A way to shut off some of those Chrome Notification pop-ups finally lands on OSX

Chrome Canary, the bleeding edge version of Chrome designed for ultra-early adopters, is a great platform to preview features that will be making their way into the Chrome stable channel some day. The Notification Center for Chrome is one of those features, and now Canary for the Mac has a much improved version, complete with settings.

Chrome notifications are those toast message boxes that can appear for certain apps, like Gmail or Google Drive. They're designed to be a little bit of a nag so that you notice them, but quickly disappear after you've had time to look. They're generally a good thing, until you get overloaded by too many apps that want to tell you things. This has been in the Windows and Chrome OS builds of Canary for a while, and the improved Notification Center is expected to appear in the Linux beta channel and Canary for Linux soon. 

If you want to give Canary a try, you can safely install it alongside any Chrome channel. Click here to give it a look.

Via: OMGChrome

We're fans of numbers and quantifiable data here at Mobile Nations, and so following after the first week of Talk Mobile 2013, we're turning to our good friend the survey to help compile some data. We looked at mobile gaming and consoles, the dark underbelly of mobile gaming, multiplayer mobile gaming, why our current games aren't better, and what the future of mobile gaming might look like. And now it's time to put some numbers behind all that, thus the survey.

Before you head off for the survey, however, we wanted to tell you that later this week we will be posting a Talk Mobile 2013 Week 1 wrap-up podcast, as well as highlighting the best comments from the week - and recognizing the very best among those. But back to the survey - you'll find that here. And notice that putting in your email address while you complete the survey enters you for a chance to win a $100 gift card to Best Buy. Is it a blatant incentive? Perhaps, but at least it's not an in-app purchase beckoning for you to hit the buy button to make this level that much easier.

Click here to take the Talk Mobile 2013 State of Mobile Gaming survey!

Building on its history of making security applications that cover a broad range of use cases and features, McAfee released a new app called "McAfee Security Innovations" that aims specifically to help users not lose or have their device stolen. The app does so by working with the fact that users often have more than one device, letting them link the devices together to alert the user whenever the devices are more than 30 feet apart at any time. The so-called "Smart Perimeter" feature will set off an alarm if the devices become separated and let you track down whichever one is out of your possession.

The app also includes two more quick pieces of security by way of a safe QR code reader to check for malicious material before redirecting you to its content, as well as a "Data Vault" to lock specific data on the device with a PIN. McAfee Security Innovations is available for free in the Play Store at the link above.

Verizon today announced the availability of an Android app for its FiOS customers, allowing them to stream 75 channels of live TV, manage the DVR and watch FiOS video-on-demand. If you're at home, the app also will serve as a remote control for your box.

Verizon notes that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Note 10.1 are supported, as well as what we presume is the Galaxy Nexus and a few other phones for which, frankly, Verizon appears to have made up names. (Supports the "Nexus 1" and "Moto DroidX" Really?)

The app runs on Android 2.3.3 and up.

Source: Verizon

Potentially drastic changes will be made to increase competition among communications companies

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has signed into law some pretty strong legislation that aims to cut down on the monopolistic practices of telecom companies in the country. Taking aim at companies such as América Móvil and Grupo Televisa, the law creates a new regulator agency, called Ifetel, that will oversee placing regulations on large companies in the sector to promote competition. Currently, América Móvil is far and away the largest mobile carrier in Mexico with nearly 70-percent of all mobile subscribers. New regulations will aim to limit the amount América Móvil can throw its weight around against the rest of the industry by eliminating its ability to have exclusivity for device launches and even setting rates for calls between carriers so that the incumbent network pays more to complete them.

The legislation goes so far as to give the government the power to force companies to sell off assets to reduce their advantage in the marketplace. Some may think these regulations are drastic, but given the telecom landscape in the country Peña Nieto sees it as the right thing to do. Competing carriers such as Telefónica -- which has approximately 20-percent market share -- are happy to see any progress made towards leveling the playing field.

Source: WSJ

New font sizes, read/unread options also available in this latest update

It's a banner day for the official Android Central app! We've just released Version 1.2 with a few more heavily requested features, some bigfixes and your basic smorgasbord of awesomeness. 

If you've yet to experience the glory that is the Android Central app, go ahead and hit up that download button. We'll wait. Then join us after the break as we walk you through a couple of the new features including -- yes -- a move to the dark side.

Google 'excited' about enhancing Google Maps with Waze data 

The rumors were true -- Google has announced that it's closed its acquisition of Waze, the collaborative navigation and traffic app. In a post on its official blog, the company confirmed the buy-out, saying that it was "excited about the prospect of enhancing Google Maps with some of the traffic update features provided by Waze." The search giant also said it wants to bring the power of Google Search to the existing Waze app, which allows users to work together to find the best routes.

The Waze team, Google says, will continue to operate separately from the Maps team out of its Israel HQ. Google also promised to work closely with the Waze community and allow it to "grow and prosper."

More: Google Blog

Regional carrier C Spire this morning announced that it'll carry the HTC One. And that's all it announced, saying it'll follow up with more details "in the future."

We, however, have far more on the HTC One, as well as some kick-ass discussions in our HTC One forums.

Source: C Spire

Apps-to-SD support is coming to the Galaxy S4 in a new software update - here's how to use it.

Samsung's answer to the controversy over storage space on the Galaxy S4 has been to resurrect an old Android feature -- the ability to move apps to your SD card. By offloading heavier apps to your expandable storage (the S4 supports microSDXC cards up to 64GB) you're able to save precious internal storage for other stuff, like the many apps that can't be moved to the SD card. That's right, just like in the Froyo (Android 2.2) days, developers have to specifically allow you to move apps to the SD card, and some popular apps don't support the feature.

Nevertheless, if you're big on gaming, the latest mobile titles can take several hundred megabytes each, and the ability to move these apps to the SD card is a great way to save space. The update to allow apps to be moved to the SD card is rolling out now to unlocked German Galaxy S4s, and other regions and carriers should follow in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, you can check past the break for our video walkthrough.

Accessories-maker NYKO today at the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles unveiled a trio of accessories for the upcoming NVIDIA Shield, which is still on track for release this month.

NYKO rolled out a pair of cases -- a travel case that very much looks like NVIDIA's own travel case, as well as a hard-shell case (which you see above) for the times that you'll need extra protection.

Then there's the NYKO Shield Dock, which connects a dongle to the controller and then attaches to the dock, giving you a stable base from which to charge the device as well as output video.

And finally there's a Power Kit that gives you a set of adapters and cables for charging at home or on the road.

We've got more pics of the NYKO NVIDIA Shield accessories after the break.