| Google acquires WIMM Labs to boost their Nexus smartwatch plans Aug 30th 2013, 20:33, by Cory Gunther The teams at Samsung, Apple, and Pebble have some serious competition that is already hard at work on a smartwatch. Who could that be? Google of course. We’ve heard reports of a Nexus smartwatch in the past, but this week details from Gigaom confirm that Google acquired WIMM Labs, who if you remember, released the Android-powered WIMM One smartwatch back in 2011. Yes, Google is hard at work, and have been for some time, on a smartwatch. 
We got our first look at WIMM Labs and their smartwatch platform back in 2011, and it eventually launched in November for roughly $299 so developers could start developing apps for such a wearable Android device. We gave tons of WIMM One platforms away to our readers. The entire project had tons of promise, but quickly after the entire WIMM team went silent. According to Gigaom the entire company went silent because of an exclusive, confidential relationship with Google. That’s pretty exciting stuff. This also means Google’s been working hard with the WIMM team for over 14 months since the silent acquisition, so technically they could have something impressive coming up extremely soon. Rumors thought Apple snatched them up, turns out it was good old Google. 
More details and a hands-on video of the original raw WIMM Platform from 2011 can be found in our timeline below. Forward to today, in June rumors surfaced that Google was building a smartwatch, among other things, and that we could potentially see it get released this fall. Could Google be preparing to launch a new Nexus smartphone and watch all running Android Key Lime Pie later this year? It’s plausible, and this latest WIMM report gives it even more support. So where does WIMM and Google go from here? We’re not really sure, but we have a feeling the world will find out soon enough. To add fuel to this fire, the entire WIMM platform was more than just a watch. They had belt clips, accessories, and tons of other ideas for wearable computing. With smartwatches, Google Glass, and tons of possibilities we haven’t even talked about, Google has a great position moving forward. |  | Aereo streaming TV support coming to Android in September Aug 30th 2013, 20:11, by Robert Nelson Aereo, for those not familiar, is a service that will allow you to watch live television over the internet. The service will cost you a few bucks each month, but what you get is control over an antenna that will allow you to stream local channels that you would normally get at home. The perk is that you do not need any cable subscription, just an account with Aereo. The drawback here is that Aereo has yet to come available for Android. 
At this time the service supports the iPhone and iPad as well as Roku and Apple TV set-top boxes. There is also support for a handful of web browsers. But more important for today is what will be coming next month — support for Android. The details are coming by way of the International Business Times who are reporting that Aereo will have an announcement in September. There hasn’t been anything specific in terms of a release date, however Android users can start keeping an eye out for more information in just a few days time. That being said, the Aereo service runs between $8 and $12 per month and is currently available only in select markets. The catch here, you have to live in one of those markets in order to get service. At present Aereo has service available in New York, Boston, Salt Lake City and Atlanta. Future support is expected in quite a few more locations including Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Miami, Tampa and more. Similar to the Android app release, we have yet to see specific launch dates for these new markets. But on the bright side, Aereo has said they have plans to support most major US markets by the end of the year. VIA: Fierce Mobile Content | | Google and Microsoft team up against the feds over NSA spat Aug 30th 2013, 19:46, by Cory Gunther The thought of Google and Microsoft teaming up certainly is an odd one, given all the trouble and past legal battles Microsoft has aimed at Google’s Android, but it’s for the greater good. This week we’ve learned that Google and Microsoft teamed up and have sued the US government. Taking on the feds directly in an attempt to have more freedom and transparency. 
Both companies are hoping to be able to speak freely, be open and transparent, and share additional details regarding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA.) Which has obviously been in the news a lot lately with the NSA and the PRISM scandal. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel and executive vice president of legal and corporate affairs had a few comments to share today. Saying, "We believe we have a clear right under the U.S. Constitution to share more information with the public" followed by "today our two companies stand together." Referring to Google and Microsoft’s stance on the matter. Smith goes on to talk about a few new policies in place where the government will be sharing more details than ever before, but only once a year. These are a few small first steps, but progress needs to move a lot faster. In the end after tons of negotiations that failed, both companies have teamed up and will proceed with the lawsuit and litigation in hopes to create change. After all the NSA and PRISM news earlier this year we saw similar lawsuits by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and this is just the latest few, and surely more will be coming. Some reports state the NSA has access to nearly 75% of internet traffic, which is scary, and hopefully in the future big companies like Google can be more transparent with everything moving forward. VIA: SlashGear | | LG G2 benchmarked as release date nears Aug 30th 2013, 19:11, by Cory Gunther With the release date approaching for LG’s latest flagship powerhouse smartphone, the LG G2, we’ve received an international version for some initial testing. That rear button sure is interesting, but we’re comfortable with it already after only a few hours of use. While we’re still waiting for US release date details, check out a few pictures and benchmark results below. 
As you all know, hopefully, the LG G2 is a pretty top-tier device with all the boxes checked. They’ve tossed the world’s thinnest 1080p HD display in the phone, coming in at 5.2-inches, with some of the thinnest bezels we’ve seen on a smartphone. Under the hood is Qualcomm’s latest and greatest 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and 2GB of RAM. Then they made the entire phone super thin, put the buttons all on the back, and added a 13 megapixel camera to cap it off. There’s nothing missing here. We’re running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, and all four of those cores sure keep this phone speedy. The 13 megapixel camera has OIS, and we even finally got a big battery from LG. Coming in at 3,000 mAh to keep it churning out games, Twitter updates, and everything else all day long. For now this is a “non-final” product with non-final software, but we decided to benchmark that impressive processor under the hood while getting more time with the phone before we post any hands-on, or initial thoughts. We’re waiting for LG to make it perfect. 
The LG G2 is the first of many upcoming devices with the latest from Qualcomm. This is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 edition of the processor, complete with Krait 400 technology. We have an Adreno 330 for graphics, and 2GB of dual-channel LPDDR3 RAM, so it’s plenty fast. Again this is non-final hardware and software, and our results are actually a bit lower than our original testing from LG’s launch event. In Quadrant we score nearly 19,000 and top the charts. That being a score that we haven’t seen too many times before, and it bests the Galaxy S4 as well. Then in the popular AnTuTu we received a score of around 26,000, which slightly lost to the Galaxy S4. However, or first round at LG’s event nearly broke 30k and topped the charts. We know these aren’t everything though, so also ran 3DMark, Geekbench, Sunspider (which scores high) and a few others. Here you go folks!         There is no question in our minds the LG G2 and Qualcomm’s Snappy 800 is fast and powerful, and we should be seeing plenty of both throughout the rest of 2013. LG’s set to release the G2 on almost 100 carriers within the next 90 days, and it will be available from all four major US carriers. The latest reports and rumors suggest a September 12th release date on Verizon for the LG G2, followed by AT&T, then T-Mobile and others will quickly follow suite. A few of those days might line up with international launches as well, so we’ll keep you posted with all the info. For now check out our initial hands-on with the LG G2, and we’ll get a full review coming your way quick!    | |
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