Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re an absolute Facebook addict, then today is the day you’ve been waiting for. Home should officially be hitting the Play store at some point today. In preparation for its debut, the company has just updated its Messenger app. The change log features the usual slew of bug fixes but, most importantly, it adds support for chat heads. Those floating IM shortcuts are one of the most anticipated features of Facebook’s homescreen replacement, and appear to be as irritating as they are convenient. To get your update, head to the Play store now.

Update: The official Facebook app has also been updated, with the permissions necessary to run Home. But, we’re not seeing the launcher yet, either buried in the Facebook app’s settings or in the Play store. We’ll be keeping an eye out, though.

Filed under: Software, Mobile, Facebook

Comments

Source: Facebook Messenger (Google Play), Facebook (Google Play)

Twitter, which publicly revealed its acquisition of We Are Hunted music service earlier this evening and is rumored to be working on a music app, has expanded its Trends locations to more than 160 additional cities, offering it in locations that have never before had access and expanding it in countries that have already seen it.

Several counties that have never had Trends before, including Greece, Belgium, Norway, Kenya, Poland, Ukraine, and Portugal, have been added. In addition, more cities in countries that have already been added to the Trends list are included in the expansion, increasing overall coverage. For those just getting acquainted with the feature, Twitter offers a support article on it.

Trends is a feature that allows users to see what other users are conversing about on Twitter, such as a political debate, celebrities, news story, natural event, viral video, and more. These trending items are available for the user’s city and country, as well as globally trending topics. Users can pull up the new cities via the Trends sidebar under “Change.”

The announcement was made on Twitter’s blog by Royce Cheng-Yue, one of the company’s software engineers. This follows a Trends expansion that was rolled out back on December 5, 2012, which brought the feature to a little more than 100 cities, such as Istanul and Guadalajara. Not stopping there or with this update, however, the microblogging site will be making further expansions in the coming months.

[via Twitter]

Twitter Trends rolled out in more than 160 new locations is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google rolled out a Chrome Beta update yesterday, bringing with it a couple of improvements that have been long-anticipated, and that provide Android users with some much-needed functionality. After updating, Chrome Beta for Android users will have easy full-screen Web browsing and improved search via Omnibox. The update can be grabbed now from the Play Store.

Users have been waiting quite a while for such the fullscreen feature added into Chrome, with it now automatically switching into the browsing mode when the user begins scrolling, causing the upper navigation bar to disappear from sight. By touching the screen, the navigation bar will reappear, making it all-around unobtrusive and convenient.

Swiping upwards will make the toolbar reappear with the URL field and navigation options, such as the back and refresh buttons. Fullscreen feature aside, the latest update also brings with it simpler searching than before by altering the way Omnibox search works. While the current version requires searches to be retyped in their entirety, after updating users will be able to edit queries via the search bar without hassle.

There are a few other more minor things, such as holding the back button to reveal search history and added client-side certificate support. There are also some known bugs, including a “noticeable lag” when typing in certain text fields, duplicate items in the history tab, slow tab opening on occasion, and possible flickering pages.

[via Android Community]

Chrome Beta for Android updates with full-screen mode and improved Omnibox is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While the biggest question concerning LG’s 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro — when will it ship in the US — remains officially TBA, the company has posted a video preview (embedded after the break) of the software update it’s sending Korean early adopters this month. There’s also no launch date for the “Value Pack” upgrade listed, but the video does give a clear demonstration of things like Smart Video that recognizes when the viewer looks away using eye tracking technology, Dual Camera using the front and back cameras at the same time for stills (it previously did this for video), and Pause & Resume recording that brings Vine-style seamless video cuts. Check out the video to experience it for yourself, we’ll see if LG’s phablet can beat the Galaxy S4 — and, presumably, the next Galaxy Note — to market in the US with these features.

Update: We’ve got the English press release now, which details all the new features mentioned above plus a few more that are getting upgraded, and reveals the update will start going out to users on April 12th. Check out the full text after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

Comments

Source: LGMobileHQ (YouTube), LG Newsroom Korea

So, you feel that you cannot get enough of your PS Vita portable gaming console, and would wish that there were some ways that the software or firmware could be improved? Well, good news for folks who feel this way then, as the PS Vita system software update that will bump up the version number to version 2.10 has been announced and released, where it will include a slew of improvements that is touted to make your PS Vita experience a whole lot more enjoyable, including the inclusion of a new folder system which enables you to organize your games and apps.

The ability to create folders should have been there right from the beginning to some folks, where it allows them to manage one’s favorite application icons in a whole lot more convenient manner, where you can have up to 10 icons in individual folders, with a maximum of 100 on the home screen itself. For those who have already updated your respective PS Vita to version 2.10, how do you find it?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: SimCity Cheetah Speed Available Across All Servers, Lost Planet 3 Delayed To August 27 For ‘Business Reasons’,