The billing system will use the same backend as in-app purchases. Developers will be able to set up the billing interval for subscription services and Google Play will handle the recurrence on the backend. Consumers will be able to login to their Google Play account and view their subscriptions as well as change them.

Apps requiring a subscription will have to state the price and the billing interval such as weekly, monthly, or yearly right on the app page so there aren’t any surprises for consumers. The subscription service is already being adopted by game developer Glu with a special currency subscription networks across any of the company’s games.

[via Android Developers]

The researchers say that it will all be possible by 2045. So, who will be first?

[via Plastic Pals via Engadget]

Just use your NFC badge on the card reader, which is attached to an Arduino and this little guy will reward you with beer. It’s pretty awesome, and I wish I had thought of that. You can check out the Kegdroid in action over on YouTube.

[via HardOCP via Geeks Are Sexy]

Andru is a dead ringer for the official Android mascot, and will charge up your Android smartphone with ease. Just plug the microUSB cable into your phone, and the other end into Andru’s head, and you’ll be juicing up in no time – and with style. While your gadget charges, Andru’s LED eyes glow a pleasant blue hue, and then return to white when in standby.

Since Andru’s head has a regular USB port in it, you could always connect your iPhone’s 30-pin to USB cable to him and charge up, if you’re feeling whimsical. If you like Andru, you can grab him over at ThinkGeek for $24.99(USD).

Pebble has a 144×168 black and white e-paper display and works with both iOS and Android phones. It connects to your phone via Bluetooth, and offers wrist-based notifications including caller ID, email, calendar alerts, Facebook and Twitter messages, and allows you to remote control your music player.

It can also function as a running and cycling computer, and can run custom apps as well. While it doesn’t have its own GPS built in, it can leverage the one in your smartphone, and also has its own accelerometer and vibration motor built in so those can be used in apps.

Pebble is being crowd-funded through a Kickstarter project and a pledge of at least $115 (USD) will get you yours. With 36 days to go, the project has amassed nearly $1 million against its initial goal of $100,000, so the project is fully funded and will get made. The retail price will be $150 and it’s supposed to ship in September.

[via Uncrate]

It’s got a slim unibody design, and a 10-hour battery life. It’s only 8.9mm thick and supports Google Play as well as the Lenovo App Shop. The tablet has a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, but no rear camera, which is an interesting statement on the practicality of using tablets as cameras vs. just using them to do video chats.

The extra speakers, a Micro-HDMI and Micro-USB ports are definitely advantages over Apple’s tablets, but the resolution isn’t anything spectacular, and the omission of the rear-facing camera is an interesting choice.

The previously announced IdeaTab S2 is priced at $349(USD) and has a higher resolution (1280×800) display, as well as a rear-facing 5MP camera, so it’s expected that the IdeaTab S2109 will be more competitively priced. A release date hasn’t been announced, but it should be soon.

[via Phandroid via Ubergizmo]

The SmartWatch is compatible with most Sony Xperia phones, as well as some Motorola, HTC and Samsung handsets. The full list of compatible phones is here. The watch connects via Bluetooth to your phone, allows you to accept and reject calls, mute the microphone, access social networking services, watch movies and play music stored on your phone.

The watch face is an 1.3-inch multitouch OLED screen with 128×128 resolution, capable of displaying 65,000 colors.The watch is a little bulkier than most, but not enough to really be a problem, and certainly no bigger than an iPod nano watch. You can also take the face off the strap and clip it almost anywhere.

The SmartWatch ships with a black wristband, but you can swap out colors to pink, mint, grey, white or blue as well. MSRP for the Sony SmartWatch is $149.99(USD), and you should be able to find one over on Amazon now.

[via TrendsNow]

It is truly another revolutionary old-new technology by Google.

Check out the Gmail Tap page for more hilarious features, such as “Double-black diamond mode,” which allows users to type 8 messages at once. Beat that, keyboard!

[via Reddit]

Pushing that fine line further is MapAttack. It’s a real-time location-based game for smartphones running either iOS or Android 2.2 or later which turns your own city into a gameboard that vaguely resembles the mazes that Pac-Man has to navigate.

It works on a similar concept, too: various digital dots will be set up all over the city and it’s your role to gather up as many of them as you can to win the game. Two teams per city will be battling it out (virtually, of course) to see which side can pick up the most dots by physically heading over to the locations mapped on the map.

