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Moto 360 Sport, 2nd gen Moto 360 and ‘shatterproof’ Motorola phone due this year

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 31, 2015

It pays to keep tabs on competition. Just as Google released Android Wear for iPhone earlier today and LG announced a gold-plated limited-edition of its Urbane watches, noted gadget leaker Upleaks published some interesting tidbits and press renderings for Motorola's upcoming smartwatches and phones. According to these leaks, a second-generation Moto360 smartwatch is allegedly coming in September.

A Sport variant of the current-generation Moto 360 smartwatch should be due a month later, Upleaks claims. In addition, the Lenovo-owned company is purportedly working on a high-end smartphone that should be shatterproof.

Apple seeds OS X El Capitan beta 8 to developers, beta 6 to public testers

Cody Lee ∙ August 31, 2015

Apple on Monday released the eighth OS X El Capitan beta to developers. The new build is available to registered developers via the Updates section of the Mac App Store or through Apple’s Developer Center.

There's also a new build available to those participating in Apple's pubic testing program. It's beta 6, though it's likely identical to today's dev release, and you can either find it in the Mac App Store or click here.

LG targets Apple Watch Edition with limited-edition Urbane Watch Luxe

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 31, 2015

LG on Monday announced the Urbane Watch Luxe, a special version of its Urbane lineup that it hopes will appeal to folks in the market for an Apple Watch Edition.

Featuring a 23-karat gold case and available with a new alligator strap, the Urbane Watch Luxe was created in partnership with US-based REEDS Jewelers which will handle sales of LG's Android Wear device in the United States. The limited-edition smartwatch costs $1,200 a pop and will go on sale beginning October.

Android Wear now works with the iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ August 31, 2015

As has been rumored for quite some time now, Android Wear now officially supports iOS. In a blog post on the Official Google Blog entitled "Android Wear now works with iPhones", Google outlines the specifics behind the iOS compatibility.

Right now, only the LG Urbane, one of the latest Android Wear devices to hit retail, works with the latest update that's rolling out to users throughout the day. Eventually, however, more Android Wear devices from Huawei, Asus, and Motorola will work.

Google+ Collections are now available within Google’s native application for iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 31, 2015

Google+ Collections are now available within the just-updated Google+ app for the iPhone and iPad, which also contains performance improvements and bug fixes.

Introduced back in May of this year, Collections is basically a feature of Google+ that allows you to group your posts around shared interests and passions. After going live in the official Google+ app for Android and on the web, Google+ Collections can now be browsed on your iPhone and iPad.

Parts shipments for 12.9-inch iPad Pro likely to begin in September

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 31, 2015

According to a J.P. Morgan investor memo, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider, parts shipments for Apple's mythical 12.9-inch 'iPad Pro' are most likely to begin in September. J.P. Morgan's analysts reaffirmed claims that the iPad Pro will use an improved touch panel design.

Dubbed Glass-Film-Film (GFF), as opposed to the Glass-Film (GF) panels found on the iPad Air and iPad mini, GFF tech allows for greater touch accuracy and performance. These two prerequisites would be crucial for an Apple-built stylus accessory that the rumor-mill believes might sell as an optional accessory as soon as the iPad Pro arrives.

Lead Microsoft HoloLens audio engineer has been hired away by Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 31, 2015

Talk that Apple could be working on an augmented reality project of its own intensified Monday with news that the iPhone maker poached Nick Thompson, the lead audio engineer for Microsoft's HoloLens augmented reality project.

As noted by Piper Jaffray analyst Travis Jakel, Thompson's LinkedIn page reveals he started working as an engineer at Apple this July. Before joining Apple, he was the HoloLens Audio Hardware Engineering Lead at Microsoft from September 2012.

Nomad launches iPhone car charger with 3,000 mAh battery, USB C and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Nomad, makers of beautiful accessories for Apple's mobile gadgets, today announced a new car charger for the iPhone and other gadgets that offers some novel features normally not found in car chargers.

Billed as “the first battery pack designed for your car,” the Nomad Roadtrip integrates a 3,000 mAh battery and provides both the standard USB port and USB-C for charging the latest devices.

T-Mobile starts punishing data-hungry customers who conceal their tethering

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 31, 2015

T-Mobile announced today that it will throttle LTE data and speeds for users on unlimited plans who illegally use more data than they bought by concealing their tethering.

A small percentage of T-Mobile customers on unlimited 4G LTE plans have been discovered to be gaming the system in order to make their tethering look like smartphone usage.

T-Mobile's Simple Choice plans offer a set amount of mobile hotspot data (up to seven gigabytes) and include tethering at no extra charge. Making tethering look like smartphone usage allows data-hungry customers to use significantly more 4G LTE tethering than their plan includes, with some people consuming up to two terabytes a month.

Their activities have a “disproportionately negative impact” on other users as these rule-breakers “can compromise the network experience for other T-Mobile customers.” The carrier will now clamp down on those people by starting to throttle their data speeds, especially if the carrier determines that they're misusing their data to access peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

New Apple Music commercial debuts during 2015 MTV Video Music Award

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 31, 2015

Continuing its strong marketing push of Apple Music, a brand new Apple Music commercial debuted during last evening's 2015 MTV Music Video Award ceremony. Consisting of a pair of videos running sixty seconds each, the ad features The Weeknd, a Canadian PBR&B singer, songwriter and record producer who is one of the most played artists on Beats 1 Radio.

Hyper review: a video magazine for people with busy lives

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

I could literally spend hours on the Internet looking at funny, educational, and inspirational videos. However, I don't have the luxury of spending hours on the Internet. I often miss a lot of the great content that comes out regularly.

Hyper is a video magazine for the iPad that pulls together a few of the top videos every day so you won't end up going down the rabbit hole that is the Worldwide Web, unless you want to. We've got a hands-on app review of Hyper for you today.

SmartClose places apps in a state of deep sleep to intelligently preserve system resources

Jeff Benjamin ∙ August 30, 2015

Ryan Petrich's SmartClose, a popular tweak that takes backgrounded apps and places them immediately into a deep sleep state, has finally been updated for iOS 8. Due to the tweak's usefulness in terms of battery life and system resource preservation, many of you have been clamoring for a SmartClose update ever since the iOS 8 jailbreak was released.

What makes this tweak so beloved and effective? How does it work? Check out the post for all of the details.