Android

News Corp.'s the Daily will expire on Dec. 15, the company announced Monday. The tablet -only periodical was the first of its kind, a newspaper that was published for the iPad alone initially. After its first year, it branched out, expanding to the Kindle Fire and other Android devices. Rupert Murdoch launched the Daily with much fanfare in February 2011. Its executive editor, Jesse Angelo, will become publisher of the New York Post, another News Corp. property. News Corp.

SAN FRANCISCO - Google's deal to sell its Motorola Mobility unit to Lenovo for $2.9 billion delivered a double-barreled shocker to the tech industry as the sale promised to scramble the playing field for mobile devices. The transaction marks an abrupt U-turn for Google, which bought the troubled smartphone maker less than two years ago for $12.5 billion. Beijing-based Lenovo, by moving deeper into mobile markets, demonstrated that it has ambitions far beyond becoming the world's largest PC maker.

Instapaper, yet another app that's been missing from Android, makes its debut, again minus some features available for iPhones and iPads. Like Instagram, Instapaper doesn't have all the bells and whistles the iOS app does. "We're working hard to add additional features to Instapaper for Android," according to a company blog post . "We believe that we've captured the core Instapaper experience but can't wait to make the app even better. " The Android app, which allows you to save Web pages for offline reading later, does include adjustable fonts, Dark Mode for reading in low light, folders, rotation lock and native Android sharing.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Los Angeles entrepreneur Jason Calacanis is back with a new mobile news app that summarizes articles in 300 characters - - or about 40 words - - or less. His bet: With more people hoovering up news while on the go, they need a news app built for their smartphones . It may not be a groundbreaking notion, but its aim is true. Inside searches out the original article rather than rewarding someone who rehashed someone else's scoop and then slapped a clever, link-baiting headline on it (not to mention feel-good fluff and the now ubiquitous listicle )

Facebook is trying to make mobile messaging more conversational with some changes it's been rolling out this past month, but one of those could lead to some awkward moments between you and your friends. Among the new Facebook messaging features that are on its iOS and Android apps are a new, more visible real-time typing indicator and a feature that shows you where your friends are messaging you from, a spokeswoman for the company said. The features, she added, are especially meant to improve group messages.

Google Maps is making it easier to use the app to bypass traffic jams on the fly and to find highly rated places. An update Wednesday for the Android version of Google Maps app adds a new discovery feature and the ability to reroute navigation directions whenever the app finds a quicker route. Google said users can now tap the app's search box to see a feature called "Explore," which they can then tap to expand. The feature will then show recommended places to shop, eat and visit.

Facebook has officially announced Facebook Home to make Android-powered smartphones more Facebook-centric. It's a free interface Android users can download as of April 12. "With Home you see your world through people, not apps," Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday at the Facebook Home launch. LIVE DISCUSSION: Join us as we talk about Facebook Home at 2 p.m. With Facebook Home, users see the latest content shared by their friends on the lock screen of their phones.

The latest update to the Facebook iOS and Android apps will now let you tag your friends in status posts and comments. The feature, which has long been available on the Facebook website, can be activated by typing "@" followed by the name of the friend you want to tag in your comment or status update. You can use this feature on the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or any Android device running the latest version of the Facebook app. Quiz: The week in business Facebook has also added a "Share" button next to the "Like" and "Comment" buttons.

Vine, the popular Twitter-owned mobile video social network, is now available for Android users. Twitter released a Vine app for Android devices Monday morning, about four months after launching exclusively for Apple devices. Since launching, Vine has been a hit for Twitter, gaining more than 13 million users. Some have called it the Instagram of video. The social network consists of looping six-second videos. Users can easily create Vine videos by touching their phone's device to record.

Google is changing the way it approaches the production of new Android smartphones, seeking to end fragmentation among phones running the many different versions of its OS. For its upcoming line of Nexus smartphones and tablets, Google will give early access to up to five manufacturers in order to bring some form of unity to the devices running the Android operating system. Previously, Google would work with a single manufacturer at a time, helping it produce a lead device.

Tech entrepreneurs are known to skew young, but at 14 years old, Daniel Singer's ahead of the game. The high school freshman at Harvard-Westlake has created YouTell, a website that enables users to solicit anonymous opinions from friends, and Backchat, an anonymous mobile messaging app. Daniel, who says he was defragmenting his computer's hard drive when he was 4, has been focusing his attention on Backchat, which he created with his father, Uri...

