If you’re a geek, at one time or another, you’ve likely played Dungeons & Dragons. Heck, you may be playing this week or even while you’re reading this very article. It’s a great way to pass the time and something we love to do sitting around a table with some of your best friends.

But wouldn’t it be cool to be able to take those fun times on the road with you? Well, if you’ve always wanted a mobile version of D&D, you’re in luck because Wizards of the Coast and DeNA have partnered together to do just that.

That’s right, the two companies will soon bring Dungeons & Dragons: Arena of War, the first ever D&D mobile game, to an iOS or Android device near you.

According to the official press release for the game: “Arena of War puts players in the Forgotten Realms for a battle roleplaying game that combines questing, character leveling, and small team collaboration with the most engaging mobile game mechanics on the market, such as in-game events and massive multiplayer competitions.”

It will be available later this year. For more info on the game, or to pre-register, head on over to the game’s official site.

With Google I/O last week, the company unveiled a brand new vision for mobile communication called Hangouts. A major component of Hangouts is the Google+ service, which is getting a major update today.

Among the many changes in Google+ are new photo features including auto backups, auto highlight of the best photos, auto enhance, and “Auto Awesome.” In addition, there is now a dedicated tab for “Locations.” This new feature enables users to see where friends are on a map so that you can set up places to meet. If you don’t want to take advantage of this feature, or are just wary of sharing your location, this can be turned off in location sharing.

There’s also a new card UI and exploring features taken from the Chrome version of Google+. Tags are shown at the top right of posts, so that you can easily browse by topic. Notifications have been updated as well and are “nicer to look at and use,” plus profile fields can be edited on the go.

The update is expected to hit today. Look for it in the Play Store.

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During a keynote presentation for Google I/O at San Francisco’s Moscone Center this morning, Google announced several new services and technologies including a new music service called Google Play Music “All Access” and a pure Android Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.

Google Play Music “All Access” gives users the ability to search through Google’s huge amount of songs and the ability to play them instantly. An all new UI allows you to swipe away songs if you don’t want them and the ability to make radio stations instantly based on one song.

The price of this new streaming service is $9.99 per month, but everyone gets a 30 free trial. If you are an early adopter and sign up before June however, your price is only $7.99 per month.

Google also announced they will sell a Samsung Galaxy S4 directly through Google Play with a stock Android experience, LTE support, connectivity on AT&T and T-Mobile. It will aos feature an unlocked bootloader, will receive updates promptly and offer the full “Nexus experience.”

The device will launch June 26 on Google Play for $649. Yeah, that’s a bit steep. Although, they’ll probably sell a ton of ‘em.

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Not that long ago RIM’s BlackBerry was the most popular smartphone in the world. It’s a bit hard to believe now, with the immense popularity of the iPhone and Android devices, but at one time the BlackBerry was the king of the mobile world. I had several, and I loved them.

One of the features that made BlackBerry so popular, other than how well it handled email, was BlackBerry Messenger. In case you’re not familiar, BBM is a service that allows BlackBerry users to send direct messages, chat in real time and more. It works pretty much like Apple’s iMessage and FaceTime do in iOS or OS X.

Like iMessage and FaceTime, which are only available on Apple devices, BBM has always been BlackBerry-only. That is, until now.

RIM announced today that BBM will launch this Summer for Apple’s iPhone and for Android devices. The announcement came during the company’s BlackBerry Live conference, which is going on this week.

While I believe this will be a welcome development for some people still stuck in 2005, I need to ask this question: Who cares?

With other messaging services like iMessage, WhatsApp and Google’s upcoming Hangouts, this announcement isn’t going to make much of a difference to anyone. I don’t think it’s BBM on iOS or Android that’s going to bring people back to the BlackBerry in droves.

Sadly, at this point, I don’t think much of anything will.

We know it’s sometimes hard to be an Android user in what must seem like an iOS-dominated world — at least where new apps, or updates to current ones, are concerned. Yes, most new apps and updates appear for iOS first. But at some point, and that gap is narrowing all the time, the app or update comes to Android.

Case in point today is the extremely fun and useful app Flipboard. We use it all the time on our iPhones and iPads and have even gone so far as to create a few magazines to highlight our interests. And now Anrdoid users can get in on that fun with the latest update to Flipboard for their OS.

