Today’s Deal – Anker 5-Port USB Charger with Quick Charge 3.0 Support

Today’s Deal is on the Anker 5-Port USB Wall Charger.  This 63W unit has two ports that support Quick Charge 3.0 technology for rapid charging of compatible devices.  Today you can pick it up for $35.99, a saving of 60% off the regular $90 price.  Anker is one of the long time manufacture of accessories for Android and iOS and I never hesitate in recommending their products.  This particular accessory I have (albeit the Quick Charge 2.0 model from last year) and it is rock solid and used every day for the myriad of devices I have plugged into it at any given point in time.

[Update] Microsoft Arrow Launcher Beta Adds Tablet Support

[Update:  Version 3.1 has officially been released!]

The Microsoft Garage team behind Arrow Launcher for Android have had a busy few weeks.  Last week they released a major update, version 3.0, to the public channel which brought a significant number of changes to it.  While performance and stability improvements were the hallmark of the release, the new Utility page which shows your frequent contacts, apps and recent documents on one page was the big new feature.  Right on the heels of that 3.0 release, the 3.1 build has hit those in the beta program with further refinements.  The big news though is support for tablets.

Arrow Launcher on tablets works the same way as it does on phones with the ability to customize the launcher as far as icon size, rows and columns and some included widgets.  It also supports app notifications (for apps that support it) and works in both landscape and portrait viewing.  It is also incredibly stable.  Those who visit often know that I generally shy readers away from betas because of bugs and stability issues.  This beta of Arrow Launcher however is pretty rock solid in the couple of days I’ve been running it on my Nexus 9.  Obviously proceed at your own risk but I’m happy with it so far.

Android Pay Now Supports Over 600 Banks in the United States

The growth of Android Pay continues at an impressive clip with the tap-to-pay service adding an additional 31 banks and financial institutions.  Those additions brings the total number of banks supported to over 600.  For Google, it is pretty straightforward:  More banks mean more potential users of the service.  The good news is that a lot of the new additions are regional banks or Credit Unions.  That opens it up to more people who don’t necessarily live in large metro areas where the larger national banks have branches.

I’ve made the point in previous posts about new banks being supported that if you see an sticker at a retailer that they support Apple Pay, they support Android Pay too.  The technology between Apple Pay and Android Pay are identical so you can use either one (even if the clerk argues with you that they don’t accept it – which happened to me, which I proved them wrong with a tap of my Nexus 6P…. but I digress).  The exception to this is Samsung Pay which is a different technology and can be used at non-touch terminals.

Honor Accepting Android Nougat Beta Applications for the Honor 6X

It appears that Honor, Huawei’s junior brand, has begun accepting applications to the EMUI 5.0 (i.e. Android Nougat) beta program for the new Honor 6X.  When the 6X was released in January, one of the big disappointments was that it shipped with Marshmallow months after the release of Nougat.  At the time, Honor indicated that Nougat would be coming for the budget friendly device in the first quarter of 2017.  Now, at least, the beta program for it has started.

In a Tweet yesterday, Honor’s USA team posted that those who have an Honor 6X should email their IMEI number (both if you have the dual-SIM variant) to huaweifut@huawei.com.  And… that’s it.  No indication in the post was given on when the beta would kick off, how long it would last, how many applications are being accepted, etc.

iHeartRadio Support Coming to Google Home

Google has quietly updated the supported services page for Google Home, adding iHeartRadio as a supported music streaming service.  Once it goes live, likely in the next few days, you will be able to request specific songs and artists to be played from the service.  Adding it will be similar to other services like Pandora and Google Play Music.  It will be under the Music section in the Google Home app where you will use your iHeartRadio account to sign in and link it to your Home.

The addition of this new service is another step in the continued growth of Google Home.  Dozens of informational services have been added since the smart speaker-meets-Google Assistant was released back in November.

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