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Motorola begins rolling out Android 6.0 Marshmallow to Moto X Style & 2014 Moto X

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Motorola announced today that it’s beginning to roll out Android 6.0 Marshmallow starting with two devices in select markets. First to get the update is the 2015 Moto X Style (3rd gen) in India and Brazil and the 2014 Moto X (2nd gen) in Brazil.

I am happy to announce that we are starting initial deployment of the Android 6.0 Marshmallow upgrade for the following devices and channels:  2015 Moto X Style (3rd Gen) in both Brazil and India retail,  2014 Moto X (2nd Gen) in Brazil retail…  It is not yet available for pull, you will receive a notification on your phone when you are able to update your phone

In addition to the two devices mentioned above, Motorola says it will begin to rollout the update for the 2015 Moto X Pure Edition (3rd Gen) in coming weeks. It also confirmed that a “full deployment will proceed in stages over the next few weeks.”

Motorola offered a breakdown of some highlights in the update:

– A new Memory Manager that lets you check memory usage of all your installed apps
– Volume controls have been greatly improved
– Do not disturb button has been added to the quick settings panel for easy access.
– System UI Tuner will appear in the settings menu at the very bottom once enabled. It provides a few simple UI tweaks.
– Google Now on Tap allows contextual information to be delivered based on content on your screen with a long press of the home key.
– Doze is a battery management feature that detects when your device is not in use and it  will automatically go into a deep sleep state which saves your battery.
– App Standby reduces battery drain by putting seldom-used apps into a reduced activity state.
– Expandable Storage support allows for microSD cards to be used either in a portable storage or an internal storage mode. Portable storage allows your pictures, videos, audio and other media files to be stored. Internal storage allows both media storage along with apps and games but can not be used by other devices.
– RAM manager in settings which allows a consumer to view memory used by the system or an individual app over different time frames
– Automatic App backup not only backs up your apps but their associated data so when restored they will be the same as they were before
– Text selection has been improved

The company has full release notes for the update on its website here.

Check out our Moto X Style/Pure and Moto X Play/DROID Maxx comparison video.

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Google fined $16k in Brazil over ‘morbid images’

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Google and Facebook have each been slapped with a R$50,000 fine ($16k USD) in Brazil for not removing or blocking morbid images. The move comes after pictures of a Brazilian musician in a mortuary made their way online. Christian Araujo, the artist in question, died alongside his girlfriend in a car crash last month.

The Guardian reports that Judge Denise Gondim de Mendonca declared both companies had acted in “bad faith” after ignoring an earlier ruling. In response to today’s news, Google had the following statement prepared:

The Marco Cilvil of the Internet (local law which regulates removals) requires that any court order for content removal specify the URLs to be removed. In parallel, we have already taken down many of the videos which have been flagged by users due to YouTube’s policies regarding offensive content.

Facebook is yet to comment officially on the ruling, but Google has stated that it will be appealing the decision. In an age where it’s so easy to share any kinds of images online, it brings in to question how much of this can be blamed on Google and how much is down to those who took the photographs or shot the videos to begin with.

Not to be too crude or disrespectful, but I couldn’t think of much worse than someone pulling out their smartphone to snap a picture of my dead body lying in a morgue. The fact the picture is posted online afterwards is more of a side effect, surely?

That’s not to downgrade the severity of the companies supposedly not taking action. As huge corporations, they too have a responsibility to ensure these kinds of images aren’t seen by anyone. It certainly brings in to question where the line should be drawn.

Xiaomi smartphone sales up 33%, but reduces target as growth rate slows

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[tweet https://twitter.com/xiaomi/status/616414920855257089/]

Xiaomi has announced sales of 34.7M smartphones in the first half of 2015, up 33% year-on-year. While the number is a substantial one, it’s a long way short of the 227% growth it experienced last year, and the company told Re/code that it has reduced its target for the year from 100M to 80M units … 
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Moto G (2nd generation) with LTE shows up on Brazilian Motorola site

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According to the Moto G page on the Brazilian Motorola website, there appears to be another model of the company’s affordable Moto X alternative in the works, sporting LTE and a variety of other minor changes (via Android Police). It was only a matter of time before this device popped up consider its predecessor had 4G capable model, and now it’s (almost) here.


