Author: Clinton

As has become the standard operating procedure for OEMs when they are about to release a new phone, OnePlus has dropped the price on both the OnePlus 2 and OnePlus X on their site.  The OnePlus 3, the manufactures next “flagship killer” is expected to be launched next month which means you can pick up a great deal on either of these phones from 2015.  Right now the OnePlus 2 is available in Sandstone finish, has 64GB of storage, 4GB of RAM and a 13MP rear camera for $299.  The 2 has a 5.5″ display and is powered by OnePlus’ own version of Android, OxygenOS.  Right now it is still based on Android Lollipop but the Marshmallow update is in final beta testing and should be released soon.

Android Pay has received another round of banks and financial institutions that support the tap-and-pay service, including Capital One (finally).  In all, there are 48 new banks and financial institutions added to the service, ranging from big nationals to small local banks and Credit Unions.  It is just the latest in what has turned into a series of updates to the service and the institutions that support it for their customers.  These new additions mean that customers can add their debit card from a supported bank and use it to pay for things at a touch terminal.

Google Photos on the web has received a great update this morning that brings two highly requested features to the photo service.  The first is the ability to bulk change the date and time on photos that you have imported.  This is great for those of you who have scanned in old photos (think pre-smartphone) and want to have them with the correct date (like your 17th birthday back in the 70s or 80s).  Once you have scanned the photos into Google Photos, you can select them and use the overflow menu in the upper right corner to change the date.  Once they are changed, the photos get reorganized in Photos according to that date.

Today, Google Street View has released a curated walk through the Ferrari museum in Maranello, Italy.  The collection of views allows you to walk through the famous road car and Formula One team’s museums and see many parts of the Ferrari campus as well.  For any fan of the Scuderia, this is a great edition and even if you are not a big F1 or Ferrari fan, this walk through is pretty sweet.  To find them, just search for Ferrari in the app and you’ll be taken to the new collection.

While rumors have been floating for a couple of weeks, this morning Twitter made it official that big changes are coming to the 140 character limit of the micro-blogging site.  The updates, which will take effect over the course of the next several months, will make replies and attached images not count against your character limit.  That means you can attach a photo to your Tweet and it not consume upwards of 23 characters to link.  It is a huge change and while the 140 character limit which has made the service popular is still in place, it will become a lot more user friendly and flexible as these updates roll out.

If you are not a subscriber to Netflix and want to be sure you can see streaming movies from Disney, Lucasfilm and Pixar, you may want to consider signing up.  Starting in September, the streaming service will be the exclusive home here in the US for these studios.  It is a big win for Netflix who, along with this announcement, gave everyone a preview of what will be available on the service this summer.  What this deal means is that it will keep Disney, Lucasfilm and Pixar flicks off of rival services and even subscription services during the first run time frame.