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Stephen Hall

stephenjhall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. You can find his current work at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google 9to5ToysElectrek, and more. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.

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Report: Android creator Andy Rubin’s hardware startup lost $100M SoftBank investment due to Apple pressure

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According to a report today out of The Wall Street Journal, SoftBank has pulled out of a deal to provide Essential with $100 million in funding. Essential reportedly plans to launch a premium smartphone to go head-to-head with the iPhone, and was founded by the father of Android, Andy Rubin…


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MWC 2017: Latest iPhone competitors from Samsung, LG, Motorola, and more

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This week is Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, and that means almost all of Apple’s biggest competitors are getting together to show off their latest phones, tablets, and other gadgets. Yesterday was the official press day, so let’s take a look at all the devices that were announced by Samsung, LG, Sony, Huawei and others…


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Nest update brings support for Apple TV, ability to save and share video clips

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Nest has introduced a pretty substantial update to its iOS and Android apps, bringing Nest Aware customers the ability to easily create, save, and share video clips straight from the Nest app. The iOS app also adds support for Apple TV, so you can quickly check out your Nest Cam feeds straight from your couch…


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Twitter is shutting down its Vine mobile apps ‘in the coming months’

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It goes without saying that Twitter has been struggling lately, but it looks like there might be a bit of an explanation now for the news shared earlier today — alongside its earnings report for the quarter — that the company is laying off about 9 percent of its workforce. Twitter announced on Medium today that the Vine mobile applications for Android and iOS are being shut down soon…


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Google Trips mobile app helps you craft the perfect vacation plan and stores everything offline

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Google today introduced Trips, a new app that lets you manage and organize everything about your vacations in one place. The app tries to solve a big pain point with international travel — Internet access — by automatically storing all your trip information offline, and it also makes suggestions during your trip based on what’s nearby to craft the perfect day plans…
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Apple Music for Android hits 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store

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After first being announced and previewed at WWDC in June of last year, Apple launched its music streaming platform on Android on November 10th. Now, after almost a year of being available to the public (and only a month since it finally exited beta), the app has garnered more than 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store…


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T-Mobile is giving Pokemon Go players free, unlimited data (and a free Wendy’s Frosty)

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T-Mobile has announced today that for its next T-Mobile Tuesday promotion, Pokemon Go players — in the wake of what has been no less than an explosive launch — will receive free, unlimited data for the mobile game. Set to take effect July 19th, the Un-carrier will give its customers a full year’s worth of data that won’t count against their high-speed plan…


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Report: Jawbone has stopped making its fitness trackers, planning a ‘clinical-grade’ wearable

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Update: Jawbone says that the report is “unequivocally false”. Read the company’s update at its blog

According to a report this evening from Tech Insider, Jawbone, the company once famous for its Bluetooth headsets and more recently known for its Jambox speakers and fitness wearables, has stopped making the UP line of fitness trackers. This includes three devices that the company has reportedly struggled to sell: the UP2, UP3, and UP4. Another report says that a clinical-grade wearable is coming soon…


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Report: Text hidden deep in Facebook Messenger code hints at monetization plan

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According to a report out of The Information today, Facebook has begun preparing several new features for Facebook Messenger, including a new service that allows users to pay for items to be picked up in person, a new “secret” chat feature, and more. If nothing else, these features could be insight into how the company plans to monetize its messaging platform…


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Latest U.S. smartphone market numbers show Apple in the lead, but Samsung is catching up

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According to the latest U.S. smartphone market share numbers from Parks Associates, Apple is still well in the lead compared to competing manufacturers, holding a beefy 40% of the smartphone market. But the latest figures also show that Android OEMs are gaining ground on the dominant Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker. Now, Samsung holds around 31% of the market and LG is next in line with 10%…


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Alphabet has surpassed Apple to become the most valuable company in the world

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Alphabet’s just-released Q4 earnings has seen its stock price rise in after hours trading, resulting in the Mountain View-based company passing Apple to become the most valuable company in the world. The company’s market capitalization was $517.6 billion at close, and while the price is still fluctuating after hours, Alphabet’s market cap will be over $540 billion tomorrow if these prices hold…


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T-Mobile’s UnCarrier X: Unlimited video streaming, double data w/ Simple Choice

