Kickstarter seems to be the number one choice for upstarts with a smartwatch in mind to seek funding these days. Agent “the world’s smartest watch” is the latest in a long line that includes tech darlings like the Pebble. And actually, this new Agent watch seems like nothing more than a thicker (and potentially uglier depending on your taste in watch designs) version of the Pebble, but with one difference – it has Qi wireless charging built in. The promo video shows a watch with a “Memory” display that’s a combination of an e-paper and LCD displays, that can be paired with your phone and used to tell the time, show weather, control music players, act as a pedometer, and show you incoming calls or messages.
Kellex
AuthorAgent Smartwatch Launches on Kickstarter, Like a Thicker Pebble That’s a Year Late to the Party
Monday Poll: Enjoying More – New Hangouts or New Google Music All Access?
Now that you have had four or five days to fully dive into two of Google I/O’s biggest announcements – Hangouts and Play Music All Access – we thought it was time to see who is garnering most of your attention. I’ve fully committed to the new Hangouts and am already figuring out how to convince friends and family to make the permanent switch over. All Access on the other hand is sitting in limbo on my devices, since it is not compatible with the Nexus Q for the time being. See, I use Google Music quite a bit in my office, but only through the Q, so I’m unable to take advantage of my free trial at this point. I’d certainly like to use the hell out of it – just can’t for now. Tim on the other hand, is an All Access machine and couldn’t stop using it the entire time we were at I/O.
So what about you? Are you using both? If so, which is taking up most of your time?
Dan Rosenberg Appears to Have Conquered Verizon’s Galaxy S4 Bootloader, Boots Custom Recovery
A couple of weeks ago, Dan Rosenberg announced that he had unlocked the bootloader of the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4, but that he wouldn’t release his method until Verizon’s variant was also out in case they tried to patch it. With Big Red’s version arriving on doorsteps of pre-orderees, Dan had a chance to test his method thanks to a “helpful tester” and came out successful. According to a Tweet sent by Dan this morning, he successfully booted a custom recovery onto the Verizon version of the device and that he is looking forward to a release.
Tip: If an Android App Update is Not Showing as Available on Your Device, Install From the Web
How many times has a new Android app update been issued for a major app, yet you find yourself without the ability to update on your phone or tablet? All of your friends are showing off the new features, and there you are stuck in times of old, refreshing and tapping frustratingly, hoping that you’ll receive the satisfaction that accompanies the “Update” button. What if there was a way around the wait, at least in most cases? There is, actually.
HTC One U.S. Unlocked and Developer Editions Receive Update to Build 1.29.1540.16
The U.S. unlocked variants (including the Developer Edition) of the HTC One are receiving a new update today to build 1.29.1540.16. The update is a smallish 17MB in size, so there likely aren’t any major additions included. In fact, we haven’t noticed any changes after updating other than the build number, especially not a jump to 4.2.2 or anything along those lines. Probably just a bug fixer, move along.
Oh, I’m also still using the One unlocked U.S. version as my daily driver. I spent some extra time at I/O with a Galaxy S4, but have since gone back to the One. It is still my favorite device of the moment. Updates like this, by the way, are another reason to consider picking one up. Keep in mind that HTC can push these out as soon as they are done since there are no carrier barriers to break through.
Verizon Ups Data Limits on New Prepaid Plans, Likely in Response to Competitors
Back on February 1, Verizon introduced a new set of prepaid plans that were laughable, to say the least. These new plans started at $60, which would get you unlimited talk and text along with 500MB of data. The second tier landed you the same unlimited benefits, but only 2GB of data for $70. Keep in mind that neither is capable of connecting to Verizon’s nationwide 4G LTE network and are instead stuck on their insanely slow 3G CDMA network. Also, prepaid offerings from companies like SmartTalk offer unlimited talk, text, and data for as little as $45 per month on HSPA+ networks.
New Galaxy S4 Ad Touts Smart Pause, Air Gestures, and Conversations With Complete Strangers
The newest commercial for Samsung’s Galaxy S4 dropped over the weekend, a clip that highlights Smart Pause for video watching and the phone’s ability to answer calls while waving a hand. It’s clever, that’s for sure. You have features being tossed around, a setting that is familiar to all sorts of segments of the population, awkwardness, and comedy. Samsung has done a pretty brilliant job when it comes to promoting their products over the last couple of years, with 2013 and the GS4 campaign being no different.
Samsung will reportedly eclipse the 10 million sales mark for the Galaxy S4 in less than a month’s time, a number that is pretty remarkable even with what must be an almost unlimited marketing budget.
Brand New Google+ App Introduced for Android With Location Sharing, “Great” Photos, and Better Stream Exploring
At Google I/O last week, the Google+ team unveiled the new web UI for their social sharing service along with a number of new features. We wondered at the time when all of this new goodness would arrive on Android – that time is now. The update for Android is being described as a “a brand new Android app.” So this is somewhat of a new beast altogether, with new ways to explore content, “great” photo experiences, and location sharing with Circles. There is a lot in here, so let’s talk about it.
















