Android Wear: Google jumps into smartwatch arena, Apple close behind

• March 18, 2014

After teasing in a few speaking engagements, Google Senior VP Sundar Pichai announced via the official Google blog that Android will now be featured on a series of wearables, in addition to their existing presence in the phone and tablet markets. This foray will begin with at least two smartwatches made by LG and Motorola.

Best root apps for Android 2014: our favorites

• March 18, 2014

Rooting your Android phone or tablet doesn’t mean a whole lot unless you have the right apps to take advantage of your newly gained root access. Nowadays, there is so much you can do with the best root apps for Android that you can often achieve all of the customization of custom ROMs without the all of the hassle.

Google Drive is now dirt cheap

• March 17, 2014

There are lots of options for cloud storage, something we here at GettingThingsTech are planning to cover in more detail later. DropBox is the giant in the industry while anyone with a Windows 8 computer probably knows a thing or two about OneDrive (the artist formerly known as SkyDrive). If you have a Google account, then guess what – you have Google Drive. And if you want more than 15GB of space on that account, it will be cheaper to get it from Google than virtually anywhere else.

On Internet’s 25th birthday, we’re at risk of losing it

• March 13, 2014

Today, the World Wide Web turns 25 years old. In that time, it has made over the basic human experience more profoundly and rapidly than anything we have ever known. More than just a monolithic revolution, the Internet had been a gateway for large-scale corporate communication and optimization. Later, it became a general consumer’s dream, a wealth of information and amusement. More recently, it has led us to the point where the Internet is accessed more by mobile devices than it is by laptops and desktops.

What if the next step in this information revolution is that the Internet becomes a venture that is corporate-run and world governments’ main tool for spying and control?

Get to sleep after using your computer with f.lux

• March 11, 2014

You’ve probably heard it a million times: don’t use your computer before bed. Unfortunately, many times we don’t have that kind of flexibility. Work has to be done, cross-continental Skype chats must be had, or a variety of other things. With a simple, low-memory app, you can fine-tune your screen to help you sleep at night.

Chrome Web Store to allow purchase of desktop apps, extensions, themes

• March 11, 2014

According to the Google Chrome developers’ blog, the Chrome Web Store will now allow its desktop applications and extensions to be available for up-front payment. Previously, only the web apps could be pay-to-play, so to speak. Themes can also be paid for up-front, but will lack some of the other purchase functionality being given to extensions and desktop apps.

Deals: All-time low price on Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

• March 8, 2014

As part of a sale at Newegg, you can get the active digitizer tablet from Samsung for just $260, along with free shipping. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 comes highly recommended from us, as we use it daily.

Active digitizers: The feature you didn’t know you wanted in your tablet

• March 4, 2014

Affordable and lightweight touchscreens changed the consumer electronics market forever. The promise of touchscreens was full control with precision. Navigating our screens with hardware, like we did on our computers or non-touchscreen phones, was precise but didn’t give us the same sense of control that reaching out and touching our target does. Of course, things did not work out quite as smoothly as we found out that our clunky fingers were really imprecise and so were those soft-tipped styli we bought to fix that problem.

What could bring us the greater precision that we seek? Not better fingers nor bigger screens. Instead, a different touch-sensing system entirely.

Zotero, the free citation manager for students, teachers, and more

• March 3, 2014

Citing sources is one of the most tedious parts of research, academic or otherwise. You’ve done the legwork, but proving it to your readers seems to take more effort than the writing and searching! Once upon a time, websites like EasyBib or Citation Machine were the cutting edge for people trying to expedite the process. With the advent of a widely available, free citation manager like Zotero, those seem like things of the past. 

What should you look for when buying a laptop? Part 2: technical specs

• March 3, 2014

This is Part 2 of our two-part series on buying a laptop. Part 1 covered some of the basics: operating system, size, form factor, and user types.

Everyone gets a little overwhelmed when looking at the “technical specifications” section of a product listing. Even when you have a pretty solid grip on interpreting things, it can be hard to keep everything comprehensible in your mind. To finish our laptop buying guide, we’re going to show you which features to hone in on and how to interpret them.