Trend

Google offering a free movie rental for Chromecast owners

Google has just opened up a pretty compelling offer to Chromecast users today, offering all owners a free movie rental of their choice from a selection of Play Store titles. We’re not just talking a few obscure films here, titles available include popular recent films, such as Kingsman and Interstellar. The films available for rent are usually priced between $2.99 and $4.99. The choices range from recent titles such as American Sniper, through to some old favourites such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Mad Max 2.

A case study for nonsensical software

I’ve been spending a bit of time with the Sony Xperia 1 II lately and it’s a phone I’ve really been trying to like. It’s undeniably stylish, offers a very minimalistic take on Android, and even though the 21:9 display is very tall the phone feels great to hold. You can read about all this and more in our Xperia 1 II review, but I have a personal gripe with Sony’s new flagship: I can’t get on board with the phone’s camera and that’s a major deal-breaker for me.

Best Android One phones: What are your options?

Android One is Google’s platform designed to bring affordable Android phones to the masses, but which are the best Android One phones you can buy? Originally launched in 2014, with the goal of offering cheap smartphones to emerging markets, Google announced a revamp of the program in 2017. Now, it has expanded worldwide to all markets, including the U.S., with the new goal of third-party OEMs selling Android One phones with a stock version of Android, and the promise of regular OS updates that will span at least two years.

Slack acquires Astro app for email, promptly shuts it down

TL;DR Slack announced today that is acquiring the popular Astro app, an email client with heavy AI integration. Slack has already removed the Astro app from the Google Play Store, and will permanently shutter the service on October 10. This could mean that there will be an AI-powered email service from Slack coming in the future. According to Astro, the service will be permanently shuttered on October 10. Until then, if you use the Astro app it will still work, but after then you will have to find a replacement app.

Check out these BB-8 inspired ringtones

The Force Awakens broke all box office records this weekend. Millions of people tuned in to see Rey, Finn, and Han Solo battle the First Order, but at least for me, one of the best characters was the little BB-8. The spunky, adorable droid stole many scenes, and in many cases, it was more memorable than its human costars. And that’s very impressive, for what’s essentially a robotic ball that only expressed itself through a bunch of beeps and whistles and a handful of basic movements.

Motorola One 5G Ace has huge battery and fair price

David Imel / Android Authority TL;DR The Motorola One 5G Ace is a subtle upgrade over last year’s Motorola One 5G. Despite the name, it does not come with Android One. As with last year’s model, the specs are underwhelming but gaining access to 5G at this price is a plus. The phone will cost just $399.99, making it one of the cheapest ways in the US to access 5G networks.

Android activity lifecycle explained - an introduction to the anatomy of an app

When you first boot up a new Android Studio project, you’re greeted not with a blank page, but a whole bunch of what is known as “boilerplate” code. This is code needed for the vast majority of apps and to get that “Hello World” example up and running. But what does it all mean? What is an onCreate() anyway? If you have ever tried reverse-engineering a project or following instructions, you’ll likely have spotted that a lot of the same lines come up time and again: things like onPause().

AT&T outs Mobile Share Advantage plans with no overage charges

AT&T is upping its game in the bid for your network dollar; the carrier has just announced a tempting new plan called Mobile Share Advantage (MSA). While a few more spitballing sessions on the name might not have gone astray, the plan itself is actually pretty attractive, primarily because it does away with overage charges. The best AT&T phones to spend your money on The Best Once you get to your data threshold each month, you’ll automatically start using any leftover that may have rolled over from the previous month.

Google Nest Aware pricing and plans: Here's what's new

If you own one of of the Nest security cameras or its Nest Hello video doorbell devices from Google, you know you can also sign up for the company Nest Aware service. It offers a way to save video clips from those cameras to the cloud, along with other services, for a fee. Today, as part of the company’s hardware press event, Google announced a revamping of its Nest Aware pricing and plans, which will go into effect in early 2020.

How to create a 3D shooter for Android with Unity

Unity is one of the most powerful tools that developers have available for making games and a huge number of the best-selling apps in the Play Store owe their existence to it. We’ve covered the engine before with both a general overview and a guide to making 2D platformers. We also touched on it briefly when discussing how to make games for the Gear VR. But long before Unity was being used to make platformers and VR apps, it was being used to make 3D shooters; usually of the FPS persuasion.