Which is the best Android keyboard? We find out

Android as an operating system is incredibly flexible. Almost any aspect of the operating system can be changed by the user. One of the things that most manufacturers change about the core Android experience is the keyboard. This holds particularly true for tier-1 brands like Samsung and HTC, and mostly, the experience is poorer than what you'd get from a third party virtual keyboard solution that is available on the Google Play store.

The good news is that we have tested some of popular keyboards so we are in a position to tell you which one is the best why. Read on.

SwiftKey

SwiftKey was perhaps one of the first third-party Android keyboards to hit the Play Store and in the last few years it has cemented its position as the best keyboard for Android. It comes with a host of themes and is highly customisable. Importantly, using SwiftKey's proprietary word detection technology and SwiftCloud, the keyboard incorporates your writing style and habits. If allowed, it pulls data from various sources - Gmail, Facebook and Twitter and automatically adds words to the back-end so that you can write at very rapid clip accurately. Earlier, it was a paid app, but now it's free, which makes it a no-brainer. There's also a store where users can get multiple themes, though for some of these themes users will need to pay.

Accuracy: Excellent

Speed: Excellent

Interface: Very good 

Cost: Free

Google Keyboard

Over the years, Google has refined and honed its stock keyboard for Android. The Google Keyboard has improved so much in terms of accuracy, auto corrction and speed that it can hold its own against SwiftKey. It is also pretty especially its new material design themes. Still, it is not has flexible as SwiftKey, but it is so good that many smartphone vendors don't even bother adding a custom keyboard, they just wing it with the stock Google Keyboard. And this is a wonderful thing.

Accuracy: Very good

Speed: Excellent

Interface: Very good 

Cost: Free

Swype

Like SwiftKey, Nuance-owned Swype keyboard has been around for years. In fact, Swype's journey began on Nokia's old series 60 smartphones. Swype's calling card is the shape writing function, but now this feature is also a part of SwiftKey and the Google Keyboard. So, it's not a speciality feature anymore. However, still, the keyboard is very accurate and we managed to type at a fast pace without many errors. It also gets Nuance's Dragon Dictate voice engine, which is a very robust solution for entering text via voice. The bigger issue is that it is a paid app which costs Rs 60.

Accuracy: Very good

Speed: Very good 

Interface: Very good 

Cost: Rs 105

Fleksy

The Fleksy keyboard is different from what Google, SwiftKey and Swype are doing with its keyboards. Its keyboard is massive with keys having huge touch points, which makes it a better solution for someone with large fingers. It also has some BlackBerry style gestures and shortcuts for text prediction, which makes it a good option for people transitioning from a BlackBerry 10 smartphone. Its also the only keyboard that supports GIF images and comes with around 30 themes. While all this is good, in usage we found that it neither as fast or accurate as all the aforementioned third party keyboards.

Accuracy: Good

Speed: Good

Interface: Very good

Cost: Free

Conclusion

If one looks at this situation holistically, then the SwiftKey keyboard remains the best in the business. Google's solution is very close and if it is pre-loaded on your device, then mostly likely you don't need to make the jump to SwiftKey. Swype remains an innovative option but it is also a paid app and Fleksy is quirky at best and will likely enforce a learning curve on the user.

-IndiaToday

Alternatives to YouTube

KARACHI: The restriction on youtube.com is into its third year but uncertainty on when and how it would be unblocked and divide on justifications behind the sanction continue to hover around the world’s largest video sharing website.

Islamabad banned the social video-sharing platform on September 17, 2012 after its parent company Google had turned down Pakistan’s request to remove the blasphemous movie ‘Innocence of Muslims’, which caused uproar among Muslims across the world and sparked violent protests in some countries including Pakistan.

Proponents of internet freedom criticised the blanket ban of YouTube, saying it was a violation of basic civil rights. Viewing certain content is a personal choice and the government should not intervene, some say. On the other hand, there are those who say blasphemous content not only hurts the religious sentiments of Muslims but can lead to violence and the solution remains in blocking the material. The government took the latter road.

The YouTube saga started afresh last week when some Internet Service Providers restored the website in parts of Karachi for unknown reasons, whereas there is no change in the official stance. The news of the website’s availability spread quickly across the country. Scores of people took to social media and expressed their joy while many others shared their frustration for not being able to access it.

The government’s stance on the subject may not change and people may continue to be divided on YouTube’s accessibility. However, it makes little difference because, while the website remains blocked on paper, its content is available through various platforms.

Despite the ban, YouTube was always available to Pakistanis. Some people used proxy servers but, things became easier after local entrepreneurs, sensing the need, launched their own portals that allowed direct access to YouTube’s content.

Pakistani websites, such as playit.pk, ytpak.com and the recently-launched tubemuse.comprovide direct access to YouTube’s content. However, there is a twist — they heavily focus on filtering blasphemous and objectionable content that Google originally refused to do.

