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FAA expands the use of portable electronics on planes, but you'll have to wait on the airlines to allow it

FAA expands the use of portable electronics on planes, but you'll have to wait on the airlines to allow it
Airplane mode will still be required, and you'll have to pretend to pay attention to the safety briefing The Federal Aviation Administration this morning at a news conference announced that it has determined that portable electronic devices can be used not just above 10,000 feet, but during "all phases of flight." That means no more turning off your iPhones, iPads, e-books, e-readers,...

Kyocera Hydro Edge review

Kyocera Hydro Edge review
Announced back in July, the Kyocera Hydro Edge is a low-end handset for Boost Mobile. It continues the recent trend towards water resistant smartphones, which the Japanese manufacturer has been pushing lately. The Hydro Edge won't wow anyone looking for the top line devices, but is a decent offering for those who are budget conscious and are just looking for a working phone. The...

Developers, Damon Wayans, dinner and drinks: It's the Samsung Developers Conference party!

Developers, Damon Wayans, dinner and drinks: It's the Samsung Developers Conference party!
SDKs and APIs are great and all but it's really not a developers conference without a party, right? And on the close of the first day of the Samsung Developers Conference, attendees got their fill of food, drink and some gagdgety science at the Exploratoriumin San Francisco. And, yes, that's special guest Damon Wayans! Check out our recap above, and be sure to swing by our complete...

Google voice search gets new, less robotic voice in the UK

Google voice search gets new, less robotic voice in the UK
More natural sounding female voice replaces the old robotic tones If you use Google Search's voice features in the UK, you may have noticed a fairly significant change today the robotic male voice of old has been replaced with a new, more natural sounding female voice. The change brings the UK in line with the U.S., which has had realistic sounding voice playback for some time...

Pandora now officially supports Chromecast

Pandora now officially supports Chromecast
What a difference a day can make, apparently. Just 24 hours after Pandora unveiled a new tablet design for its Internet radio app, it's flipped the switch on Chromecast support. The sharing icon (which I swear wasn't there yesterday when I was kind of going off on a rant) is now live, and it connects as you'd expect to Chromecast. Earlier this month, HuluPlus joined the ranks as...

Deal of the Day: Qmadix S Series Cover for Motorola Droid MAXX

Deal of the Day: Qmadix S Series Cover for Motorola Droid MAXX
The Oct. 31 Deal of the Day is the Qmadix S Series Cover for Motorola Droid MAXX. This hard case features a hard polycarbonate outer shell and a shock absorbent TPU underneath for double the protection against impacts. The back of the S Series Case has a glossy finish while the sides provide softer edging for a comfortable grip. Comes in black, red and white. The Qmadix S Series Cover is available for just $14.49,...

Mr. Jingles dons his Halloween gear

Mr. Jingles dons his Halloween gear
Even Google's notification mascot is getting in the Halloween spirit. Clear your Google+ notifications on the web or in the latest version of the app and you'll see Mr. Jingles is all dressed up and ready for today's celebrations! If you've got a particularly awesome costume ready for tonight, there's still time to enter ourLloydOWeen contest, which closes noon PDT tomorrow. Via:...

Phones 4u to carry pink Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Phones 4u to carry pink Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Pink Note 3 arriving from Nov. 1 exclusively at Phones 4u UK retailer Phones 4u has announced that it'll soon be offering the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in its "blush pink" color option. The pink Note 3, which we saw at IFA 2013 in Berlin a couple of months back, swaps out the handset's monochrome front and back panels in favor of a more colorful tone. It's even bundled with a stylish...

T-Mobile prepaid SIM cards currently free with free shipping

T-Mobile prepaid SIM cards currently free with free shipping
Now's your chance to get a new or backup T-Mobile SIMfor nothing T-Mobile's prepaid SIM card activation kits, the gateway to starting new service on the carrier, are currently free along with free shipping from its online store. Historically the price of the SIMs have fluctuated in price pretty randomly, but for several months now you had to shell out $9.99 for a single SIM. That's...

Expansys now offering Galaxy Note 10.1 - 2014 Edition for 495 in the U.K.

Expansys now offering Galaxy Note 10.1 - 2014 Edition for 495 in the U.K.
You can now pick up Samsung's latest big tablet in the U.K., but it'll cost you It may be tough to get your hands on Samsung's latest Galaxy Note 10.1 if you live in the U.K., but Expansys is hoping to help you out with that. If you've just gotta have one and don't mind waiting for shipping, the online retailer will be happy to sell you a 16GB Wifi version for a cool494.99. When...

Supposed leaked docs point to Kit Kat being designed for low spec phones, televisions and wearables

Supposed leaked docs point to Kit Kat being designed for low spec phones, televisions and wearables
More last minute leaks point towards Kit Kat features Another to add the the list of rumors about what's next for Google has magically surfaced tonight. According to ex-WSJ reporterAmir Efrati, Kit Kat will focus on unifying Android and making he OS run better on low-end hardware. Specifically, he says it was designed for devices with 512MB of RAM, like the millions of devices in...

