Haven’t gotten dearest Mum a gift when Mother’s Day is in less than a week? No sweat. Get her a tech gift that makes life better every day.

Here’s a Geek-Girl’s Emergency Everything Know-It-All Mama’s Day Gift Guide. You can call it the Geek MA gift guide. …

I consider myself a pretty heavy user of Google Reader, and wake up every day to hundreds of unread items. In addition to the freshly pressed articles, there are older unread stories piled up over the years.

Yet, I can’t remember the last time I actually logged into the Google Reader website. Its interface seems like a relic of the past, and its features have remained stagnant for some time now. Google last gave the portal a proper update way back in October 2011, and added only the ability to +1 articles in Reader.

Instead, I rely on the countless third-party apps out there taking advantage of Google Reader’s API to present my feeds and stories in far more pleasing ways.

But that’s still not perfect. Does manually subscribing to individual feeds not seem archaic in today’s buzzword-filled Web landscape? Thus it is no surprise really, despite the howls of protest, that Google is ending the Reader service come July. …

One of the things about buying an Android tablet is that there are fewer choices when it comes to cases.

That has changed a little in the past six months with the arrival of the Google Nexus 7, which has proven very popular, and the Nexus 10 that is being sold in the United States, but it’s still not that easy looking for one in Singapore stores.

Earlier this week, a couple of cases I ordered from Amazon finally came for my wife’s Nexus 7 and my own Nexus 10. They are branded Poetic and sold by Exact-Deal on Amazon. And they turned out pretty nice. …

So you just got your new Google Nexus 4 and are itching to jazz it up with some cool accessories or apps. Unfortunately, at least for Singapore, where the phone is yet to start shipping officially, there aren’t that many cases and add-ons to shop for in the retail stores.

But no worries, there’s always Amazon and your familiar reseller in tech forums to help out. Fancy a wireless charger, a handy wireless tag or case? Here are five worth checking out. …

My eager hands finally gripped the long-awaited Nexus 4 when the DHL man arrived with it at my doorstep on Christmas Eve last week.

Now, after a week of using Google’s newest branded phone, I have to say it’s a very satisfying upgrade from my previous Samsung Galaxy S II, which was itself a great phone I had used for more than a year.

The Nexus 4, however, is not without its issues, though on the whole, it’s hard to fault a phone that truly punches above its weight in terms of its price. I had paid S$490, including tax and shipping from the United States for the phone, which is not sold in Singapore yet. …

Asus Singapore is selling its 3G-enabled Nexus 7 for S$499 from tomorrow, just in time for last-minute shoppers hoping to buy the new 7-inch tablet for Christmas. The new model is shipping here weeks after it started going on sale in the United States. …

When Google took the wraps off its new Nexus 4 phone and Nexus 10 tablet last month, I was more interested in the US$399 10-inch tablet. Here was a slim, light gizmo with a screen that’s razor sharp, plus it runs Google’s latest Android 4.2 operating system.

After getting my hands on it for the past few days, I’ve to say I’m glad I bought it. A friend had helped me order the tablet over the Net and ship it to Singapore. All in, the S$548 I paid, including shipping, was still cheaper than many rival tablets.

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Last week, Google launched Ingress, a mobile augmented reality game that depends heavily on your Android phone’s location and imaging capabilities.

In the game, there are two groups of people vying for dominance, and you have to pick a side and commit yourself to its cause. Then, you’ll have to walk around your city collecting “exotic material” (XM), which lets you “hack” into “portals”. According the help page, “portals manifest themselves usually as public art such as statues and monuments, unique architecture, outdoor murals, historic buildings, and unique local businesses.” …

Android users in Singapore are finally getting turn-by-turn driving guidance from their smartphones today, years after the feature became available in the United States and several other countries.

This essentially turns just about any Android phone out in the past few years into a GPS device that offers voice prompts, for example, in finding a route between Orchard Road and Beach Road on a Saturday. …

Google finally took the wraps off the much-rumoured Nexus 4 smartphone yesterday evening (Singapore time), as it also launched a new stab at the 10-inch tablet market with an interesting high-res Nexus 10 made by Samsung.

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