Z Launcher beta update brings preliminary icon pack support, UI improvements
After making its Z Launcher open to the public in beta form last fall, Nokia has issued the first major update for the app. In this update, Nokia is laying the groundwork for icon pack support, along with various UI and design improvements.
OnePlus announces plans for new OxygenOS
With the departure of Cyanogen as OnePlus’s software ally a couple months ago, OnePlus decided they will be making their own custom ROM based on Android 5.0 Lollipop.
Today, after polling their fans and customers on what to name their future OS, they have announced it to be called OxygenOS.
“We realized that, like everything we do, our true goal is to make the product that we ourselves would want to use—to make great technology more accessible for everyone. With our ROM, that means software that is open, customizable, and free of bloat and unnecessary features.”
“As an element, Oxygen is the epitome of simplicity, yet it’s also extraordinarily powerful.”
OnePlus plans to create OxygenOS as a custom ROM to have many similar features as CyanogenMod, but also adding their own unique abilities to their upcoming flagship successor to the OnePlus One.
OnePlus plans to release more information on the custom ROM on February 12th.
The post OnePlus announces plans for new OxygenOS appeared first on AndroidGuys.
OxygenOS is the name of the new OnePlus ROM
OnePlus held a contest to come up with name for their own ROM, and they just announced the winning name. It’s going to be OxygenOS, and the winner is @midifire.
With so many entries, what caught their attention to OxygenOS? According to their forum post, “Oxygen is the epitome of simplicity, yet it’s also extraordinarily powerful.”
Oxygen is as they say, all around us and part of everything we do. Alone it’s simple, but when it’s part of something, it does amazing things, and that’s how OnePlus seem themselves.
They plan on releasing more information on February 12, so stay tuned.
source: OnePlus
Come comment on this article: OxygenOS is the name of the new OnePlus ROM
How to manage iCloud Drive syncing over cellular
If you store a lot of documents in iCloud Drive, and you’re on a limited data plan, you may not want apps moving large files around unless you’re on Wi-Fi. Cellular data use with iCloud Drive is nowhere nearly as intensive as streaming music or videos, but if you want to make sure not a bit goes by without your say so, you can manage it all in Settings.
How to turn cellular data on or off for iCloud Drive syncing
- Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap on iCloud.
- Tap on iCloud Drive.
- Scroll all the way to the bottom and turn Off the option for Use Cellular Data.
Of course ‘Law & Order: SVU’ is doing a GamerGate episode
Actually, it’s not about ethics in games journalism. NBC’s Law & Order: SVU will air an episode titled “Intimidation Game” on February 11th, and unless you’ve been living under a rock the circumstances will be pretty familiar. In a plotline following the recent “GamerGate” and the women many of its participants targeted for harassment, the show will feature a video game developer (played by Mouzam Makkar) preparing for a launch “amid a stream of online insults, intimidation and death threats.” Inevitably Detective Olivia Benson and Ice-T are called in and… you’ve seen Law & Order, right?
Hopefully, unlike in real life the cops know how to deal with online intimidation and threats, but we also hope that the dramatization doesn’t downplay the all-too-real events that are still occurring. As far as the real lives of some of the women the episode appears to be basing its main character on, Zoe Quinn has an online support network for those dealing with internet abuse called Crash Override, while Brianna Wu is working on “Women in Tech: The Book!“. Similarly, Anita Sarkeesian laid out 2015 plans for her organization, Feminist Frequency, and is working with “major social media and gaming platforms” to work on ending harassment.
“LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT”
“INTIMIDATION GAME”02/11/2015 (09:00PM – 10:00PM) (Wednesday) : THE VIRTUAL WORLD BECOMES REALITY WHEN A VIDEO GAME CONVENTION TURNS INTO A CRIME SCENE
Video game developer Raina Punjabi (guest star Mouzam Makkar) solidifies the launch of her first game amid a stream of online insults, intimidation and death threats from the male-dominated gaming community. When a female employee is assaulted at a gamer convention, Detective Tutuola (Ice-T) investigates the crime but Raina refuses to delay the launch, and the cops must “level up” to protect her. Also starring Mariska Hargitay (Sgt. Olivia Benson), Kelli Giddish (Det. Amanda Rollins) and Peter Scanavino (Det. Dominick Carisi Jr.). Guest starring Peter Mark Kendall (Steven Kaplan), Susannah Flood (Sarah Keller) and Griffin Matthews (Leslie Connolly).
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Via: @Wario64 (Twitter)
Source: NBC
They have to be kidding: Google admits they can’t keep up with Nexus 6 demand
It’s starting to sound like a broken record with every Nexus phone. Google reported quarterly results today and CFO Patrick Pichette acknowledged that they can’t keep up with Nexus 6 demand.
He said, “While the Nexus 6 was well received as a new phone, we had real issues and were unable to secure sufficient inventory to meet the demand that we had forecasted.”
Why does this always seem to be the case with Google? It all started with the Nexus 4, which was a complete fiasco. The Nexus 5 wasn’t too bad, but things got bad again with the Nexus 6. It’s not like Google doesn’t have deep pockets to buy phones. Do they want people to believe the demand is so high?
