Articles about Google Play

A few weeks ago Google's Chromebook 11 was removed from sale after an overheating problem was found with some chargers. No recall was ever announced, but users were advised against using the supplied charger in favour of another Micro-USB charger of their own. In fact, both Google and HP have been very quiet since the announcement, but now a new Chromebook 11 charger has appeared in Google Play.

The charger is not currently available; it is listed as 'Coming soon'. It also has a $19.99 price tag associated with it (or £14.99 if you're in the UK). This is a very simple piece of equipment, as illustrated by the short and sweet product description: "Keep your HP Chromebook 11 topped up with an extra charger."

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Misleading advertising accusations have been leveled at retailers for ages, but mostly before the internet and 24/7 customer service became part of the game. Google, despite being an internet giant, isn't immune to falling victim to it. Though, to be fair, the search giant wasn't so much misleading as it was hapless. You would think a company built on the web, would be more aware of the technology age.

What happened you ask? This week the Play store is holding an Amazon-like, week-long version of Cyber Monday, the manufactured shopping day for the technology age.

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As some of you may know, Taiwanese maker HTC is among the first Android vendors to reveal its KitKat upgrade plans, shortly after Google launched the new mobile operating system. The company's US arm announced, in mid-November, that the code for the Google Play edition of the One is finished and sent to the search giant to commence the roll-out.

A little over a week after, the HTC One Google Play edition is now finally receiving Android 4.4 KitKat via an over-the-air update (hit the link to download the file). The OTA file comes in at a hefty 305 MB and will upgrade your device to build KRT16S, which is the latest one available as of today (the same build version was just rolled-out to some Nexus devices in the first post-KitKat update).

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There is a market in education, and both Apple and Microsoft pursue it with iPads, Office and more. Now Google is looking to get in on the action with its Android mobile operating system. The search giant wants you to bring a tablet to school, and is rolling out a special version of its Play store designed to make this simpler.

"Today we're launching tablets with Google Play for Education for K-12 schools in the US. For the past five months, thousands of students and more than 50 schools have used Google Play for Education and shared their experiences as part of our beta program", says the company's Rock Borovoy.

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HBO original programming has become some of the most popular content on the small screen these days, including Game of Thrones, which holds the distinction of being the most downloaded show in BitTorrent history. Fortunately for the premium network, there are legal and profitable ways for viewers to obtain its shows.

Today, there is one more outlet being added to the mix -- Google Play. The search giant tweets that HBO is now a part of its app store, bringing along a number of its popular TV Series' to Android and Google TV customers.

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I once spent a fun evening drinking in an LA hotel bar with the Sex Pistols. It was the 90s and the iconic group had reformed for a series of lucrative gigs and were in the city for rehearsals. John Lydon was in excellent form, as always.

Despite being the best known of the seventies punk bands, The Sex Pistols were never my favorite group -- I always preferred The Clash (with The Damned close behind). I told Lydon this and he laughed and spat on the floor. He spent a lot of that evening spitting on the floor, and my shoes.

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Lost in the news from the "Breakfast with Sundar Pichai" event this week was a smaller announcement that was overshadowed by the new Nexus 7, Chromecast and Android 4.3. Google Play Games was rolled out along with the new mobile operating system. Despite rolling out with the latest iteration, the app is open to any device running Android version 2.2 and newer.

Play Games is free from the Google Play store and, once downloaded, you will find a game controller icon on your device. Like any app, it is only a matter of tapping it to get started.

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Every Friday, my colleague Martin Brinkmann details the best Windows 8 apps that surface in Store during the week. I have closely followed the series mostly to check new arrivals (since I use Windows 8) but also to get a feel of the quality and value that developers bring to the new ecosystem.

As some of you have mentioned in the comments, the highlighted apps are not exactly up to par with offerings available on Apple App Store or Google Play. The most noteworthy ones are few and far between, something that is immediately noticeable after browsing through the available selection on Windows Store. The most resounding apps come, for instance, from Microsoft, Nokia, Shazam, Twitter and a couple other major players. There is more to it, of course, but the quality and value are still inadequate these days.

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The apartment was strangely silent last night and darker than usual. Gone was the flickering light filling the center room as one of us scanned the program guide. A year later than planned, we dismantled the TV shrine and took back the living room from the false idol. Henceforth, we will worship at a different altar. Finally, I cut cable's cord -- IPTV, really, but we all call it the other, eh?