“The videos are served directly by YouTube. What we do is that we block the objectionable content on a daily basis” said Hasan Saleem, the entrepreneur behind tubemuse.com, launched a month ago.

The website got 70,000 hits on the very first day and gets 40,000 daily views on average. The site reached a peak of 175,000 hits last week while 300 movie downloads took place the week before. The website’s country ranking improved from 2,316 a week ago to 1,631 on Saturday, according to alexa.com.

These statistics certainly indicate how quickly the users are adapting to alternatives of YouTube. These portals keep a low profile and do not market themselves but remain well received.

While TubeMuse is a recently launched video sharing portal, ytpak.com has been catering to millions of Pakistanis for over a year now. The Lahore-based portal was launched a year ago and now boasts 1 million daily page views with 200,000 videos watched on the platform every day.

Ranked in the 60s, ytpak.com – if current trends continue – will be among the top 10 websites of Pakistan, according to its founder Erfan Ilyas.

“Our portal scans the internet and pulls data [videos searched by users] from the fastest server that is available. It searches YouTube, Daily motion and other such platforms and serve it to users,” Ilyas said, explaining how the website works.

Responding to a question, Ilyas said his group founded the website for professional needs and not for profit.

The overwhelming public reception of the website, however, increased bandwidth costs and now they are looking to increase revenues to make up for server costs.

With these platforms aggressively focused on blocking blasphemous material and providing access to useful content, the official ban on YouTube may not restrict users from accessing the world’s largest video sharing website.

The writer is a staff correspondent

Game changer
The single biggest success of Pakistani video sharing platforms, such as ytpak.com and tubemuse.com was providing direct access to YouTube’s content while simultaneously blocking the objectionable content.

Before launching the site, TubeMuse prepared a list of content that was declared objectionable by the government and local courts. They had it blocked and now keep themselves updated to block similar content on daily basis. They do it through an automated code that filters objectionable content.

Ytpak.com, too, filters blasphemous content with a solution that uses intelligent key words, according to Ilyas.

“Our solution gives ratings to key words and when the ratings reach a particular point, the video is blocked and all of this is done automatically,” Ilyas said, adding that it is impossible to manually block objectionable videos that run into the millions.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2015.

Relief for Android users: You can disable those creepy ‘blue ticks’ on WhatsApp

Last week, WhatsApp launched the ‘double blue ticks’ feature that lets users know when their messages are read that didn’t go down well with many users. With this new feature, you could no longer ignore a message or simply excuse yourself by saying, “I read it late” or “just saw your message”. Moreover, it didn’t give you an option to disable the blue ticks feature either.

However WhatsApp has quickly done some damage-control and added the feature to hide ‘Read Receipts’. Once enabled, people will not see the blue tick marks even if you have read the messages. This would definitely turn out to be a sigh of relief for many. One needs to simply go to the ‘Privacy Settings’ and enable/disable the feature.

-TechFirstpost

A messaging app that shows what your friends type, as they type it

TORONTO: Imagine if you could read as your girlfriend types, deletes or rewrites a reply to your message. With this new app, there is no hiding the emotions that you pour into your messages. 

Known as Beam Messenger, "this is the closest you will get to having a verbal conversation in a messaging app," says its download page on Google Play. 

Unlike traditional texting apps, the app developed by the Toronto-based Propulsion Lab shows both participants in a conversation what the other party is writing. 

"Beam Messenger is a first of its kind 'True Real Time' communications app. It allows for instant typing and transmission of text. Erase messages in real time or interrupt your friend to say 'you have heard the story before!'" the post of the company's website read. 

"Every character, every deleted character, every single pause, in real time. Right there in the palm of your hand," it added. 

Beam Messenger is free for Android users.

-IANS

How to find out everything Google knows about you

When you use Google, you are making a deal. You get to use Gmail and search and YouTube and Maps for free and in exchange, you agree to share information about yourself. Google gets to sell that information to advertisers. 

The more Google knows about you, the more it can match you to an advertiser who thinks you are an ideal customer. Advertisers are willing to pay more for ads served to ideal potential customers. For instance, airlines want to target people who love to travel. Children's clothing makers want to target parents. 

Google uses a lot of methods to learn about you. There's the stuff you tell Google outright when you sign up for its services, like Gmail and Google Maps or via an Android phone, like your name, phone number, location, and so on. Google also deduces information about you from watching your internet searches (what do you search for, click on etc) and from the stuff you do with Google's products. 

By visiting a site called "Ads Settings" you can see what Google knows about you.

It's not that easy to find Ads Settings. First, click on the link below or type it into your browser: https://www.google.com/settings/

Then click on "Account history."

