Oppo N1 CyanogenMod Phone Gets CTS-Certified, Launches On Christmas Eve
For fans of CyanogenMod that have been eagerly waiting on news regarding the pure CyanogenMod phone i.e. the Oppo N1 with CyanogenMod loaded, Christmas may have come early, almost literally. Oppo announced on their Twitter account earlier today that the Oppo N1 with CyanogenMod preloaded has been compatibility test suite (CTS) certified, meaning that the CyanogenMod Oppo N1 will be able to use the Google Play Store to install apps. This makes the Oppo N1 the first phone running CyanogenMod to get Google’s blessing to use its app store.
The #OPPON1 is the world’s first Google CTS-Certified @CyanogenMod phone! Available on 12/24. http://t.co/RefQDR6pnA pic.twitter.com/qKCjVpHlWE
— OPPO (@oppo) December 20, 2013
This is huge news for CyanogenMod fans, particularly those who are getting a little tired of sideloading apps. Oppo also announced that this version of the N1 would be launching on Christmas Eve, December 24th, and while no mention was made of the pricing, we can’t see it straying far from the price of the vanilla Oppo N1 at $599.
Who’s now definitely considering the Oppo N1 CyanogenMod phone after hearing this news? Let us know what you think.
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Oppo N1 CyanogenMod phone launches December 24th with Google’s blessing
Oppo’s announcement of a CyanogenMod custom Android version of the N1 was great news for performance phone fans, but who wants to sideload, right? Luckily, the new handset and CyanogenMod 10.2 combo has just cleared Google’s compatibility test suite (CTS) gauntlet, meaning it’ll officially get Google’s Play Store to install apps. That’s the first time CyanogenMod has been certified by Mountain View on any device, a milestone which entailed “a lot of sleepless nights,” according to the group. With that hurdle cleared, Oppo’s announced that the CM-equipped handset will be available on December 24th, though there’s no word if it’ll cost $599 like the standard model. Either way, fans of a more-or-less stock Android experience now have another choice besides Nexus and Google Play Edition handsets.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software
Via: Android Police
Source: CyanogenMod, Oppo (Twitter)
Rats!: Google Play Books v3.1.23 Removes Ability To Upload PDFs
You may recall recently that Google Play Books was updated to v3.1.17, which rather surprisingly granted us the ability to upload PDF and EPUB literature to Play Books. This was widely welcomed as this was one of the key missing abilities of Play Books over its competitors. Unfortunately, with its latest update, Google Play Books v3.1.23, Google has removed the ability to upload PDFs to the app by omitting one tiny bit of code that reads like this:
<data android:host=”*” android:mimeType=”*/*” android:pathPattern=”.*\.pdf” android:scheme=”file”/>
That was all it took to remove that feature, however the ability to upload EPUB files to Play Books appears to have remained. A quick check of the changelog information on Google Play will also show that PDF uploading has been removed from the description. It’s a bit of a shame as I know this will be one of the more sought after updates to Google Play Books, however a Google spokesperson told Android Police that the PDF uploading was a trial and that the functionality would likely return soon. That’s good news at least, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any updates. If you don’t have the latest version of Google Play Books yet, you can download it at the link below:
If, however, you can’t live without the ability to upload PDFs, you can also download v3.1.17 which first introduced the ability; link below:
What do you think about the removal of PDF uploading? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Android Police
Samsung’s GamePad to arrive in a Galaxy Tab 3 Game Edition bundle
It looks like Samsung will not only send the newly launched GamePad into the world solo, but also bundle it up. Although there’s no official word yet, a German blog has reported that the controller has been paired up with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 in a special Game Edition package. Using them could be awkward since the tablet’s too large to sit on the GamePad, but you can always hook it up to a TV using the accompanying HDMI adapter. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find info on whether the duo will come stateside, and we doubt it’ll arrive in time for Christmas. If so, hopefully there’ll be some savings over buying them separately, since the sticker on the GamePad alone is $110.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Gaming, Tablets, Mobile, Samsung
Via: Android Community
Source: AllAboutSamsung
Researchers use alcohol, Arduino and a desk fan to send molecular text messages (video)
Scientists from York University in Toronto are using alcohol as a method for sending text messages. How, exactly? By converting sprays of isopropyl alcohol into binary code, using off-the-shelf components. The researchers used an Arduino Uno board, an Adafruit LCD, a desk fan and a household spray bottle to transmit a short message across a tabletop, via molecular diffusion. In the experiment, the fan pushed bursts of alcoholic mist across a table, where a sensor at the other end measured the alcohol content of the air. From there, the vapor was reassembled into non-binary characters and the phrase was successfully reconstructed. Naturally, the transmitted words were “O Canada.”
