Google and Samsung get a head start on April Fools with Chrome selfies and a meat cleaver phone

Have you looked at your calendar today? If not, let me tell you what day it is: March 31st. You know what that means? Tomorrow is April 1st, the infamous April Fools day. That means companies are about to flood the internet with jokes, press releases about fake products and other cheeky shenanigans.

There’s just one problem this year: some companies can’t help but to get started a day early. Google has already unleashed a few of their own, the most cool of which is an interactive new Google Maps feature that turns your local area map into a game of Pacman. You can actually play it right now by clicking here, if you want (or stroll into the Google Maps for Android app).

It’s not a joke, per se, but it’s a cool and fun little quirk that Google likely tossed in to celebrate the goofiness of tomorrow’s pseudo-holiday. It’s also a great way to promote the real-world augmented reality counterpart being featured in the latest Ingress update.

It doesn’t stop there for them. They’ve sneakily baked a feature into the latest version of Google Chrome that will enable a new “Chrome Selfie” feature once the calendar turns.

Steve is blown away by that dreamy Samsung user interface concept! The idea is that you take a selfie with your reaction of whatever site you’re viewing, and you can send a shot of that selfie and website off to your friends to view. It’s the one killer feature we’ve always been waiting for! Not. You can give it a try right now by changing the timezone on your calendar to GMT +10.

It isn’t just Google’s US arm having a good time, either. Those in Japan have already gotten their fun in, with Google Japan teasing a new “hornpipe” input feature that allows you to input text in Japanese without having to type or even speak anything. Just blow!

And then there’s Samsung, whose Samsung Galaxy Blade Edge smartphone promises to serve dual purpose as a butcher’s knife. It’ll feature built-in thermometer styli, a fold-up handle for easy conversion and, you guessed it, a fire proof display.

Oh, and food porn. Finally, we’re able to record our meat chopping experience from the perspective of the destructive tool that makes it all happen, and then easily take a photo of the finished product afterward!

Sad to say it, folks, but this is only the beginning. The Next 24-48 hours will spawn an even greater number of jokes. Some will be funny. Some will even make us wish they were actual ideas and products. And then there will be the bunch that will outright make us cry, cringe and wish this day never existed, all the while actual announcements have to be questioned for their legitimacy in a sea of ridiculous satire. This is April Fools. Prepare yourselves.

Start checking your inbox: Google IO 2015 invites are starting to arrive

If you signed up for Google’s big IO raffle, you might want to start checking your inbox: invites are now starting to roll out. It appears those who haven’t been accepted won’t receive an email saying so, and there’s a chance Google is sending invites out in waves (after unclaimed tickets become available) so don’t lose hope on getting one.

Those who have received invites to purchase a ticket have a limited time to do so (the first batch of invites are all saying by Thursday, March 26th) so it shan’t be long before Google knows how many more tickets they can issue. You’ll need 0 handy to pay for the ticket, though if you’re a student you can be admitted for just 0. Let us know if you’ve received one!

Android 5.1.1 references start showing up on Google’s site

It wasn’t long ago we’d told you that Android 5.1.1 was a thing0,. If our server logs weren’t believable enough, you could actually head into the Android Studio’s SDK manager and download it. And now the new software is showing up on Google’s Android developers site.

The goods exist on the page concerning audio latency, where Google lists the Nexus 7 and Nexus 9 as having “Android 5.1.1″ as their latest builds. The former shows a build of LMY47W, while Nexus 9 is showing as LMY47S.

Does this mean we’re nearing some sort of rollout? Its hard to say, though public flaunting of this new version would suggest Google is deep within testing and is working hard to get it out of the door.

It shouldn’t be hard for you to contain excitement for its arrival. Incremental updates like these rarely bring any exciting new features and changes. Expect a lot of bug busting to go on under-the-hood, and not much more (though, depending on how you and your Lollipop devices have gotten along since its arrival, a bug fixing update might be as exciting as anything else).

[Thanks Juno!]

