Google's team in Japan connected 300 smartphones and tablets with different animated characters "singing" through the devices' speakers for your listening pleasure.

The characters on the smartphones and tablets screens come from Androidify, which is the company's app for creating a customized, animated Android mascot.

In order to see the performance, you'll need to visit Tokyo between Thursday and Sunday. Otherwise, you can simply watch the video above.

The digital choir is meant to celebrate Android being "together not the same," according to a blog post.

Watch video below:

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Google on Monday announced a new addition to its alphabet. No, not that one. The company has given its next version of Android its official moniker: Marshmallow.

The company gives its new versions of Android alphabetically advancing, sugar-inspired names such as Jelly Bean, KitKat and Lollipop. As per usual, Google accompanied their official naming by revealing a sweet statue on the lawn at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Here's a snap of the latest statue from the Twitter account of Dave Burke, the vice president of Engineering for Android:

Google offered some details about the upcoming system at its June developers conference, saying that its main objective is to polish Android and give it a more coherent feel across devices, and while moving between apps and the Web. Google has also said that Android Marshmallow will have improved voice control software.

A version of the system is available now to developers. Google is expected to roll out the new system to consumers in the fall; the timing of Android updates vary by hardware manufacturer.

"Marshmallow" pops up on lists of frequently misspelled words (people think there's an "e" in there), so Google should get used to seeing its system's name get a little mangled.

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Run a search for your Android phone via Google, and its search engine will pinpoint the phone's location on a map. And the feature even works with a lost tablet.

We've all lost our mobile phone at one point or another -- sometimes in our homes, sometimes in the car and sometimes out in the wild unknown. Now instead of searching everywhere to track it down, you can rely on Google for help.


A new feature unveiled on Wednesday lets you search for your Android phone or tablet using Google's search engine on your PC, as long as you meet the right criteria.

Here's how it works:

First, you have to make sure you're logged in to the same Google account on your PC's browser that you use on your phone. You must also be sure to have the latest version of the Google app installed on your phone.

Now type the phrase "find my phone" into Google's search engine on your PC. In response, Google displays a map that attempts to zero in on the location of your device. Give it at least several seconds, and you should eventually see a location on the map that's accurate to a certain distance. For example, the map told me that the location of my device was accurate to 46 feet.

OK, that's fine. But what if your phone is lost somewhere in your home? Sorry, but Google won't tell you what room it's in. But it can ring your device so you can try to track it down yourself.

To pinpoint your device, click the icon or link for Ring on the map. Your device will ring at full volume for up to five minutes. Once you find it, simply click the power button to turn off the ringing.
But what if you own an Android tablet instead of a phone? You can still use the find feature. Google zeroed in on the slate's location.

The Google search feature isn't the only way to track down a lost Android device. A similar feature, called Android Device Manager, can locate and ring your device. If you think your device has been stolen, you can also remotely lock it and reset the password or erase its data.

Apple offers a similar tracking feature, called Find My iPhone. Using your iCloud account's find option or the Find My iPhone app, you can track down your iPhone or iPad, ring it to locate its exact location, lock it or erase its data.

So whether you own an Android phone or tablet, or an iPhone or iPad, you do have options for tracking it down the next time it goes into hiding.

[Source]

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