MapAttack was developed by a team from Portland who used the Geoloqi platform to show people what the location tracking system is capable of. MapAttack games can be started for any city and you might find one coming to the one you live in soon. You can find out more information about the game by checking out their official site. You can grab the Android version from Google Play, though the iOS version doesn’t appear to be available from the App Store. However, you can grab the source code over on the MapAttack website.

[via Pop Up City]

The device will work on certain Android smartphones running Honeycomb 3.1 and up thanks to the enhanced USB host mode those devices have.  It also has the ability to connect USB drives and microSD, SD and miniSD memory cards. The media dock adapter even allows you to plug in a mouse and actually see a pointer on the screen, or you can also plug in a gamepad to control video games. However, it can only supply 100 mA max power to attached peripherals.

At this point, it’s known to work with the Samsung Galaxy II, Sony Xperia NX SO-02D; Sony Xperia acro HD IS12S; Toshiba REGZA Phone T-01D; and Sony S-series tablet, and it’s likely to work with other recent Android gadgets as well.

The Sanwa USB Reader is available direct from Sanwa Japan [JP] for ¥3,280 (~$40 USD). It sure would be great if somebody would make one of these for iOS devices too.

[via EverythingUSB]

Developed by Joshua Gramlich and Steve Szymke, the HiQ Automation iOpener is a small box you can attach to your current garage door opener in minutes, and pairs with your smartphone via Bluetooth. The bundled iOpener app allows you to set up a 16-digit security code, ensuring nobody else can illegally gain entry to your garage. The only real disadvantage I could see of using Bluetooth instead of an IP connection is that Bluetooth normally has a range limit of about 32 feet. However, HiQ is using a Roving Networks module capable of real-world distances of 80 to 100 feet. Unlike the more expensive Sears option out there, you can’t check remotely to see if you left the door open either.

In addition to the iOpener, the team is working on a version called the 3Opener, which can operate a garage with up to three separate doors (for those of you in mansions, I suppose.) Initially, the iOpener and 3Opener are coming only to Android, but they plan on releasing an iOS version down the road too. Obviously, a version that works on the iPhone would go a long way towards more potential users.

The HiQ guys just started raising funds on Kickstarter for the production of the iOpener, and hope to raise $50k in the next two months. A pledge of $150(USD) or more will get you one of the iOpeners, while $250 or more will get you the 3Opener.

The TriggerHappy unit is a 3′ cable with a small embedded processor. It attaches to mobile devices via the 3.5mm audio jack and will of course have complementary iOS and Android apps. Once connected, you can use it to take time-lapse pictures, long-exposure shots, HDR shots or just simply fire a single or rapid succession of shots.

Ok, so Kevin isn’t exactly the best presenter on Earth. But he’s an engineer, not an actor after all. Perhaps some charm classes would do him some good.

Pledge at least $50(USD) to the TriggerHappy Kickstarter project to reserve a TriggerHappy unit. The fundraiser still has one and a half months to go but Kevin and his co-inventors have already secured more than $42,000 in pledges, way more than their $25,000 target, so at this point consider your pledge a pre-order.

[via TriggerHappy]

Both the Infinite Comics and Marvel AR application will debut with the Avengers vs. X-Men #1 set to launch on April 4. Marvel Infinite Comics will take advantage of the capabilities of smartphones and tablets for storytelling, going beyond being just a reproduction of the print editions. The most interesting part sounds like the Marvel AR application. The app is powered by Aurasma and will let readers scan images and various Marvel products that have the Marvel AR logo.

When app scans the special logo, the user will have access to extra content to go along with the comics. The new content will include audio footage, creator content, and the ability to catch up on past events. The AR name suggests that the video and other interactive content will play over the top of the comic not simply linking the user and their digital device running the app to online content. Marvel hasn’t revealed the specifics of their augmented reality experience, beyond this short Iron Man demo clip shown at SXSW:

Marvel plans on releasing the Avengers vs. X-Men #1 Infinite comic through the Marvel Comics App on April 4th, and the Marvel AR app sometime in April as well.

Those video glasses have a see-through display that allows you to see whatever video you’re watching and the real world at the same time. Those glasses happen have a handheld controller that is based on Android, which is the key to this particular hack. Sohmers whipped up some sort of app that runs on the Android controller which allows him to see the video from either of the AR.Drone’s cameras and provide basics control over its flight.