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Google Play Newsstand comes to four new countries: Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Korea

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Google Play Newsstand, which serves as the hub of all kinds of news and magazines for your Android device, is apparently coming to four new countries as of today. According to a post made by the Google Play team on Google+, those countries include Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and South Korea.

Prepare the comfy chair. Google Play Newsstand is now in Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Korea.

This addition, while expanding Play offerings to these countries, leaves a lot to be desired. Many of Google’s other Play services, like Play Music and Play Movies & TV, are still missing in a few of these countries. You can get Google Play Newsstand on the Play Store for free.

Brazilian judge orders Google to remove Secret from the Play Store, remotely delete from users’ phones

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A judge in Brazil has had it with the anonymous bullying carried out on social networking apps like Secret  and has stepped in to put a stop to it, according to a report from  Estadao [translation]. Judge Paulo Cesar de Carvalho has ruled that Google must delete the application from its Play Store, but the ruling doesn’t stop there.

According to the report, the judge has demanded that Google remotely delete the application from every device that has installed it in the country. While that might sound like a hilarious case of a judge not understanding how technology works, you may be surprised to learn that it’s actually a capability that Google has, sort of.


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Samsung factory robbed at gunpoint, $36 million in smartphones, tablets and laptops stolen

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A group of about 20 men armed with submachine guns raided a factory in the Brazilian city of Campinas on Monday, escaping with approximately $36 million in stolen Samsung products. Among the items looted included smartphones, tablets and notebooks, although no specific models were identified. It is unknown if Samsung owned the factory, or simply stored product there. 
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Chromecast now available in Brazil, but it’ll cost you around $90

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The Chromecast world tour rages on and its latest stop is Brazil. Google’s madia streaming dongle is now available in the land of Carnaval and while it’s known for being an affordable alternative to expensive set-top boxes, its price point in Brazil isn’t what we’re accustomed to seeing. Listed at R$199 (about $88.20), the Chromecast almost sounds like a luxury item. Such a high premium may sound strange, but history has taught us that most consumer electronics don’t come cheap in Brazil.


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Google Maps adds Street View support for Brazilian stadiums, tourist attractions ahead of World Cup

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The 2014 World Cup is set to kick off next week in Brazil, and Google seems to be excited about the event. Earlier this week the company updated the Chromecast with support for WatchESPN streaming, meaning that all 64 World Cup games will be able to be streamed to the device. Now, in a post on the Lat Long blog, Google has announced some new features for Maps exclusively for the World Cup.
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Moto G to be unveiled in Sao Paulo, Brazil, mid-range specs global/BRIC incoming?

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When the clock strikes November 13th, all eyes will be on Motorola and the announcement of their upcoming Moto G. We’ve just learned via Motorola’s Twitter and G+ pages that the device will be launched from Sao Paulo, Brazil. What that might indicate is that it is a mid-range smartphone meant for global emerging markets. Sao Paulo is an unusual venue for a high-profile smartphone launch and we’re hypothesizing that means the specs won’t be blowing anyone away. The tweet from Motorola this morning informed the world of the new launch details and provided a link to a Google+ page where it’s likely more information will be released as the announcement goes down.
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Samsung sued for $110M in Brazil after Ministry of Labor finds labor rights violations

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According to a report from ReporterBrasil, an organization and news agency reporting on labor rights issues in Brazil, prosecutors in the country have filed a lawsuit against Samsung related to poor working conditions in one of the company’s factories. According to the report, the lawsuit was filed after the Ministry of Labor (MPT) found labor rights violations in a Samsung plant located in Zona Franca de Manaus that’s used to assemble some of the company’s smartphones supplied to Latin America:

The lawsuit filed by prosecutors is based on the assessment notices by registered auditors of the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MTE) after two inspections made at the factory in Manaus – one in May 2011 and another in May this year. Through technical analysis, they found that the employees of South Korean company come to hold three times more strokes per minute than the limit considered safe for ergonomic studies.

