Announced this week in a blog post, Google is automatically upgrading past TV or movie purchases to Ultra HD quality (when the 4K option is available). This includes all SD & HD purchases made on Google Play.

To find these upgraded titles, open the Google Play Movies & TV app to search for content that has been upgraded. Those titles will include a 4K quality badge.

To stream in 4K, you will need a minimum of 15 megabits per second Internet download speed and compatible hardware like a Chromecast Ultra or a 4K television with the Google Play app built into the interface.

In addition to the free upgrades, Google has also announced they will no longer be charging a premium for 4K titles. 1080p titles will be sold at an identical price.

Google Play frequently runs sales on full price titles as well as offers discounts on rentals or content for free during promotional periods. You can find all the deals on Google Play on our feed here: LINK

Freebie Alert: Google upgrades your movie purchases to 4K

If you’ve always wanted to date your favorite celebrity, well, I hate to break it to you, but your chances are low. Not Powerball lottery low, but close. So don’t waste your money on “how to date a celebrity” self-help books. Instead date someone who looks like your favorite celebrity with the new FaceDate app.

Students at the New Jersey Institute of Technology have developed the FaceDate app, which takes superficial dating choices to an all new level.

During the account setup process, after uploading your photo and your personal information, you’ll upload photos of people you find attractive. You’re not limited to uploading photos of your favorite celebrities, but if you’re going to let a computer find you a date based entirely on looks, why not swing for the fences?

The algorithm behind the app then will search for people in its database that have facial features that are similar to the photos you uploaded. If the app’s algorithm finds a match between the preferences for facial features of two people in the database, it alerts them. Bingo! You may be chatting with and then dating a ringer for your favorite celebrity as quickly as that … and you don’t even need to swipe right.

The app will only search for matching preferences between people who are in a similar physical location. (You can read the white paper on FaceDate at the NJIT web site.)

Is this idea superficial? Sure. Is it kind of a cool use of facial recognition technology? Yeah. Is it appropriate in a world where the Tinder app is a thing? Absolutely.

FaceDate should be released on Google Play soon as part of an extensive testing phase. The students plan to eventually develop an iOS version too.

How to Date a Celebrity (Sort of) With the FaceDate App

If you haven’t heard, the insanely popular (and difficult) iPhone and Android mobile game Flappy Bird has been removed from both the App Store and Google Play store as of yesterday. The developer of the game, Nguyen Ha Dong, told his 138K Twitter followers that he couldn’t handle the success of the game and hated that it ruined his simple lifestyle. According to many reports on Dong’s success, he was making as much as $50,000 a day in advertising revenue.

However, there were a number of contributing factors that led to the downfall of that little pixelated bird. For instance:

• Flappy Bird’s sudden burst in downloads during November 2013 (along with other titles developed by Dong’s .GEARS Studios) was suspicious and possibly the work of bots. This is a tactic used be some unscrupulous developers that attempt to game the system. For instance, if their app starts appearing in the Top 50 download charts, that only leads to more downloads. Prior to November, Flappy Bird was a fairly unsuccessful title. You can read a full account of this hypothesis here.
• Media picked up on the blog post above and spent the last week hounding Dong on Twitter for answers. He attempted to ignore the attention, but this only increased pressure from the press. When he did respond, his tweets displayed annoyance and frustration.
• According to Dong’s friends, he had received a warning letter from Nintendo recently due to the extreme similarities of Flappy Bird and Super Mario Brothers when it came to the design of the green pipes in the game. While representatives for the Big N claim they aren’t drawing up a lawsuit at this time, it’s likely that the letter encouraged Dong to remove the game from the App Store and Google Play store. Dong had also previously received letters from other developers claiming that their ideas were stolen, but likely no one as big as Nintendo.

We suppose Dong will spend his nights crying about the demise of Flappy Bird and wipe away his tears with $100 bills. However, you don’t have to stop playing. While we certainly don’t recommend purchasing an iPhone 5S with Flappy Bird installed for $2,000 on eBay, there are a few other alternatives looking to take the place of the Flapster. They include:

• Flappy Doge: Quite possibly the greatest amalgamation on the Internet, Flappy Bird has been combined with the wonderful Doge meme. You can play this flash game for free on your desktop computer here.
• Ironpants: (iOS / Android) Basically the same exact concept as Flappy Bird, just swap out the bird for a superhero named Ironpants. It’s free, but laden with advertisements.
• Flappy Bee: (iOS / Android) Again, offering a similar concept to FB, but using a bee instead of a bird. Obstacles are more plentiful in this game. Also free.
• Impossible Road: (iOS) Rated highly by iOS players, Impossible Road will remind you of marble madness. Not really a direct competitor to Flappy Bird, but just as difficult.

The demise of Flappy Bird…Here’s how you can keep playing!