CHECK THIS OUT! This great free app will completely change the look of your Android phone

Sometimes when it comes to the look of the user interface on your smartphone or tablet, the simplest changes can make the biggest difference. Adding round icons like the ones pictured above is a perfect example; the look of the home screen is transformed thanks to that one simple change.

Of course, there are plenty of other ways to customize the look of your Android device, and in this post we'll highlight one in particular that completely changes the look of your Android phone by making one change that is shockingly simple.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, December 11

PS4 expected to continue outselling Xbox One all year in 2015

Barring a holiday miracle, the PlayStation 4 is poised to win 2014. Despite some missteps along the way, Sony been hard at work cementing its lead over the competition since the beginning of the year, and according to Digitimes , that trend will continue throughout 2015.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, December 04

SALE: Shoot creative aerial videos on a budget with the Extreme Micro Drone 2.0 + Aerial Camera

The remote-controlled Extreme Micro Drone 2.0 is a cool way to take photos and videos from incredible viewpoints. It can be flown both indoors and outdoors, and its smart technology will correct itself to fly horizontal no matter how you throw it in the air. With a range of 400 feet, you can also swivel the lens to take creative shots. And finally, there's a preprogrammed control to do 360-degree flips! Through the BGR Deals Store, you can now purchase this great drone for $74.99, which is 46% off its normal price.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, November 25

REVIEW: LittleBigPlanet 3 -- Small worlds after all

Over 9 million reasons (and counting) to visit LittleBigPlanet

I have a volatile relationship with the LittleBigPlanet series. As much as I want to love every entry, I always seem to run into things that drive me up the wall to the point that I never stick around long enough to see all the incredible inventions that players have published online. I thought that LittleBigPlanet 3 might finally be able to turn me around on the series once and for all.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, November 19

BlackBerry is still beating Android and Windows Phone where it matters most

One of the last places that Blackberry has a foothold over Android and Windows Phones is Capitol Hill, which just happens to be a hugely important market for the company's future hopes.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, October 08

Buyer's Guide: Deals on 2014 Retina MacBook Pro, Bolt Battery Charger, Dragon Dictate 4, and More [Mac Blog]

This week's Buyer's Guide has deals on the 2013/2014 Retina MacBook Pro, the 2013 MacBook Air, the Mac Pro, and several Apple accessories.



The deals on Macs aren't as significant as they have been in past weeks, and with Apple's back to school program over, prospective buyers may have to do some shopping around to get a good discount. Best Buy, however, is continuing to offer EDU customers $100 off all MacBooks and the iMac plus $50 off the iPad Air or iPad mini with Retina display.



Retina MacBook Pro



There are a few deals 2014 Retina MacBook Pro this week, including the 13-inch 2.6Ghz/8GB/256GB model, which available for $1,379 from Adorama and B&H Photo. The high-end 2.6Ghz/8GB/512GB 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is on sale for $1,699.99 from Best Buy, Amazon, Adorama, B&H, and MacMall, a savings of $100.





There are also some deals on remaining 2013 Retina MacBook Pros. The 2.6Ghz/8GB/512GB 13-inch model is available for $1,549 from Adorama and B&H Photo. The 2.0Ghz/8GB/256GB 15-inch model is available for $1,599 Amazon, Adorama, and B&H Photo. The 2.0Ghz/16GB/512GB 15-inch model is available for $2,199 from Amazon, Adorama, and B&H Photo.



The non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro is also on sale for $999 from Best Buy, Adorama, and B&H Photo.



Mac Pro



Stock configurations of Apple's Mac Pro desktop computer are available at slightly discounted prices from several retailers this week. The 6-core 3.5Ghz/16GB/256GB machine can be purchased for $3,739.99 from Best Buy, Adorama, and B&H Photo, while the 4-core 3.7Ghz/12GB/256GB machine for $2,839.99 from Best Buy, Adorama, and B&H Photo.



B&H and Adorama, as always, are a good choice for buyers who live outside of New York and New Jersey, as the sites only charge sales tax in those states.



