Advanced system of high-altitude balloons delivering 3G-like speeds to rural areas

The latest project to come out of Google may seem like an April Fool’s joke at first, but Google is serious when it says it intends to launch an internet delivery service based on high-altitude balloons. Known now as “Project Loon” and coming out of the research arm of the company, Googlex, the initiative is taking off (so to speak) out of the need for better internet access in many parts of the world. As it explains in its official blog post about the project, 2 out of every 3 people in the world still don’t have reliable access to the internet, leaving many large swaths of the world in the past.

When (not if) you lose everything on your phone or tablet, you’ll be thankful you backed up the important things

We just got another heart-breaking email from a reader who has lost all their pictures and video because the SD card in their Android device went belly-up. We get at least a few of these every week, and it’s horrible having to tell folks that there is a very good chance they’ll need to use complicated forensic data retrieval tools to have any hope of getting those memories back if they can even get the media to be recognized in a computer again. Not having a good answer is the worst part of our jobs.

Know everything you would ever want to know about your device hardware with CPU-Z

The folks at CPUID have been around for a while. Folks using Windows computers have been using their software to get information for overclocking their computers, optimizing performance, and getting hardware information to install Linux since 2009. Yesterday, they brought a beta version of their wildly popular CPU-Z tool to Android.

Another diverse set of picks to give a try this week – see if some are right for you

It’s hard to believe we’re already half way through June, but that means we have another edition of our weekly app picks for your enjoyment. Every week the Android Central writers take a few moments to show off an app that they’re using on their own device regularly, and we group them up to show off each Saturday. They aren’t always the newest or flashiest apps out there, but they always serve a purpose for us that other apps just haven’t.

Bluetooth SIG listing shows new 7-inch Nexus tablet alongside spec details

After dropping by the FCC a couple of days ago, the ASUS K009 – a new “Nexus”-branded tablet, according to FCC documents — has appeared in a tiny photo at the Bluetooth SIG. It’s rectangular and tablet-shaped, with a front-facing camera… and that’s about all you can tell. Squint really hard and you might be able to make out the outline of the screen, which seems to indicate slightly less bezel than on the existing Nexus 7.

Popular RSS reader Press rolled out an update on the Play Store today that added two new options for managing RSS feeds as well as new interface changes. Getting out in front of the planned Google Reader shutdown on July 1st, the latest update now supports both Feedbin and Feed Wrangler alongside the original Google Reader login option. Both of these options are paid ($2 per month for Feedbin, $19 per year for Feed Wrangler), but are a couple of the only viable options available as a Google Reader replacement at this point. Other leading options are Feedly, which Press indicates should be integrated before July 1st, and Fever, which is marked as “coming soon” to the app.

We’re a week removed from the Talk Mobile 2013 launch party in New York City. For those who were able to make it — well, you know it was a bit of a rager, as the kids like to say. (And if they’re not saying that, give it time. It’ll catch on.) Just us and 600 of our closest smartphone nerd friends, men and women from all walks of life, coming together to hang out, have a couple beverages and swap a few smartphone stories.

Competitors take issue with Google’s licensing terms for Android

Google and Android are once again the target of an antitrust investigation by the European Commission, this time because of allegations that Google used anticompetitive tactics to expand its mobile market share. While it is only an informal probe at this point, the EC is investigating claims from Google’s competitors — such as Microsoft and Nokia — that it licenses Android to manufacturers below cost, giving it an unfair advantage. The allegations continue, stating that Google also makes demands of its licensees that they give specific placement to Google’s other apps, such as Youtube, and not allow them to use other services, which again gives it unfair advantage.

Samsung’s Android-based, professional-class camera gets leaked ahead of June 20 event

Just hours after Samsung co-CEO JK Shin confirmed that the company will release an Android-powered mirrorless camera, we’re already seeing the first leaked promotional shots of the device. Vietnamese tech site Tinh te has published three images of a device bearing the name Galaxy NX — a product that fuses Samsung’s smart device and camera brands.

Notification sync comes to Google+

An updated notification interface is now rolling out to Google+ on the web and through the official Android app. First up, notification sync is coming to Google’s social network, and reading or dismissing a notification on one device or platform will register the change across all platforms. (Google recently announced something similar for Cloud Messaging in Android at Google I/O.)