Forget Android Wear And Check Out Windows 95 Running on A Smartwatch

Do you remember 1995? If not here is a quick reminder. Clinton was President, Toy Story (the first one) reigned supreme at the box office and Alanis Morissette released ‘Jagged Little Pill’. Yes, folks it was that long ago. Another milestone of 1995 was Windows latest incarnation, the imaginatively titled, Windows 95. This was the first time MS-DOS and Windows products were integrated and proved to be a massive step forward from Windows 3.1. Not to mention that this was the first Windows operating system (OS) to feature the now infamous ‘Start’ button. Windows 95 was hugely successful and quickly became the most popular desktop OS until it was later succeeded by Windows 98, although support for 95 didn’t actually stop until 2001.

Fast forward to today and Windows 95 is making a comeback. Yep, just like music, hairstyles and Tetris, what once was retro always seems to come back around. Now in 2014 we have the likes of Android OS with its many forked versions. We have also seen this year the launching of Android Auto and of course Android Wear. For those who don’t know Wear is the OS underlining smartwatches. Except if you are Corbin Davenport that is. This guy has managed to get Windows 95 running on his smartwatch…the Samsung Gear Live. Davenport uploaded a full video (watch below) of Windows 95 running on the Android Wear device and already it seems to be a massive hit. Although it is a feat to get the twenty year old OS running on a smartwatch the functionality is pretty non-existent. Davenport notes that the OS runs out of RAM immediately after trying to open any application as well as the general operations being slow, sluggish and prone to crashing. In spite of this Windows 95 does work, the menu is loadable and can be navigated using the mouse by touching the screen.

In case you are wondering why? Well, that’s obvious…because he can. Although most adaptations offer users a means to patch a problem or offer features not specifically designed for your device, sometimes users do things like this just to show what is possible and this one does not disappoint. Technology has massively advanced over the last twenty years although this shows that technology at all levels is still compatible…to some degree. If you are wondering how? Then Davenport used aDosBox which is an Android app that allows emulation of an x86 processor providing a DOS(ish) operating system. From here, Davenport was able to install Windows 95. So, if you are a smartwatch owner and not that impressed with Android Wear but can’t find a decent custom ROM to install then why not give Windows 95 a try. I can’t promise it will work, or that you will be able to do anything other than look at the menu, but you will have the coolest smartwatch around and that’s a fact. Kudos Davenport.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Rumor: Nexus 9 To Be Listed On Amazon

We’ve heard tons of Nexus 9 tablet rumors thus far and you may be fed up with them already, hopefully the thing will launch soon and reveal everything we should know about it. This tablet has been referred to by many names, HTC T1, HTC Volantis, HTC Flounder and Nexus 8h, hopefully I didn’t leave anything out. You might notice HTC has been mentioned a lot of times here and there’s a good reason for that. Rumors have been pointing to HTC as the manufacturer of Google’s upcoming tablet for quite some time now.

@upleaks, a known leaker, has been active yet again and shared some new information with us. Keep in mind that this is just a rumor, as always. According to the leaker, the HTC Nexus 9 (T1) CDMA/LTE model will be sold in both Japan and US. He also says that the device will be available from Amazon US. This is not exactly a surprise, but it’s nice to get some sort of a confirmation, at least for Japan and US consumers. Nexus 9 will, of course, launch on Google Play as well along with some other electronics retailers like Best Buy.

We don’t know the exact launch date at this point, but it’s expected to launch in Q4 this year. If I had to guess I’d say October or November though it is possible the device will launch at HTC’s October 8 event, which is only a few days away. Either way we spin this, the device is coming soon and HTC is the most probable manufacturer, everything has been pointing to that fact for quite some time new. Rumors have been all over the place as far as specifications go, but the latest ones claim the device will feature an 8.9-inch display and will be powered by Nvidia’s Tegra K1 chip. The device will reportedly come with 3GB of RAM, Android “L” out of the box and will have multiple storage options as always. BoomSound has also been mentioned. There are many people who’re waiting for this tablet to launch and I hope that will happen soon. If rumors are accurate this will be a great tablet and will have an affordable price point like basically every other Nexus device. Are you excited for this thing?