The university says that this chemical form of data transmission could easily be shrunk to the microscopic level and find use in the medical field for targeted drug delivery. Conversely, the system could expand in size and offer communication through sewer systems or be used in search and rescue situations; basically, anywhere that traditional radio signals just won’t work.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: PLOS ONE, Eurekalert
Weak iPhone 5c Demand May Be Slowing China Mobile iPhone Deal [iOS Blog]
With China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier, having launched its new 4G LTE network without announcing an iPhone deal, questions have arisen about why an agreement has not yet been reached after many years of negotiations and evidence indicating that the necessary hardware is available and approved for sale.
According to a new report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the deal may have been slowed by the unexpectedly weak demand for the iPhone 5c relative to the iPhone 5s among China Mobile customers. According to Kuo’s survey numbers, interest in the iPhone 5c from China Mobile customers has fallen precipitously from earlier expectations while iPhone 5s interest has remained high, and that unexpected mix of customer preference may be leading China Mobile and Apple to a renegotiation of an agreement that was nearly settled.
While previously we estimated that Apple originally planned the TD-LTE version would account for 30% of total iPhone 5C shipments, our latest survey indicates that demand for the TD-LTE iPhone 5C has declined dramatically due to 5S being far more popular than 5C among China Mobile subscribers. As such, we estimate iPhone 5C shipments of the TD-LTE version for China Mobile at 1.0-1.5mn units in 4Q13 and under 1.0mn units in 1Q14, well below Apple’s original production plan.
We believe this would necessitate a re-negotiation of the Apple-China Mobile deal and therefore defer its finalization.
Kuo also remains conservative in his predictions of the impact of a China Mobile deal on Apple’s iPhone shipment numbers for the first quarter of 2014, believing that the launch of the new TD-LTE model for China Mobile will be offset by falling sales in other markets around the world as momentum slows in the months following the iPhone 5s and 5c launches in those countries.
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British Library’s web domain archive is now available, just not on the web
If you need an illustration of the problems with overly stringent copyright laws, look no further than the British Library. The institution has just made its archive of UK website domains available to the public, but you can’t actually visit it from the web — the Legal Deposit Libraries Act requires that you stop by one of six libraries in the country to take a look. While reforms may be coming, the British Library says there are concerns that site operators could lose revenue if people flock to the historical collection instead of active pages. Whether or not there’s any merit to that fear, those who can’t swing by a reading room are largely out of luck. The British Library runs a permission-based web archive, but its roughly 13,000 sites pale in comparison to the billions stored in the offline repository.
[Image credit: British Library]
Filed under: Internet
Source: BBC
Samsung Smartphone Gamepad Officially Released, Looks A Little Different Than We Expected
We’ve heard about Samsung toying with the idea of a gamepad for some time now, but this iteration, deemed as the Samsung Smartphone Gamepad, looks quite different to the prototype version we saw at the launch of the Galaxy S4 almost 8 months ago. For those who can’t remember that far back, this is what that controller looked like:
While the general form-factor of this officially announced controller is generally the same, you can tell that Samsung has done a lot of tweaking and research into what people who play games with mobile controllers actually want. What has resulted is something that is eerily reminiscent of the MOGA Pocket controller from PowerA, but as we know from our hands on with the device, that’s not a bad thing at all.
The Gamepad will be optimized for operation with Samsung’s Android 4.3 devices, the main ones being of course the Note 3, Galaxy S4, Note 2 and Galaxy S3. It will connect to your device via Bluetooth, and will also require the use of the Mobile Console App which will have a limited number of games compatible at launch, however this list will grow over time.
The Gamepad is available now in Europe, with a gradual roll-out to other regions planned. No word on pricing, but if Samsung is to have any hope of competing with other Bluetooth game controllers which are compatible with most other phones, the Gamepad would ideally not cross the $100 USD threshold.
What do you think about the Samsung Smartphone Gamepad? Is it something you would buy? Let us know.
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Source: Samsung Tomorrow, engadget
Yahoo Mail brings back tabs, makes viewing lots of them easier
It was but a couple months ago that Yahoo gave its mail service a sprucing, adding some new features while subtracting others. Tabbed viewing was among those pruned, thanks to user feedback that tabs became difficult to deal with in great numbers. Well, tabs are back, with a brand new (for Yahoo) invention: a ‘Preview All’ feature that lets you see all your tabs at once in tiled fashion. You can also assign the feature to your ESC key to make switching between regular and tiled views a quick and painless affair. Got it? Good. The new functions will be rolling out to users everywhere in the next few days.
Filed under: Internet
Via: The Verge
Source: Yahoo Mail blog
HP Chromebook 11 now ships with an all-new charger after official recall
A month after HP and Google put the kibosh on Chromebook 11 sales due to overheating chargers, and the laptop is now available with a brand new power adapter. According to 9to5Google, it looks like a smaller version of the one for the Pixel except it has a micro-USB tip instead. If you already have a Chromebook 11, do remember that you should be sending yours back in exchange for a new one due to a company recall issued a couple days ago. But if you haven’t already pulled the trigger, now is definitely a safer time to do so for one of the best Chromebooks we’ve seen so far.
[Image credit: 9to5Google]
Filed under: Laptops, Google, HP
Source: 9to5Google
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