| Chrome Beta update arrives with installable fullscreen web-apps Oct 3rd 2013, 20:53, by Robert Nelson The Chrome Beta Android app is a solid way to get a bit of an advance look at what is coming in the general non-beta release. And in this case, you can comfortably rock the regular Chrome and Chrome Beta apps side-by-side. One example was the new gestures and search improvements. These rolled out in the beta in late-August and arrived on the non-beta side earlier this month. 
Anyway, while there was that update to the Chrome Beta app on October 1st, it looks like another item was just revealed earlier today. This latest has been shown by Google Chrome Developer Advocate Paul Kinlan on his Google+ page. The new feature — installable fullscreen web apps. These are arriving with Chrome Beta (M31) and will allow for web apps to be added to a device homescreen. Users can add these by tapping the “Add to homescreen” option in Chrome and when launched, they will run in fullscreen with no sign of this being in the browser. These web apps will appear in the task switcher as a separate item from the browser. They will still however be labeled as a “Web App” on the title. Essentially these are bringing a near-native experience. Other details here touch on how a user will be shown if they are navigating away. In this case, it was said the “users will always know if the app routes them to a location outside the application's domain.” And otherwise, for those worried about security, it was also mentioned that these will follow the same sandboxed security polices and have access to the same API’s. VIA: GigaOm |  | Samsung execs may have known of secret Apple-Nokia settlement Oct 3rd 2013, 20:35, by Nate Swanner Hey, remember how Samsung and Apple were in legal wranglings with one another? Yeah, we almost forgot, too. They're still suing each other across the globe, but a recent revelation that Samsung executives may have been privy to the Apple-Nokia agreement is a big problem — for both Apple and Samsung. 
According to a Magistrate Paul Grewal, it was Apple who may have shown Samsung the terms of the deal. This all had to do with Apple's patent licensing agreement with Nokia regarding the iPhone, which may have had precedence in the Samsung/Apple litigations. According to the filing, obtained by Foss Patents, Samsung made no bones about their knowledge:
According to a declaration from Nokia’s Chief Intellectual Property Officer, Paul Melin, on June 4, 2013, in a meeting between Samsung and Nokia licensing executives, Dr. Seungho Ahn informed Nokia that the terms of the Apple-Nokia license were known to him. Specifically, according to Mr. Melin, Dr. Ahn stated that Apple had produced the Apple-Nokia license in its litigation with Samsung, and that Samsung’s outside counsel had provided his team with the terms of the Apple-Nokia license. Mr. Melin recounts that to prove to Nokia that he knew the confidential terms of the Apple-Nokia license, Dr. Ahn recited the terms of the license, and even went so far as to tell Nokia that “all information leaks.” Mr. Melin also reports that Dr. Ahn and Samsung then proceeded to use his knowledge of the terms of the Apple- Nokia license to gain an unfair advantage in their negotiations with Nokia, by asserting that the Apple-Nokia terms should dictate terms of a Samsung-Nokia license.
This seems like a strong-arm tactic by Apple, as the order went on to note that Apple asked for confidentiality from Samsung in disclosing the information to them. Grewel also claims that lawyers made the information available via email to several Samsung employees, and available for download via their FTP site. The judge in this case wants to depose Dr. Ahn as soon as possible to discuss this matter. It's not clear whether a settlement or agreement from another case can be considered work product, but it doesn't fit the traditional definition, and a sealed court order would have implications on that. It seems that, moving forward, the Apple v. Samsung waters have been muddied a great deal. VIA: Cnet | | Action Launcher 2.0 update teased by developer Oct 3rd 2013, 20:17, by Robert Nelson There isn’t any shortage of options when it comes to launchers. A quick search of the Play Store will turn up numerous results and each seems to have their own group of diehard users. As for us, since taking a deep dive into launchers over the summer, we have been stuck on Action Launcher. The app is currently sitting at v1.9.1 and while things are stable and comfortable, we are anxiously waiting the big 2.0 release. 
With that in mind, the developer, Chris Lacy, has recently take to Google+ with a preview of the 2.0 release — which is going to include some new features and functionality. Action Launcher has had a feature called Quickdraw, which allows you quick access to all your installed apps by swiping in from the left. Well, looking forward to the 2.0 update and it looks like they are going to bring in a new feature with a swipe in from the right. This is called Quickpage and it brings the promise of allowing the user to do anything they can do on a regular Action Launcher home screen. This includes shutters, covers, folders, shortcuts, widgets and more. Basically, the Quickpage is another available home screen page — it is just one that is quickly and easily accessible with a swipe. At first thought, this may not exactly make a lot of sense. After all why would you need to swipe to the right to bring up another full-featured home screen called Quickpage, when you can already do that with any Android handset. The key comes in with what Lacy called 1-Swipe. This means a user can be in any app and quickly access that new page with a swipe. In this case, Lacy demonstrates this using a Quickpage setup with recent apps. That being said, the video sitting below offers a nice walkthrough of these features and while there hasn’t been any Action Launcher 2.0 release date given just yet, those interesting are able to test it today. In order to get this early access you will need to install Action Launcher from the Play Store (if you are not already a user) and then once installed, join the Action Launcher G+ Community (here) and sign up for the beta (here). SOURCE: +Chris Lacy | | Sony wants to be #3 in worldwide Android sales Oct 3rd 2013, 20:04, by Nate Swanner With a recent resurgence in mobile, Sony has re-emerged as a true contender for your smartphone dollars. While they don't plan on threatening Samsung for dominance any time soon — if ever — they do want a larger slice of the pie. 