Report: Google’s wireless service will require a Nexus 6 to start

This past week at Mobile World Congress, Google executive Sundar Pichai confirmed that the company was working on a wireless service that would look to leverage WiFi and new technology that could seamlessly transfer you between different carriers’ networks to ensure quality service. There aren’t many early official details at this time, though rumors have suggested Sprint and T-Mobile will be on board in the early going.

The Wall Street Journal says they’ve heard word that there will be one big caveat for wanting to try this service out, though: you’ll need to own a Nexus 6 if you want to play ball. That may seem like a foul stipulation at first, but it makes total sense.

Google isn’t simply becoming an MVNO ala the likes of Republic Wireless or Straight Talk. They’re creating and testing an entirely new cellular technology that simultaneously leverages WiFi and any number of network signals between any number of carriers to help deliver the best call and data experiences.

It’s an ambitious project, but the only way they’re going to be able to accurately judge results is by keeping variables at an absolute minimum. It’ll be important for Google to be able to control the usage environment as tightly as they can in order to ensure everything works as it should. If that means they can only approve one phone for this experiment then that’s what we’ll have to accept. We’re almost 100% certain we’ll hear more about this venture at Google IO, with the Wall Street Journal suggesting it’ll be ready to go “in the coming weeks.”

Hints of Android 5.1.1 start popping up in Android SDK manager

Don’t look now, but Google is working on a bug fixer for the bug fixer. Android 5.1 — which mostly introduced a sea of squashed bugs and just a couple of new user-facing features — seems to be getting a follow-up.

One Google+ user noticed that Android 5.1.1 started showing up in his Android Studio SDK manager this morning. We’re seeing the very same goods in our own installations of the SDK manager.

We’ve heard murmurings from trusted sources in previous weeks that Google was prepping 5.1.1 and that devices with the supposed firmware were visiting their apps and websites. So what’s new?

We can’t really tell just yet. This is a .1 incremental release, after all, which typically serve as nothing but minor bug fixers. It’s likely there isn’t much new to be had on the surface, though we haven’t had a chance to get our hands fully dirty just yet. We’ll get digging, but in the meantime we’ll be on the lookout for any announcements from Google later today, as well as possible factory images for Nexus devices should Google look to start a rollout in the near future. Stay tuned!

[Thanks, Fedor!]

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge’s base model could start at 64GB in the UK

An interesting revelation was made over at Samsung’s site for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. While the company mentioned that 32GB, 64GB and 128GB options for the phones would be available, they’re listing the Edge variant with just 64GB and 128GB options for the UK. That could suggest the Edge variant will come with 64GB as standard.

One plausible explanation could be that the S6 Edge will have a higher base cost than the normal edition so Samsung decided it would be best to give people more for their money. We’ve seen that pricing model in the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Samsung Galaxy Note Edge so it wouldn’t be a shock to see it repeated here.

Of course, we could just be jumping way ahead of ourselves and this could all be a mistake. It’s also worth remembering that this could specifically be for the UK and we might not see the same structuring for other markets. We’ll do our darnedest to find out from Samsung themselves, though, and will update this post if we find out anything more.

[via SamMobile]

Official: Nexus 6 on T-Mobile will start receiving Android 5.1.1 with WiFi Calling this weekend

Yesterday, T-Mobile’s Des Smith hinted at the possibility of the Nexus 6 finally receiving its WiFi Calling update this weekend but today, he’s finally confirming it. The Nexus 6 will officially receive Android 5.1.1 — build number LYZ28E — on T-Mobile this weekend, and after a fairly long wait (and a few hiccups on the way), WiFi Calling is officially on board.

The update will be a gradual rollout, hitting a small number of T-Mobile customers in stages. If all goes well, expect a more broad rollout in the coming weeks. Keep in mind you’ll need to already be on Android 5.1 (build LMY47M) in order to update to 5.1.1 and if you’d like, you can grab the factory images from Google’s Nexus Factory Images site here.