I say “basic” because for now the Android controller will only operate the drone for altitude and for rotating the aim of the camera by spinning the flying toy. Sohmers is working on improving the app so it gives him full control over the flying toy. Check out the video above to see the control system in action.

[via Engadget]

The HTC One X has a slim lightweight polycarbonate body, measuring just 8.9mm thick. It’s got a larger 4.7-inch screen, which has a resolution of 1280×720, which is pretty good. It’s thin and comfortable to hold, and somewhat smaller than the Samsung Galaxy Note, which is too big in my opinion. 4.7-inches is a good compromise, allowing you to use functions that you’d reserve for your tablet, while still fitting in your pocket. It comes with a Nvidia quad-core Tegra 3 processor, clocked at 1.5GHz and has 1GB of RAM, running Android Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0).

The phone comes with a 8MP/1080p camera with an LED flash and a f2.0 lens. It’s also got a 720p front-facing camera for video chats. It also features enhanced Beats Audio. It’s also NFC capable. Surprisingly, it has no microSD card support, but it will come with 32GB of internal storage and 25GB of free storage from DropBox for two years.

[via Ubergizmo]

I can’t overstate how amazing this program is, especially considering its still in closed beta. The fact that it can open and use the apps and modify the settings in the tablet used in the demo below makes it infinitely more useful than Siri, which can only interact with Apple’s native apps and Wolfram Alpha. For example, in the demo video below Utter! opens Cut the Rope, adjusts the tablet’s CPU and opens the eBay app to search. And then, just to show how smart it is, Brandall intentionally froze the eBay app and repeated his eBay command. Upon detecting that the eBay app was unavailable, Utter! used the browser to search eBay’s website.

Utter! is also less talkative, but it does have a lot of things to say when prompted. For example, at about 7:15 into the video you’ll hear it’s Easter eggs, including a rather harsh remark about Siri at about 9:15. But that’s not all – at around the 18:00 mark, Brandall reveals that Utter! can actually start conversations. How’s that for high tech?

It may just be because my brain is still coagulating itself back together after being blown to bits by that demo, but I think that after touch-based interfaces, seamless and effortless interaction by voice will be the next major step for mobile devices. It’s simply more natural and faster to use. Talk to you soon Utter!

[via Phandroid via Ubergizmo]

The TheO Foam ball is a thick, protective foam ball with a cutout allowing you to cradle your iPhone or Android phone inside of it. It’s designed so that you play some games with the people you know IRL, not just online. The three games that are currently available are Hot Potato, Interrogo, and Bowling. The apps all use the phone’s accelerometer to function, though it’s unclear how they provide feedback while the ball is rolling along the ground or being passed around the room.

Price and availability haven’t yet been announced, but it sounds kind of interesting. The project was initially slated for funding on Kickstarter, but was unsuccessful. From the Kickstarter page, you can deduce that it will cost at least $25 with the three apps once it’s released.

[via Ubergizmo]

The Acer Cloudmobile was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress and it’s the first phone equipped with the Acer Cloud storage service. It’s meant to allow you to access media and documents stored on users’ home computers, even when the PC is sleeping. All photos taken via the phone are also automatically saved remotely onto your home computer.

The phone itself has a 4.3-inch HD touchscreen, and will run Android 4.1 on a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and comes HSPA+3G network ready. The Acer Cloudmobile phone is slated for release in late 2012.

[via designboom]

The ADzero is made from bamboo and it will probably be sold in design boutiques, not cell phone stores, since it won’t be mass-produced. The overall weight of this phone is half of an iPhone, despite its larger screen. Woodhouse is a design student at Middlesex University who was contacted by Jerro Lao, a tech entrepreneur after he saw some early concept images of the wooden phone.

The prototype runs Ice Cream Sandwich and will have access to the Android Market. Other than a mention of a built-in ring flash, there’s not much other detail about the specs of the final phone. A production version of the ADZero bamboo phone is expected to be launched in 2012 in both China and the UK. There’s no word on any North American distribution at this point.

[via Pocket-Lint via DVice]

The idea is to use her as a next gen mannequin. Geminoid-F is capable of basic emotions and behaviors that it uses to create expressions and actions based on it’s environment. You can expect her to smile, nod and move about a bit in her chair, probably fooling some passers-by into thinking she’s a real woman.

She might even yawn as you pass by. One thing she won’t do (or so I hope) is break the glass with her fist and pick you up by the neck, while signaling other android mannequins that it is time for the invasion. That would be bad.

[via Diginfo]