Scroll down to Ads and click on "Edit settings."

This page shows you what Google thinks it knows about you including your age bracket, the languages you speak and ...
... your interests.

From that page, you can edit that information or "opt out" of allowing Google to share your information with advertisers.

-Business Insider

Before Orkut shuts, take a final walk through your memories

Google has announced a shutdown of its first ever social networking site, Orkut, on September 30. Launched almost a decade ago, Facebook has been ruling the social networking world, and by now people have almost forgotten about Orkut. In fact, the younger generation may not even know about the existence of such a thing called Orkut.

It was only a few days back that people were dragged down the memory lane when Google decided to bid farewell to Orkut. The news about Orkut’s shut down kind of worked as a re-wind moment for most of us who have used Orkut.

Remember how till some time back it was one of the coolest thing to be on Orkut, and it was much more cool if you had over one thousand scraps. It actually turned into a competition to have the highest number of scraps and people on your friend-list, and how can we forget the ‘testimonials’. People actually begged each other and lured their friends to write testimonials for them.

Now after years when we think of it, Orkut with itself brought in not just the idea of staying connected but also a wave of competitiveness and narcissism. If you don’t believe it, open your Orkut accounts again, and see what was your life like during the days of Orkut. Dig in to your teen days and take a final walk through your teenage and salvage those memories. (That is if you actually remember your passwords!)

When you revisit your Orkut page, download those old pictures, which you had totally forgotten, existed. You could even take screen shots and if you find something really special or close to your heart you could maybe take a print of it.

Although Google has said that it will archive the Orkut ‘communities’, but it would be a good idea to take screen grabs because once its archived, it is lose the ‘Orkut’ essence.

Since the Orkut is about to shut, there are also a lot of chances of accounts being hacked, misused. So if you have any important content (photos or any other information) that you think could be misused, make sure you erase it for good. At present, since Orkut is set to shut down by September 30, you have just three months to secure your information, so take out some time from your busy schedules and return to the good old days atleast once.

-Nandini Yadav (DeccanChronicle)

Tools to secure your Android phone

Your Android smartphone, more often than not, carries a lot of personal data, including e-mails , passwords, photos and videos, messages, contacts - and even sensitive office documents. It is therefore important that you keep your handset from prying eyes. Equally crucial is a contingency plan, just in case it falls into the wrong hands...

Use Google

Did you know that Android - version 2.2 and later - comes with a feature that lets you track and manage your mobile device?

Look for Google Settings among all the apps on your handset. It is denoted by a grey icon with a lower case 'g' and a gear symbol. Tap on the app, and choose the last option which reads 'AndroidDevice Manager' .

From here, you can activate features that will locate your device in case it is lost or misplaced, and you can also remotely lock and factory reset your handset.

After you've checked these options on your phone, you can log on to the Android Device Manager website (www.google.com/android/ devicemanager) using your Google account to control your phone remotely.

Protect your handset

An unprotected smartphone could prove to be a soft target for hackers. To guard against malicious apps and OS breaches, we suggest AntiVirus Security Free by AVG Mobile, Mobile Security & Antivirus by Avast Software, or Norton Security antivirus. In most cases, the free versions get the job done.

These tools check the apps you install for suspicious behaviour and even shield your phone from rogue websites. Most free versions can also track your phone in case it is stolen or misplaced; sound an alarm to help you locate it, and even remotely wipe the data on a lost device.

Note: Always choose and run only one antivirus software on your handset.

Snap the intruder

If you want a tool that will help you identify the person who has stolen your smartphone, installLockwatch Anti-Theft by Bloketech. This app uses the front camera to click a photo of the thief who has attempted to unlock your phone with the wrong code. It then e-mails the picture to you along with GPS location, making it easy for law enforcers to track and identify the thief.

The best part is that Lockwatch works silently in the background, so a person trying to gain access to your device doesn't even know he's been photographed.

Track your device

With Prey Anti Theft installed on your phone, you can track its geographical location as well as control the phone remotely. If there is no internet connection, you can send an SMS command to the device to receive its geolocation details. You can remotely lock the handset, unlock it; display a message to the thief on its screen, sound an alarm, take a picture of the crook, and even wipe the data from the phone.

Dos & Don'ts 

* Do not download attachments on your phone from e-mails sent by unknown contacts.

* Before installing an app, take a look at the permissions it seeks. For example, an app that allows you to scribble notes should not ask permission to see your contacts.

* Install apps that have a good rating and a healthy number of downloads (at least over 10,000)

* Use a PIN/Password on your lockscreen.

* Don't connect an app to your Google, Facebook and Twitter accounts, unless you have very good reasons to do so. Just because an app asks you for your account details, doesn't mean you should comply.

-TOI

Twitter is 'best technology firm to work for'

Twitter has been named as the best technology company to work for, ousting Facebook from the top spot it occupied for three consecutive years.