Get your gaming fix during Google Play's Spooky Savings sale

Get your gaming fix during Google Play's Spooky Savings sale
Google is getting in the Halloween spirit, and they've got a page full of games with special Halloween promotions to celebrate. Titled "Spooky Savings", here's a list of what's available: Hotel Transylvania Dash Play the first levels free, save 65% and unlock the full game for 99-cents The Walking Dead: Assault 99-cent special Halloween price Zombiewood - Zombies in LA! Free...

Republic Wireless running contest to give away Moto X prize pack

Republic Wireless running contest to give away Moto X prize pack
Win a phone, 12 months of free service and various accessories You can pick up a Moto X on Republic Wireless for the low price of $299 unsubsidized, but getting it for free would be better. The scrappy upstart carrier is currently running a contest on its Facebook page that is giving away what it calls "Moto X Prize Pack," including a device, 12 months of service from the carrier...

Pandora updates UI for proper Android tablet design

Pandora updates UI for proper Android tablet design
Pandora today updated its Android application to finally bring about a proper design for tablets. The revamp smartly covers both portrait and landscape orientations, though the latter looks a little weird until you get two or three album covers onto the screen. No matter, though, it's absolutely an update you'll want to snag. With the redesign you get easier access to your playlists,...

ABI Research says Samsung sold more smartphones than Apple, BlackBerry and Nokia combined in Q3 2013

ABI Research says Samsung sold more smartphones than Apple, BlackBerry and Nokia combined in Q3 2013
Samsung is riding at the top of the smartphone food-chain let's hope they remember how they got there I was looking through the data at ABI Research today about Q3 2013 smartphone sales. At first glance, I saw the pie chart I expected to see, with Android having over 80 percent of the worldwide smartphone market and was ready to close the tab. We know Android outsells everyone,...

Sprint announces their first 'Spark' tri-band LTE phones: LG G2, Galaxy S4 Mini, Galaxy Mega

Sprint announces their first 'Spark' tri-band LTE phones: LG G2, Galaxy S4 Mini, Galaxy Mega
Sprint Spark network is a go, phones coming November 8 Sprint has sent out a note to the press, chock full of news plenty of folks are going to love. They are about to officially kick out Sprint Spark what they've named their tri-band LTE technology and have three phones in the works to use it. Spark is Sprint's attempt to get some serious LTE speeds for their customers by utilizing...

The roundup: Nexus 5 leaks all over the place ahead of anticipated launch

The roundup: Nexus 5 leaks all over the place ahead of anticipated launch
It's coming; here's a last-minute look at everywhere the Nexus 5 has cropped up in the past 24 hours In case you hadn't been paying attention, there's a new Nexus phone due to arrive very soon, and this week has seen the LG-made device make its way out to all corners of the world ahead of its anticipated release. There's evidence that devices are already in the hands of carrier...

Sprint Galaxy S4 getting Android 4.3 update

Sprint Galaxy S4 getting Android 4.3 update
Galaxy Gear support and Samsung KNOX in latest update for Sprint's GS4 As predicted by a recently-leaked update timetable, the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 is today getting its Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update. Sprint's GS4 is the second U.S. model to get the upgrade, following Verizon's rollout on Monday. In addition to bringing the GS4 up to what is, for the moment, the latest version...

AT&T offering free Galaxy Tab 3 with high-end Samsung phones

AT&T offering free Galaxy Tab 3 with high-end Samsung phones
7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 free with Galaxy S4, S4 Active, Note 3 or Note 2 on contract AT&T's hoping to pick up a few extra subscribers in the run up to the holidays by offering a free Samsung tablet to buyers of four of the company's leading Galaxy smartphones. From today customers picking up the Galaxy S4, S4 Active, Note 3 or Note 2 on a two-year plan (or through the AT&T Next...

EE extends 'Cash on Tap' payments service to four new devices

EE extends 'Cash on Tap' payments service to four new devices
Galaxy Note 2, Note 3, S4 Mini and Sony Xperia Z1 get support for NFC payments app British mobile operator EE has announced that it's extended availability of its "Cash on Tap" NFC-based payment system to four new Android smartphones: the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3 and S4 Mini, and the Sony Xperia Z1. The Mastercard-backed scheme allows users to pay for purchases up to...

Vodafone UK extends '4G bonus' to end of January

Vodafone UK extends '4G bonus' to end of January
Vodafone has announced that it's extending its "4G bonus" program through until the end of January. The promotion, which was originally due to expire at the end of October, gives Vodafone Red 4Gsubscribers 4GB of bonus data for the life of their contracts. What's more, SIM-only customers and 12/24-month customers on contracts that include a bundled 4G phone will get unlimited data...

Collect and battle dragons and more in GREE's Dragon Realms

Collect and battle dragons and more in GREE's Dragon Realms
Mobile gaming powerhouse GREE International has released a number of role-playing/town building games in recent years, including Modern War, Kingdom Age, and Crime City. Their latest role-playing game Dragon Realms was developed internally at GREEs RPG+ Studio and acts as the spiritual successor to last years Kingdom Age. Dragon Realms is a free to play Massively Multiplayer Online...