Monday, October 29, 2012

Android Central

Android Central

In space no one can hear you scream, right? Help the STRaND-1 smartphone nanosatellite test it

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 03:03 PM PDT

Some of you may remember the tag line from Alien but now Cambridge University Spaceflight is looking to put it all to the test. Using the STRaND-1 smartphone nanosatellite that runs Android and built by the University of Surrey's Space Centre and SSTL, the STRaND-1 will carry the videos submitted by folks like yourself into outer space all in an effort to test the hypothesis that in space no one can hear you scream.

If you're looking to help out, your mission is simple. Upload a 10 second video to YouTube and submit it to the project website. Once submitted, you can get your friends and family to vote for it to give you a chance of being one of the 10 winning videos included in the mission. Even if you don't enter, you should check out the project link below. On its own, the STRaND-1 smartphone nanosatellite is a pretty cool piece of technology.

Source: Scream In Space! Thanks, Ed!

T-Mobile also cancels NYC event on account of weather

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 01:23 PM PDT

T-Mobile Event

We've been through this before. This notice has just landed in our inbox:

Hi,

Apologies for the late mail, but due to the expected weather in New York, T-Mobile will be postponing its showcase event (which was scheduled for October 29) to a later date.  We will keep you posted on a rescheduled date as soon as we can.

Thanks for your flexibility and patience and apologies for the inconvenience.

The weather is getting nasty out there, and T-Mobile has decided that holding its event in New York City isn't the best choice. Since Google has also decided to postpone its impending Nexus event, we're not going to blame T-Mo for taking the safe route. No reason to risk having extra people traveling in Hurricane Sandy.

Stay safe out there, folks.

From the Editor's Desk: Who is this, and what did they do with Microsoft?

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 06:21 AM PDT

Phil Nickinson

Ladies and gentlemen, Microsoft is back.

I wasn't sure we'd ever have reason to write those words again, and Microsoft's not yet all the way back. But it's absolutely taking the right steps. And for the first time since I began worrying about this sort of stuff, Microsoft appears to actually have some direction, some common goal.

Google EventGoogle easily made the right call by canceling Monday's "Playground" event. More here.

I found myself in unfamiliar territory late last week, a couple days before a trip without a couple of reviews hanging over my head. Relative free time. Windows 8 had just gone official, and I hadn't actually gotten around using any of the beta builds over the past few months, and a $39 upgrade is kind of a no-brainer. (That and my daily machine is now a Mac, so I wasn't overly concerned about app compatibility just yet.) So, I popped Windows 8 onto the box it now shares with an Ubuntu install (for those times I feel like torturing Jerry with Linux questions).

First off, I'm loving the move away from the traditional desktop metaphor. It's going to be a big adjustment for us old folks. But our kids are gonna love it. And (for me, anyway), things started to make sense pretty quickly. There are Metro apps (sorry, Microsoft, but that's what they're called, and that's what I'm calling 'em), which run on the cool (if busy) start screen, and there are legacy apps, which run on top of a traditional desktop space. We'll eventually see the latter phased out entirely, I suppose, but that's going to take time. It takes a little work getting used to only having one app on the screen at a time. But maybe that's not a bad thing for casual computing. 

For me, though, it shows that for the first time in a very long time, the different departments at Microsoft are working together. Hell, they're probably allowed to talk to each other for the first time. Three screens and the cloud no longer is just bluster coming from Ballmer, ladies and gentlemen. 

What does this mean for Google and Android? Not a lot, just yet. It's still early in this rebirth for Microsoft and it's going to take more time for the ball to start rolling down the hill. But it's most certainly in motion, and it's no longer going uphill. Google, obviously, is serious about the mobile space. You wouldn't be reading this otherwise. I think it's still kinda toeing the waters when it comes to Chromebooks, but I also think that'll change over the coming months as well. (I love this new Chromebook commercial. Google's got to do this for Android, too.) And I still think Google's got more in store for the living room space; the Nexus Q was just a teaser.

But consider this: Microsoft is making its products available on current non-Microsoft devices. We're already seeing that with Xbox SmartGlass. Xbox Music is coming to Android as well -- quite possibly sooner rather than later. Microsoft Office is still strongly rumored. I've always believed one of Apple's bigger mistakes was not letting iTunes -- and its purchasing power and gateway drug status -- infect other platforms. Microsoft has never been shy about spreading its reach. After all, it's how we ended up with Bing Android phones for a short time.

Microsoft may be in third place in the mobile space, and that's not all that likely to change anytime soon. There are just too many Android and iOS devices out there. But make no mistake, Microsoft's in a much stronger place than it's ever been.

read more

The first Verizon Galaxy Note 2 accessory you'll want to buy

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 08:32 PM PDT

Verizon's Galaxy Note 2 button fix

Cover that ridiculous logo on Verizon's Galaxy Note 2 home button with an equally ridiculous sticker. Get three pieces for $10 U.S. and stick it to the man. 

Source: eBay; via +Cory Teague

HTC One X (international) Jelly Bean roll out begins

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 08:14 PM PDT

One X

Jelly Bean for the international versions of the HTC One X has begun pushing out, but the situation is a bit complicated. Rather than being pushed to all phones in a particular region, HTC pushes out updates to certain devices based on their CID (Customer ID) in each region. For example, phones with a CID of htc__612 are sold to carriers in Taiwan, and they started receiving their OTA last night. Alternatively, my unlocked phone with a CID of htc__044 hasn't received it yet, even though it's also sold in Taiwan (among other locales). I told you it was complicated.

What we know now is that the mentioned phones with htc__612 CIDs are receiving the OTA update as we speak, and HTC has informed me that the Jelly Bean update for all phones in Asia and Europe is "rolling out now". An insider told me that my particular model (htc__044) should start seeing the OTA tomorrow (Sunday). Finally, I've yet to hear from anyone in Europe who has received the OTA. I told you it was complicated.

If you've hacked your Tegra3 One X, you understand all of this and know where to look for information about rolling back and getting the OTA. If you haven't hacked your phone, just know that the Jelly Bean OTA is in process. Hopefully we'll all see it soon, as a few early reports say it's extremely fast and makes a great phone even better.

Thanks, Jeff and Ray420!
Posted by at 5:39 AM

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