The list of the top 50 companies in the world is compiled from employee reviews on the jobs website Glassdoor.

One anonymous senior software engineer at Twitter’s London office said: “Great people, like a family, that are passionate about growing Twitter to help everyone. Very flat structure, all ideas seem valued and interaction with senior management is easy and often.”

Other staff, such as a former data scientist at the company in the US, highlighted the “great restaurant quality food with good variety” that was available in the staff canteen.

A current intern in San Francisco highlighted the free shuttle bus from the city to the office as a good perk and said that: “interns are treated very much like full time employees, and are generally given full-time calibre work”.

Not all of the reviews were positive, however. An anonymous former employee said that the food was “great, if you want to gain 20 lbs”. He also criticised the goals of the company: “They don't care about the employees and building a company. It's all about cashing out and hitting it big. HR is almost nonexistent.”

Twitter claims on its website to offer weekly yoga classes, free gym membership, medical and dental benefits, paid maternity and paternity leave and a laundry and dry cleaning service.

The list ranked Twitter top and LinkedIn second. Facebook, which was listed as the best technology employer in 2011, 2012 and 2013, only made it to the third spot.

Technology businesses also fared well in the overall list of the best companies to work for in any sector. Twitter was at second place, LinkedIn at third and Red Hat was at 23rd position. In total there were 22 technology companies in the top 50.

-Telegraph

Twitter to be available on mobile phones without internet

Twitter Inc is tying up with a Singapore-based startup to make its 140-character messaging service available to users in emerging markets who have entry-level mobile phones which cannot access the internet.

U2opia Mobile, which has a similar tie-up with Facebook Inc , will launch its Twitter service in the first quarter of next year, chief executive and co-founder Sumesh Menon told Reuters.

Users will need to dial a simple code to get a feed of the popular trending topics on Twitter, he said.

More than 11 million people use U2opia's Fonetwish service, which helps access Facebook and Google Talk on mobile without a data connection.

Twitter, which boasts of about 230 million users, held a successful initial public offering last month that valued the company at around $25 billion.

U2opia uses a telecom protocol named USSD, or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, which does not allow viewing of pictures, videos or other graphics.

"USSD as a vehicle for Twitter is almost hand in glove because Twitter has by design a character limit, it's a very text-driven social network," Menon said.

Eight out of 10 people in emerging markets are still not accessing data on their phone, he said.

U2opia, which is present in 30 countries in seven international languages, will localize the Twitter feed according to the location of the user.

"So somebody in Paraguay would definitely get content that would be very very localized to that market vis a vis somebody sitting in Mumbai or Bangalore," he said.

The company, whose biggest markets are Africa and South America, partners with telecom carriers such as Telenor , Vodafone and Bharti Airtel Ltd. U2opia usually gets 30 to 40 percent of what users pay its telecom partners to access Fonetwish.

"For a lot of end users in the emerging markets, it's going to be their first Twitter experience," Menon said.

-TOI

Why US President Barack Obama can't use an iPhone?

WASHINGTON: The troubled mobile phone makerBlackBerry still has at least one very loyal customer: US President Barack Obama.

At a meeting with youth to promote his landmark healthcare law, Obama said he is not allowed to have Apple's smartphone, the iPhone, for "security reasons," though he still uses Apple's tablet computer, the iPad.

Apple was one of several tech companies that may have allowed the National Security Agency(NSA) direct access to servers containing customer data, according to revelations by formerNSA contractor Edward Snowden. The companies deny the allegation.

Obama fought to keep his BlackBerry after coming to the White House in 2009, though he said only 10 people have his personal email address. Neither George W. Bush nor Bill Clinton used email during their presidencies.

BlackBerry, a Canadian company formerly known as Research In Motion, virtually invented the idea of on-the-go email, but lost its market stranglehold as rivals brought out more consumer-friendly devices, like Apple's iPhone and phones using Google's Android software.

The company recently halted plans to be sold and is trying to chart a new course by focusing on large business and government clients.

-TOI

How to protect your Twitter, Facebook account

NEW YORK: Security experts say passwords for more than 2 million Facebook, Google and other accounts have been compromised and circulated online, just the latest example of breaches involving leading Internet companies.

Some services including Twitter have responded by disabling the affected passwords. But there are several things you can do to minimize further threats -even if your account isn't among the 2 million that were compromised.

Here are some tips to help you secure your online accounts:

One thing leads to another

When a malicious hacker gets a password to one account, it's often a stepping stone to a more serious breach, especially because many people use the same passwords on multiple accounts. So if someone breaks into your Facebook account, that person might try the same password on your banking or Amazon account. Suddenly, it's not just about fake messages being posted to your social media accounts. It's about your hard-earned money.

