Hasta La Gadget!

Whether to give as a gift for the Android fan on your shopping list or to offer as a show of fondness for the geek in your life, Google Play gift cards are a straight-forward way to fund your friends’ and family’s app library – if they’re located in the US or UK, that is. These gift cards have been notoriously unavailable in most locations, but that will be changing for Canadians soon.

The gift cards only recently became available in the United Kingdom, previously only being available to Android users in the United States. Canada will soon be added to the list of locations where the cards can be purchased and used, however, according to some signs Canadian users are seeing.

It started off with some tips that users in Canada were starting to see an option for redeeming the Google gift cards in the Play Store. Those tips were further validated when Blank’s Universe, a Canadian website, confirmed that it sees an option for redeeming gift cards, posting a couple screenshots as proof.

This means the back-end service to redeem the cards is being rolled out, though there are currently no retailers in the country offering the gift cards. Google hasn’t made any official announcements about the expansion, but the company will probably have something to say on the matter in the near future – possibly in the next few weeks. In the meantime, you can keep an eye on whether the gift cards become available in your here.

[via Android Community]

Google Play gift cards may be available in Canada soon is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google’s been awfully busy these past few weeks, but it seems that between sunsetting Reader (and pissing off most of the Internet in the process) and rolling out new services like Google Keep, the company has been working on a redesigned version of the Google Play Store for Android. That’s what the folks at Droid-Life claim, anyway. They appear to have obtained and installed the unreleased 4.0 version of the Google Play Android app ahead of a wider release.

The Play Store’s current mobile design first rolled out in July 2012, and while Google has seen fit to rebrand and tinker with a few things since then, more than a few bits look essentially the same as they did back then. If this is the real deal (and I strongly suspect that it is), then Google Play is about to get quite a facelift. Gone are the gloomy blacks and dark grays that used to permeate the app. This new version returns to a lighter color scheme that’s highly reminiscent of the old Android Market days. On the whole, the new app also looks much cleaner and more spacious than the Play Store that so many of us have gotten used to.

It’s not hard to see some similarities between the updated Play Store app and the Google Now design — there’s a more pronounced focus on bigger images and italicized text. What’s more, individual app listings are separated into little cards rather than being displayed in a more traditional list, yet another sign that Google’s Play Store developers are cribbing UI flourishes from Google Now. If anything, the unification of design between these two services makes me wonder just how far Google plans to go here. After all, Google Now and the Play Store are cornerstones of the Android experience. It wouldn’t be a huge shock to see the next version of Android take a similar approach to aesthetics.

At this point there’s no firm word on when (or if) this update is slated to go live, but it’s very possible that Google could wait until I/O to officially pull back the curtain on a redesigned Play Store app. In the meantime, major mobile players like Facebook are exploring ways to bypass the Play Store completely and push new updates to users, so here’s hoping Google pushes the update out before others follow suit.

While many Android users have enjoyed the robust library of content available on Google Play, which includes Movies, Music, and Magazines, there are still many users who only have access to some of the content. That reality has diminished in Mexico starting today, with users in the nation now having access to Google Play Books.

Users in Mexico now have access to both apps and ebooks, with the latter being offered in local currency and local titles. Publishing houses offering content for users in Mexico include Random House Mondadori and Planeta, according to a statement made on the Google Mexico G+ profile. In addition to local titles, international titles are also available, providing access to bestselling novels from overseas.

The service is simple to use: users browse through the ebooks available in the Play Store using either a mobile device or a computer. After purchasing a book, it becomes available on whichever device the user decides to use, such as a smartphone or tablet. For example, you can buy an ebook using your smartphone, but then access and read it on your tablet with a larger display.

In case you missed it, we reported on March 16 that it looks like Google is gearing up to launch a Play News feature, offering newspaper editions and subscriptions in a way similar to how it offers magazines. This information surfaced in a JavaScript and CSS file that was found on the Web version of the Play Store containing placeholders and text related to such a feature. Google Play News has not been officially announced, however, and there’s no word which locations will get it when/if it does come to fruition.

[via Google+ Mexico]

Google Play Books rolls out in Mexico is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Android users can now, finally, get Up. A new app makes the health tracker work with phones running Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean.

You know how it goes — “rules” are only “rules” if someone bothers to enforce them. And enforce Google has. While programs such as AdBlock, AdAway, AdFree and the like have been running unabated for quite some time now, Google has evidently buckled down and yanked the lot of ’em overnight. Of course, the company’s Play Store developer agreement already makes clear that apps designed specifically to hinder the natural course of advertising won’t be allowed, but it’s certainly interesting to see the company finally making good on its words. Specifically, the agreement states:

“You agree that you will not engage in any activity with the Market, including the development or distribution of Products, that interferes with, disrupts, damages, or accesses in an unauthorized manner the devices, servers, networks, or other properties or services of any third party including, but not limited to, Android users, Google or any mobile network operator.”

See that bit about third-party clients’ services? We’re guessing that it’s in reference to implementations of advertising code. Looks like the wild, wild west has a sheriff in town.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Via: ZDNet, CNET

Source: Google, Phandroid