I feel anxiety and elation at the dramatic change, which allowed us to rearrange the furniture such that the living room is more open, more inviting and more suited to entertaining real people. The television now resides in the bedroom, more for the benefit of my wife's sleepless nights (the thing is narcotic). We'll stream from Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix primarily -- haha, maybe even iTunes. I had planned Google Play by way of Nexus Q, but the search giant nixes that option.

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Remember the days when Google Nexus-experience phones were slim pickings? The days of one "Nexus" branded device are now gone, as Google continues to pull new handsets into the family -- granted, it is not really under the Nexus name, but they function as such. Now Chrome and Android chief Sundar Pichai announces that the pure Galaxy S4 unveiled at Google I/O will be joined by the HTC One.

Appearing on stage at the All Things D D11 conference, Pichai was asked by co-host Walt Mossberg about his current hardware and responded "I’m carrying an HTC One in my pocket. This is running the core UI on Nexus phones as well", in reference to hardware makers junking up current devices.

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App store numbers grab headlines, but don't matter to users. Both BlackBerry and Windows Phone boast constant ecosystem growth with more than 100,000 apps available in each store, yet neither of the two platforms has managed to assert itself as a viable alternative to Android or iOS. Why? Well, Canalys says that it's the quality of the apps that matters not the quantity.

"At a certain point, how many apps are in a store becomes irrelevant. Offering 100 different unit converters or weather apps is not a valuable choice", says Canalys senior analyst Tim Shepherd. "What is now far more important for BlackBerry and Microsoft is to focus on plugging inventory gaps and making sure they offer the right apps; to focus on quality and local relevance, not quantity". According to the company's latest report, both BlackBerry and Windows Phone fail to offer many of the popular titles available today, hindering their appeal to potential users.

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Swype is one of the most appealing and competent third-party keyboards that you can get on Android today, touting more than 250 million users worldwide. The app practically made swipe input popular, a feature which has since been adopted by SwiftKey and even the green droid itself in the second Jelly Bean iteration.

And today, citing user demand, Nuance Communications -- the company behind the third-party keyboard -- brought Swype to Google Play. The app is available for practically any device running Android 2.2 Froyo and higher and comes in at 15 MB.

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Late last week rumors surfaced that Google Play store would update, which according to the APK file is officially version 4.0.25, and sporting a whole new look. Today that news becomes official as Google confirmes that the latest version is beginning its slow, but steady, march to Android smartphones and tablets.

Michael Siliski, group product manager for Google Play, announces that "today we’ve started rolling out a redesigned Google Play store on Android phones and tablets that is simple, clean and, most importantly, helps you find great entertainment, fast".

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Today is the one-year anniversary of the Google Play store and the company celebrates with a big sale. However, things may not be all balloons and ribbons in Android land. Something darker lurks just beneath the surface of Google's Android marketplace.

Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post reporter who now writes a security blog, found a bit of information that could make your hair curl. Krebs makes a habit of hanging out on the seedy side of the web and he recently hit potential paydirt, encountering a new botkit that is making the rounds and leverages actual verified accounts from the marketplace to trick users into downloading phony banking applications. Krebs spotted a developer purchasing verified Google Play accounts for $100 each on an underground forum.

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One year ago, March 6, 2012, Google renamed Android Market, and nothing is the same sense. The rebranded Google Play pushed forward a transition started in November 2011, with the broad expansion of content beyond apps. The name change also represented something bigger, shift in emphasis away from broader Android to the search giant's siloed services and brands. Google sought to imitate Apple while tackling wild Amazon.

On Play's first birthday, Google Android -- not the skinned software Amazon, HTC, LG, Samsung and others ship -- is a 98-pound weakling gone super steroids. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company sells apps, ebooks, gift cards, magazines, music, movies, TV shows and devices through the online store. There were no devices available a year ago, but now accessories, Chromebooks, smartphones and tablets. Three different computers are available, including the new and Google-branded Chromebook Pixel. Also: Two different Nexus 4 smartphones and Nexus 10 tablets and three Nexus 7 slates -- four if counting 32GB HSPA+ models twice, with different cellular SIMs.

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