It's particularly bad if the compromised password is for an email account. That's because when you click on a link on a site saying you've forgotten your password, the service will typically send a reset message by email. People who are able to break into your email account, therefore, can use it to create their own passwords for all sorts of accounts. You'll be locked out as they shop and spend, courtesy of you.

If the compromised password is one you use for work, someone can use it to break in to your employer's network, where there are files with trade secrets or customers' credit card numbers.

Better passwords

Many breaches occur because passwords are too easy to guess. There's no evidence that guessing was how these 2 million accounts got compromised, but it's still a good reminder to strengthen your passwords. Researchers at security company Trustwave analyzed the passwords compromised and found that only 5 percent were excellent and 17 percent were good. The rest were moderate or worse.

What makes a password strong?

* Make them long. The minimum should be eight characters, but even longer is better.

* Use combinations of letters and numbers, upper and lower case and symbols such as the exclamation mark. Try to vary it as much as you can. "My!PaSsWoRd-32" is far better than "mypassword32."

* Avoid words that are in dictionaries, as there are programs that can crack passwords by going through databases of known words. These programs know about such tricks as adding numbers and symbols, so you'll want to make sure the words you use aren't in the databases. One trick is to think of a sentence and use just the first letter of each word - as in "tqbfjotld" for "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

* Avoid easy-to-guess words, even if they aren't in the dictionary. Avoid your name, company name or hometown, for instance. Avoid pets and relatives' names, too. Likewise, avoid things that can be looked up, such as your birthday or ZIP code.

One other thing to consider: Many sites let you reset your password by answering a security question, but these answers -such as your pet or mother's maiden name- are possible to look up. So try to make these answers complex just like passwords, by adding numbers and special characters and making up responses.

A second layer

Many services offer a second level of authentication when you're accessing them from a computer or device for the first time. These services will send you a text message to a phone number on file, for instance. The text message contains a code that you need in addition to your password. The idea is that a hacker may have your password, but won't have ready access to your phone.

Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter are among the services offering this dual authentication. It's typically an option, something you have to turn on. Do that. It may be a pain, but it will save you grief later. In most cases, you won't be asked for this second code when you return to a computer you've used before, but be sure to decline that option if you're in a public place such as a library or Internet cafe.

One final thought

Change your passwords regularly. It's possible your account information is already circulating. If you have a regular schedule for changing passwords for major accounts, you reduce the amount of time that someone can do harm with that information.

You'll need to decide what counts as a major account. Banking and shopping sites are obvious, as are email and social-networking services. It probably doesn't matter much if someone breaks into the account you use to read newspaper articles (unless it's a subscription).

And strong passwords alone won't completely keep you safe. Make sure your computer is running the latest software, as older versions can have flaws that hackers have been known to exploit. Be careful when clicking on email attachments, as they may contain malicious software for stealing passwords. Use firewalls and other security programs, many of which are available for free.

-TOI

Nokia Lumia 525 launches

Nokia has unveiled another budget smartphone. Named the Lumia 525, it's the follow-up to the Lumia 520, with improved specs but still a low, low price.

Nokia's Lumia 525 is the company's latest wallet-friendly smartphone. And it could be the last handset Nokia ever announces, before it becomes part of Microsoft early next year.

It features the same 4-inch screen as its predecessor, the Lumia 520. It has the same 800x480-pixel resolution, too, and inside is the same dual-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor.

The camera is the same 5 megapixels, and the handset has the 8GB of onboard storage. So what's changed from the Lumia 520?

The 525 has double the RAM of the 520, at 1GB. It also comes with theWindows Phone Black update straight out of the box - this adds more live tiles to the home page, and runs faster than the standard Windows Phone OS.

All the usual Nokia software comes as standard too, like Here Maps.

The Lumia 525 comes with interchangeable glossy back covers. They come in three colours: orange, yellow, or white.

Nokia announced the Lumia 525 in Singapore. There's no word if or when it'll come to the UK, but we'll bring you more news as we get it.

If it does hit these shores, it'll be up against the Motorola Moto G, which costs just £135.

On Monday, Nokia announced the Lumia 1520 will hit the shops a week on Friday. With a 6-inch screen, it's the biggest handset Nokia has ever made.

-T3

Motorola Moto G review

The Motorola Moto G is the brand's new Android-toting smartphone with a serious spec list and bargain price tag of just £135. T3 went hands-on

The Motorola Moto G is an Android smartphone aimed at those who don't want to shell out hundreds of pounds on a handset. The maker describes it as a premium experience with today's technology, with a price that's around a third lower than top-tier phones like the iPhone 5s and Samsung Galaxy S4.

Designed as an alternative to lower-tier handsets like the Samsung Galaxy Fame and older flagship models like the iPhone 4, the Moto G packs some decent specs into its slimline chassis so it appears to be a much better deal than the budget phones that we're used to.

