Have a happy Hangouts New Year

If you type "lmao" you get an animated laughing Google Hangouts emoji blob, and now to celebrate the new year, the words "Happy New Year" gets you a celebrating fox, duck, and fireworks. Google believes in the small touches that sometimes make the biggest difference. Have a Happy New Year folks, be safe, and don't spam your Hangouts contacts with "Happy New Year" just so you can get a little animated fox in a top hat and a duck with a bugle.

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IRL: Why I got my mom a Nexus 9 for Christmas

My dad called me up a few weeks ago saying he wanted to get mom a tablet for Christmas, one that might be good enough to replace the laptop she hated. It wasn't the hardware causing angst; it was the software: Windows 8. She's pretty comfortable with...



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Android Central's top videos from 2014!

It's that time of year in which we look back on the months that proceeded this, the last month of the year and the keeper of many a filler post, intended to inform, entertain and give us just a moment's pause between the maelstrom that was and the tempest that is about to be in 2015.

In other words, it's that weird week between Christmas and the new year.

So let's take a quick look back at our five most-viewed videos of 2014, as seen by you fine folks on YouTube. (And as a reminder: Now would be an excellent time to subscribe to our YouTube channel!)

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Lizard Squad's takedown-for-hire service quickly disappears

One of the oldest sales tactics in the book is using a freebie to get you hooked before slapping you with the bill for the second. That's why the audacious holiday season takedowns of both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live were, apparently, a mar...



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Android Central 2014 Readers' Choice Awards

Another year has come and gone. And that means it's time for the annual popularity contest.

We asked you fine folks to give us your picks for the best smartphone. The best tablet. The best smartwatch — a new category for us this year!

And these are the winners. Your winners.

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Weekly Photo Contest: Darkness

We hope you're all coming back from a great holiday week ready to take some photos and win more prizes. We're going from bright sparkles in the last contest to "darkness" for this one, and even though it's on the opposite end of the spectrum we're sure you can take just as many great shots. With all of the craziness surrounding CES next week, and the lack of a contest last week, it made sense to extend this week's contest a full two weeks. You still have just one entry allowed, though, so make it count!

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HTC apparently has 'some huge surprises' coming in 2015

According to HTC's Jeff Gordon (he's their Senior Global Online Communications Manager), 2015 is going to be a big year for HTC. Of course, as their head online PR guy he's not going to say that 2015 will be a ho-hum year for the Taiwanese manufacturer of some of our favorite smartphones and the latest Nexus tablet, but we can't help but be interested in what HTC is planning on bringing to bear in the coming year.

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