DEALS STILL ALIVE:

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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With the Fotokite Phi, flying a drone is as easy as walking your dog

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Use amiiqo to play with Nintendo amiibo characters you don’t actually own

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Store your gear in style with This is Ground’s Tech Dopp Kit

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Motorola shows off its new manufacturing facility in India with Moto E cameo [Video]

Motorola and its parent company Lenovo recently opened a new manufacturing facility in India that is predicted to output as many as 6 million smartphone units annually. Motorola India published a video to YouTube today showing off the plant — in it you can see some of the individual steps that go into putting together a 2015 Moto E, much of which still seems to be done by hand.

The new plant has been created in support of a “Made in India” campaign that the government there has been pushing in order to get more companies manufacturing in India. The campaign so far has attracted big names including Microsoft, Xiaomi, LG, ASUS, and several others. India’s government hopes increased manufacturing investment in a handful of sectors including electronics will spark job creation and GDP growth, a good measure of living standards that is still low in the country. Lenovo earlier today tweeted a picture from a press event celebrating the company’s new plant.

Maybe this means India will finally get access to Moto Maker?

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Moto X Play begins showing up for order in Moto Maker, August 26 delivery date

Motorola’s Moto X Play, its midrange, water-repellent Android smartphone unveiled a few weeks back, is now beginning to show up on Motorola’s international sites in countries where the company announced it would be selling the phone. We first spotted it in Motorola’s Moto Maker smartphone personalization tool on the German and UK sites.


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Nikon D3200 $299, Amazon Fire HD 6″ 8GB $70, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Acer 13-inch Chromebook Laptop (refurb): $208 shipped (Orig: $380)

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Nikon D3200 DSLR with 18-55mm VR Lens: $294 + $5 shipping (Orig: $447)

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Brother Wireless Monochrome Laser Printer w/ AirPrint: $129.99 + $2.99 shipping using coupon code EMCAWKV25 at checkout (Orig: $250)

MORE DEALS FROM TODAY:

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Nike 20% off clearance: Free 4.0 Flyknit Running Shoes $76 (Reg. $120), Dri-Fit Shirts/Shorts, Shoes, more

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Nike is currently knocking off an additional 20% on already reduced clearance items when promo code BACK2SPORT is applied at checkout. Gear up for back to school or grab some new workout clothes for the fall. Free shipping is available for Nike+ members (sign-up here for free) or on orders or $150+.

Shop a wide selection of shoes, athletic gear, and accessories in the men’s department. Nike’s Free 4.0 Flyknit running shoes can be had for $75.98 when the aforementioned coupon code is applied. Five colors are available with different sole combinations to ensure a killer look for your new shoes.

DEALS STILL ALIVE:

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NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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iHome SoundFlask Bluetooth speaker: $40 with coupon code 9to5mac at checkout (Orig: $50)

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Two limited edition Star Wars: The Force Awakens PS4 bundles

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Samsung Level On Wireless Pro headphones, available soon in black and gold

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Cover Girl Star Wars-themed makeup kit

 

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Add a beautifully illustrated cover art photo to your Facebook Event from Android

More than 75 million pages for private events were created on Facebook last year, and to keep its Events product growing the company is rolling out something that it believes will increase engagement for user-created events without much extra work on the part of the host: cover art themes.

If you’ve ever visited a group, event, or personal page on Facebook, you’ve seen cover art. The big photos which act as banners on these pages provide users with a little added personalization while keeping things within reason (*cough* MySpace *cough*). But at least in the case of events pages, it hasn’t been easy to add cover art from a mobile device — especially considering how the Events product is buried in a “More” menu within the Facebook app. And you have to find a good photo to use in the first place. With the addition of cover art themes to the Facebook app on Android, finding a beautiful, relevant photo to enhance your event is as easy as telling Facebook what the theme of your event is. The app will then present you with a pack of illustrations designed in-house and by outside designers.

The different cover art themes include everything from “Seasons,” which features illustrations of everything you might associate with the different seasons like summer and backyard BBQs, to “Recreation,” which within you might find an illustration of people jumping into a pool. There are 36 pieces of cover art to initially choose from, organized into categories like the aforementioned seasons and recreation. Facebook says it will periodically be adding new themes and illustrations over the coming months.

The big thing that Facebook wants to emphasize with the release of these cover art themes is engagement. The company says that it has found through feedback from users that adding a cover art photo to an event positively impacts the engagement (i.e. RSVPs) it sees. Launching this new Events product feature first on mobile makes sense simply because 55% of all Events activity (and most activity on Facebook period) happens from mobile devices. It’s Android and US-only for now, and will be coming to iOS soon.

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Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy S4 receives Stagefright patch, other fixes

Stagefright isn’t totally a solved issue just yet, but device manufacturers and carriers have continued work on rolling out a patch that mitigates the OS vulnerability until another one of Google’s monthly security updates. Today we get an update for Verizon’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 which includes that patch and then some.

The update, rolling out over-the-air (OTA) and first spotted by Android Police, includes nothing new at all but quite a few fixes for software bugs to go along with addressing the Stagefright vulnerability. Device carriers and manufacturers that make them have felt almost unanimously responsible for rolling out fixes for the issue due to its sheer potential for damage and ease of exploitation, to name just two reasons.

