Posted by Bret Luboyeski, Mobile Product Specialist

If youve been following this blog at all, its probably pretty clear that were passionate about mobile technology. And if you have really been following this blog, it probably means that you are passionate about mobile technology too. Well, weve created a place for you to connect with other mobile enthusiasts: the new Google Mobile Community.

We envision this community as being a place where you can discuss the world of mobile in general -- like cool new applications youve discovered or what you wish your phone could do. Or maybe youre looking to buy a new phone, and youre not sure which one to pick. Ask the group.

We also want the community to be a place where you can tell us what you think about our very own products. Sometimes well throw out a question about our products that only you have the answers to, such as why you use (or dont use) a certain feature. So keep an eye out for posts where were asking for your feedback -- like this one. But also feel free to give us unsolicited feedback. What do you like about our mobile products? What dont you like? Are there features or products you would like to see? Be honest. We can take it.

Theres really no limit to the discussion, with one small caveat: if you are trying to troubleshoot a specific technical issue with a particular Google product, check out our general Google Mobile Help Group or our more specific Maps and Gmail for mobile groups -- those are the places to ask technical questions. Search the group or post questions to find answers from other users about Google mobile products.

So come join the community... Were excited to hear from you!

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Posted by Alexandra Kenin, Product Marketing Manager, mobile ads

Back in April, we launched our mobile image ads based on the recommended guidelines of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). At about the same time, the MMA published its new mobile advertising guidelines. The new guidelines set forth suggested sizes for image ads that were different from its previous guidelines, so our image ad sizes were not in line with the new recommendations.

Were delighted to announce that our mobile image ads are now MMA-compliant. Google mobile image ads now come in six sizes -- three sizes for each of two different aspect ratios: 6x1 and 4x1. Weve also increased our file size allowances so you can do even more with your advertising creatives. Watch the video below to see a comparison of the old and new image ad sizes.

We think that working with industry standards like those proposed by the MMA will help us create the best experience for our advertisers and users. We will continue to work with the MMA to ensure consistency between our formats and future guidelines.

And dont worry, if you have an ad in an old format thats already uploaded to your account, it will continue to run. From here on out, though, well be accepting uploads only in the MMA-compliant formats. To take a look at our new offering, refer to our mobile image ads example page. You can also get a refresher on our mobile image ads policies.

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Indian handset manufacturer Intex has launched its first true octa-core powered handset on Thursday. The Intex Aqua Octa is powered by the MediaTek MT6592*, which is the worlds first true octa-core chip that allows all 8 cores to be active at the same time. Besides having the 1.7GHz MT6592 under the hood, we should tell you that the phone is equipped with a 6 inch screen, putting it squarely in the phablet category. The screen offers a resolution of 720 x 1280.

On board the Aqua Octa, you will find 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of native storage which can be expanded by using the 32GB capacity microSD slot. The back and front-facing snappers weigh in at 13MP and 5MP respectively, and a 2300mAh battery keeps the lights on. Android 4.2.2 is pre-installed. The device offers 3G connectivity. We really see no chance of this model hitting the U.S. as the lack of support for LTE should keep it out of the states.

While the phone is offered by the manufacturer in both black and white, Indian retailer Snapdeal only has the black model. It is offering the phone for 19,999 INR ($321 USD) and is throwing in an Intex Power Bank 3000mAh and a Craggy headphone if the phone is ordered before January 8th. The freebies have a value of 3900 INR ($63 USD). The Power Bank is a small portable charger that should more than double the battery life of your Aqua Octa.PhoneArena

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(jimmywayne)

Times used to be, your Uncle Arnie would tend his prize pig all year leading up to the county fair, and when the time came the family could all go watch him accept the blue ribbon for his prime pork. But now that marijuana is legal for recreational use in Colorado, the planners behind the Denver County Fair have decided to join in and add a few new contests to bring ambitious competitors to the fair.

Of course you’ve got a category for Best marijuana plant (quality, not potency, and plants will at the fair only in photo form), and then there are the contests that are more consumer-related like fastest joint rolling (using oregano instead of pot) and a Doritos eating contest. It’s unclear whether it will be Nacho Cheese or Cool Ranch flavor.