In addition to the magazine feature, the app also had several other updates including the following:

• Integrated Android share: add content from the Gallery & other apps to your magazines
• Bookmarklet to add items to your magazines from a browser
• Get notifications when people like, comment or subscribe to your magazines
• Share magazines via email or social networks
• Personalized recommendations for more to read
• Search is now front & center, with improved results

Get the brand new Flipboard for Android over at Google Play.

Even though a majority of us here at The Flickcast use smartphones made by Apple, that doesn’t mean we only care about iOS or things from Cupertino. We also like Android quite a bit too. And when a new smartphone is reportedly ready to be announced by Google itself, we pay particular attention.

That phone is the much-discussed “X Phone.” And now we’ve got a picture (or two) of it, curtesy of gadget blog Tinthe.tn, so you can see exactly what it’s all about.

From the pics we can say that the device does look a lot like other Android smartphones, particularly those from Samsung. Not that that’s a bad thing. In addition to the pics, there’s also info about the internals of the device.

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It isn’t that often that iOS users don’t get the latest and greatest aps first, before their Android-using pals. However, when the app in question happens to come from Android-maker Google, iOS users tend to take a back seat.

Most apps from Google do eventually arrive for iOS (thank you Google for Maps) and when they do, iOS users are usually very happy. However, when the app in question causes a problem, that happiness can turn to anger pretty fast.

Sadly, that seems to be the case with the newly-released Google Now feature update to Google’s iOS search app. The shot story is the updated app, which just went live earlier this week, seems to be draining users batteries at an alarming rate.

Fortunately, the folks at Cult of Mac have got you covered. Over at their site they detail just how to make sure Google Now doesn’t kill your battery in short order. You simply turn off location reporting from the privacy setting in the app.

It’s really pretty simple and we’ve included the pic (courtesy of LifeHacker) of where to look for the setting after the break.

If you’re an iOS user who has installed this app are you having any issues with battery life? Let us know in the comments.

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Another day, another video from Google about Google Glass. Hey, dont’ blame us, if this really is the “next big thing” we don’t want to be accused of not bringing you all the details about it so you can be ready.

With that in mind, Google did release a new video today highlighting more of the features of Google Glass. This time around the video shows how users can navigate through the Glas menu simply by swiping and taping on the side of the headset to find and select icons.

Seeing how users can interact and control glass in this manner helps put to rest our fears of hoards of people shouting commands to their headsets in public. We still find it odd when people seem to be talking to themselves but then actually have some sort of earpiece in and are really on a mobile phone.

Fortunately, if this video is any indication, verbal commands are not the only way to get Glass to work. Nice to see we still have to use our hands for something.

Check out the full ideo after the break. Google Glass arrives for the rest of us sometime next year.

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Google is a major player in the tech world. So much so that they have their very own convention, called Google I/O. At this convention, which takes place in San Francisco from May 15-17, developers and other Google-enthusiasts gather to discuss, learn and get a glimpse of what Google has in store for Android and its other ventures.

As of late yesterday, the company has posted the full list and schedule of sessions avilable at Google I/O. With ove 120 choices ranging from Android and Chrome to developing for Google Glass and Google Wallet.

In short, if you’re a developer (or a Google-enthusiast) you won’t have any trouble finding something interesting and informative to see and do.

Sadly, if you don’t already have a ticket to Google I/O, you’re out of luck. They’re sold out. However, you can be sure most of the major sessions and keynotes will be available live via streaming or later online at Google’s Developers Live.

Even though we’re big Apple fans, we’re very interested to see what Google unveils at this event. They do create some pretty cool stuff.

Could be pretty exciting indeed.

For Android users who’ve had a chance to experience just how good the Google Now service can be, this article won’t interest you as much. However, for the iOS users out there, this should be of great interest.

Not that we have anything against Apple’s Siri, but the Google Now service just gets the job done a bit better. Fortunately, Google Now has arrived for iOS.

It’s not a stand alone app but is, instead, part of the updated Google Search app for iOS. If you haven’t already downloaed it, you can grab it right here.

In case you’re somehow not familiar with Google Now, it’s an intelligent assistant that automatically presents users with information based on location, search history and more, without any action required by the user. It’s also really good at finding things like the nearest food when users asks specific questions like “I want tacos” or similar. Yes, that’s what Apple’s Siri is supposed to do, and it does. . . prety well.

