Spotify is giving Android users more ways to pay when downloading the app from the Google Play Store. “User Choice Billing” provides the option to pay for a subscription through either Spotify’s payment system or with Google Play billing. Spotify has made clear it will communicate with users about its Premium subscription service as well as promote discounts and promotions. It will also give free listeners the option to switch to Premium right from within the app....

If you were to guess which app would top the charts of free iOS apps, you’d probably guess Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, a game or something to do with emoji. But no, right now it’s an app no-one would ever have predicted: Google Arts & Culture. Sadly, this unexpected popularity doesn’t reflect a sudden popular interest in either cultural artifacts or art … Instead, the app has gone viral for two rather lower-brow reasons....

A demo game created by Google allows iPhone and Android users to shoot each other in augmented reality. No, it isn’t platform wars getting out of control, but rather a demonstration of a way to allow Apple’s ARKit and Android’s ARCore to access the same augmented reality world … CNET got a demo at Google’s I/O developer conference. It works using what Google calls Cloud Anchors, which are ‘shared points of data shared in the cloud that multiple devices can access’ using either ARKit or ARCore or both....

Google Pixel devices are one of the most popular flagship grade Android smartphones in the market. Though Pixel smartphones don’t come with some extraordinary features or inventions like other branded devices, it offers a powerful & smoother user experience which will give you all the premium feel. However, plenty of Pixel users are facing a common but unknown bug or issue. According to the users, Alarm Volume Turning Down on its own while ringing which is quite irritating....

Fans of Netflix’s latest new comedy-drama series are already looking forward to Gentefied season 2, so here’s what we know so far about its renewal status and possible premiere date. Set in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, the Mexican-themed series follow three cousins who battle against gentrification and culture vultures. Gentefied season 1 released in February 2020 and was co-produced by America Ferrera. Gentefied season 1 revolves around a Los Angeles taco shop....

1995’s Ghost in the Shell has proven to be one of the most influential films in modern cinematic history, and not just in the realm of anime. It is the spiritual godfather to the Wachowski sisters’ The Matrix series, among many other recent sci-fi undertakings, and it spawned its own meta-franchise; which is comprised of a direct theatrical sequel, a television series, and, now, an American live-action remake. While there has been some controversy regarding the “white washing” of the cast (the original is a Japanese movie set in Hong Kong), there has been a steady drumbeat of hype building for Ghost in the Shell, including the release of set photos and teasers....

Although Lorelai gets all the credit for her hilarious lines of dialogue on the TV drama Gilmore Girls, her mother, Emily, is just as clever and has the same kind of biting wit. In fact, since she has a taste for the finer things in life and is always completely honest, it could be argued that Emily has some even better one-liners and pieces of dialogue than her fast-talking daughter....

Google is today releasing an update for its Gmail mobile apps, iOS included, that introduces a new Smart Reply feature that offers suggested quick reply buttons within emails. The feature is something Google is bringing over from its Inbox by Gmail and Allo apps where similar functionality was already available. Google says that the feature accounts for around 12% of replies sent in Inbox, for instance. Smart Replies work by presenting three canned replies as buttons at the bottom of each email (as pictured above)....

Google Calendar is out with an improved version for the iPhone today with version 1.1. The list of changes is short but the improvements should be welcome. The update includes integration with Google Drive so users can connect files with events on your calendar. Interactive notifications now include the ability to open directions from alerts or respond to guests via email. Finally, users can now see week numbers next to the calendar and more entries using the week view....

Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out is paying off in a major way. Peele, best known as half of the comedy duo Key & Peele, crafted a film that delivers effective scares and laughs in equal measure and also deals with complicated racial themes. The result is a massive success with critics; Get Out arrived in theaters while holding the elusive 100 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. A film like Get Out may garner strong reviews, but a horror satire about race relations is not exactly the kind of production that would scream blockbuster....

