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• [Update: After a long beta, the official version is finally out today] The Elder Scrolls: Legends card battle game comes to Android in pre-release form
  
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    Update 1: 2016/10/19 2:18pm PDT
    Apparently this version of the game was published unintentionally. We received the following message from the developers:
    The Android version of The Elder Scrolls: Legends that appeared briefly on the Google

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    Update 2: 2017/04/06 4:34pm PDT
    Now available for select devices:

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    Update 3: 2017/06/01 10:53am PDT
    The Elder Scrolls: Legends is available on the Play Store again.

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    Update 4: 2017/07/27 6:00am PDT
    After a long beta, the official version is finally out today.

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  [Update: After a long beta, the official version is finally out today] The Elder Scrolls: Legends card battle game comes to Android in pre-release form was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

• You can now play The Elder Scrolls: Legends on your phone
  

  The Elder Scrolls: Legends made its debut on the PC back in March, and the strategy card game is now available on Android with the Heroes of Skyrim expansion in tow. The free-to-play title features cards based on characters from the Elder Scrolls franchise, and you’ll be able to play against online opponents or with an AI.

  Here’s a look at what’s on offer with the game:

  PLAY ON YOUR OWN: Story mode provides hours of solo gameplay in which you’ll earn new Legends cards, decks, and packs. Or draft a deck from scratch and battle a series of computer opponents.
  PLAY AGAINST OTHERS: Test your decks against friends, challenge online opponents in ranked play, or draft a deck from scratch and battle other players who have done the same.
  PICK YOUR BATTLES: Legends gameplay features a divided battlefield with “lanes” that deepen your strategy options.
  LEVEL UP! You can upgrade certain cards in Legends by winning games with decks that contain them. Level up your cards to improve your deck…

• New rumor says Samsung Pay could be heading to non-Samsung phones
  

  Samsung is looking to vastly expand the availability of Samsung Pay.

  Samsung Pay is limited to the company’s flagship devices and select mid-range models, but that may not be the case for much longer. According to Gadgets 360, Samsung held “internal talks within the company and with OEMs” to bring Samsung Pay to non-Samsung devices.

  The key difference between Samsung Pay and Android Pay is that the former supports both NFC and MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission). MST mimics a card swipe, making Samsung Pay compatible with POS machines that don’t have NFC built-in. The technology is enabled by a proprietary chip that’s built into the rear panel of devices like the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy A7 2017, and it looks like Samsung wants to integrate the chip in other manufacturers’ devices.

  It would certainly be a welcome move — Samsung Pay works at most offline retailers — but it’s hard to see other manufacturers integrating Samsung’s proprietary tech in their devices.

  Samsun…

• HTC has announced a standalone VIVE VR headset, exclusive to China
  

  At Google I/O back in May, we saw the announcement of standalone Daydream virtual reality headsets from companies such as HTC and Lenovo. While they have yet to materialize, HTC has just announced that it’s releasing the VIVE Standalone headset, and i…

• How to get started with Samsung SmartThings
  

  Samsung SmartThings are a great addition if all you’re looking to do is automate a few simple things around the house.

  Did you know you can automate your home in about an hour? That’s how long it took me to set up the Samsung SmartThings Hub and two additional SmartThings helpers. I set up an outlet and a multipurpose sensor, though you can take your pick from the litter of available SmartThings integrations. They’re fun to bring home in an attempt to figure out the most tedious and genius automation formulas.

  If you’ve recently found yourself venturing onto your own journey of installing Samsung SmartThings in your home, here’s how to get started.

  Getting started with Samsung SmartThings

  First things first: before you can get started setting up Samsung SmartThings, ensure that you’ve got a SmartHub installed somewhere in your home. For this how-to, I’m connecting to the SmartThings via the Connect Home mesh Wi-Fi router system, which has built-in ZigBee compatibility. But you ca…

• WhatsApp beta adds launcher app shortcuts, though they’re pretty useless
  

  It took nearly a year, but WhatsApp has just added launcher app shortcuts on Android Nougat (or Marshmallow if you use a compatible launcher like Nova and Action). Thing is, the functions that WhatsApp decided to elevate to shortcut status are… kind…

• Samsung’s record profits continue on the back of strong Galaxy S8 and DRAM sales
  

  Samsung is firing on all fronts.

  After recording its best-ever first quarter earlier this year, Samsung has managed to post record-breaking profits once again in Q2 2017. The South Korean manufacturer netted an overall revenue of $54.2 billion (61 trillion won), a year-on-year increase of 20%, or $8.8 billion (10.06 trillion won). Operating profit increased by a staggering 72.7% to $12.5 billion (14.1 trillion won), allowing Samsung to overtake Apple, who is projected to bring in $10.6 billion this quarter.

  Net profit almost doubled from Q1 2017, and a lot of that is down to the strong showing of the semiconductor division. Healthy demand for high-density DRAM modules and SSDs for the enterprise segment led to a three-fold increase in profits to $7.2 billion (8 trillion won). It looks like the demand won’t abate anytime soon, as Samsung expects the components division to drive growth in the latter half of the year.

  Qualcomm turned to Samsung for the fabrication of the 10nm Snapd…

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fires, recall, cancellation, and rebirth: Everything you need to know
  

  Here’s all the information you need about the Galaxy Note 7 fires and recall — the events that led to the phone being discontinued — and eventually reborn as the Galaxy Note Fan Edition.

  After almost a year of twists and turns since September 2016, the Galaxy Note 7 story has (effectively) come to an end. As is well known by now, Samsung faced battery quality issues in the handset, leading to personal and property damage. In the original, pre-recall Note 7, hundreds of phones worldwide had critical failures.

  Following initial reports of fires, the phone was recalled in the U.S. once, and Samsung launched exchange programs in other countries. But the new models experienced further issues, with replacement units catching on fire in early October 2016. This led to Samsung telling Note 7 owners to stop using the phones and return them, before permanently discontinuing the Note 7 worldwide. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. CPSC officially issued a second recall.

  In July 2017, t…

• Multiple Google Home users are reporting issues with Philips Hue light bulbs
  

  

  A number of users are having difficulties controlling their Philips Hue light bulbs via Google Home, the help forum for which is brimming with activity on the subject. The problem seems to manifest itself when trying to turn the lights on and off with a voice command, which leads the Google Assistant to respond with “Sorry I can’t do that, I’m learning every day.”

  There are various reports from different users, and while many have said the errors started occurring as far back as a week ago, one poster suggested that it started to be a problem even earlier, at around the time Google added support for multiple users. Another user reports that he can still change the intensity with a command like “bedroom light 50%,” but it’s not possible to turn the lights on and off.

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  Multiple Google Home users are reporting issues with Philips Hue light bulbs was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

• Charge 4 devices in the car with Amzer’s USB car charger for $12 today
  

  Odds are you have more than one device to keep charged while on the go, which is why you need Amzer’s 4-port USB car charger. It can keep four gadgets charged with the cable of your choice, and right now you can pick one up for just $12!
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