If you own a Samsung Galaxy S4 on Verizon, expect to receive a notification when the update hits your device, sometime within the next few days. You can also check for it manually by visiting Settings > About phone > System updates.

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Google’s Project Sunroof automates much of the solar purchasing process

Google today used a YouTube video to announce Project Sunroof, a website through which it is automating much of the process of researching and then purchasing solar panels for the home.

The gist of it is that while the cost of solar energy has been falling dramatically over the past few years, thanks in part to subsidies and economies of scale, the actual process of determining whether solar panels are right for you — logistically and economically speaking — is still complicated. Google is (still) a very data-driven company, though, and thinks that it can use data to provide just the right insights and information consumers are in need of, tailored specifically to each individual household.
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Mysterious Motorola ‘360S’ and ‘360L’ products pass through Brazil’s FCC

Two products with the model numbers 360S and 360L have passed through the telecommunications agency Anatel in the past week. While much information has been omitted from public eyes, a couple details lead us to believe that Motorola is reaching the launch of a successor to last year’s Android Wear-powered Moto 360 smartwatch — and in two sizes.


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Did Motorola just accidentally reveal the new Moto 360? (Update: Deleted) [Photo]

Update: This post has been updated to include prior knowledge regarding a leaked image of Moto 360 prototypes by Lenovo’s CEO.

Update 2: No surprise, the tweet has since been removed after a couple hours.

What does the smartwatch in the above image look like to you? Yes, it looks like a Moto 360 except, wait — it doesn’t exactly. The watch pictured above just appeared in a video tweeted out by Motorola Mobility, and its differences with Motorola’s first Android Wear watch have led some to believe that it’s an inadvertent leak of the company’s much anticipated successor to the 360. The tweet is still live as of writing.


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Use Google’s same-day delivery service, help give school supplies to kids in need

The beginning of a new school year is almost here and with it many stores have begun to fill their aisles with supplies and pepper the media with advertisements to get kids, and their parents, in the door. Many students can’t afford to get everything they may need, however, which could start the year off on a wrong, anxious foot. Google, in partnership with Volunteers of America Operation Backpack, is using its Google Express same-day delivery service to give away 10,000 backpacks full of supplies to disadvantaged children.

Operation Backpack® provides new backpacks and school supplies to disadvantaged kids, giving them a sense of confidence in knowing that their education is important and that somebody believes in them.

Here’s how it works: Spend at least $50 on Google Express between now and the 17th of this month, and Google will donate a backpack to Volunteers of America Operation Backpack, up to 10,000 backpacks. The website isn’t specific as to whether or not the $50 has to be in one transaction, but I assume so. And since there’s just a limit on the maximum amount of backpacks they’ll donate, you should be able to make multiple $50 orders and have a backpack donated each time until they hit that limit.

Google Express is Google’s same-day delivery service for getting everything from electronics to fruits and vegetables delivered right to your door within hours. It’s the same idea as the popular Instacart delivery service, except that Instacart delivers a more limited selection of items — mainly food and healthcare products. Express, like Instacart, procures its inventory from local stores which vary depending on the city you’re in, and you can either pay $5 for delivery, or a $95 annual membership fee to get unlimited free deliveries on orders of at least $15 in value. Google Express is only available in a few major US cities right now, though:

  • San Francisco
  • Peninsula & San Jose
  • West Los Angeles
  • Manhattan
  • Chicago
  • Boston
  • Washington, DC

Sprint rolling out Stagefright vulnerability patch for HTC One M8

Like every other US carrier, Sprint has been working diligently to release a patch to the Stagefright vulnerability in Android to its lineup of phones, and today HTC One M8 owners get the fix.

The release notes for the update only list a “Patch for critical security vulnerability (‘Stagefright’)” as being included in this update, so don’t expect anything else.

Stagefright is a vulnerability spotted in Android’s default MMS behavior that makes delivering and executing code on an Android-powered smartphone as simple as delivering a rich text message. Android has the ability to fetch the contents of a message before the user even opens it (this functionality itself is called “Stagefright” in Android), and most messaging apps previously didn’t prevent this from happening because, why not? Pre-fetching contents would be ideal as it means the user doesn’t have to wait for something to download when they tap and open a message.

Unfortunately, however, it’s also an easy way for bad guys to gain control of your phone. Google’s default text messaging app on Android, Messages, as well as its Hangouts messaging app, have both received updates to solve this from happening. Other popular messaging apps have followed suite, but Google’s vulnerability patch means that more apps won’t need to do the same.

Since this is a carrier update it’s being rolled out in stages, so it could be a few days before you see it hit your device. You should receive a notification when it’s available, otherwise you can manually check by visiting Settings > About phone > System updates.

Google’s new Mobile Vision API makes it easy for Android developers to tell if you’re smiling

Google has today completed its roll-out of Google Play services version 7.8, the package of app tools and APIs that Google manages and which make it stand out from those who use the open source version of Android to create their own mobile platforms. With version 7.8 comes some new technology that will make it easier for developers to recognize when you’re smiling into your Android device’s camera.


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