Google Home and Google Assistant are ever maturing ecosystems, but they still lack in a major area — home automation. Since launch, Google has only made a couple of major additions to Assistant’s home control compatible products, but today the company is announcing new partnerships that open up the floodgates wide…
Smart lock maker August announced its latest device today at CES 2015 simply dubbed ‘Connect’. The August Connect is an WiFi-connected device that plugs into a power outlet in your home to provide the Bluetooth-connected August Smart Lock with a constant Internet connection. August says its latest accessory enables several new features for owners of its smart lock product…
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Just a day after Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen told CNBC his hit mobile game would return in August, today the developer is teasing a new game currently in development.
Despite reportedly confirming Flappy Bird would make a return, Nguyen’s tweet about his new game reads, “I am making a new game. So people can forget about Flappy Bird for a while.”
There aren’t any other details on the game or a timeframe for release, but Nguyen did provide the screenshot above which appears to show similar gameplay to Flappy Bird.
A company that makes smartphone-controlled door locks for hotels has announced its first home door lock system, going by the rather cringeworthy name Okidokeys.
Once fitted, you’ll be able to unlock your front door from your Android handset via Bluetooth. The locks are also compatible with RFID chips, allowing you to open them with a keycard or wristband in case your phone battery goes flat. As you’d expect from a hi-tech lock, you can also manage access and accounts online … 
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While previous leaks have pointed to an August 23rd release date for the majority of US carriers, the latest leaked shot from Best Buy’s inventory system (via AndroidCentral) shows that you might have to wait a little longer to get your hands on the device. Nothing’s official, but the image above shows the Verizon version of the Moto X will arrive on August 29. Motorola hasn’t confirmed an official launch date other than “late August/early September”, but we know the $199, 4.7-inch device will be landing on all four major US carriers, as well as in Canada and Latin America, by early next month. However, the device’s big new selling point– the Moto X online tool that allows users to choose from over 2000 customization options– will be exclusive to AT&T until sometime later this year.
After a brief announcement back in June that it had partnered with Starbucks to offer free, unlimited music through its new Google Play All Access streaming service, Google today announced that it will soon be supplying WiFi to all Starbucks locations in the US. That also includes its new gigabit Google Fiber internet service where available:
When your local Starbucks WiFi network goes Google, you’ll be able to surf the web at speeds up to 10x faster than before. If you’re in a Google Fiber city, we’re hoping to get you a connection that’s up to 100x faster.
Up until now, AT&T provided free Wifi access to Starbucks customers in the US (and T-Mobile before that), but it appears that will no longer be the case following the roll out of Google’s networks in the coming weeks.
Google plans to start rolling out its new Starbucks networks next month and hopes to have all 7,000 US locations up and running on its networks within 18 months. Google noted, “You’ll know your new network is ready to go when you can log in to the “Google Starbucks” SSID.”
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Chrome and Android, the two crucial weapons in Google’s assault on mobile and desktop, are showing no signs of stopping. We already reported today that Android passed iOS globally. When it comes to browsing the web, Google’s Chrome zoomed past the 25 percent mark for the first time this weekend, ConceivablyTech observed. More precisely, Chrome grabbed 25.02 percent share this past Sunday, per StatCounter Global Stats data.
The software has been growing rapidly, registering global market share of 18.29 percent in April, 19.36 percent in May 2011, 20.65 percent in June and 22.14 percent in July. Apple’s Safari grew marginally, adding just 0.02 percentage points to its 5.17 percent share in July. The latest StatCounter data, which may not be representative of the entire market, really spells trouble for Mozilla’s Firefox. Mozilla’s browser used to be the preferred alternative to Microsoft’s market-dominating Internet Explorer not that long time ago. How times change…
Firefox’s share is declining five times faster than Internet Explorer’s, indicating that Chrome is slowly but steadily chipping away at Firefox’s market position, which is now within spitting distance. Firefox scored a 27.49 share for the month of August versus 41.89 percent for Internet Explorer. The fact that only 14.5 percent of web users, or 54 percent of Firefox users, have upgraded to Firefox 6 is another indicative of shifting tides as Google gains significant ground in the web browsing space.
Google also benefits from the silent updating mechanism, a computer process that sits in the background to automatically keep your Chrome installation up to date, without any intervention on your part. Did the latest StatsCounter numbers surprise you? The writing has been on the wall for some time.