MacBook Air



B&H Photo is continuing to offer rock bottom prices on remaining inventory of the 2013 MacBook Air. The 1.3Ghz/4GB/128GB 11-inch MacBook Air is available for $779 , while the 1.3Ghz/4GB/256GB 11-inch MacBook Air is available for $889 and the 1.3Ghz/4GB/256GB 13-inch MacBook Air is available for $999 .







Apple Accessories



Fluxmob, which makes the small Bolt battery backup and wall charger accessories, is having a site-wide sale offering 20 percent off of products until 9/30 with the coupon code FALL20.





The Speck CandyShell case for the iPhone 5/5s is available from Groupon for $17.99, down from $34.95. Groupon is also offering the Mophie Juice Pack Helium Rechargeable 1,500 mAh battery case for the iPhone 5/5s for $49.99, a discount of $30.



The Apple Leather Smart Case for the iPad Air is available for $30 from DailySteals, a discount of $49. The LifeProof nüüd iPad Case for iPad 2/3/4 is on sale for $59 from Living Social. MegaMacs is offering Microsoft Office 2011 Home & Business Edition for Mac (product key, no discs) for $114, a savings of $60.





TextExpander 4 for Mac is available for $16.99 from StackSocial, a discount of $18 off of the regular $34.99 price. StackSocial is also offering Dragon Dictate Mac 4 for $99, a savings of $50.



MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, September 12

Watch a fully assembled iPhone 6 boot up for the very first time

No one has gotten their hands on an iPhone 6 yet, but luxury retailer Feld & Volk managed to cobble together enough loose components to put one together itself. In the video below, you can see the fully assembled 4.7-inch iPhone 6 in action for the very first time, from the protruding camera to the odd plastic inserts that we just can't stand.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, August 29

This is the Xbox One Microsoft should have made

The Xbox One gets a lot more flak than it deserves. Despite its relatively disappointing sales in the international market, it's still an extraordinarily capable next-gen console with an impressive line-up of first-party software and an update schedule that has kept it consistently ahead of the competition when it comes to additional features. The one thing the Xbox One can't fix? Its look.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, August 26

Apple Announces Eighth Annual iTunes Festival in London

Apple today announced that Maroon 5, Pharrell Williams, Beck, Sam Smith, Blondie, Kylie, David Guetta, 5 Seconds of Summer, Calvin Harris, Chrissie Hynde, and many more of the world’s biggest artists will headline this year’s iTunes Festival. Returning to the UK for an eighth year, the festival will feature over 60 acts throughout September at the legendary Roundhouse. Performances can be watched live or on-demand on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, in iTunes on a computer, or in HD with Apple TV. “The iTunes Festival in London is back with another stunning line-up of world class performers and tremendous new acts,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “These live shows capture the heart and soul of iTunes and we love bringing them to our customers in the Roundhouse, as well as to the millions of people watching all over the world for free.”

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, July 21

Amazon’s amazing customer service still finds ways to surprise you

I was at this grim Helsinki airport hotel two days ago and decided to watch an old horror flick on my laptop since Finnish television stations were running wolverine documentaries and cooking shows. I ended up renting Don't Look Now for $2.99 on Amazon to figure out whether it really was an overrated piece of pseudo-art or a horror masterpiece. I'm still not sure either way, but the movie was interesting enough.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, June 23

An In-Depth Look at App Extensions in iOS 8 and Yosemite

Extensibility, one of the iOS 8/Yosemite features for developers announced by Apple during the Worldwide Developers Conference, promises to bring a range of new functionality to the app ecosystem.



The feature is designed to allow third-party apps to share services with other apps, create widgets for the Notification Center, and develop custom system-wide keyboards, letting apps and services work together and interface with iOS and OS X as they never have before.





