Android software

After launching to public alpha back in June of this year, BlueStacks for Mac today advances to beta. This means that Mac users are one step closer to accessing a chunk of Google Play's Android-apps catalog on their Apple-made desktops and laptops.

Earlier this year, BlueStacks made headlines when it won the Best of CES software award for bringing its powers to Windows 8. The program successfully showcased a swathe of Android apps on Microsoft's newest OS and was even announced to come preinstalled on select Windows 8 machines.

BlueStacks Beta for Mac is available now for free … Read more

By way of a new staff-curated page on Google Play, Google lists its picks for best apps of 2012. Titles include big-name hits like Pinterest and Evernote, as well as more-obscure choices like Ancestry and Grimm's Show White. Overall, I find the list a bit underwhelming, but since it is composed solely of staff recommendations (and not best sellers), there's certainly room for differing opinions. See the full list of Google's recommendations below.

The original Droid Razr and Droid Razr Maxx have begun receiving their over-the-air update to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, according to a report at Android Central.

The update is clocking in at more than 300MB, so it's recommended that you upgrade over Wi-Fi only, unless you've got a high or nonexistent mobile data cap. Many people are reporting in the Android Central forums that their updates are failing to complete install on first try, too.

To check if you've got the update, go to Settings, About Phone, and then System Update.

The update comes on … Read more

Instagram and its owner Facebook really stepped into it this week. A new terms of service update set to go into effect on January 16 would have given Instagram the right to sell users' photos or use them in ads.

As you might expect, the prospect of Instagram running rampant with photos didn't sit well with its 100 million users. The interest in escaping Instagram grew, with nearly 6,000 readers sharing over Facebook CNET's instructions for backing up and deleting their Instagram accounts.

It took a little while, but Instagram finally coughed out an apology and backtracked … Read more

Editors' note: Price of the app has been corrected.

Meet Press, a slick new app for keeping up with your RSS subscriptions on your Android device. It syncs to your Google Reader account and presents all of your articles in a well designed package, with an attractive typeface and dead simple navigation.

Perhaps the best thing about Press is its interface. The open layout and six different font choices make it a pleasure to look at. And just like Google Reader it's really easy to navigate.

Once you sync Press to your Google Reader account, the app opens up … Read more

Brace yourselves: 2013 is upon us, and that means a whole new generation of Android devices, rumors, and expectations.

Android will have a strong showing at CES, and the next few months will be littered with new smartphones and tablets. Let's take a look at some of the trends we can expect in the Android space over the coming year.

This article will touch on many trends in the Android ecosystem, including hardware advancements, vendor decisions, and key events of the year. Given the sheer number of players in the space, there will be much to look forward to … Read more

Samsung announced today that the U.K. rollout of its Premium Suite upgrade for Galaxy S3 owners kicks off today. The company, however, didn't say where else it will roll out the software in coming weeks.

Samsung announced the Premium Suite upgrade for the Galaxy S3 earlier this month. The update delivers a wide range of features, including multiple window support, a "smart rotation" feature that automatically rotates the screen based on the user's face position, and a predictive function that will open certain applications based on the user's actions (plug in headphones and it'… Read more

Android 4.2 is full of new features, some are fairly minor, such as the Settings shortcut in the notification bar. Other features, such an improved photo editing process, are bound to have a bigger impact on the overall user experience.

Here are five new features you can find in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, with the sixth item being a workaround should you decide against lock-screen widgets.

Developer Options Developer Options is an important settings menu for developers and those who like to fiddle with their Android device. For whatever reason in Android 4.2, Google hid the Developer … Read more

Capcom dropped a Christmas gift to the public today: the free release of Street Fighter X Megaman. It's still in all its 8-bit glory and makes my 6-year-old gamer spirit tingle with nostalgia.

SFxMM is a fan-made game cover of Megaman, an old 8-bit platformer that lived on the original Nintendo Entertaiment System since the late '80s/early '90s. The mechanics of the game are simple: run, shoot, jump and slide through each stage until you reach the boss at the end. Though the game is centered around the Blue Bomber himself, most of the fan service seems to … Read more