Web-based Appstore now available in the UK

Amazon has announced that its Appstore for Android -- the Google Play rival operated by the online retail giant -- is now  available in almost 200 countries following its expansion of the service. In a press release today, Amazon also revealed that the Kindle Fire is spreading its reach across the globe, with the total countries in which it's available set to reach 170 on June 13. To celebrate, Amazon says it'll bring back the popular Fruit Ninja as a free app of the day, along with Cut the Rope: Experimentals and classic puzzler Tetris -- these will be available from May 23.

Finally the web-based Amazon Appstore is now available to users in the UK. Brits can point their browsers to www.amazon.co.uk/appstore to look through the selection of available paid and free apps.

More details in the presser after the break.

'Huge honor' for the Google Now team, says Matias Duarte

Google Now -- Google's card-based predictive search tool -- has been awarded the grand prize for "best everyday utility" at the 2013 User Experience Awards. To claim the prize, Google Now saw off competition from a wide variety of different projects, including Belkin's WeMo home automation system and healthcare startup ZocDoc.

Announcing the win on Google+, Android design lead Matias Duarte called the award a "huge honor" for the entire Google Now team. Google Now is one of the most important smartphone features of the past year, and it's a well-deserved win for Duarte and his team.

The UX award will sit alongside Popular Science's 2012 "Innovation of the Year" award in the Google Now trophy room.

Source: User Experience Awards; via: Matias Duarte

Headed to Russia, Ukraine, Middle East and Asia from June

Just 24 hours after the name was initially leaked, HTC has officially announced the Desire 600, a new mid-range handset aimed at Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The HTC Desire 600 sports many of the headline features of HTC's current flagship, the HTC One. You've got Jelly Bean (we presume Android 4.1, not 4.2) and Sense 5.0, a pair of beastly "BoomSound" speakers, the BlinkFeed home screen experience and Beats Audio. The new Sense 5 Gallery app has made it across, it seems, as has video highlights. Zoes, however, are not mentioned on the spec sheet.

The handset is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 CPU with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD. Around the back there's an 8-megapixel BSI camera with f/2.0 lens. That screen on the front is a 4.5-inch qHD panel, a significant step down from the One's 1080p SuperLCD3, but not a horribly low resolution. The Desire 600 dual also comes with dual SIM capabilities, and runs on 900/2100MHz HSPA networks with data speeds up to 7.2Mbps.

The HTC Desire 600 is due out in early June, starting in Russia, Ukraine and MEA (Middle East and Africa) -- no word of any plans for a wider European release just yet. We've got the full press release below, along with a few more photos.

New 'Holo light' UI brings Magazines in line with latest Play Music and Play Store apps

Google has updated the Play Magazines app for Android to verison 2.0, bringing a new, lighter user interface. The new version of the app draws inspiration from the recent updates to Google Play Music and the Play Store, both of which have received UI updates in the past month or so. Everything's generally a lot lighter and brighter, and there's a new slide-out sidebar allowing you to switch between Read Now, Library and Shopping views. The official changelog also lists bug fixes in this new version of Play Magazines.

If you're already using Play Magazines, hit "My Apps" in the Play Store app to update. Alternatively we've got a Google Play web link up above.

Galaxy S4 Samsung's fastest selling smart phone, beating previous Galaxy models handily

As predicted last week, Samsung has pushed over 10,000,000 Galaxy S4 units out the door since the phone first became available on April 26. This solidly beats the previous record of 10 Million Galaxy S3s, which took 50 days and puts the S4 squarely at the top of the list for the years highest sellers, at least for now.

On behalf of Samsung, I would like to thank the millions of customers around the world who have chosen the Samsung Galaxy S4. At Samsung we'll continue to pursue innovation inspired by and for the people.

-- JK Shin, CEO and president of the IT and mobile communications division at Samsung Electronics

In addition to the announcement of 10 million units getting sold, Samsung has also said that we should expect more color variations of the S4 during the course of this summer. The new colors are listed as Blue Arctic and Red Aurora (pictured above), followed by Purple Mirage and Brown Autumn. The S4 will also be moving to 45 more countries over the course of the year, bringing the total countries selling the S4 to 155.

Source: Samsung

HTC ShopAmerica offering a cool $25 Google Play credit to folks who experienced delays

Folks who ordered an HTC One direct from HTC earlier this year will want to check their inbox, as there could be $25 worth of Google Play credit there waiting. Component shortages and supply issues caused a slight delay for shipping the first round of HTC One phones, and while all that seems to have been corrected, HTC still wants to compensate folks for the delay.

If your order falls under the umbrella (it seems like orders placed the first day or two are getting reviewed) you'll get a code worth $25 credit to spend in Google Play. No muss, no fuss. Thanks, HTC!

Via: Android Central forums

The Ottawa International Game Conference kicks off in just about a week. If you're not familiar, the three-day conference takes place May 29th-31st and features new innovations and trends in the Canadian gaming industry and will host speakers all across the board including, Anders Jeppsson, Global Head of Gaming at BlackBerry. Mobile Nations own gaming geek Simon Sage will be on site to take in all the news from the conference including speakers, developers, panels and more. 

LG announced a new waterproof phone today, the Optimus GJ. They certainly weren't very subtle either, as they had girls presenting the phone in bikinis. It differs from past waterproof devices because this one is high-end. The specs are as follows:

• 4.7-inch IPA HD display
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 13MP rear-camera
• 1.5GHz quad-core processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB internal memory
• MicroSD slot
• 2,280 mAh battery

LG is getting more ambitious with their waterproof devices and are hitting the Taiwanese market first. It will cost $17,990 Taiwanese dollars, which is approximately $600 USD.  No word yet on when or if the Optimus GJ will go to other markets.

Source: unwiredview

Keep your tweets your own and your Twitter account safe with two-step verification

After a slew of high-profile account hacks, Twitter has finally launched a two-step verification system to keep your account from falling into the wrong hands. Once enrolled, each time you sign in to Twitter.com you will be asked to enter a six digit verification number sent by SMS to your phone. If you don't have your number, you can't log in.

Existing accounts on other devices should still work, and when your Twitter account to other devices or applications, you'll visit your applications page to generate a temporary password to validate who you are. Users can set up the new account verification system starting today from their Twitter settings, and you'll need a verified phone number and email address. 

Two-step authentication is a good move (probably one Twitter should have adopted a while ago) and one that we heartily recommend. It may be inconvenient setting things up the first time, but losing your online identity to hackers is far worse. To learn more, and get started, visit the source link below.

Source: Twitter