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Android Game News Weekly 10/05/14: Humble Mobile Bundle 8, Crazy Taxi City Rush, GLHF Gamers Hangout, Tower Dwellers

Humble Mobile Bundle 8 Adds 3 New Games

The latest in the series of mobile game bundles from Humble Bundle, Humble Mobile Bundle 8, has added three new games to the bundle pack earlier last week, so if you have already paid the average amount when the bundle went live, here’s what you’re getting as extra unlockables if you missed it. In addition to the already available games Humble Mobile Bundle 8 added in Mikey Hooks, the original Epoch, and Zombie Gunship. That brings this bundle to a total of 10 games when we normally end up with 9, so this makes the Humble Mobile Bundle 8 extra special. You can grab the bundle of games if you haven’t already, and the average amount is only $3.83. If you pay more than $5 though you’ll unlock Epoch 2, which is a few bucks on its own.

Crazy Taxi City Rush Gets Hulkified In Latest Update

Crazy Taxi City Rush received an update earlier last week, and with it you can expect the usual bug fixes and improvements that generally come to any app or game update, as well as new Hulkamania content added into the game. Hulkamania? Yes, Hulkamania. The game now includes special content with Hulk Hogan in full professional wrestling garb. Basically Hulk Hogan is a new driver in the game so if none of the drivers were quite cool enough, let Hulk take over the streets and pick up fares. If you’re a true Hulk Hogan fan, you can record in game videos of you playing and enter a contest to win prizes that are signed by none other than Hulk Hogan himself. Grab the game from the Play Store link if you don’t already have it downloaded and are itching for some crazy drivin’.

Click here to view the embedded video.

GLHF Gamers Hangout Is A Social Mobile App Dedicated To Gamers

GLHF(good luck have fun)Gamers Hangout is a social mobile app dedicated to gamers of all kinds. The app is about finding others with like minded tastes to the same kinds of games that you play yourself, and giving you the opportunity to strike up a conversation about them and maybe even play some games together. It supports logins through Facebook, Email, or Gmail, and it lets you find gamers nearby so if you want to meet up and get in some game sessions this will allow you to do so. You can also use the app to join or create some cool group communities to have discussions about games, consoles, and generally anything else gaming related. You can have the app act somewhat more private or public depending on how you want to share your gaming experiences. There is even a search filter to find gamers by platform, age, and location, so you can find people that play on the same console, perhaps even in your area, and find people that are the same age so you can weed out anyone much older or younger than you. The app is free, and you can check it out by grabbing it from the Play Store link.

Noodlecake Studios Launches Tower Dwellers On The Play Store

Noodlecake Studios has some pretty great games under their belt, and one of the more recent titles that they just launched to the Play Store this past week is Tower Dwellers. It’s a medieval style setting with Tower Defense type gameplay. The basic TD elements and tasks apply here. Manage your units and defend against encroaching enemies. Craft and upgrade your units for the ultimate in strategic defense, and it has non-linear progression giving you the choice to decide which territories you want to play in next. All in all it looks like a pretty great little game, especially if you’re into Tower Defense titles. Check out the video below, and you can grab the game from the Play Store link for $3.99 if you’re interested.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Samsung Galaxy A5 Benchmarks Show 4.8-inch, 720p Display

We’re seeing the Samsung Galaxy A5 all over the place recently. The device leaked a couple of times in September. We got some more images of the A5 and the Galaxy A3 just yesterday. Today, the A5 is showing up in benchmarks, giving us even more details about the upcoming mid-range Samsung device. There are a couple of surprises here.

These benchmarks for the A5 give us two new pieces of information. The first is the display. All of the previous rumors pointed to a 5-inch display on this smartphone. Today’s benchmarks show us that the phone actually has a 4.8-inch screen, with a 1280 x 720 display resolution. That’s not a big change, but it’s still something that we weren’t expecting. The benchmarks also revealed that the A5 is running on a Snapdragon 410, not the Snapdragon 400 that we had previously heard. The 410 is not a huge step up in the area of performance, but it does support 64-bit processing. Samsung is future proofing this device a little bit.

