android

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It’s unlikely that the Jawbone Jambox will be shoved off its throne anytime soon; not necessarily because it’s the best-sounding portable Bluetooth speaker out there, but because it was here first, and it made a huge splash (in part because, yes, it sounds pretty good).

But I were to bet on a challenger, I might put my money on the smart new UE Boom. Not only is it ruggedized against drops and splashes, but it’s armed with two very unusual tricks.

pandora-publish-to-facebook

Pandora has finally updated its mobile apps and website to let you connect with Facebook’s “Open Graph.” This means that you can now flip a toggle and share everything you listen to on Facebook. What you listen to is collected under the music section of your profile. Services like Spotify and Rdio have had this ability for awhile.

twitter

Along with an update for its Mac app, Twitter announced today that it is introducing a new security feature to protect accounts against hackings. Twitter’s new two-factor authentification feature should help reduce the number of hacked accounts that have plagued the service recently.

To set up the new two-factor authentification feature on your account, log in and go to your Account Settings page. From there you can choose to require a verification code when you sign in, and add a phone number to your account.

The whole process takes about a minute, but if you get lost, Twitter made this handy video to help you out:

Galaxy-S4-side

Apple began adding the Galaxy S4 to its ongoing patent-infringement case against Samsung last week, and it has now specified five patents which it believes the device is breaching. The Cupertino company has also taken aim at Google Now, which allegedly infringes its unified search patent.

Google-Wallet

Google announced the end of Google Checkout today, slated to go the way of Google Reader and the dinosaurs as of November 20, 2013.

Today, we’re letting web merchants know that in six months, Google Checkout will be retired as we transition to Google Wallet — a platform that enables merchants to meet the demands of a multi-screen world where consumers shop in-stores, at their desks and on their mobile devices.

It seems as this will mostly affect merchants who use Google’s Checkout system, as consumers will really only see a change in the name of the service. With Google Wallet API enhancements announced last week, like the Instant Buy API and the Wallet Objects API, the transition should be smooth for consumers who use Android to purchase goods and services.

It will mean something different to Google Checkout merchants and Android developers, however.

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