After a series of leaked images and renders, we already have a pretty good idea about how the two upcoming Nexus phones from HTC will look like, but price tags had remained undisclosed till now. Someone in HTC has allegedly leaked pricing details of the Nexus Marlin and Sailfish, but as you probably can guess already, it's still a rumor and nothing is for certain yet.

According to the source, the two smartphones from Google in 2016 will be more expensive than last year's models with a price tag of $599 for the Nexus Marlin and $449 for the Nexus Sailfish. These are of course, the price tags for the basic 32GB models and there will likely also be costlier models with higher internal storage capacities. The Marlin will cost $100 more than last year's Nexus 6P ($499), if the rumor turns out to be true. We will soon find out more next month as the two HTC-Google Nexus smartphones are probably going to debut in September with Android 7 Nougat right out of the box.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

The good news is that Google has now rolled out an official update for Android powered devices that will warn you as soon as spam callers call your number. The bad news is that this update and the ensuing features are only available to Android One and Nexus devices. We bet hardcore Google loyalists are feeling pretty smug right now!

Google posted the following via its own social media website, Google+.

"Spam callers be gone! Today, we're beginning to update your Google Phone app with spam protection on #Nexus and #Android One devices to warn you about potential spam callers,"

Spam Protection should become effective as soon as you download and install the update but in order to use the feature, you will have to have Called ID turned on from the settings menu of your phone. In addition to providing protection against the spammers, there will also be an option to report the shady numbers as spam. You can simply block the number from the app itself if they continue to bother you with repeated phone calls.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

Do you use Google Maps? If you do, then you must have felt at some point while navigating with its help that it would have been great if the app could direct you to the nearest gas station while en-route to your office. Well, we won't have to wait for that any longer as Google finally adds the ability for a user to add multiple stops while setting a destination in the Google Maps (v9.31) app.

What this means is that swinging by that pizza shop or the pharmacy while going back home from work should now be even easier because Google Maps will point you in the right direction and show you more options for you to choose from while setting the waypoints and the destination. The best part is, that there's no limit on the number of stops that you can set in between your starting point and your final destination.

In order to add waypoints, set a destination first and then select Add Stop from the overflow menu. Once you have set them, the order in which you want to reach each stop can also be rearranged by holding and dragging the waypoints. The stops themselves will appear as letters of the English alphabet. It should be noted though that this feature has been a part of the desktop version for a long time now and it is a bit surprising that it took Google so long to bring it to Android devices.

Author: Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

A hint about Google's future plans was given a while back when the search engine giant introduced the Destination feature via Google Search on smartphones. The simplistic feature was designed to help users while planning a vacation and apparently it was only a precursor to the Smart Travel application that the company is beta testing right now. Since it is not available on the Play Store yet, users will have to sign up for the Google Maps Local Guides Program to have access to it.

From what we know so far, the app will gather, store and organize all your travelling details such as hotels, dinner reservations, destinations and flights. Therefore, it will make every necessary detail accessible from the app itself, even without an active internet connection. Additionally, it will also offer suggestions based on the data it collects about your trips. Tap on a previously saved destination to see options like Saved places, Food & drink, Reservations, Things to do, Getting around and Need to know. Travellers and tourists will even see options for public transport in the area, as well as best travelling routes to the destination.

Even if you do not put in your travelling details manually from the FAB tab found at the bottom right corner of the app, it can do a lot on its own by collecting data automatically from your Gmail inbox. If you are not using Gmail as your primary e-mail service however, you will probably need to log in the data manually. In case you are interested in trying out the beta software, sign up for Local Guides and you might just get a chance to be a beta tester yourself!

Author: Saikat Kar (Tech-journalist and enthusiast)

Eager stock market analysts have been quick to pour over the latest Q4 2015 SEC filings from Alphabet, Google's parent company. The market responded quickly with both the Class A and Class C stock trading up to a $750-780 price range. This makes Alphabet not just good at letters, but also with numbers as it now eclipses Apple's market capitalisation to be the most valuable company in the world.

In fairness, Apple's earnings were showing signs of hitting a plateau with its iPads not selling as many units as they once did as interest moves more to the phablet-size phone market and away from larger tablets which are less convenient on the run. Investors in Alphabet were quick to double down on their positions and others buying into Alphabet for the first time on the positive trading news.

Alphabet revenues year-over-year rose 24% compared to 12% the previous year. The source of the accelerated revenue growth has been primarily from advertising. The picture is a mixed one through with ad clicks rising by 31%, but the cost per click for adverts falling by 13%. Overall, Alphabet still came out ahead.

The company also noted on a recent call with investors that Gmail, its email service, now has more than 1 billion active users each month. That's active users, not open accounts. Only What's App and Facebook can say the same.