Nvidia Shield embraces Android games by the thousands

Nvidia has opened its Shield gaming device up to the universe of Android games, adding console support to thousands of games originally designed for touch screens.
The Santa Clara, Calif., graphics chipmaker said the Shield "Gamepad Mapper" allows users to create their own custom controls for thousands of games in the Google Play store, or users can use Nvidia's default profiles -- automatically downloaded from the cloud -- that are available for hundreds of top touch-based Android games. The new titles with Shield controller compatibility include NBA Jam and Angry Birds.
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Motorola unveils Project Ara for custom smartphones

Motorola has announced a new initiative to help smartphone users take handset customization beyond ringtones, wallpaper, and body colors to its very form and function.
The Google-owned handset company on Monday announced Project Ara, a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. An endoskeleton, or structural frame, holds the smartphone modules of the owner's choice, such as a display, keyboard, or extra battery. The approach should allow users to swap out malfunctioning modules or upgrade as innovations emerge, providing a handset that stays up-to-date much longer than today's smartphones.
"Our goal is to drive a more thoughtful, expressive, and open relationship between users, developers, and their phones," Motorola wrote in a company blog post. "To give you the power to decide what your phone does, how it looks, where and what it's made of, how much it costs, and how long you'll keep it."
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Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX Android tablets hit the UK from £199

Amazon launched its UK assault on the highly competitive Christmas tablet market today releasing pricing and pre-order for its two latest tablets.
The Kindle Fire HDX Android tablets will cost between £199 and £489, depending on size and storage. Pre-order is available on Amazon's site and the tablets will start shipping from 27 November.
The ad-supported 7-inch version costs £199 for 16GB of storage with wifi only, increasing to £339 for the 64GB variant with 4G and without ads in the US.
The larger 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX with the same 16GB of storage and adverts costs £329 with wifi, and reaches £489 for 64GB of storage and 4G without ads.

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20 best Android apps this week

Plants vs. Zombies 2 is swinging onto Android devices

It's time for our weekly roundup of brand new and notable apps for Android smartphones and tablets.
It covers apps and games, with the prices referring to the initial download: so (Free) may mean (Freemium) in some cases. The equivalent iOS roundup will be published later in the day.
For now, read on for this week's Android selection (and when you've finished, check out previous Best Android apps posts).
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Next Android mobile software version dubbed ‘KitKat’

Google on Tuesday said the next version of Android will be called “KitKat” in keeping with its penchant for giving tasty names to its software for powering mobile devices.
“Since these devices make our lives so sweet, each Android version is named after a dessert,” the California-based technology titan said in a blog post.chocolate
“As everyone finds it difficult to stay away from chocolate we decided to name the next vertion of Android after one of our favorite chocolate treats.”
The list of Android software names over the years includes Cupcake, Donut, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean.

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Android, the world's most popular mobile platform

Android powers hundreds of millions of mobile devices in more than 190 countries around the world. It's the largest installed base of any mobile platform and growing fast—every day another million users power up their Android devices for the first time and start looking for apps, games, and other digital content.

Android gives you a world-class platform for c apps and games for Android users everywhere, as well as an open marketplace for distributing to them instantly.
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Don’t Despair Over The Ugly iPhone 5c Case Any Longer

The color enticed you. The playful plastic called out to you. And that cover, with silly little circular cutouts had your name all over it.
Thirty dollars later, you’re feeling a little silly after realizing that this case is Apple’s first big design flaw since the Apple TV remote. But don’t be embarrassed, we all make mistakes.
Luckily, a new app called CaseCollage is here to save the day for those of us who thoughtlessly purchased Apple’s case alongside a new iPhone 5c.
The app, launched out of a company called LunarLincoln, lets you pull in images from your social feeds like Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Picasa to fill in the holes with something a bit less ugly and a bit more personal.
You can arrange the photos however you’d like, or add in preset images or text from a collection provided within the app. Hell, if you love the color scheme but hate that pesky text peeking out of the holes, you can simply choose to get color(s) to fill in your Crocs case holes.
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