Seasoned tech blogger. Host of the Tech Addicts podcast.
Gareth and Matt are here with another UK update on the mobile front.
This week we discuss the Motorola Moto G and Gareth rants about the malware he found in Google Chrome.
Featuring Gareth, Matt and Phil
A big selling point of Chrome and more importantly Chrome OS is that Chrome extensions are meant to be clean and simple. A bragging community will tell you that you are safer than any other browser or Operating System. A bold statement that will surely have the sceptics investigating. What have they turned up? Problematic extensions!
Google is making a move to ban obtrusive extensions, because sometimes these can harm your Chrome experience. There is another recent threat Google is dealing with, though. Companies have been acquiring extensions from developers in order to turn them into adware clients. Google has banned a couple of these extensions: Add to Feedly and Tweet this Page. These were once popular extensions that helped users simplify some of the more routine online tasks.
Who is to blame? Are we seeing coders pushing extensions into the Google Store clean only to turn around a harvest vital information for the highest bidder? Not quite. In Add to Feedly’s case, the original developer, Amit Agarwal, was offered “a four digit” amount for his extension, which only took about an hour to code. Of course, he accepted and the transaction went smoothly. He regretted his decision when the new owner pushed an update to the extension. The new owner turned his helpful extension into an ad-serving machine. These were not regular ads either, they worked in the background and replaced links on every website! Original links were replaced by affiliate links without anyone’s knowledge.
Google’s new policies will help make this all better, though. If we have learned one thing, over and over again, it is that there is always a way for an OS to be corrupted by nefarious source. Google have been quick to act, have learned a lot from the experience and we can only hope that the whole Chrome architecture will return to the safe and reliable service we have grown so accustomed to.
ZTE and Virgin Media announce the arrival of the hotly anticipated ZTE Blade Q series in the UK. The 4’’ ZTE Blade Q Mini, which is available exclusively with Virgin Media, has been snapped up by leading retailers Sainsbury’s and Argos and will be available to purchase initially from Argos for £59.99.
ZTE have been quite busy releasing new devices recently and this new Blade Q Mini promises to deliver better specs for a bargain price. Howerver, with just 4GB of internal memory you’ll definitely want to invest in a MicroSD memory card.
You can see the full press release below and we hope to have some hands-on time with the ZTE Blade Q Mini soon.
How does a Moto Maker customized Motorola Android tablet sound to you? That’s the idea that Motorola is supposedly mulling over right now. Here’s a quote with the details,
CEO Dennis Woodside unveiled in a recent interview that not only Motorola is considering a tablet, but that Moto Maker, the service used to customize the Moto X, might branch out: we are looking at tablets. A lot of people have asked us to build a tablet using Moto Maker, to customize their tablet. There might be a day we do that, but the bigger opportunity for us is the five billion people without smartphones, the CEO added. Of course, Motorolas top priority, aside from the five billion people without smartphones, is, as Woodside puts it, mobile internet: We have to decide and convince consumers we stand for something and what we are focused on is the mobile internet.
It doesn’t sound like he is too committed to the tablet plan, but that could obviously change at a moment’s notice. What do you guys think of this? If they had the same competitive pricing and innovative features found in the Moto X and/or Moto G could Motorola surge back into a strong Android tablet position?
Bowers & Wilkins and Italian car manufacturer Maserati are dropping a special-edition pair of P5 portable headphones in the coming weeks. Having previously released an Maserati Edition 805 loudspeaker this makers the second collaboration between the two companies. The over-ear headphones sport the iconic Masterati Trident motif and feature a racing blue colour scheme. Whilst the “cans” have no active noise cancellation, they are made Apple friendly, with in-line microphone . Features also include gold-plated connectors, a remote control and sealed-leather earpads.
It looks like Asus has made the TF502T a reality. For the most part it is just a rebranding of the TF600T, but instead of a Windows RT OS, it now has Android 4.2.
Of course, the tab can batch up with a dock that includes a keyboard. It also has its own battery which can charge the tablet’s internal battery when it drops to a set level. The tablet and dock combined have a battery life of 16 hours. Their website doesn’t offer a price yet, but we can expect something soon at Mobile World Congress.
Yet another scoop arrives from @evleaks. His latest is confirmation of a Samsung made Nexus 10 tablet. Not only did he list the specs for the device, he also made mention of Android 4.5. Of course, more than likely, it will be toward the middle of this year before this tablet is officially announced, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that it will sport a new version of Android. The question remains, “Will it be simply an updated version of KitKat or will it be a completely new dessert?”
Also, by chance it would appear the Nexus 10 is completely sold out on the Google Play Store at the moment. How odd…
Gareth and Matt enjoy a warm and fuzzy recollection of days gone by in this the latest instalment of the Retro Tech Addicts podcast.
As this is the first show of 2014 and as we say goodbye to 2013 we do a retro year in review and look at 1993. This was an important year in both the PC and console market with companies such as Nvidia emerging for the first time and several manufacturers having significant releases. This year saw the launch of one of Gareth’s all-time favourite consoles, the Atari Jaguar.
Rumour has it the Galaxy S5 will be available in two versions later this year. According to SamMobile an inside source has “confirmed” some of the specs of the company’s next-generation flagship Android handset. Apparently Samsung the next incarnation of the Galaxy S will have a “metallic back plate while being constructed of metal on the sides and front.” There will be a cheaper model made from plastic, just like previous Galaxy S versions, and cost €650 ($888). It will be interesting to see if there is much difference with the rumoured Galaxy F.
Inside the Galaxy S5 is said to be two processors, an Exynos 6 model and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 CPU. The Exynos model featuring 64-bit support and built-in LTE, and will likely equip the metal Galaxy S5 model, while the Snapdragon would be found inside the plastic version. Both versions would feature a 5.25-inch Super AMOLED display with Quad HD (2560 x 1440) resolution, a 16-megapixel camera and Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box. Details about RAM, battery capacity and optical image stabilization support for the main camera are not available at this time.
Why stop there, when speculation should quickly lead to a Galaxy S5 Mini and the Galaxy S5 Zoom? With the Galaxy S5 possibly being unveiled in mid-March during an event in London, we should see the device roll out to market early April. A Galaxy S5 Mini is expected to be unveiled in June, and feature a Super AMOLED display and run KitKat, while the Galaxy S5 Zoom would be announced in May, sport a 4.8-inch qHD (960 x 540) display and run KitKat as well.
The Nokia Lumia Black software update will start to roll-out for Nokia Lumia WP8 owners around the world from today. The update brings new features, improvements in imaging, new apps and app updates from Microsoft and Nokia to make the Lumia smartphone experience even better.
The main features brought along with the update from Nokia include:
The Lumia Black update also brings a series of enhancements from Microsoft to Nokia Lumia smartphones. These include safe driving mode – which cuts out unnecessary distractions when you’re on the road; customised ringtones for each contact. You can now also close apps within the in multitasking view and lock the screen rotation if you wish.
Timings: The Lumia Black update has begun rolling out today for Lumia 1020 and Lumia 925 smartphones, with other models in the range following in the coming weeks.
How to update: Nokia Lumia smartphones automatically check for updates every week, and will notify people when it finds one. Otherwise check by going to Settings -> Phone update – it downloads and installs straight from that screen.
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