There is no question that smartphone and tablet apps can improve your travel experience - whether it's for business or pleasure - by helping to inspire, plan, organize and save time and money. The travel apps below are either new, recently launched or have made significant improvements in the last year. AFAR Media : AFAR Media (you might have heard of its AFAR travel magazine) has released a stunning travel app by the same name. Find guides, highlights and individual travel hot spots in more than 7,000 cities and towns in 239 countries that will appeal to culture seekers, foodies and wanderers alike.

Privacy-minded users may want to keep an eye on Blackphone, a device that promises to deliver privacy like no smartphone before it. Blackphone is a device that claims it will be able to keep users' phone calls, text messages, video chats and Web browsing private using a modified version of Android called PrivatOS. "There has never been a time in the world where privacy has become such a commodity, and none of the other devices in the world have been built around giving privacy back to the user," said Mike Janke, Silent Circle chief executive, in a video introducing Blackphone.

Every quarter Google has a larger mobile market share than Apple, but when it comes to shopping online, iOS users outspent Android users with sales five times higher on Christmas Day. Apple iOS users accounted for 23% of total U.S. online sales, according to analytics data from IBM . Meanwhile, Google Android accounted for 4.6%. Apple's mobile users not only accounted for more sales, but they also spent more than their Android counterparts every time they made a purchase.

If you're one of the many lucky Americans to receive a new smartphone this holiday season, congratulations! But watch out for thieves -- and policymakers with bad ideas on how to stop them. In particular, two elected officials in the Bay Area are proposing to make mobile devices less attractive to thieves by making them more attractive to malicious hackers. OK, that's not their intent (I hope). It's just one potential result if a proposal by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and San Francisco Dist.

There's a good chance you woke up with a new smartphone or tablet this Christmas morning, but as Microsoft can tell you, no one wants to use a device with no apps. If you've got a new gadget, you need to load it up with the best apps, that way the device can actually improve your life and not just bust your loved ones' wallets. Last year, 328 million apps were downloaded on Christmas , and this year, the number is expected to be even higher. So what apps should you download? Every user has different needs so no one has the same apps, but the apps below are must-have for most users.

The Instagram app for Android is my new drug. It makes me frame everything as a potential snapshot to share. Beet sprouts in my garden. Dust bunnies in the hallway. Newspapers obscuring my view. A dead cockroach at work. Click, click, click. And the filters make it all look like "art. " Or at least photos that came from my childhood. Apparently, I wasn't the only one jonesing to get the app. Instagram for Android was downloaded a million times in less than 24 hours, CNET reports . Although I've had Instagram on my iPhone since the app was released, strangely enough, I can't remember ever using it. And I'm a snapping fool on my iPhone.

Following Samsung's lead, HTC will begin selling next month a version of its flagship smartphone, the HTC One, with Google's "stock Android" operating system.  The phone will be sold starting June 26 for $599 in a version that will work with AT&T and T-Mobile networks. The stock phone caters to users who want the default version of Android and not the versions that have been modified by phone manufacturers. PHOTOS: Top smartphones of 2013 The stock versions were reserved for Google's own line of Nexus smartphones and tablets, but earlier this month, Google announced that it would begin selling the Samsung Galaxy S 4 running stock Android.

Attention procrastinators and the mall-averse, we have good news: You can still find deals for those last-minute gifts, all from the comfort of your smartphone. Here are five handy mobile apps to help you avoid being called a scrooge. 1. Ebay Ebay has been around for years, but it can easily be overlooked. The website rose to prominence as an online auctioning service, but these days, it has become one of the best all-around shopping apps. Whenever users are shopping for a product, they should make sure to search for it first using the Ebay app. There's always a chance the item may be available on Ebay for less than it is at traditional retailers.

Shazam has updated its iPhone app to tag songs, TV shows and more all on its own, no longer requiring  users to open the app and tap a button whenever they want to tag something. The feature, called Auto Shazam, comes turned off by default, but users can turn it on by switching a toggle once they've downloaded the latest update for the app. Once turned on, Auto Shazam will remain on in the phone background and listen for audio that it can tag while users go about their day doing other things.