Some of the infractions mentioned in the translated report include workers spending in excess of 10-15 hours a day on foot without a break for up to 27 workdays in a row, and around 2,018 requests by employees to be removed due to health problems. The plant is said to employ around 5,600 employees total:
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Google Maps rolls out new Street View imagery for 1,000 locations around the globe

Google announced today on its Google Maps blog that its rolling out a ton of new Street View imagery for over 1,000 locations across Asia, Europe, Latin America, the U.S. and Canada:

Today we’re adding more than 1,000 locations around the world to Google Maps, making it more comprehensive and useful for you. From historical landmarks to sports stadiums, these panoramic photos available via Street View can help you ease into vacation mode with just a few simple clicks… you can use to preview a vacation spot, to plot your next hiking route or just to become an armchair explorer from wherever you may be.

Google highlighted a number of the new addition including new imagery for historical landmarks and more in Brazil, Singapore, Denmark, Mexico City, Chile,

You can get some of the highlights here and check out the imagery for yourself in the latest Google Maps apps for iPhone and Android.

Google illustrates geographical changes over time with animated GIFs

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Columbia Glacier Retreat Lake Urmia Drying Up

Google has provided these incredible animated GIFs illustrating the Earth’s landscape changes over the decades for Time‘s Timelapse project.

The images show deforestation in the Amazon of Brazil, glaciers retreating in Alaska, and lakes drying up in Las Vegas sprawls as well as other landscapes.

Check out more illustrations below…


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Brazil’s ANJ boycotts Google News, wants compensation for headlines and lede paragraphs

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The Association of Newspapers in Brazil is not happy with Google News, as it recently opted out of the free news aggregator, over complaints that Google crops news headlines and lede paragraphs for the decade-old service without permission nor monetary reimbursement.

The 154-member ANJ roughly equals 90 percent of Brazil’s newspaper circulation. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas reported on a dispute that occurred earlier this week between an ANJ member’s lawyer and a Google executive at the American Press Association General Assembly in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The contention apparently “fueled one of the most intense debates during the Inter American Press Association’s 68th General Assembly.”

According to the Knight Center:

On one side of the debate were defenders of news companies’ authoring rights like German attorney Felix Stang, who said, “platforms like Google’s compete directly with newspapers and magazines because they work like home pages and use content from them.”

On the other, Google representatives said their platform provides a way to make journalistic content available to more people. According to Marcel Leonardi, the company’s public policies director, Google News channels a billion clicks to news sites around the world.

ANJ president Carlos Fernando Lindenberg Neto specifically told the Knight Center that providing the “first few lines of our stories to internet users, (Google) reduces the chances that they will look at the entire story in our websites.”

Google Public Policy Director Marcel Leonardi refuted Neto’s comment during the IAPA debate, claiming if the reader is “satisfied with the small blurb (we offer), that means the story did not call his attention that much.”


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Google rolls out new panoramic Street View imagery of Brazil and pre-hispanic Mexican cities

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Google announced today on the Lat Long Blog that it added even more Street View imagery to Google Maps; this time for Brazil and pre-hispanic Mexican cities. While there was already Street View imagery available for the locations, the latest additions include panoramic imagery for 70+ cities throughout Brazil including “colonial cities like Fortaleza, architecturally compelling cities like Brasilia and coastal landmarks like Recife, Natal and Salvador.”

You can even virtually travel to the west side of Brazil and visit Foz de Iguaçu, or if you’re planning an upcoming trip, preview the the area around your hotel as well as nearby shopping malls, historic monuments, restaurants and more. With so many upcoming events, like the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, we’re excited to share the riches of Brazil’s cities not only with tourists from around the world, but also with locals who might want to visit a city, neighborhood or landmark they’ve not yet experienced.

Also included in today’s update is 30 Mesoamerican archaeological areas in Mexico, including the 1,100-year-old Kukulkan’s Temple pyramid, and other sites such as Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza, and Tulum.

Google launches clever Google Ads campaign with animated commercials in Brazil (Videos)

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Google is using witty animation to enlighten folks in Brazil about the conditions of online advertising and how its service helps streamline those operations.

The Internet giant recently hosted five animated videos on YouTube as part of a Brazil-based campaign for Google Ads products. According to TheNextWeb (via Brainstorm9), agencies Pepper Melon and Ño Empire co-created the farcical advertisements that focus on brand awareness, audience engagement, efficient technology use, target selection, and new product launches.

The commercials are in Brazilian Portuguese with English subtitles, check ’em out:


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