Nexus phones are not big sellers no matter what anyone tells you. Just take a look at the latest distribution numbers in which Lollipop didn’t even make the list. That means that less than 0.1% of people are on Lollipop. That includes current and older Nexus devices, not to mention some other Motorola devices. We are talking very small numbers here. How could a company like Google and Motorola miss by that much.
The bottomline is that Google likes to keep the production lower than the demand to create excitement. Even if the demand is not all that high. The Nexus 6 is no iPhone folks. Ask anyone on the street if they ever heard of it and 99 out of 100 people will say “what?”
Come comment on this article: They have to be kidding: Google admits they can’t keep up with Nexus 6 demand
Sprint will apologize to AT&T and Verizon during the Super Bowl
A couple of months ago, Sprint released a commercial about their family plan and kind of referred to AT&T and Verizon as sheep. Well apparently they have decided to issue an apology during the third quarter of some sort of big football game this weekend. Yup, it will be in the form of a commercial. Something tells me they really won’t be all that apologetic. And is AT&T and Verizon really wait for an apology?
Hit the break for the teaser they released earlier today along with the commercial from November that started it all.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Come comment on this article: Sprint will apologize to AT&T and Verizon during the Super Bowl
Jeff Williams and the continued success of Apple’s ops team
Jeff Williams, senior vice president of operations at Apple, took over day-to-day leadership of the ops team following Tim Cook’s transition from Chief Operating Officer (COO) to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Since then Apple has shipped a flabbergasting number of iPhones, a huge number of Macs and iPads, and started ramping up to ship the first batch of Apple Watches. To say Williams runs the best ops team in the business does him and them a disservice — No one else even comes close. That’s no dount why he’s getting some much-deserved attention following Apple’s blow-out Q1 2015 results. Neil Cybart, writing for Above Avalon:
One thing became abundantly clear after analyzing Apple’s recent earnings report: Jeff Williams is doing a phenomenal job. As senior vice president of Operations, Williams is tasked with making sure the Apple machine is well-oiled and in tip-top shape, not only capable of producing more than 100 million iOS devices in a quarter, but building flexibility into the system to handle annual hardware updates that would make most hardware companies quiver with fear.
John Gruber, writing for Daring Fireball:
First, in terms of iPhone operations and considering nothing else, Jeff Williams has clearly done an amazing job. Apple sold a record 74 million iPhones last quarter, and though the company doesn’t break that down by models for competitive reasons, everyone knows that a huge chunk of those were the brand-new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. They were supply-constrained on both models, particularly the 6 Plus, but only by a few weeks. Operationally Apple did an incredible job meeting demand for iPhones — they sold more than ever but were less supply-constrained than in the last few launch quarters. For context, in 2008, Apple sold a total 10 million iPhones for the entire year. All credit to the hardware, software, and product marketing teams for the fact that 74 million people wanted to buy an iPhone last quarter. But the credit goes to Williams’s operations team that there were 74 million units available to sell.
There was a story, I believe passed along by Gruber, about how someone asked how the original iPad came to be, and the answer they got was Steve Jobs. When they asked how it came to cost only $500, the answer they got was Tim Cook. Today, Jeff Williams is running the Apple Watch team, and when it comes costing only $349, he’ll be a huge part of that answer.
Behind Tim Cook’s mantra of “making the great products” is Apple’s ability to make customers believe they’re getting value far beyond the cost. Part of that value equation, now like then, is thanks to the ops team, and at a scale that dwarfs anything else we’ve ever seen before.
For that, Jeff Williams and his entire org deserves not only a ton of attention, but ton of credit as well.
Google is offering Inbox invites until tomorrow morning

Oddly enough, Google still hasn’t opened up Inbox by Gmail to the general public months after its announcement. If you’ve been itching to try the service, today is your lucky day. Google is giving out Inbox invites until 9 AM PST/11 AM CST on Friday morning. All you need to do is send an email to inbox@google.com with your current Gmail address.
Inbox has been around for quite some time now, and the majority of users seem to be torn on the service. Some think it’s confusing and too limited, while others seem to think it’s an easier way to sort through their cluttered inboxes. No matter the case, Google has provided some interesting stats about how Inbox is doing. 70% of Inbox users are on Android, 28% on iOS and 34% on the web. 85% of all messages received on the service are grouped into a bundle of some sort, and 60% of users sweep away bundles twice a day. There are some other interesting stats listed, and you can find them all by following the Gmail link below.
If you want some more information about the app before you download it, head to our overview and hands-on video here. If you want to score an invite, hurry up and send that invite request!
Saygus V2 pre-order date and price announced
The smartphone that grabbed a lot of attention at this year’s CES will be available to pre-order on February 2 at 11:59pm. The Saygus V2 is a high-end smartphone that packs a punch in terms of hardware that no other phone has been able to boast.
The smartphone will cost $549 off-contract and comes with many nice features, including wireless HD 60GHz streaming of the phone’s screen to any TV or monitor, and even root access right out of the box. The V2 also has multi-boot capabilities, meaning it come run a separate operating system off an SD card.
The hardware of the phone packs a nice 5″ 1920x1080p display covered in Gorilla Glass 4, a Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 21-megapixel back camera, 13-megapixel front camera, 3100mAh battery, all covered by an IPX7 rated waterproof body.
More information about the Saygus V2 smartphone can be found here at their main website.
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