In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Sony Mobile's Sales and Marketing chief Dennis van Schie noted that Sony wanted to be number three in regard to worldwide Android sales. "If we are going for the No. 3, it is 20% of the smartphone market by value." said van Schie, and noted their current presence hovers around 7%. In splitting from Sony-Ericsson, van Schie noted that a world of opportunity opened up. He pointed to their presence in India, which was very minimal until the split: Where we leverage—and this is a big change from the past—the sales and marketing infrastructure of Sony. For example, in India. I was responsible for product development on the technological side at Sony Ericsson. We had a team of 25, 30 people, and to get to the mom-and-pop stores out there in a massive, complex and vast country like India is very risky. Sony Electronics have 650 people on the ground. Over 10 years they have built this network for selling TVs, PlayStation, cameras. Now, when we merged … we suddenly see a massive growth in India.
There was also the issue of technology and access to R&D their parent company was involved in. In a nutshell, Sony-Ericsson was treated the same as any other manufacturer, not having access to Sony's camera or screen technology until the competition. Now that Sony Mobile is safely tucked into the parent company Sony, both technology and distribution channels have opened up. As for where Sony Mobile intends to sell, it's at their familiar premium designation. According to von Schie, they'll focus on the $400-and-up price point, nearly dashing hopes of a Sony Nexus device. The marketing lead went on to say that "That is where the value is, that is where the money is", and pointed to that sector as where Sony was most comfortable. | | Amazon patents "Firetube" moniker; TV service, or maybe internet Oct 3rd 2013, 19:58, by Nate Swanner Amazon has recently filed a trademark application for the name "Firetube", which is as curious as it may be ominous. With no other bits of information to go on, we wonder why Amazon — which filed for the trademark in the US and Canada — would want that name. 
We've long heard discussion of an Amazon TV service, but those were vague rumors. While it makes sense that Amazon, which is keen on delivering as much media to you as possible, would try to involve themselves in your TV viewing, there is no precedent for them to do so as of now. "Firetube", though, sounds comical enough to be real. Let's not forget Amazon added "Fire" to "Kindle", so they've got a propensity for tongue-in-cheek device naming. Firetube is also pretty catchy, and rolls off the tongue easily. Like Seth Weintraub of 9 to 5 Google, our first inclination was that Firetube was meant for their strongly rumored phone lineup, but it seems unlikely. Amazon's reluctance to make their media services Android available and Chromecast friendly is another hint that they might have their own device in the works, so we'll be interested to see if Amazon tosses something out by christmas. They did support Google TV at one time, but recent reviews in the Play Store suggest they've abandoned that service. Perhaps we'll see a streaming device/service soon, or maybe there is more to their tinkering with spectrum frequencies than they let on. Firetube is a good moniker for a proprietary internet service, too. | | Facebook Home update brings Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest Oct 3rd 2013, 19:28, by Robert Nelson Facebook Home is getting another update and this time around they are bringing even more social to your lockscreen. The folks at Facebook have announced integration with Flickr and Instagram as well as Tumblr and Pinterest. Simply put, those using Facebook Home will now be able to browse a full handful of social networks without even fully unlocking their handset. 
This will first be rolling out to those who are part of the Facebook for Android Beta program and once it has been proven, it will rollout to the non-beta users. Beta users will have access to this ‘more-social’ version of Facebook Home beginning today. This may not necessarily convince tons of users that they suddenly need Facebook Home installed, however on the flip side, it is nice to see Facebook open this additional network support like they previously promised. Those with Facebook Home installed (that happen to have access to the beta) will be able to get started by heading into the settings. Once in the Home Settings you can select the appropriate app(s) and login with your account credentials. This setup will allow you to view/scroll through the content and also click the “view on” link and be taken directly to the site. While this update may leave non-beta users out in terms of the additional social support, they are not being left out entirely. The app remains available by way of the Google Play Store. Facebook Home currently has support for a handful of devices including the Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II as well as the Nexus 4, HTC First, One X, One X+ and One. SOURCE: Facebook | |
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