Other specs that pop up in the benchmarks on the GFX Benchmark test include an Adreno 306 GPU that will handle the graphics, a 5-megapixel front camera and a 5-megapixel front camera, and Android 4.4.4. The device will also have 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. No word on whether or not the Galaxy A5 will have a microSD card slot to increase storage capacity. This will all be running on a 2,300 mAh battery that doesn’t impress us, but should get you through a full day.

The Galaxy A3, A5, and A7 are going to be the new mid-range line of smartphones from Samsung. They could be released before the year ends. They will probably be targeted at global markets but may not make it to U.S. shores. If they do land over here, it’s likely to be on prepaid carriers and maybe unlocked. The A5 is supposed to be priced around $400-450 off-contract, so it’s a less expensive smartphone they will have a better camera than some other mid-range phones.

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Deal: Unlocked HTC One M7 (Refurbished) – $249.99

If you’re looking for a new phone, but don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it, the HTC One M7 is still a great choice. Sure it doesn’t have all the duo-camera effects the HTC One M8 has, but it’s still a pretty awesome device. And right now, eBay has it on sale for just $249.99. Now this is a manufacturer refurbished version – comes with HTC’s warranty though so you should be good. But still a great device. You can pick it up from the link below.

Unlocked HTC One M7 – $249.99

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[Weekend Poll] At 5.9", Is The Nexus 6 Going To Be Too Big To Buy?

At this point, it's all but a certainty: the Nexus 6 is coming, and it's going to have a 5.9" display. This size is hugely controversial - no pun intended. 5.9" puts the Nexus 6 in territory only previously tread upon by the likes of the Galaxy Mega 6.3, LG G Flex (6.0"), Ascend Mate 2 (6.1"), One Max (5.9"), and Xperia Z Ultra (6.4"). All of these phones have one thing in common: they're widely recognized as being on the extreme end of the display size spectrum for a handset.

[Weekend Poll] At 5.9", Is The Nexus 6 Going To Be Too Big To Buy? was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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More HTC Desire Eye Leaks

The HTC Desire Eye is the future lower-end counterpart of the not-yet-released HTC One M8 Eye. Today we saw more pictures uploaded from HTC Family’s Twitter further detailing the design of the plastic device. The Eye seems like a normal higher-end phone out today: 5.2″ 1080p screen, Snapdragon 801, 2 GB RAM, waterproofing IPX7 rating, and 32 GB storage. What separates the Eye from the competition is its possession of not one, but two 13 MP cameras: one on the back, and another on the front for perfect selfies.

Some people believe that the selfie craze is too overblown and unnecessary, but apparently HTC disagrees. We can expect this device and its higher-end cousin to be released this quarter—will you be purchasing it?

Source: Twitter, Twitter, Twitter

Come comment on this article: More HTC Desire Eye Leaks

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[APK Teardown] Google+ 4.6 Is Setting Up To Offer User-Generated Polls, Improve Wear Support, And Help You Follow Celebrities

Material Design was the driving force behind a Google+ update that began rolling out on Friday. But while there may be a newer look, there's very little to speak of in the department of functional changes. Naturally, I had to poke around to see if there were any surprises buried underneath the fresh coat of paint. As it turns out, there are a few things worth talking about. It's time for a Teardown!

[APK Teardown] Google+ 4.6 Is Setting Up To Offer User-Generated Polls, Improve Wear Support, And Help You Follow Celebrities was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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10 best free music apps for Android

Finding free music can be difficult. There is a fine line between listening to a few tunes for free like you used to be able to do on the radio and the ethical problems that comes with piracy. Thankfully there are plenty of services and apps out there that deliver free music to your devices and you don’t have to pay for it. Here are the best free music apps for Android. It should be noted that many of these apps do have paid options but you can make do with the free versions.

