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Google is always making little tweaks to its apps, and now you can get an early look at some of those tweaks by beta testing the Google app. That's the one that powers the Now Launcher, Google Now cards, Now On Tap, and more. Just a few clicks and you're in the exclusive beta testing club. There's not much to see yet, but who knows what the future holds?

This is a standard Play Store beta test without the G+ community tie-in.

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Google Launches Official Play Store Beta Test For The Google App was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Don’t let a broken clasp stop you from wearing your favorite necklace. Use a paper clip to make your necklace wearable again until you get a replacement clasp.

http://lifehacker.com/use-a-pencil-e...

Slide the paper clip through the ring that connects the clasp to the chain. Keep going until the ring sits in the middle of the paperclip. Then, whenever you want to wear the necklace, slide the other side of the clasp (the loop part) onto the paper clip and stop when it gets to the first curve.

This should hold your necklace together until you get a chance to replace the broken clasp with one from your local jewelry or craft store. If you don’t have the pliers to switch out the clasp yourself, most jewelry store employees will be happy to do it for you (especially if you bought the clasp from them).

DIY: “Fixing Things Because You’re Broke” | Buttoned Bears

Imagine this flying down the street after you on a dark Halloween night, while you run screaming and drop all your candy! [via Popular Mechanics]

https://youtu.be/zgat4a1TrEM

Ogo is a battery powered wheelchair that has a hands-free control system. The creator says people can even mow their lawn while sitting in it. They say "we are currently in the preproduction set up, and are expected to be up and going soon." (Thanks, Matthew!)

Someone has put high-quality signs on park benches in a fancy British town to mock its contemptuous treatment of locals, especially the poor. The signs have been removed, on the grounds that they might be "offensive."

Rebellious plaques have been situated on benches in Chester with the intention of highlighting Cheshire West and Chester Council’s 'draconian plans' to introduce a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

Two street artists have placed the plaques on benches across Chester city centre 'in good grace' to raise awareness of the plight of homelessness in the city… One of the plaques put up by the artists say: “If you shut your eyes for more than ten seconds whilst on this bench, you may be deemed asleep, and risk facing an ASBO. By Order of Public Space Protection Orders under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.” A more humorous plaque says: “This bench is dedicated to the men who lost the will to live whilst following their partners around the shoe shops of Chester.”

The key quote is from a local official, Maria Byrne, who said: “We have removed the plaques from five benches and although they may appear humorous, some people may find them offensive."

But without, of course, specifying who.

Rebellious plaques situated on benches in Chester [The Chester Chronicle via JWZ]

I've been getting to know the Nexus 6P for a few days now, and while I don't feel a few days is enough time to write a complete review, I thought it would at least be helpful to write a review preview with initial impressions and findings from the new Nexus.

The Nexus 6P is undoubtedly the more "premium" of the new Nexus phones this year. While the 5X is meant to carry on the affordable and performant legacy of the original Nexus 5, the 6P has perks like 240fps slowmo video, a higher-specced (if somewhat embattled) processor, true stereo front-facing speakers, a bigger, denser display, and an all-metal body.

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Nexus 6P Review Preview: So Far, It's Everything I'd Hoped was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

The 2013 Nexus 5 was a much beloved device—it was great at a few things, good at others, and cheap enough that its shortcomings didn't seem so glaring. It struck such a good balance that many owners passed on the (humongous and expensive) Nexus 6 last year. Now, there's the Nexus 5X, a spiritual successor to the 2013 Nexus. I haven't had the 5X for long enough to give it a proper full review, but I've got some impressions to share in advance of the review.

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Nexus 5X Review Preview: Plastic Fantastic was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

 New phones are exciting. They look new, feel new, have new things and everyone loves new. I’m personally starting to feel phone fatigue, though. I love new technology, but I feel like the incremental updates that come along for Android phones and Apple phones are starting to get overwhelming. It used to be the case that only device aficionados would pick up the “S” version… Read More

 LG and Google have worked together again to bring you their latest Nexus incarnation. The Nexus 5X, one of two new flagship phones from Google, is being described fondly by the company as “the all-around champ.” I’m not sure what that means. Also, they’re saying things like the 5X is “capturing the soul of the Nexus family.” I’m not sure what that… Read More

You probably know by now that you shouldn’t believe everything you hear, but some people out there still do. This interactive chart lets you explore the most popular and widespread myths and misconceptions so you can find out the truth.

This interactive chart from David McCandless at Information Is Beautiful organizes each myth by type and shows how widespread each falsehood is. The more a certain myth has been Google searched, the larger the colored bubble will be. You may have seen some of these before in their previous infographic version. It’s now updated to be interactive and filterable, so you can search by color-coded myth type. They’ve also added 10 more major misconceptions (bringing the grand total up to 62); like the fact that something with a “steep learning curve” is actually quick and easy to learn, or that a lie detector doesn’t actually detect any lies. You can start exploring the world’s most-searched myths and misconceptions at the link below.

http://io9.com/52-of-the-worl...

