WhatsApp: We’re Not Selling to Google

Popular messaging app WhatsApp says it is not in discussions to sell the company to Google.
Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp’s business development head, said the company is not holding sales talks with Google.

Earlier this week, reports from most sources stated that the company was contemplating a $1 billion sale to the search giant Google.

WhatsApp has been the subject of similar rumors before, but with Facebook as the rumored buyer in December. At the time, the company said the reports were “not factually accurate.”

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Google Play Store Updated to Version 4.0.25

Google Play Store app for Android has just been updated and features a brighter, card-based interface from which users can more easily source new content. For a long time, the Play Store has presented Droidsters with a decidedly dark look, but the lighter aesthetic really helps accentuate the card-based theme, and the official rollout is now underway.

Google has placed a great deal of emphasis on improving the design of its products across the board, and the revamped Play Store app certainly falls in line. In fact, the card-based look borrows heavily from the rather pretty Google Now, and although there’s no mention of improved performance therein, the new look will certainly make the process of finding new and exciting apps just that little bit more pleasurable.

Google Play’s update is unfortunately not one that you can download, so if you’re eager to try out the new look, you will be required to play the waiting game for the time being. But thanks to the good folks over at XDA, you can grab the APK right now and install it on your device, provided that you have Unknown sources checked under the Security menu in Settings. However, if you want the Play Store update to tickle to on to your device on its own, then be ready to play the waiting game.

As well as showcasing Google’s desires to up the ante in the field of design, the revised look of the Play Store app is being marketed as a win for those in favor of simple, uncluttered user interfaces. As big fans of minimalism here at Redmond Pie, we’d say the Big G has done a pretty good job, and we cannot wait until our own fleet of Android devices has been treated to this new look.

You can update Google play store app on your Android device or visit the link below to download.
Download Google Play Store

Source: XDA developers
Via: RedmondPie

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Google Reported to Acquire WhatsApp For $1 Billion

WhatsApp Messenger, the cross-platform instant messaging app serving iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Phone, is a life-saver to those looking for a hassle-free mode of communication, and according to a new report, the search giant is very interested in buying it.

According to the report from Gizmodo, WhatsApp founded by former Yahoo pioneers Brian Acton and Jan Koum, is said to be holding out for the $1 billion.

The news, if true, would be pretty significant, but also rather surprising. Google’s mobile messaging department could certainly do with bolstering, and drafting in WhatsApp would certainly be an easy way for the Mountain View-based company to achieve this. However, it has long since been reckoned that Google’s ‘Babel’ chat will be an all-encompassing communications service, and with GTalk already being a popular, strong feature of the GApps (at least, on Android), the immediate benefit would seem to be in the user base WhatsApp has amassed in its four years of existence.

Google has, on numerous occasions, acknowledged that the quality of its messaging services have fallen below par, and buying WhatsApp would be a big statement of intent. It would also, as many perceived as motive to Facebook’s Instagram purchase, eliminate one of the main competitors in this field, helping Google quickly place itself among the likes of Facebook Messenger and Apple iMessage.

Unless Google Babel is, contrary to reports, not culminating into the great service Google needs to make its presence known in the IM market, then this could also go a way to explaining why the company is rumored to be considering WhatsApp. After all, the service, which was founded only in 2009, handles tens of billions of messages a day, and if it were to provide the engine for the upcoming Babel service, Google would have one hell of a beast to unleash.

Via: RedmondPie

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Nokia Releases Nokia Music for Windows 8 and RT!

Nokia has just released their music streaming service app Nokia Music for Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. The app features hundreds of hand-crafted playlists across every genre, offline mixes, and if you got a Nokia Music+ subscription, you can enjoy higher quality audio, unlimited track skips, unlimited offline mixes and lyrics.

Nokia Music is a complete playback and discovery experience for your computer. Play one of our hand-crafted Mixes from genres you’ll love. Play and queue your own music, discovery rich artist information.

If you already have a Nokia Music+ subscription on your Nokia phone, just sign in to get all the great features from your phone directly on your computer.

If you have never had the pleasure of using a Nokia phone, you are still invited to the party! Try completely free trial and have a listen. It gives you recommendations of mixes you could listen to based on your own music.

Nokia Music also creates a Mix for you, featuring songs from those artists expertly weaved with suggestions from our 20 million track catalog.

It also allows you to find new artists and get under their skin with bio’s, image galleries, what they’re tweeting and where they’re gigging.

Nokia Music is available on the Windows Store
Download Nokia Music Now and Experience Great Musics on the go.

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Ubuntu 13.04 Beta Released

The final beta of Ubuntu 13.04 has been made available for download.

Also shipping alongside it are betas for all of the official Ubuntu spins, including the newly anointed Ubuntu GNOME and Ubuntu Kylin projects.

Key features new to Ubuntu 13.04, and available in this beta, include:

New shutdown and session exit dialogs
A new sync menu for Ubuntu One
Faster, more performant Unity
New interface animations, including window snap
Scroll-switching of open windows from Unity Launcher
For details of precisely what has changed between Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 you can view our development coverage by using the Raring Ringtail tag.

Getting Ubuntu 13.04 Beta

If you’re running daily builds of Ubuntu 13.04 you don’t need to do anything special to get the beta – as long as you’re up-to-date, you’re using it.

Ubuntu 13.04 is scheduled for release on April 25th. It will come with a reduced support cycle of only 9 months. Support for it will end in January 2014

A release candidate of Ubuntu 13.04 is due for release on April 18th.

Download Ubuntu 13.04 Beta 2

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