Motorola Moto G: Size and build

Similar to the Moto X, the phone sports a curved back for a comfy grip, along with sturdy Corning Gorilla glass and a splashproof body. It's not full waterproof line theSony Xperia Z1, but it means your phone should be safe it you take it out in the rain.

A range of coloured backs - which the brand is calling Motorola Shells - can be used to customise the phone, and they'll also be a range of 'Flip shells' available.Article continues after out Moto G hands-on video.

Motorola Moto G: Features

The Moto G camera can only muster 5MP, so it's not likely to match up to the likes of the HTC One or Nokia Lumia 1020, but at this price, it's hardly a surprise. We'll take it for a full test drive when we get our hands on a final retail sample of the phone.

While there's no microSD card slot on board to boost the 8 or 16Gb built-in memory, you do get 65GB of free storage, courtesy of Google Drive.

Motorola Moto G: Screen

One of the phone's big talking points is the 4.5-inch 720p screen which sports an impressive resolution of 1280 x 720 and a pixel density of 329ppi - higher than the Retina screen on the iPhone 5s. This makes it the sharpest display in its class.

Motorola Moto G: Performance

Motorola reckons its new handset punches well above its weight when it comes to performance for money. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quadcore processor, running at 1.2GHz, with 1GB of RAM on board, it should be able to handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. It also appears to handle graphics with no visible lag.

The Moto G packs Android 4.3, with a guaranteed upgrade to Andoird 4.4 (KitKat) due by January 2014 and the maker has spent time making sure that each aspect is optimised for power consumption, rather than building a customised UI on top.

Motorola claims an all-day battery life and even reckons you'll get 33% more talk time than the on the iPhone 5s. Obviously we haven't had a chance to test out the battery properly yet, but that's something we'll be looking at in more detail in our full review.

Motorola Moto G: Verdict

At first glance, the Motorola Moto G certainly looks like a good buy for people that haven't got hundreds of pounds to spend but still want a decent phone that will enable them to do most thing that you can do on the flaghship handsets. We were impressed by the screen, and speed, as well as the minimalist. Stay tuned for a full review.

Motorola Moto G release date: Out now

Motorola Moto G price: £135 (8GB), £160 (16GB)

-T3

Send large files: 10 of the best services for sharing big files

The kinds of documents we generate have outpaced the means to cope for some technologies. Pop back in time to the 1990s and you might have sent the odd Word document or image to a colleague. Maybe a decade ago you'd have fired the occasional MP3 someone's way (of your own recorded material, naturally).

Today though, even fairly basic documents might include many embedded images, taking them into the dozens of megabytes. And then there are movies, layered Photoshop documents, audio work files, and more.

Although there's no set maximum assigned globally regarding email, you'll often find providers, services and corporate servers bounce anything that's too big as a matter of course. 10MB is a fairly typical limit, which once would have seemed a staggering amount of data, but today doesn't exactly seem huge.

On that basis, you'll often find yourself needing to send something to a friend or colleague, and realising email just won't cut it.

For very specific types of files, you might resort to joining an appropriate service and sharing your work, at least if you often want to send it on to others, such as YouTube or Soundcloud.

Often, though, you just want to send a massive file on an ad-hoc basis. Fortunately, dozens of options exist, from cloud storage providers to one-to-one upload services. Here are some of the best…

1. Dropbox

Dropbox is so popular that we're wondering if people might soon refer to 'Dropboxing' for file-sharing/online storage in the same generic manner as 'Photoshopping' for image editing. You get 2GB for free and can share folders or links to specific files, such as archives. You can buy extra space, from $9.99 monthly for 100GB. Dropbox's widespread support (in terms of first-party and third-party apps) adds to its appeal.

2. Box

Box echoes Dropbox in terms of sharing functionality, although its free option provides a whopping 10GB of storage. The caveat is 250MB file-size limits, which can be eradicated by paying. Paid plans also provide collaboration options (including email notification regarding downloads and commenting on files), but the free option's great for secure ad-hoc sharing.

3. SugarSync

SugarSync is in some ways similar to Dropbox, although it enables you to back-up any folder to the cloud. From a sharing standpoint there are no size limitations beyond your account's size (60GB for the cheapest $7.49 per month option), and there are tools available for group collaboration and businesses.

4. MediaFire

One of the more mature entries in terms of collaboration, MediaFire gives you 10GB of space for free, limiting transfers to 200MB. Paying $2.49 per month adds long-term storage, makes sharing ad-free, and gives you a FileDrop uploader for people to send content to your account. Document editing is also available.

