Between Apple Pay, Google Pay and other insert-company-name-here-plus-Pay solutions, it seems like many mobile payment apps are copy-paste efforts. It’s not just the naming convention that gets copied, as the actual payments process is similar across the board. When it comes to point of sale payments in particular, they all harness NFC technology, allowing you to use biometrics to tap and go. It’s not hard to see why the wireless communication chip has become the foundation for mobile payment apps.

The Pebble smartwatch has always been a solid option for anyone seeking an affordable, durable and long-lasting wearable, though the lack of a solid activity tracking platform has always been one of its major downfalls. That’s changing today, with the announcement of Pebble Health, Pebble’s new fully native fitness tracking experience. Pebble Health will be able to track your daily activity, automatically detect your sleep phases, and much, much more. It will also integrate with your timeline, making your daily fitness stats easily accessibly from any screen.

The Raspberry Pi 4 is a massive upgrade over legacy models, while still coming in at the same price. One of the most significant moves is the switch to USB-C for power, but it turns out that this port has a rather interesting issue. According to TechRepublic, Raspberry Pi co-creator Eben Upton has confirmed claims that the Pi 4 won’t work when used with certain USB-C cables. More specifically, it doesn’t work with so-called e-marked cables, such as those used on Apple Macbooks and several other laptops.

If you’re not already sick of the never-ending smartphone patent wars then here’s some more lawsuit shenanigans for you to sink your teeth in to. Samsung has filed against sevens patents owned by rival company LG, which they allege infringe on their own patents for liquid crystal displays. Samsung is claiming that LG directly copied their plane-to-line switching (PLS) technology, which was patented back in 1997, and simply renamed it AH-IPS without paying royalties.

Talon For Twitter was updated to version 2.0 today with an incredibly long change log that includes everything from a new widget to a floating compose button and a slew of minor fixes or changes. The biggest change in how the app actually works is the new floating compose button which appears floating above your Timeline instead of in the action bar. The new location makes it easier to tap the button to compose a tweet, especially on larger phones where your thumb may not easily reach the top of the phone when you’re using just one hand.

If a new report from the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, Google is gearing up to launch several new hardware products in an attempt to one-up the competition and further spread its reach into new categories. One of these devices is allegedly an Android-powered game console. With companies like Ouya, MadCatz and Nvidia already pioneering this new frontier – there are clearly folks interested in the idea of a low-cost console that somehow bridges the world of mobile and traditional gaming.

The fall for Android fans is nearly its own holiday season with Nexus rumor after Nexus rumor bombaring the Android community. This week had us on the edges of our seats nearly every day as  new Nexus rumor surfaced. We heard rumors about an upcoming $99 Nexus tablet and a thinner, better $199 Nexus tablet. We heard more reports on an upcoming LG Nexus, based off of the Optimus G. We saw pictures get posted to Picasa that may or may not be from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus 2.

Charging dock DK26 for the Sony Xperia Z showed up Sunday morning on the Sony Xperia store in the UK. The charging dock will set Xperia Z owners back by £24.90 including VAT. The dock can not currently be ordered as it is labeled with “coming soon”. The charging dock will be available in three colours: black, purple and white. Keep in mind that a micro USB cable isn’t included with the charging dock; you’ll be required to supply your own.

Google has just issued an update to the Chrome OS Admin Console that should come in handy for educators and businesses. The update enables both business/enterprise and education devices running Chrome OS to be locked remotely if the devices are lost or stolen. To do so, ask your IT admin to lock the device remotely from the web-based control system. If you’re an IT professional that works with Chromebooks, head to this link to learn how.

The TouchWiz 4, MIUI 4, and stock Ice Cream Sandwich launchers are the must-have skins on your Samsung Galaxy S. You can enjoy all these three on your Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000 running an AOSP-based Android ICS custom ROM by installing WeUI ROM. XDA Developers member nightstalk0 reveals a new ROM for your phone. WeUI ROM lets you enjoy the sought-after Android skins—TouchWiz 4, MIUI 4, and ICS Launcher—right on your Samsung Galaxy S.