Author: Clinton

The Google Play Movies & TV app has been updated today and while on the whole it is a minor update, there is a nice improvement to the Wishlist feature that comes in this build.  The update is build 3.11.5 for those keeping score at home and it is in the Google Play Store now.  If you already have the app installed, you should see the OTA update in the next day or two at the latest.

From a bug fix perspective, Google has improved the playback reliabilty of the app so you should see some improvements as you play back on your devices.  In testing for this post, the pause/start function while watching a movie or television show is much smoother than before and starts up quicker.

But as I said, the big news is Wishlists.  More on that after the break.

Google Play Movies & TV for Android – Free – Download Now

If you like the Bing search service, today is a good day for you.  Microsoft has released a major update to their Android app for the service and it is all-but a new app.  With a new User Interface, dramatically improved local search functionality and improved categories, the new Bing app is going to impress.

The first and most noticeable in the app is the UI.  Bing now has a much cleaner experience with the popular Bing wallpaper in the background that changes daily, then large buttons for things like Search (in the middle of the UI), News, Movies, Restaurants and others along the bottom.  It is very easy to navigate to something you are interested in searching within the app and once you tap a section, you get an immersive experience into that section.

Bing for Android – Free – Download Now

Whether you are using Chrome the browser or Chrome OS, there is a wealth of helpful information that can be found using chrome:// commands. Much like a http:// address, the chrome:// doesn’t go out to the web but searching your PC, Mac or Chrome OS computer to find information about about Chrome itself, system information, extensions and other useful info. While Chrome settings are reasonably easy to navigate, using the chrome:// commands makes it faster and you can bookmark them for easy access later.

In Chrome or on your Chrome OS device, navigate to chrome://about and you will see a laundry list of commands that you can use.  Some of these are going to be device specific meaning that some will give you information about your Chromebook or PC that is running on it.  Other commands will let you quickly and easily navigate to different settings within Chrome to check or modify.

After the break I am going to outline some of the most useful of these commands but I would encourage you to use the //about page to investigate all of them for yourself.  You can’t break anything by checking each of them so have at it.

Today over at Amazon, you can pick up the BLU VIVO XL for ony $149.99.  The 5.5″ Super AMOLED device is a solidly designed, sleek device with 16GB of storage on board and 2GB of RAM and is powered by a 1.3 GHz MediaTek octa-core processor.

The Miami based company has a big lineup of devices that feature nice mid-to-high end features all at reasonable prices.  While the VIVO XL is not a flagship device, it is certainly worth considering if you are looking for a solid performing device that looks good while doing it.

Along with the specs above, it comes with a 13MP f/2.0 rear facing camera and a 5MP front facing camera that is wide angle for good group selfies.  It also is powered with a 3150 mAh battery to give you all day performance.

BLU VIVO XL – $149.99 – Amazon

According to a report from the Financial Times, Microsoft is set to announced the acquisition of the popular keyboard app developer Swiftkey for $250 million.  While neither company would confirm the report, it is expected to be announced later this week.

Swiftkey is hugely popular with Android and iOS users who leverage the apps artificial intelligence to quickly sort out what someone is typing as they swipe across the keyboard on their device.  It is at AI that Microsoft is interested in acquiring as the Redmond company continues to drive its mobile app strategy despite their own mobile platform being all-but dead.

It has taken 4 months but Android Marshmallow has finally broken through the 1% barrier on installed devices.  The news comes from the monthly Platform Version report from the company and while the news is good that the latest version of Android is starting to hit more device, it still has a mountain to climb to reach the Lollipop install based.

According to the report, Marshmallow is now on 1.2 of all devices that hit the Google Play Store in the past week.  This is up from .7% in January, a sizable 58% increase, but still a whopping 32.9% behind Android Lollipop.  The previous version of Android sits at 34.1% overall which is up from last month.  Android KitKat remains the leader at 35.5% but it fell by .6% from the previous report.