Google Play promotion offers up tons of hit movies for only $5 each

If you're looking for a good way to spend your Friday night, you might want to check out Google Play's most recent movie promotion. Currently, you can score a number of hit movies from the storefront, such as Inception, Anchorman, and Looper, for a cool $5.

There are far too many titles to list, but the deal is definitely worth checking out — especially if the threats of heavy snow and blistering cold temperatures are keeping you inside this evening.

Source: Google Play

Series premieres for Better Call Saul and Game of Thrones free on Google Play

The series premieres for two of the most-talked-about shows right now are currently free on Google Play. Those shows would be Better Call Saul, which premiered just this month on AMC, and Game of Thrones, whose fifth season premiere is due out in April. The first episodes of each — Uno for Saul and Winter is Coming for Thrones — are free to watch for a limited time on Google Play.

Of course, you can watch these on any device that supports Google Play, including your desktop browser or Chromecast. Go with either of those options when watching Better Call Saul and you can instead fire up the second screen app to get more to go with your viewing experience.

All other episodes of these shows are currently purchase options, with Better Call Saul clocking in at $1.99/episode or $16.99 for the entire first season (only the first two episodes are currently available on Google Play) and Game of Thrones running $2.99/episode or $28.99 for each of the four released seasons. So either way, whether you're wondering what all the fuss is about for the Breaking Bad prequel or considering jumping in and getting caught up on Game of Thrones before the next season premieres and you're left out of even more watercooler discussion, you can check them out for free right now.

• Winter is Coming (Game of Thrones, Season 1, Episode 1) on Google Play — Free
• Uno (Better Call Saul, Season 1, Episode 1) on Google Play — Free

(Of course, there are likely region restrictions at play here, so you might not see these episodes for free where you are if where you are is outside of the United States. Sorry.)

Here's what's up with the Google Play Store being blocked in Firefox mobile

There's been a bit of consternation this morning at Hacker News when folks discovered that the Google Play Store was being blocked from the mobile view in the Firefox browser for Android. Switch to the desktop view, however, and everything worked fine.

So ... Conspiracy? Not so much.

If you tried going to play.google.com from the Firefox browser, you'd get a simple message:

This browser is no longer supported. Please use the Google Play Store app to access Google Play.

However, Google has told Android Central that it's no more than a bug, and it should be fixed soon.

So sit tight, Firefox fans. Help's a-comin'.

Google Play drives growth in 'other revenues' section of Google business to $1.95 billion

Google released its Q4 2014 earnings today, showing strong numbers all around, but on the earnings call we also got word on the strength of Google Play. Google CFO Patrick Pichette said today on the call that Google's "other revenues" segment grew by 19 percent year-over-year (6 percent quarter-over-quarter) to $1.95 billion, driven primarily by growth in Play Store sales.

"Other revenues" doesn't sound too important, but it actually makes up a full 11 percent of Google's revenues as of Q4, which is nothing to sneeze at. The growth came despite critical shortages of the Nexus 6, which Google confirmed earlier in the call.

The Play Store isn't going to become a substantial portion of Google's revenues any time soon, but it's clearly heading in the right direction.

The 'Frozen' soundtrack is free on Google Play

You might well hate yourself, but your kids will love you. The (admittedly excellent) soundtrack for the "Frozen" movie is available for free today on Google Play. (At least it is here in the U.S.)

If you've got kids, do 'em a favor and give in and download this ASAP. They'll love you for it. And we won't tell anyone that you already knew all the words anyway.

• Download: Frozen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (free)

Get Linkin Park's 'The Hunting Party' for free on Google Play this week

Google has selected Linkin Park's The Hunting Party as the album of the week, allowing those in the US to download the album for free. As the band continues with its tour, fans will be able to grab all songs contained in the release from Google Play for absolutely nothing.

It's worth noting that we've checked the album in the UK and it's going for 99p, so while not free for everyone (US-only deal), you're at least able to take advantage of a sweet deal. This offer will be available until December 23.

• Linkin Park 'The Hunting Tour' on Google Play