At CES this week, we’ve seen a wide array of unique gadgets, some great electric vehicles and whatever this thing is. Shrinking bezels with more screen are certainly all the rage this year, and 17-inch laptops are back in the limelight. Tablets are also having an evolutionary year. Or… if you even can call this thing a tablet. Take a look at the ASUS ROG Mothership a bit further down below — a 17-inch, ten and a half pound, detachable keyboard laptop / ultra-powerful gaming desktop / portable tablet?...

People all over the world are busy watching the second season of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s excellent series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. While that series might be today’s awards darling, for many fans of the extraordinarily talented writer, she will always be known for her first series, Gilmore Girls. The show has reached nostalgic levels, and has kickstared a number of coffee addictions across the world. While the show began nearly two decades ago, fans are still combing over the series to look for new clues and revelations about the fast-talking, coffee loving residents of Stars Hollow....

Warning: SPOILERS for God of War ahead It may be seen as one of the best PlayStation exclusives of all time, but now the director of 2018’s God of War is addressing the game’s biggest criticism. Among the new additions for 2018 were Norse mythology instead of Greek, Kratos’ son Atreus as a traveling partner, and the entire game being shot in a continuous shot à la Birdman. That being said, not everything that God of War tested worked quite as well and a small crop of players were against the seeming lack of boss fights....

Google has said a lot about RCS and iMessage in recent months, and the iPhone-only solution is top of mind as it starts a Pixel 7 holiday push aimed at switchers. Coinciding with the start of Black Friday sales today, Google published “4 ways that switching to Pixel is easier than ever” this afternoon. The blog post is very explicitly for people “eyeing a Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro as a present for [themselves] or someone else, but switching from iOS to a Pixel sounds like more of a hassle than a gift....

The VPN service had previously only been available to Android users who were on the Google One Premium subscription plan. With the latest update, iOS users on that plan will similarly get access to that service. Access to the service is still different between iOS and Android users, however, as Google also announced new VPN features that are only available on Android. In a blog post explaining these updates, Google One VP Larissa Fontaine said the new Android-only features include “safe disconnect” – which will allow users to shut off internet access when they are not connected to the VPN – the option to make certain apps bypass the VPN, and the ability to temporarily turn off VPN....

Being the default search engine on iOS is highly lucrative for Google, with Apple’s devices predicted to account for approximately 50% of Google’s mobile search revenue. So much so that one financial firm estimates that Google will pay Apple $3 billion this year to remain the default. A new report from Bernstein today estimates that the deal is worth $3 billion in 2017. This agreement is equally lucrative for Apple and makes up the bulk of their growing services division, according to the analysis....

Season 2 of AMC’s The Terror will move into a brand new story, setting, and cast, one that will feature Star Trek alum George Takei. The series, produced by Ridley Scott was initially conceived as a limited series, adapting the novel of the same name by Dan Simmons. It told the tale of the ill-fated quest by a single expedition to navigate the Northwest Passage, a journey that was ultimately undone by treacherous weather, starvation, mutiny, and a supernatural beast stalking the frozen wilds....

Google Drive updates arriving today include new features for the service’s iOS app including sharing notifications and what Google promises will be a ‘consistent sharing experience across platforms.” As part of its Drive mobile app updates today, both users of the iOS and Android apps can now enable notifications for when files are shared with them. Not only is it a notification, but it also acts as a quick link to jump right into the file or folder....

While recent weeks have seen a flurry of developments in the podcasting industry, Google has remained relatively quiet about its offering. That said, Google Podcasts has just redesigned the Now Playing screen on iOS and has widely rolled out the ability to block recommendations. The revamped Now Playing screen first appeared on Android at the start of 2021. Google has moved the timeline scrubber so that it appears directly below the episode/show name....

German Apple Stores have dropped Vodafone and O2 contracts for both iPhones and iPads, offering them only with Deutsche Telekom contracts or SIM-free. The change affects only post-paid contracts: pre-paid SIMs remain available on Vodafone. The change in policy was reported by Teltarif and confirmed to us by two different Apple Stores in the country. Customers wanting service with other carriers can still buy them from Vodafone and O2 — the new policy applies only to iOS devices sold in Apple’s own retail stores....