5. WeTransfer

We like WeTransfer a lot. The free version is ad-supported and gives you registration-free 2GB transfers as often as you like. Each upload stays live for seven days. But buy Plus (€120 annually) and you get 5GB optionally password-protected transfers, and 50GB of long-term storage. The company's breezy copywriting doesn't hurt either.

6. Hightail

Originally YouSendIt, Hightail was one of the first companies that latched on to the 'fire huge files across the internet' thing, and it's grown rapidly since being founded in 2004. The free 'lite' plan - 50MB transfers, 2GB storage - looks a touch limited these days, but the company's longevity is reassuring, and its enterprise options will appeal to corporates.

7. Adobe SendNow

If you're in the design industry, large files are a big part of life. Massive high-res images, audio, video, magazine PDFs, the works. Adobe offersSendNow for £14.65/$19.95 annually, and beyond straightforward sending, you also get file-tracking and a handy 'convert to PDF' option for your money.

8. Egnyte

Most services for sending large documents are aimed at the widest possible market, but Egnyte has concentrated on the enterprise. Security, back-up, granular permissions and speed are central to the service, which starts at $8 per employee per month for between five and 24 employees. This plan includes 1TB of storage and comes with a 2.5GB maximum file size.

9. MailBigFile

If we're honest, it was the name that first attracted us to this British company. That said, the usability of MailBigFile is also great, with a bold drop-well and handy time/upload indicators. Up to five files totalling 2GB can be sent for free, while pro accounts (£2.99 per month) up the limit to 4GB, speed up transfers, add storage and offer tracking.

10. Mega

Founded by Kim Dotcom of Megaupload fame, Mega reportedly amassed 100,000 users within its first hour live. Despite initial issues with reliability and speed, the service remained popular, in part due to content encryption happening client-side. 50GB of storage is yours for free, while pro accounts start at €9.99 per month for 500GB of storage and 1TB of bandwidth.

-TechRadar

Facebook Lets You Edit Posts After Sharing On Android And Web Now, iOS Soon

Typo ruin your social media masterpiece? Facebook is starting to let you edit a post’s text after you publish it. The feature comes to the web and Android in an update today, and toiOS soon. Previously you had to delete your post, lose all your Likes and comments, and repost to edit something. Android users also get emotion and activity sharing, events at a glance, and photo album creation today.

Soon you’ll be able to edit all posts and comments from the web, Android, or iOS. To edit posts, you’ll be able to click the down arrow in the top right of one of your posts and select ‘Edit Post’ to change the text, then click “Done Editing” as shown in this screenshot from Spencer Chen. Your revisions and original post will still be viewable if friends check your post’s edit history, though. For comments, hovering over or tapping a post will reveal a pencil icon on the right you can click to start editing.

The long-requested Facebook feature was likely held back because the company was scared users would bait and switch each other. Imagine if a friend posted “Like this post if you hate Justin Bieber,” and you liked it, but then they edited it to say “Like if you LOVE Justin Bieber.” That could defame your music tastes.

But Facebook apparently found that the edit history section was enough to deter people from such trickery. It started allowing users to edit comments in June 2012, and Page owners have also had the ability to edit text on photo posts for a while. Facebook seems to have encountered few problems so now everyone is getting the option.

Google+ has had post editing for a while, facilitating its more long-winded, in-depth discussion style. Don’t expect editing to come to Twitter anytime soon, though, as it wouldn’t jive with the service’s real-time permanent record style.

The feature could be a big help on mobile where touchscreen keypads make it easy to screw up. It’s always a shame to have to wash away the comments you got immediately just to make an “its” an “it’s”. Facebook may have been losing posts to deletions because of typos, so the change could also add just a tiny more content flowing to the News Feed that brings in eyeballs for its ads.

-TechCrunch

Hands On With The New And Improved Screenhero

If you think screen sharing has already been mastered by the likes of WebEx and GoToMeeting, you probably haven’t tried Screenhero yet. ScreenHero, which launched earlier this year out of Y Combinator, is an app that turns any Mac or PC into a completely collaborative environment — a place where two people can not just share a screen, but also work together on it with their own mouse cursors in real-time.

It’s a great concept, especially for software engineers and designers — indeed, ScreenHero co-founder and CEO J Sherwani says that they have been the earliest adopters of the app in its beta form. But ScreenHero has debuted new updated version of its app for Mac (a new Windows version is on the way) that could help push its popularity further into the mainstream.

Sherwani stopped by TechCrunch HQ this week to give us a firsthand look at the updated Screenhero, and you can see that in the video embedded above.

The biggest overall difference in the new Screenhero is that it’s much more responsive — that’s because its been rebuilt to use H264 rather than its original VP8. The app also now includes voice chat, which was a highly-requested feature (it helps to be able to talk to someone that you’re sharing a mouse with, and now people won’t have to set up a separate call to do so.) The UI has gotten a facelift, as well.