Federico Viticci of MacStories has taken an in-depth look at Apple's Extensibility initiative, explaining the various types of app extensions available to developers and how those extensions will work on both iOS and OS X. There are seven general ways that extensions can be used, as detailed by Viticci:



- Today (iOS and OS X): widgets for the Today view of Notification Center

- Share (iOS and OS X): post content to web services or share content with others

- Actions (iOS and OS X): app extensions to view or manipulate inside another app

- Photo Editing (iOS): edit a photo or video in Apple's Photos app with extensions from a third-party apps

- Finder Sync (OS X): remote file storage in the Finder with support for Finder content annotation

- Storage Provider (iOS): an interface between files inside an app and other apps on a user's device

- Custom Keyboard (iOS): system-wide alternative keyboards



One of the most intriguing aspects of Extensibility, app widgets in the Today view of the Notification Center, was demoed on stage during the keynote. A SportsCenter widget displayed sports scores and an eBay widget offered a way to keep an eye on auctions. Philips later demoed how a Hue widget might allow users to control lights directly from the Notification Center. Apple is said to be encouraging developers to keep widgets simple, with iOS 8 preventing system-intensive widgets with complex features.



Action-based app extensions will also bring major changes to iOS, allowing apps to extend their functionality to other apps. On stage, this was shown off in Safari on Yosemite, using the Bing app to translate Japanese text, and through a Pinterest tool that allowed it to capture an image from Safari to save to the Pinterest app.



Custom keyboards, one of the major surprises at WWDC, also fall under the extensions category. Apple has, in the past, been reluctant to allow third-party keyboards due to security concerns but there are a number of precautions in place. Custom keyboards are unable to type in secure text input fields, like those used for passwords, and by default, the keyboards will not have access to keystrokes.



According to Viticci, the developers he's spoken have reacted with excitement about all of the possibilities offered by Extensibility, and believe that "a new class of apps will be possible thanks to extensions."

Today, it's difficult to quantify the impact that extensions will have on the iOS app ecosystem, but I think it's safe to say that, considering developers' reactions to Apple's announcement, we're going to see plenty of cool new stuff this Fall.

iOS users interested in more information on Apple's Extensibility initiative, how app extensions work, and how they might be used by developers should check out Viticci's full extensions piece on MacStories .

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, June 06

Samsung’s latest tablet innovation is… a hole?

Samsung has been sued by Apple several times over claims that the company's Galaxy tablets have stolen the iPad's design identity. Back in 2011, one judge even illustrated how similar Samsung's slates were to the iPad. She held a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and an iPad above her head and asked Samsung's own attorney which one was which. In a painful bit of irony, Samsung's counsel could not distinguish them.

One thing is certain, however: No one will mistake a Samsung tablet with a big hole in the corner for an iPad.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, April 10

EA’s ability to enrage its own customers is a rare talent

For the past two years, Electronic Arts has been named the "Worst Company in America" by Consumerist readers... and it stands a damn good chance of winning the award again this year. Every time this happens, it sparks a round of self-righteous, finger-wagging lectures about how EA doesn't deserve to be named America's worst company since it hasn't, say, caused a calamitous environmental disaster or aided and abetted massive financial fraud. But while it's literally true that EA's alleged crimes against consumers aren't on par with those of BP or JPMorgan, it also undersells EA's remarkable achievement: That is, it's managed to make people incredibly angry by selling them video games.



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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, February 07

Video: iPad Pro concept proposes ultra-slim 12.9-inch iPad with 4K display, Touch ID

The designers at SET Solution responsible for various concepts showing potential Apple products including iPhone Air, iPhone 6c and iPhone 6 with retina scanner have now come up with their own version of the 12.9-inch iPad rumored to arrive later this year. The new video shows an iPad Pro model that measures 284 x 204 x 7mm and features a 12.9-inch 4K display, Touch ID fingerprint scanner and a back camera with True Tone flash.



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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, January 10

The biggest threat to Windows: ‘People simply don’t care about it’

If Windows ever dies out, it will likely go out with a whimper and not with a bang. Windows enthusiast Paul Thurrott worries that the biggest problem facing Microsoft right now is that Windows just isn't as important to most consumers' lives as it used to be and that app developers' creative energies have shifted more toward iOS and Android.



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Posted in 2014 at 06:20PM, January 01