Google Fiber continues to march forward, launching in four new cities

Google has been attempting to disrupt the U.S. internet provider market for a few years now. They've successfully rolled out their new Google Fiber internet services to a few major centers have a bunch of others on stand-by and have just announced they'll be launching in four new cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham.

Google Fiber is a fiber optic based internet service, capable of bringing speeds of up to 1Gbps up and down for about $75 / month. In contrast, one of my coworkers at Android Authority just received an advertisement in the mail from AT&T, offering up their 'High Speed' internet services with speeds up to 3Mbps. For serious AT&T?!?! 3Mbps?

How to use Android Device Manager to find a missing device

With the sometimes astronomical prices of today's Android devices, it is important to have security in place - a plan to find and secure your device should it go missing. There are many great tools out there for this, including Cerberus, Lookout and more. Today, we want to look at the Google developed option, Android Device Manager.

As is usually the case around here, I've put the entire tutorial over on my Android customization series on Android Authority. Be sure to check it out for the full step by step to enabling Android Device Manager.

While you're here, let's discuss how you might use the tools of Android Device Manager.

Dynamic and custom colors on a Zooper Widget Battery indicator

This past week on my Android customization series over at Android Authority, I took a quick look at a way to dynamically change the color of a battery element in a Zooper Widget.

The idea is simple, if your battery level is below a certain threshold, the icon or text turns red, if you have your device plugged in, it is all green and the rest of the time your icon and text is simply white.

Zooper Widget is great for this sort of advanced operation, and we didn't even need to tie into Tasker to get the job done. The only downside is that Zooper Widget's Advanced Parameters can be a little much to swallow the first time you dive in. That is why I not only go through the steps and the thought process, but simply give you the string that will make it all work for you.

It is still early days for Android Wear, here are a few difficulties you may face

I have been researching Android Wear devices. As a tech enthusiast, I can't wait to get my hands on one of the latest smartwatches like the Moto 360, LG G Watch R or the ASUS Zenwatch. On the other hand, I haven't worn a watch in years, and I am worried that that trend will continue. Nonetheless, if, like me, you want to know all there is to know about the devices and systems, read on.

While I am not crazy enough to stuff all there is to know about Android Wear into a single article, I would like to take a quick look at some of the difficulties that Android Wear powered smartwatch owners are facing with their devices right now. Just a few minor things to be aware of for when you bite the bullet and dive into the wearable technology.

Android design guidelines - a quick overview of Android L and Material Design

As we move ever closer to the official release of Android L, more and more developers are updating their apps with Material Design. Material Design is the name given to Google's latest design principles, which you will see in full force not only in Android L, but across most platforms, at least for Google's apps and services.

We've talked about this before, especially when Google opened their Google I/O app and code for all to use as a development reference.