Hasta La Gadget!

Google Glass’ new GDK — or Glassware development kit — makes it easier for application developers to tap into the hardware, even when its offline, to perform tasks in real time without having to go back and forth to servers …

Motorola promised that it would be one of the first to roll out the Android 4.4 KitKat upgrade to its smartphones, and it’s making good on its word. The Google-owned company has announced that Moto X users on Verizon are getting the OS update beginning today. Most of the improvements are those inherent to KitKat itself, such as new Gallery editing features and the smarter phone dialer. However, Motorola has significantly improved its custom camera app — you can now drag your finger to control both the exposure and focus points. Details for Moto X upgrades on other carriers are coming “very soon,” the phone maker says. Whether or not you’re part of this first wave, you can check out the KitKat upgrade release notes at the source link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google, Verizon

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Source: Official Motorola Blog

Snapchat has been in the news recently, apparently because it has a few potential suitors who’re willing to put up billions of dollars. Now why would these companies want to pay so much for a service that’s not generating any revenue at all right now? Perhaps because it has the potential to generate revenue by leveraging its immense growth. Snapchat has now passed Facebook in photo uploads, users are uploading more than 400 million snaps and video messages every single day as opposed to Facebook’s 350 million photo uploads.

Even though the comparison isn’t exactly spot on, given that the 400 million figure includes both photos as well as videos and Snapchat hasn’t given exact figures for both, it is possible that the service may have an edge on Facebook when it comes to just photo uploads. Another thing to consider is the fact that Facebook has over 1 billion users, Snapchat doesn’t have that many, but its few hundred million users are almost equalling the photo upload activity on the world’s largest social network. Perhaps that’s why Facebook was willing to offer as much as $3 billion in cash for Snapchat, which it turned down. Google is said to have outbid Facebook by offering $4 billion, but Snapchat turned Mountain View down as well apparently. They’re in no mood to sell, because if these figures are legit, then the folks at Snapchat are certainly of the view that they’re worth more than $4 billion.

Snapchat Overtakes Facebook In Photo Uploads original content from Ubergizmo.

It seems like Google Glass has the same Achilles heel as most mobile devices: a short battery life. And so, even if the device isn’t for sale yet, someone’s already come up with a complementary external battery pack for it. It’s called PWRglass, a 1400mAh battery pack that looks like a lanyard.

The company behind PWRglass claims that the battery is equivalent to almost three times the unspecified battery life of Glass. While Google claims that the device’s built-in battery is enough for “one day of typical use”, PWRglass explains that it will only last 51 minutes of continuous video. That’s one of the most popular applications of Glass to date. With PWRglass, you can continuously shoot with Glass for up to 2 hours and 21 minutes. The video below – showing the PWRglass crew getting a second Google Glass test unit – proves that claim:

Because Glass uses a microUSB charger, I bet it will work with many external battery packs, but the PWRglass does make it easier to carry that extra power around.

[PWRglass via Gear Diary]

Google has certainly done its fair bit to make the world a whole lot smaller, at least in terms of a virtual environment. In fact, we are now able to check out the canals of Venice using Google Street View, but when it comes to Google Maps, there are some images that simply should not be shown. One of them would be an image of an alleged murder investigation, and it is comforting to know that Google had quickly agreed to remove and replace said satellite photo in Google Maps.

The particular image depicts the scene where 14-year-old Kevin Barrera was found shot and dead, located near several railway tracks in Richmond, California, four years ago. In this photo, there were also police officers who happened to be doing their jobs, investigating the gruesome crime scene. The victim’s father, Jose Barrera, stumbled upon this Google Maps photo just last week before he made a request to Google to remove this particular image. Brian McClendon, vice president of Google Maps, said, “Our hearts go out to the family of this young boy. Since the media first contacted us about the image, we’ve been looking at different technical solutions. Google has never accelerated the replacement of updated satellite imagery from our maps before, but given the circumstances we wanted to make an exception in this case.”

Google Maps Image That Depicts Murder Investigation Removed original content from Ubergizmo.