Other categories: Best hemp fabric; Best homemade bong; Best brownie recipe; Best roach clip and Best tie-dye. No marijuana consumption will be allowed on-site, however, so any brownie-testing won’t be at the actual fair.

Organizers of the fair, which runs from Aug. 1-3, say it’s all about celebrating the local happenings.

“We look at the trends and what’s happening in our city, and we want to reflect that,” the fair’s marketing and creative director tells USA Today.

In order to enter you must 21 or older to attend activities in the “pot pavilion,” an area separate from the main fairgrounds so as not to shock your Uncle Arnie.

“We have a lot of families and kids at the fair, of course, and we wanted to be respectful of that,” the creator director explains.

Joint rolling, Doritos eating among pot-themed contests at Colo. fair [USA Today]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

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Many users were more than a little upset when Google finally decided to let go of their Google Reader Application and pulled the plug on it for good. For those of us that love our Google Products and Services, saying goodbye to a once loved service like Reader was to say the least, a sad day for all of us. That is accept, for one group of people in particular. Feedly. That’s because this gave them perfect opportunity to capitalize on the masses of people who would undoubtedly be looking for a new RSS feed to give them the news that they wanted and craved. Well, perhaps craved is a bit strong of a word, but people were certainly going to be looking for a new RSS feed to use.

Feedly took every advantage that it could and improved the service that were already offering tenfold, and enhancing their product with many new features to entice users into making Feedly a part of their daily life. As the user base for Feedly started to grow, they saw the need to update their Android app accordingly to continue enhancing the experience for those users. The newest update for their Beta Android RSS reader app, out today, adds in a ‘Speed Reading’ feature that allows you to quickly move through your news feeds with a tap gesture, although the main focus of this update as stated by Feedly themselves, is focused on bux fixes and improvements. The bug fixes are well and good and they definitely have their place, as they ensure that users stay happy, but the speed reading feature is smooth sexy.

The ability to transition from news article to the next without page loads and slow lag, is probably the best thing Feedly could have done to enhance the experience for users. It’s also nice to see some UI updates once in a while, but when something isn’t broke there’s no need to fix it. If you are currently using the Feedly application for Android and haven’t done the update yet, head to the Play Store and slide on over to the ‘My Apps’ section and hit the update button. If you aren’t using Feedly but you would like to, you can join the beta community on their G+ page and become a beta tester at this link. We think you’ll appreciate all that it has to offer. Are you using Feedly? If so let us know what you think about the Android app and the latest update that came out today in the comments.

The post Feed Your Need For Quick News With Feedly’s New Speed Reading Feature for Their Android App appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

via AndroidHeadlines.com | http://www.androidheadlines.com/2014/01/feed-need-quick-news-feedlys-new-speed-reading-feature-android-app.html

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Using data services on your Smartphone while on International Roaming can be a costly ordeal. Unknown to many, reading emails, browsing through websites or even using your BBM while travelling on International Roaming can be expensive.

Matrix Cellular has come up with new services to its bouquet addressing the innate need of people to stay connected at all times who are on international roaming.

The new service allows travelers to be constantly accessible on mail, talk on phone and surf the internet at the same time, schedule and coordinate appointments in the middle of meetings, raise approval request, log in orders, update business databases and stay connected to colleagues, friends and family through Facebook and Messenger Services from anywhere, anytime without worrying about inflated bills.

Charges are levied per MB and at an average cost of Rs. 750 per MB and one may spend Rs. 1500 just by checking one email. Every status update on Facebook can be charged up to Rs. 52 and using BBM can cost up to Rs. 3000 per day on International Data Roaming.

Using all these services with a Matrix SIM card on your Smartphone will be just one- tenth the cost of International Roaming Data charges which means more money saved.

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The folks over at Myce , have come across a new build of Android 4.4.2 in the Chromium issue tracker. This build is running on the Hammerhead, which is the Nexus 5. And according to the reporting user, it’s another Android 4.4.2 build. The same build number can also be found on websites that are tracking user agents. For those wondering, the user agent is a string which identifies the used browser and OS and is sent with all page requests.