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As was widely rumored, T-Mobile has today announced at their UnCarrier X event that customers can now stream unlimited video from certain services without impacting their data caps. The new program is called Binge On (not all too different than the company’s previously-launched Music Freedom in principle), and the list of compatible services includes many favorites like ESPN, Netflix, HBO Now, and more. The company also announced new Simple Choice plans…
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Facebook Messenger’s new ‘Photo Magic’ feature automates sharing shots of your friends instantly

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A new feature in Facebook Messenger is now rolling out that scans photos added to your camera roll in search of your Facebook friends, and suggests that you send them to the people it finds. It’s a pretty nifty feature, if you feel comfortable with Facebook looking at every single photo you take on your device and constantly processing data on the friends you’re hanging out with…
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Google’s new ‘Who’s Down’ app shows which of your friends are free to hang out

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Google has just quietly released a new app on the App Store called “Who’s Down”. As you might be able to tell from its name, the app will apparently — once there are people who are actually using it — let you see which of your friends are free to hang out. Currently, the app is invite-only, so the only things we know about its functionality are from the app’s App Store screenshots…
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Facebook bolstering iOS Notifications tab with sports scores, birthdays, more

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If you’re a Facebook user, you’re definitely familiar with the Notifications tab in the company’s iOS app. Although it has barely evolved from being a simple stream of your notifications since its introduction many years ago, Facebook has today come out to outline some changes on the way to make it more useful and personalized.

Assumably since most of us rarely use or view notifications that are more than a day old, Facebook has decided to use the space in the Notifications tab in other, more useful, ways. With the new version, you’ll find the 5 or so most recent activity notifications at the top, with handfuls of additional — and hopefully useful — information below.

Among the things that Facebook says it is adding to the Notifications tab are friends and family “milestones” (which include birthdays, major life events, and the like), sports scores and television notifications based on the pages you have already liked, as well as events that are around the corner (but, seemingly, only those that you’ve already joined).

Facebook says that if you head into the app settings and allow it to see your location history (which many users already have), you can see things like local events based on your physical location, as well as weather updates, movies that are playing at nearby theaters, and even places to eat. Unsurprisingly, most of these features will connect you with many locations’ Facebook pages.

Facebook says that the update is rolling out “gradually,” so it should appear on your device sometime in the next few days.

Twitter for Mac is officially getting a much-needed overhaul, but not just yet

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Twitter doesn’t exactly have the best track record in supporting its loyal third-party developers, which is something that could be forgivable if it built half-decent first party applications. The company’s official apps for the iPhone and iPad have dramatically improved as of late, but the official Twitter for Mac client has felt almost abandoned for years.

Today, at the Twitter Flight developer’s conference, the company has confirmed that a much-needed overhaul to the Mac app is on the way…
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Synaptics announces 3D Touch-like touchscreen controller for Android phones

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From 9to5Google:

Synaptics has today announced the ClearPad 3700 force-sensing touchscreen controller, which the company hopes will be packed inside many a 2016 flagship Android smartphone. This comes just about a month after Apple’s September 9th event, at which the Cupertino company announced the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, both packing “3D Touch” as a headline feature…
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Google wants Apple Music to play on Chromecast Audio … but Apple is silent for now

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During the announcement of Google’s Chromecast Audio yesterday, the company made sure to mention that music subscription leader Spotify will soon be one of the many music streaming services supported by the platform. With many Apple Music subscriptions renewing (or not renewing) and Google unveiling a $35 dongle that retrofits our existing home speakers with Wi-Fi, some are rightfully wondering: What about Apple Music?

According to statements from one Googler (via TrustedReviews), Google has no bar on any platform joining in on supporting Chromecast, and the Mountain View company has already directly asked Apple to play along…
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iOS 9 passes 21% adoption, one ups last year’s Android 5.0 Lollipop in just 48 hours

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In just 48 hours, Apple has managed to push iOS 9 to more than 21% of iOS devices, according to the latest data from Mixpanel. That just so happens to be the same percentage of phones that Google recently announced are running the latest version of its mobile OS, Android Lollipop. But unlike iOS 9 which was just released on Wednesday, Android Lollipop was released to the public 10 months ago in November 2014…
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