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iHeartRadio

[Price: Free]

First on our list is iHeartRadio. With this app you can listen to music stations that suit almost every taste you can imagine. It even has seasonal things like Christmas music which comes in handy during the holiday season. It boasts 18 million songs by over 400,000 artists and thousands of live-streaming radio stations. There is even talk radio if you’re into that sort of thing. You’ll have to listen to advertisements but as you’ll learn as you browse this list, that’s pretty much the gold standard for listening to free music these days.

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Milk Music

[Price: Free]

Milk Music is a music streaming service that is maintained by Samsung. Unfortunately it is only available to US residents and also only to people who own Samsung devices. People who fit into that category can use Milk Music and it is a pretty decent service. It boasts a lot of songs as well as a fluid, fun interface taht is also easy to use. It relies on a dial that you can spin when you want the music genre to change and you can do the standard things like creating radio stations to your taste. It is totally free. At least for right now.

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Pandora

[Price: Free]

Pandora is among the most popular music streaming services on the internet and that means it belongs here. It has a smaller music selection than many of these other apps but it combats that by being very easy to use. It also has some fun features like an alarm clock feature so you can wake up to your favorite music. It’s also great for music discovery if you’re looking for new stuff to listen to.

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Rdio

[Price: Free]

Rdio has come a long way in the last year. Their service has always been good but their Android app was rated as low as 3.5 in the Play Store at one point. It has since improved things dramatically and it’s still the same great music streaming service it’s always been. It features 30 million tracks which you can listen to for free. There are also curated radio stations as well as music genre stations and artist stations. It’s a little simple but that’s how these things go and worst case you can always become a premium member for the extra features.

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Slacker Radio

[Price: Free]

Slacker Radio is another popular option that doesn’t get talked about as often as Pandora does but it totally should. Much like iHeartRadio, Slacker Radio has live streaming stations that are tuned to almost any taste and it also includes talk radio for those who are into that. There are also some shows that air exclusively on Slacker Radio so you’ll literally be missing out on stuff if you never try this app. It has millions of songs across the platform and you can even listen to the Weather Channel if you want to. Really.

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Songza

[Price: Free]

Songza is currently rocking a Editor’s Choice label over at the Google Play Store and for good reason. Because it’s awesome and because Google bought it. We don’t know how long Songza is going to remain an independent service or if it’s going to stick around. For the time being it’s a solid free music app. It contains thousands of playlists, tablet support, and a Music Concierge service that helps you find the best music according to your tastes.

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SoundCloud

[Price: Free]

SoundCloud won’t have most of the top rated and most popular artists out there. However, if you’re looking for random stuff, independent stuff, and underground stuff then this is the app to try. You can also find a host of podcasts on there for your listening pleasure. You can browse by trending, genre, and follow artists and friends to see what they’re up to. It’s a great place to discover new music and a fun atmosphere for musicians and listeners alike.

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Spotify

[Price: Free]

Earlier this year, Spotify updated their Android app to allow users to listen to music for free. That means the mobile experience is almost identical to the desktop and web experiences. The service features 20 million songs from a range of artists. You can create playlists, listen to playlists your friends create, and it has tablet support. You do have to listen to ads on the free version but that’s no big deal.

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TuneIn Radio

[Price: Free]

TuneIn Radio is more known for its talk radio and podcast support than for its music support but there is some music on there. Everything on TuneIn is essentially a radio station so it’s almost exactly like you’re listening to a radio. The music search, genre search, etc aren’t as robust on TuneIn as other apps but this isn’t really for the hardcore music buffs in the audience. People who like talk radio and podcasts with a little music tossed in will love this app. Music fanatics will probably need to keep looking.

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YouTube

[Price: Free]

Last and certainly not least is YouTube. It’s true that YouTube is actually a video streaming service but it does have practically every song ever written on it if you search hard enough. You can create and listen to playlists and as long as you don’t mind listening to ads then you have nothing to worry about. It has been heard around the grapevine that YouTube will be doing a music streaming service sometime in the near future. That’ll probably also be free with ad support so keep an eye on that.

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Wrap up

If we missed any great free music apps (that don’t condone piracy), let us know in the comments!

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