Google Now just does it better. Sorry Apple. As with Maps, you’ve got some work to do in this area. Fortunately, competition is a good thing.

For more on Google Now, check out the official video after the break.

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So I did it. I finally gave in. After months of avoiding Facebook invites from friends, family and total strangers, it was only after the recommendation of our own Matt Raub when he talked about how addictive it was that I decided to give Candy Crush Saga a chance. And now I see what the hype is about.

On the surface, one could attempt to say that Candy Crush Saga is a ripoff of the classic “Match 3″ formula that made titles like Bejeweled so successful. But it takes bits and pieces from various other “Match 3″ games into an incredibly simple but addictive formula. Early levels involve hitting a certain amount of points within a specific number of moves.

Quickly the gears get clogged up when levels change shape and it isn’t just the perfect square that they are used to. And then comes the jelly which players must not only hit a minimum score on but also make matches over specific squares to clear them. And once you think you’ve mastered that, then you have “ingredients” which are pieces that you must work down to the bottom of the screen by eliminating the blocks below them.

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Oh Facebook, as if we didn’t already waste enough time on you, now you want to be an even larger part of our mobile lives? Oh boy. That’s right folks, Facebook today unveiled it’s new “Facebook Home” for Android smartphones designed to integrate with Android and become a larger part of your user experience.

The new software takes over several core functions of Android and replaces them with features that tie into various Facebook services. This, in effect, turns you smartphone into the much-touted “Facebook Phone.”

According to Facebook frontman Mark Zukerberg:

“You’re going to be able to transform your phone into a great social device.” Facebook Home makes it so that “phones are designed around people first,” rather than apps, as is the case with most modern smartphones. Instead of burying content that users want to see inside apps, Facebook Home makes it available at all times.

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Even with all the hype surrounding every iPhone release and the recent hubub over the Samsung Galaxy S4, we can’t forget another company that makes some pretty great smartphones. That company? HTC.

With the recent announcement of the new HTC One, the company is poised to make a comback in a big way. The device looks great and will be available soon. How soon?

Well, for AT&T at least, the mystery is gone as this morning the company announced both pre-order and in-store dates for the One. The 32GB version of the One will arrive on April 19th for $199 with the 64GB version at $299, both with a new, two-year agreement, of course.

Pre-orders officially start on April 4 at 1:00 PM CT, which is this Thursday. For those who pre-order, AT&T is including a free HTC Media Link HD wireless HDMI adaptor. The phone will come in both black or white.

For more on this new, awesome device, check out the video after the break.

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For the record, we use a variety of note taking apps here at The Flickcast. The most popular, though, is Evernote.

It works well and offers a lot of features. It does cost money, however. Now Google has released its new note taking app and its simplicity (and the fact that it’s free) has piqued our curiosity, to say the least.

The new app is called Google Keep and it looks very promising. It allows you to make notes, add pictures, checklists and even take notes by voice, and all of it is securetly synched to your Google Drive in the cloud.

At the moment, you can access the notes, pictures, and more with the new app or on any computer from the webpage they have set up. Full integration with Google Drive is expected shortly.

Sadly, this new app does have one big drawback, at least for some: It’s currently Android only. We can only hope an iOS version is forthcoming. . . soon. Until then, it can’t really be a viable alternive to a lot of users.

More on Google Keep from the official video after the break.

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Now that the cat, er smartphone, is out of the bag, Samsung has wasted no time in releasing all sorts of cool stuff about their new flagship device: the Galaxy S IV. One such tidbit is a video highlighting some of the many featutes the device has to offer.

The video include everything from an explanation of the new display tech, how to use the phone with gloves on, group gameplay, S Translator, S Health, and more. Plus, it gives you a good idea of how the device responds to commands and the speed in which it executes various tasks.

Samsung has really taken things to a new level with the Galaxy S IV. As Apple’s only real competitor in this market, they have definitely thrown down the gauntlet.

It will be very interesting to see if Apple picks it. Our guess? They will likely just keep on doing what they’ve ben doing and, for the most part, ignore the competition. It seems to have worked pretty wel for the so far.

Check out the video after the break.

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