Chromecast sales reach 30 million, 5 million sold in just the last two months

There is little doubt that Google's little media streaming device was a good idea. Debuted back in 2013, the original Chromecast's simple design and dirt-cheap pricing instantly won over tons of Android users. It doesn't look like this popularity is going to slow down anytime soon, either.

During Alphabet's Q2 2016 earnings call last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that 30 million Chromecast units have been shipped since the launch of the original. Bear in mind that this total encompasses three Chromecast models, the 1st and 2nd gen Chromecast and Chromecast Audio. We're sure that the company is pretty satisfied with those results, to say the least.

See also: Chromecast 2015 and Chromecast Audio Review20

What's particularly interesting about the news is that 5 million of those sales (roughly 16%) happened in the past two months. There haven't been any new Chromecast models launched this year to spike up the sales, so something else is going on. We can speculate that the steady growth is related to new consumers who've realized what their TVs have been missing. Relative to competitive devices, like the Roku and Amazon Fire TV, the Chromecast has a strikingly attractive price tag. Not to mention the simplicity for Android users sticking with Google's ecosystem.

The bump in sales could also be attributed to promotions that Google is able to sprinkle everywhere you go. For instance, the company has offered to give away free Chromecasts for signing up for certain media services, like a three-month premium subscription to Spotify or its own YouTube Red service. At one point, there was $20 Play Store credit bundled with a Chromecast purchase, reducing the effective price to only $15. That's hard to beat.

There's no word on any new Chromecasts on the horizon just yet. But with this kind of success, we'd expect a bright future for the devices. Do you love your Chromecast? Is there a feature you'd like to see in the future, or has it been perfect the way it is?

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Google now sending you log-in notifications to keep your account secure

With security concerns on mobile devices and computers at an all-time high, Google is implementing a new notification system that will ping you whenever someone logs into your Google Account on a new device or in a web browser.

See also: Google Search results will fetch video highlights and more Olympic info

The idea is to give users a real-time sense of what's going on with their account. Previously, Google would attempt to detect suspicious logins and send users an email notifying them of the activity. However, this is naturally problematic because if a malicious users has access to a Google account, they could easily access Gmail and remove this notification. What's more is that research has discovered that users are four times more likely to pay attention to these notifications than the emails.

By pushing out notifications when each new login occurs, the search giant is cutting this middle vulnerability. Google is also reminding users that they can access their Recent Account Activity if they believe any suspicious logins have been occurring. This feature is rolling out at a gradual pace, so you can expect to start showing up on your Android device sometime within the next two weeks.

How will this update affect the way you use your account? Is this an unnecessary update that threatens to overwhelm some users with notifications or a necessary improvement on previously lackluster security? Let us know your take in the comments below!

Other Google App Updates: Google Docs and Sheets on Android now support add-ons

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Deal: Free Moto 360 Sport when you buy a 64GB Moto X Pure Edition

If you're looking for a new smartphone that won't break the bank, you might want to pay attention to this deal.

Right now, you can pick up an unlocked, 64GB Moto X Pure Edition from B&H Photo Video for $399.99 and get a free Moto 360 Sport smartwatch. That's a savings of about $200 overall, which is quite good considering what the Moto X Pure Edition brings to the table.

• Moto X Pure Edition review
• Moto 360 Sport review

As a refresher, Motorola's 2015 flagship sports a 5.7-inch Quad HD display, a Snapdragon 808 processor, a great 21MP rear camera and a pair of loud front-facing speakers. While you won't be able to customize the device through Moto Maker with this deal, you can choose from three different color options – Black, White or Bamboo.

To get this deal, just add the phone to your cart, then you'll be able to choose either the White or Flame color option for your smartwatch. We aren't entirely sure how long this promotion is going on, so you might want to buy sooner rather than later if you're interested.

Buy now from B&H

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John’s car is melting | Podcast 074

With Joshua Vergara away at a Samsung event, Jonathan Feist and Joe Hindy bring John Dye back onto the show – who ends up joining from a coffee shop due to weather issues in his area. A fairly chill conversation ensues, including words like 'reprobate' and attempts to pronounce John Legere. Topics on deck include the new ZTE Axon 7, a slick looking flagship calibre phone that has Bluetooth, Prisma, the app that makes your images look good, and talk about rumors of two Nexus phones coming soon from HTC. Sailfish and Marlin are the codenames for 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch phones with similar specs, save for display resolution, if nothing else.