Right now, Screenhero is still free since it’s in beta mode. Eventually, Sherwani says it will offer professional pricing plans for a yet-to-be determined cost.

In general, Screenhero is an app that seems to fit more with the modern way of working than legacy screen sharing apps. By default, Screenhero lets both people take control of the display — it’s built to facilitate a real conversation between equals, not a lecture from on high. It’s a solid philosophy that should appeal to how people want to do business today. It will be exciting to see how Screenhero grows from here.

-TechCrunch

'Faces of Facebook' Aggregates All 1.2 Billion Profile Pics

Got some time on your hands? You can spend 36 years scrolling through Faces of Facebook.

The site, created by freelance technologist Natalia Rojas, aggregates all 1.2 billion or so Facebook profile photos and claims to arrange them chronologically, starting with Mark Zuckerberg.

You can also log in to see where you fit into the picture. (The author of this story, who joined Facebook in 2008, was No. 249,759,340, but an unscientific analysis by Mashable employees suggests the numerical rankings may not be accurate.)

On her site, Rojas offers the following explanation:

Because there we are, all mixed up: large families, women wearing burkas, many Leo Messis, people supporting same-sex marriages or r4bia, chihuahuas, Indian gods, tourists pushing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, selfies, newborns, Ferraris, studio black and white portraits, lots of weddings but zero divorces, ID photos, faces framed in hearts, best friends, manga characters, political logos, deep looks, love messages, eyes memes, smiles, sweet grandparents and some not-yet-censured pictures.

Which number are you?

-Mashable

Charge Your Smartphone With Fire! FlameStower Turns Your Campfire Into A USB Phone-Charger

Charge your gadgets with fire! FlameStower, a startup that came out of Stanford’s StartX Summer 2013 class, has launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to get its alternative charger to market.

The gizmo lets you harness the heat from a campfire/gas stove/naked flame heat source to add some juice to a phone or other USB-charged device. It has a max power output of 3W and an average output of 2W, which its makers say can yield between 2 to 4 minutes of phone talk-time per minute of charge

The team behind FlameStower are targeting outdoorsy types, first and foremost, but also reckon their device could be a reliable back-up option to keep in store for use in power outages and storm scenarios.

In keeping with camping kit, the FlameStower folds down to a fairly flat profile so you can chuck it in your backpack.

And unlike the other outdoorsy/back-up option of solar-powered chargers, this bit of kit can work at any time of day — provided you have access to FIRE!

How does FlameStower work exactly? It creates and harnesses a temperature differential to generate electricity using its Thermoelectric Generator. The user exposes its metal blade to a flame to heat it up, while the other side is cooled by a small water reservoir that they fill with water. So really you need both fire and water for this to work. Oh and air, to fuel the fire. It’s elemental.

The hotter the fire, the more charge will be outputted. Albeit, the amount of energy generated is never going to match what you get from a wall outlet. FlameStower’s makers liken its output to charging via a laptop USB port. Which is to say slow and steady, giving you time to appreciate the great outdoors scenery.

The East Palo Alto team behind the device are hoping to raise $15,000 on Kickstarter to get the charger to market — and are around half way there, with 28 days left to run on their campaign.

They are offering the FlameStower to early backers for $70 ($10 off its expected retail price) and are aiming to ship in December.

-TechCrunch

Gmail For Android Updated With Card-Style Layout

Google’s Gmail application for Android is being updated with a new design which will bring Google’s now preferred “card style” user interface to the Conversation View within the app. This layout, which Google popularized through its Google Now search application, has become the new go-to design paradigm at Google, arriving across other Google products and services, includingGoogle Drive, the new Google Wallet apps, Maps, Google+ and elsewhere.

It mimics the idea of using index cards, and fits somewhere between minimalism and skeuomorphism, as Fast Company’s recent deep dive into Google’s design process explained.

In Gmail, cards will be used to better highlight multi-person, threaded messages in the app’s “Conversation view,” allowing for a “new, cleaner design,” states the company in a post on Google+ this afternoon.

In addition, the app will include other design tweaks, like checkmarks for multiple message selection which makes it easier to see which emails you’re about to move, delete or archive en masse. And the app will alert you in your inbox if account sync is turned off for some reason, to help keep you from missing messages.

Though some users are already seeing an app update in Google Play, not everyone is seeing the updated design just yet. The rollout is a staged one, so your mileage may vary, as they say.

News of the updated Gmail app comes on the heels of some serious issues which affected Gmail’s delivery times for an entire day on Monday. Even now, it seems the damage to the Gmail brand continues – many people have called me today, for example, saying, “oh, I thought I’d dial you since I just don’t trust Gmail right now.” That may be why now is a time for a little good news from Gmail… well, good news if you actually like the card-style layout, that is.

-TechCrunch