Back when Cupcake was the latest version of Android (I know, a long time ago), Google has given each build a unique build number. And it’s easy to decode it. The first letter stands for the version of Android, so in this case, the K is for KitKat. The second letter represents the branch. The next three characters are for the date. So in this case, the T49 means November 18, 2013. The letter stands for the quarter (starting with Q1 2009 as A) and the 49 stands for the 49th day in that quarter, which is obviously November 18th. Finally the last letter represents how many builds were made that day. So this is the eleventh build done on November 18th.

So we don’t really know what’s new with this build, but since it’s still supposedly Android 4.4.2, I’d expect it to be a really small upgrade, since it’s not being bumped up to Android 4.4.3. We may see it start rolling out to devices soon, as I’m sure Google is close to being done with testing this build, unless they found some issues, then we may never see this build. But that’s the joy of having a Nexus device, getting all these updates, I know Nexus users aren’t going to mind…right?

How many of you are still having issues with your Nexus 4, 5, 7 (2012), 7 (2013), or Nexus 10? Perhaps this build is to rectify those issues. Let us know in the comments below.

The post New Android 4.4.2 – KitKat Build Surfaces in the Wild – Build KJT49K appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

via AndroidHeadlines.com | http://www.androidheadlines.com/2014/01/new-android-4-4-2-kitkat-build-surfaces-wild-build-kjt49k.html

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In the recent couple of months, the 7.9 inch tablet computers are popular among customers. Today, Chuwi officially said to release the the V88s new device. Actually, the V88s is the Chuwi V88 universal version. Lets have a look the general specification:

Thickness: 7.8mm
Weight: 305g
Operating system: Android 4.2
CPU: Cortex-A9 RK3188 1.6GHz Quad-Core
RAM: 1GB
Internal Storage: 8GB
Display: 7.9 inch 1024*768 pixel
Touch Panel: Capacitive 10-point-touch
Wireless: WiFi, Bluetooth
Camera: front 0.3MP, rear 2.0MP
Battery: 5000mAh
Battery Life: 8 Hours video playing

The new released V88s is advertised that can have 8 hours long performance. The independent audio chipset can make the speaker sound more wonderful. Narrow frame and light thin body design would bring great using experience.

Same as Chuwi V88, Chuwi V88s is also light and thin designed. The whole tablet PC has 305g only weight. The dimension is 201*138.6*7.8mm. The back is metallic material.

Chuwi V88s uses RK3188 quad-core chipset. And official said the Antutu benchmark could achive 18000 scores. The chipset 28nm, its power-consumption would be lower compared with the old 40nm technology. It also has Quad-Core Mali400 GPU inside. This tablet PC can fluently play 1080P full hd movies and down supports 720P,480P etc different videos.

Chuwi V88s uses IPS touchscreen, which has 1024*768 pixel definition. It is sensitive and convenient to touch.

Chuwi V88 and V88s all build-in Bluetooth. It gives users more choices to play with the tablet.

Tablets World would be at the first time list the tablet once it is available to order!

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Stock photo -Dailymail.co.uk

Apple just went on record, announcing the traditional launch weekend sales report of the new iPhone model. This year it combines both the flagship iPhone 5s with Touch ID fingerprint sensor and new camera mojo, as well as the flashy plastic iPhone 5c, which sells for twice less on contract.

This time Cupertino broke its own sales record by a huge margin, reporting that it moved 9 million of the handsets, most of those since Friday. The previous record was, you guessed it, the iPhone 5 last year, with 5 million of those sold in the first three days after launch.

Now, we have to account that this time Apple is selling two models at various price points, but judging from the 3:1 activation ratio numbers that Localytics just posted, the iPhone 5s should have sold about 7 million, while the 5c chips in with roughly 2 million units.

Apples shares are up to 6% premarket, and the folks at Cupertino also reported that over 200 million devices are already running iOS 7, "making it the fastest software upgrade in history".

Tim Cook, Apples CEO, who personally was meeting and greeting people buying the new iPhones at the Palo Lato store over the weekend, did a little song and dance:

This is our best iPhone launch yet--more than nine million new iPhones sold--a new record for first weekend sales. The demand for the new iPhones has been incredible, and while weve sold out of our initial supply of iPhone 5s, stores continue to receive new iPhone shipments regularly. We appreciate everyones patience and are working hard to build enough new iPhones for everyone.

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