discover

The sheer volume of information people interact with each day is overwhelming. Articles, blog posts, Facebook posts, and tweets -- it's impossible for many to keep track and stressful for others who try. So apps like Rockmelt are becoming increasingly popular. Designed to consolidate your favorite Web sites and content sources into a single interface for reading, sharing, and saving, Rockmelt is a very effective app in many ways, and in others very much in need of updates and refinement.

Upon installation, Rockmelt prompts you to sign in to at least one social account. You can alternately create an … Read more

Field Trip (Android|iPhone) helps you find out more about your current location by sending you notifications when you're near landmarks, restaurants, historical sites, and other noteworthy spots. The app draws information from several sources, including Arcadia, Historvius, Food Network, Zagat, Atlas Obscura, Daily Secret, and others to enrich your experience of locations you wouldn't know were uniquely interesting otherwise. You can use it as a personal tour guide or share interesting locales over Facebook and Twitter.

The app also lets you set the frequency of notifications from none to an Explore mode that gives you all the … Read more

One of my favorite smartphones on today's market also happens to be one of the least expensive. It costs just $50, runs Android, boasts a rapid-fire processor and a 12.6-megapixel camera, and offers up some ergonomic design elements you won't see anywhere else.

Who makes this humble wonder device? I'll give you a hint: the Korean phonemaker isn't Samsung, or even Sammy's compatriot rival, LG. Instead, credit for the Discover goes to Pantech, the country's third-largest handset maker.

Although less well-known in the U.S., Pantech has managed to achieve some important milestones … Read more

Pantech isn't as well-known as fellow Korean smartphone competitors LG and Samsung, and it's a shame. It tends to sell attractive and original smartphones with top-tier U.S. carriers at a low contract cost. For example, the Pantech Discover offers tremendous value -- $50 gets you Android 4.0, 4G LTE, a dual-core processor, a 4.8-inch HD screen, and a 12.6-megapixel camera.

Not all the phone's features reach the highest rung of the specifications ladder. But for $50 with a new, two-year service agreement, they don't have to. The Discover's upper-midrange specs and … Read more

Twitter today unveiled the latest iteration of its Discover tab, a move it said will show users a steady stream of tweets deemed relevant to them.

The company first launched the Discover feature on Twitter.com last December, aiming to "bring you essential information from the Web [and in] May, we added stronger signals and a new design that made it more personal for you with better stories and tweets from people you know."

And in a blog post this morning, Twitter wrote that "Now we're improving Discover again: When you visit the Discover tab on … Read more

Wednesday's tech news roundup is at full throttle:

T-Mobile will launch a truly unlimited data plan beginning Sept. 5. No caps or throttling. Sprint also offers this, but T-Mobile is competing with pricing. Sprint's starting price for unlimited data is $80 a month, and users are limited to 450 voice minutes. T-Mobile also starts it at $80 a month, but throws in 500 minutes. The larger difference is when you want both unlimited data and unlimited talk; Sprint charges $110, T-Mobile charges $90 a month. Of course, there's also smartphone choice and service to consider. T-Mobile will … Read more

PayPal and Discover said today that they will partner to bring PayPal's digital wallet and payment services to millions of merchants in the Discover network.

Under the partnership, merchants in the Discover payment network will be able to accept PayPal payments. PayPal said that consumers would be able to take advantage of its services at these merchants.

PayPal, which has long handled online transactions, has attempted to breach the physical world with several mobile payment initiatives. From exploring the use of physical cards to the use of tap-and-go stickers, and even paying with smartphones, the company wants to be … Read more

One of the many drawbacks to using Google Wallet as a true wallet replacement was the inability to add a Visa, American Express, or Discover card as a payment option. You were either limited to using a prepaid card Google provided you with, adding money to it each time you wanted to use it. Or, you had to own a MasterCard.

But, with the update Google just released, users can now add any debit or credit card to their Google Wallet account, and use it to make purchases with their NFC equipped Android device.

The update takes all of the … Read more

Twitter started prioritizing money talk on its site today with the announcement of "cashtags." These are clickable ticker symbols, like $AAPL, $GOOG, and $FB, which take users to search results about the company's finances and stocks.

Twitter made the announcement via a tweet in which it wrote: "Now you can click on ticker symbols like $GE on http://twitter.com to see search results about stocks and companies."

According to The Verge, the cashtags come on the heels of other user-created Twitter innovations, such as the @reply and the #hashtag. (The hashtag, for instance, evolved … Read more