Thank you for joining us. If you have not already, be sure to subscribe to the channel on your favorite podcast app, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Also check out our partner sites – SoundGuys cover the best mobile audio gear and TabTimes talks all things tablet. Finally, a huge welcome to VR Source, the home of all our virtual reality coverage, from gear to games, check out VR Source for all kinds of reality. Sign up for our various newsletters and enter for your chance to win one of our many giveaways.

Also be sure to check out our Android Apps Weekly app and game news coverage, put out by Joe Hindy every weekend.

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Recorded on July 28th, 2016 – Hosted and produced by Jonathan Feist on behalf of Joshua Vergara.

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Amazon’s Great India Sale to start on August 8, with privileged access for Prime members

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A week after launching its Prime subscription service in India, Amazon announced its "Great India Sale" event from August 8-10. It is this time of the year that the e-commerce giant will offer deals spread across various categories including smartphones, laptops, and PCs, in addition to promos for various non-tech products.

Amazon Prime subscribers will get 30 minutes of early access to the deals and will also be able to choose from a slew of delivery options including one-day, two-day and also morning deliveries. Amazon obviously hopes that these benefits will eventually nudge users to subscribe to Prime.

You can head over to the Amazon India website and register for a Prime subscription right now. Amazon India is currently offering the service free for 60 days on a trial basis. Once the trial period ends, users need to pay Rs. 499 for the first year and the subscription will be increased to Rs. 999 from second year onwards.

Amazon Prime has been a favourite with Amazon users worldwide. However, India is yet to embrace the idea of subscription-based privilege services. In fact, it was Flipkart that started offering the Flipkart First subscription here, a service that eventually failed to take off.

It's not the first time Amazon is holding promotional events in India. Last year, the retailer heavily discounted its Kindle line, Xbox consoles, and selected smartphones as part of the "Great Indian Freedom Sale" event.

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Google Search results will fetch video highlights and more Olympic info

Google has long infused its hugely influential search results with information about current sports events, but in the case of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games the Mountain View company has decided to take the game to the next level.

For those who won't be able to watch the 2016 Olympic Games live, Google has partnered with broadcasters from more than 60 countries to provide official event highlights in video format. These highlights will also be displayed in YouTube watch cards.

Google Search results will also be fine-tuned to display Olympic updates. Searches for Olympic news will fetch information about athlete bios, medal tallies, leader boards, and the upcoming schedule.

The integration will also put at your fingertips TV schedules and results for more than 30 countries. You will also have the option to set automatic alerts about the top events, medal wins, and Olympic-related search trends from around the world.

On a related note, Google is keen to remind you about the possibility to explore the streets of Rio de Janeiro and other venues in Google Maps.

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Huawei unveils honor Note 8 and honor 5 in China

Huawei has taken the wraps off of the latest additions to their honor series at an event held in Beijing earlier today, with two new smartphones being introduced, the honor Note 8, which boasts of a mammoth 6.6-inch screen, and the entry-level honor 5. Let's take a look!

Huawei's honor line up of devices has created quite a buzz in the market due to their top end specifications and extremely down-to-earth prices. The other two high-end smartphones, the honor V8 and honor 8, launched earlier this year, and came with dual rear cameras and some cutting edge hardware. The honor Note 8, which was earlier rumored to be called as honor V8 Max, also packs quite a punch.

The new phablet runs on the HiSilicon Kirin 955 SoC, paired with 4GB of RAM and a Mali-T880 MP4 GPU for a power packed performance. Other features include 4GB of RAM, 32/64/128GB internal storage, 13MP/8MP rear/front cameras and a fingerprint sensor. Of course, it's standout feature is the huge 6.6-inch display, which comes with a Quad HD resolution.

Huawei has made sure that its large display doesn't kill the phablet in a matter of hours by including a 4,500mAh battery, which should easily allow for a full day of use. The honor Note 8 runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box with the latest EMUI 4.1 slapped on top.

Coming now to the honor 5, the smartphone comes with a 5-inch 720p display, and is powered by MediaTek's MT6735P 64-bit quad-core processor, along with 2GB of RAM and a Mali-T720 GPU. It offers 16GB of internal memory, 8MP/2MP rear/front cameras, a 2,200mAh battery, and runs Android 5.1 Lollipop.

Moving on to the pricing of the honor Note 8, the 32GB model will sell for $345 (~CNY 2299), the 64GB version for $375 (~CNY 2499), and the 128GB variant for $420 (~CNY 2799). Meanwhile, the entry-level honor 5 smartphone is priced at just $90 (~CNY 599). Huawei has started accepting pre-bookings in China on vMall and JD.com with sales set to begin from August 9, though there's no word yet about their availability in the international markets.

Let us know in the comments below if you plan to go for the Honor Note 8 or the Honor 5 when it arrives in your market!

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