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"Because the history of computing has taught us is that data will not be contained. Data breaks free. It expands to new media, crashes through barriers; painfully, maybe even dangerously. But, uh, there it is… Data finds a way." - Jeff Goldblum as Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Gift Shop)
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) aren’t the sexiest topic out there, but they are a pretty vital part of daily operations for almost every major company and many small businesses. VPNs are used to securely connect a computer, tablet, or phone to a company's private network over the Internet, thus allowing people to work remotely while ensuring strict authentication and enforcing administrative policies. Even some power users are apt to set up a VPN if they want to make their home networks accessible while they're on the road.
You've taken the plunge and thrown down some cold hard cash on a brand new HTC One M8, but you're feeling stifled because Verizon doesn't want to allow the bootloader to be unlocked? You might want to check out WeakSauce, a handy new root exploit by XDA recognized developers Justin Case (jcase) and beaups. It's a simple tool that can set up root on both the HTC One M8 and last year's model, the HTC One (codenamed M7).
Mankind loves to obsess over numbers, statistics, and data. Ok, maybe not everybody is stuck on tracking every last thing that happens; but if you're reading this site, there's a good chance you're already checking your monthly activity reports each time Google fires off an email reminder. That addiction to numbers is about to get much more interesting. Google is merging the monthly activity report with Dashboard to produce a super-sized page full of facts and stats about how you're using Google's services.
Few -if any- password managers have gained a following quite like LastPass. It's secure, extensively cross-platform, and easy to use. When up-and-coming competitor PasswordBox hit the scene last month with the ability to insert login credentials directly into native apps, it left many LastPass users anxiously requesting the same feature. The wait is finally over as LastPass for Android has been updated to enable automatic fill-in for apps and Chrome.
Hot on the heels of BlinkFeed and the vaguely defined HTC Service Pack, HTC is hitting the Play Store with another app: SenseTV. The electronic programming guide meets universal remote control made its first appearance last year alongside Sense 5.0 on the HTC One. This looks like an update to the original which includes a redesigned style to match Sense 6, improvements to data for sporting events, and support for the HTC One Google Play Edition.
Come on HTC, save some surprises for the event! We're mere hours away from the announcement for the new HTC One and the nuggets keep rolling in. This time it's a pair of fresh-faced apps on the Play Store: BlinkFeed Launcher and the HTC Service Pack. At present, both apps are incompatible with the HTC One released in 2013, suggesting they may either be intended exclusively for the m8 or Sense 6, or HTC is restricting downloads until after the event. We'll have to wait and see.
The Google Glass team knows that if you're thinking about mounting a computer on your face, you should do it with some style. Today, Google and the Luxottica Group announced a partnership that will see the two companies working together to design stylish and comfortable frames to pair with Google Glass. This follows the the Glass team's own Titanium line of frames launched back in January.
Last month we posted an article examining some very significant changes to the way SD cards could be accessed and how Google's partner OEMs had begun enforcing these restrictions with Android 4.4. There can be no doubt, a lot of people were displeased to see their expandable storage crippled. While some have vowed to never update to KitKat, and others have turned to custom ROMs that don't enforce the same rules, there are still many people that still want to have the best of both worlds. Thanks to SDFix by developer Tod Liebeck, it's possible to restore the SD card to its former glory on a rooted stock ROM in just a few seconds.
Developers have certainly made great use of the Alpha and Beta distribution channels in the Play Store since they became available last summer. There was one glaring oversight: developers could only write a single block of text for the "What's New" section. This often led to changelogs that left beta testers in the dark about changes or confusing regular users with promises of new features and fixes that hadn't yet materialized in the stable channel. Well, this problem ends today. Google has finally opened up support for distinct changelog text for each channel!
There are a lot of challenges to running a small business effectively. Some people just don't have the time, patience, or desire to deal with tasks that aren't part of the core business, like taxes and advertising. To help with the latter, Google created AdWords Express, a simplified version of AdWords that makes advertising simple to set up and track without having to dedicate much effort. Today, Google also launched a handy app to make managing your AdWords Express account from your phone as simple as possible.
We learned yesterday that the Chromecast would finally make its grand entrance to our friends in the UK on March 19. While the recently finalized Google Cast SDK should leave them with plenty of ways to start using it right away, there's one app that definitely needed to take the plunge and add support: BBC's iPlayer. Well, it looks like the BBC had the same thought, because a recent update gives us solid evidence that Chromecast streaming is coming very soon.
Come on everybody, give a big round of applause to the guys behind JuiceSSH for hitting 500k installs! To celebrate the accomplishment, they're giving away free upgrades to the Pro pack for anybody that signs up before March 18th. There's no expiration date and all you have to do is enter the Google account you want to have registered.
It's no mystery that Google has been poking around wearable gadgets for quite some time. The list of projects seems to keep growing as we hear about rumors of an LG-made smartwatch, another prototype watch designed by Motorola, and of course, Google's own Glass. Earlier today at SXSW, Sundar Pichai took to the stage to announce plans to release a brand new SDK for Android-based wearable devices in about two weeks.
One of the fundamental differences between Android and every other mobile operating system is the practically unrestricted capability to run services. Without this freedom we could not enjoy something as powerful as a homescreen widget or as straight-forward as a Twitter client with background updates. Aside from games and very simple utilities, it’s becoming increasingly rare to find an app that doesn’t run a service, at least for a short span of time. However, a bug has snuck into recent versions of Android and it can cripple background processing in some apps and widgets.
Intel's progress into the Android ecosystem hasn't exactly been earth-shattering. The number of high-end and mid-range smartphones equipped with an ATOM CPU still number in the single digits, making the x86 architecture a fairly low priority for app developers. In addition, Intel's emulator images have always lacked support for the Google APIs, leaving developers without the ability to test common staples like Google Maps or push messaging. Fortunately, that issue was recently rectified with KitKat as Google and Intel have finally shipped an x86 system image with Google API support.
After the rollout of XE12 in mid-December and the announcement that January would not bring an update, Glass Explorers have been anxiously awaiting the release of XE14, originally due in February. As it turns out, they were to be disappointed. In a posting to the private Glass Community forum late yesterday, Teresa Z explained that XE14 had missed its February deadline. The reason: it simply wasn't ready to be released. Unfortunately, no details were given with regard to the timeline for the next update.
If you're a fan of source code (and who isn't?), you might be excited to know HTC has released the code for Power To Give. The Power To Give initiative was officially announced a few days ago at MWC with its corresponding app in the Play Store. Today, the HTC Dev portal posted a full source drop of the project, including the app and various platform-specific versions of the server code.
Samsung started pushing an update to KitKat for the Exynos variant of the Galaxy S4 (GT-i9500) less than a week ago. Now, it's time for the Snapdragon-equipped S4 (GT-i9505) to see some action. In addition to the standard Android 4.4.2 feature set, this update will also bring some tweaks to the lockscreen, including a shortcut to the camera and full-screen album art during music playback, an improved landscape-mode keyboard, several bug fixes, and the now standard white KitKat status icons. Just remember, this update will also change the behavior of your SD cards, so be ready.
Update: The seller raised the price up to $199.99. Time to look elsewhere.