Common MythConceptions | Information Is Beautiful

 Facebook never, ever, ever wants you to leave. That’s why it’s replicating features from other apps and pulling content like videos and news articles inside its app. The more time you spend on Facebook, the more it accomplishes its “open and connected” mission, and the more money it makes by showing you ads. Here’s 20 new ways it’s assimilating the Internet,… Read More

Adele hasn't released an album since 2011's 21, but it looks like the wait could soon be over. Without warning during a commercial break on the UK's The X-Factor — between advertisements for Dominos and Tic-Tacs — the screen went black. Then, Adele's voice could be heard over lyrics to a new mystery song.

That's it! No album name, no details of any kind — just a voice we've been waiting for (for years!), to return. Listen to it:

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5 Scientific Reasons Why You Should Embrace Being Lazy

Have you been having trouble casting videos or other content to your Chromecast or Android TV device lately? You're not alone - we've been getting tips for the last day from all over the Android world about casting failures, and based on threads on Reddit, XDA, Google's support forums, and even NVIDIA's SHIELD forums, the issue has been affecting hundreds and possibly thousands of people. Various culprits have been suspected, from a recent Marshmallow update for the Nexus Player to compatibility tweaks for the new Chromecast model.

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Chromecast And Android TV Users Are Seeing Widespread Casting Issues, Cast Receiver APK Update Fixes Them [APK Download] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

On Friday, infosec celebrity Swift on Security pointed out a new piece of adware called the "eFast Browser." It does the kind of malicious crap that we've all seen quite often over the years: throwing pop-up and pop-under ads on your screen, putting other ads into your web pages, pushing you towards other websites with more malware, and (of course) tracking your movements on the web so that nefarious marketers can send more crap your way.

But what's nefariously intriguing about this software is that it isn't trying to hijack your current browser, it's straight-up replacing it. As reported by Malwarebytes, eFast tries to delete Chrome and take its place, hijacking as many link and file associations as it can. Its icon and window looks a...

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The world’s biggest video site is readying a slate of programming that will only be available to people who join its upcoming subscription services. YouTube will announce some of that programming, which it is helping to fund, at an event at its studio/event space in Los Angeles next Wednesday, October 21.

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No video games. No internet. Just four walls, a bed, a tub, and a flickering old TV snatching whatever signals it can from the air. That’s the entirety of five-year-old Jack’s universe in Room, the new film from director Lenny Abrahamson. Jack has been there since birth, protectively cared for by his Ma (Brie Larson), who spins up stories to convince him that their life is perfectly normal; that there’s nothing wrong with being trapped in a 10-by-10 room for years while a mysterious stranger comes in every week to drop off supplies and hurt Ma.

It’s a ghastly premise that sounds appropriate for a skeezy, low-budget exploitation film, but for Abrahamson (Frank), it’s the jumping off point for something much more powerful. Rather than...

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An Amazon patent for smart glasses published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office may indicate the online retailer isn't giving up on bold hardware initiatives just yet. Though the company began winding down some of its experimental hardware efforts in August, Amazon appears interested in a pair of glasses that could place video streamed from a tablet in front of the wearer's eyes. The technique is called augmented reality, and everyone from Microsoft and Google to well-funded Florida startup Magic Leap is trying to bring it to market in one way or another.

The Amazon glasses' display would be capable of transitioning from a video or image display to a transparent one. That means viewers could interact with the real world when...

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IBM has agreed to let the Chinese government review the source code of a number of its products, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal. For IBM, it's part of a larger move into the Chinese market, assuring officials that its products are secure before taking on more contracts within the country. The Chinese government has been increasingly interested in code review in recent years, although the request has usually been rebuffed by US companies with the support of the Obama administration. IBM appears to be the first company to agree to the recent demands.

Source code has been a traditional sticking point for software companies looking to enter the Chinese market. The Chinese government has long been concerned about...

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Chrome is removing one of its flashier features: the ability to say "OK Google" and automatically activate a voice search on the desktop. The feature is no longer present in the browser's latest version, Chrome 46, although you can still activate a voice search by clicking on the microphone button.

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In 1966, UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson told MPs that the UK spy agencies weren't allowed to tap their phones and that if that changed, he'd tell them about it first. In 1997, Prime Minister Tony Blair asserted that this applied to electronic communications. This Monday, UK Home Secretary Theresa May asserted that the "Wilson Doctrine" still applied to MPs. Then, on Wednesday, the investigatory powers tribunal ruled that this was all rubbish. (more…)