About Ryan Whitwam
Ryan is a tech/science writer, skeptic, lover of all things electronic, and Android fan. In his spare time he reads golden-age sci-fi and sleeps, but rarely at the same time. His wife tolerates him as few would. He's the author of a sci-fi novel called The Crooked City, which is available on Amazon and Google Play.
Latest Articles
Getting up to change the temperature on your thermostat is an arduous and unpleasant task, but smart thermostats have freed us from this drudgery. Okay... but now you have to open an app and tap stuff to change the thermostat? That still seems like a lot of work, right? Google Assistant offers the ultimate in convenience (until such time as we have brain-thermostat interfaces), but not all smart thermostats support it. You can add the Ecobee to the list today, though.
Plex v6.9.0 adds Assistant integration on Android TV, transcoding status overlay, and a whole lot more [APK Download]
The Plex team is back with another update to the Android app, complete with its customary giant changelog. The most notable addition this time is support for Assistant on Android TV, but there's a little something for everyone no matter how you're using Plex.
November 2017 platform distribution shows an anemic 0.1% increase for Oreo and a larger bump for Nougat
It was beginning to look like Google wouldn't get around to releasing platform distribution numbers this month, but it just came through. The news, however, isn't great if you've been pulling for Oreo to catch on. After debuting last month at 0.2% market share, Oreo is up just another tenth of a point this month. Meanwhile, Nougat saw a more substantial increase.
There's a pretty solid chance the phone in your pocket is powered by Qualcomm's silicon, and Broadcom wants a piece of that. Broadcom is so interested that it sent an unsolicited acquisition offer to Qualcomm last week. The chip maker acknowledged receipt of the offer, but today it officially announced that it's not interested.
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Google's history with Bluetooth is a bit rocky, but it looks like at least one Bluetooth bug in Android isn't entirely Google's fault. The so-called "phantom call" issue appears to be the result of a third-party app. Namely, Skype Lite. Uninstall that, and you should be all good.
Google announced a lot of things at its October 4th event including the new Pixels and the Pixelbook. However, the Pixel Buds sort of stole the show with that rad universal translator demo. These babies don't come cheap, but those who dropped the requisite $159 will be happy to know orders have started going out.
T-Mobile has been moving aggressively to expand its network over the last few years. A major component of that push has been rolling out new LTE bands. How can you know if a phone has support for those bands? There's now an official T-Mobile app to help you figure it out.
Logitech took a lot of heat over its recent decision to brick all Harmony Link smart remote systems, and it's apparently taking those criticisms to heart. In a new blog post, the company explains how it's going to try and make everything right. Not only does it explain the (somewhat flimsy) reasoning behind killing the Harmony Link, it pledges to replace all affected devices free of charge.
The Mate 9 is yesterday's news, but it's still a pretty good phone. The price is getting hard to argue with, too. After previously dropping to $499, the Mate 9 is now on sale for $399 at various retailers. This is a limited time offer rather than a permanent price drop. So, don't think it over too long.Huawei is on the verge of shipping the Mate 10 in several markets. While there's no US release date yet, it's probably not far off. If you don't need to be on the latest and greatest, the Mate 9 is still a respectable phone, especially at the newly reduced price. It has a Kirin 960 SoC, a 5.9-inch 1080p LCD, 64GB of storage, and a 12/20MP dual camera setup. It runs Android 7.0 right now, but there's an Oreo beta test happening.
T-Mobile offering Nest Secure bundle with discounted subscription to Nest Aware and cellular backup
Nest started shipping the Nest Secure system a few days ago, but there will be another way to get Nest's new security system later this week. T-Mobile has announced it will sell a Nest Secure bundle beginning November 10th. It includes some extra hardware, financing, and a small discount on your monthly service fees.
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Logitech's Harmony remotes have long been one of the most popular ways to pare down the number of remotes floating around your living room. In 2011, Logitech released a neat device called Harmony Link that allowed your smartphone or tablet to act as a home theater remote. Logitech has since moved on to other Harmony products, and it's killing the Harmony Link and not just killing support. The system will stop working on March 16th, 2018.
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Some modifications are rolling out to IFTTT right now that could change the way you use it. There are several new services, but that happens all the time. What's notable is IFTTT has decided to split Google Drive up into its constituent elements, so you may notice some changes to your applets.
The Galaxy Note 8 is a pretty phone, but those of us in the US were stuck picking between the "Midnight Black" and "Orchid Gray" versions. The true looker in Samsung's lineup was the "Deepsea Blue" color variant, which was only sold in other markets. That changes today with news that Samsung is bringing this color to the US. It won't be available everywhere, though.
Twitter has always been limited to 140 characters, which is a holdover from its days as an SMS service. However, earlier this year Twitter started making noise about potentially raising that limit. It began testing an expanded 280 character limit in September, and now that feature is rolling out to everyone. Worried? Twitter says don't sweat it.
Google posts system images and OTA files for Pixel 2 XL November update, plus new builds for Pixel 2 [Update: No KRACK update]
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Google started rolling out its November patches yesterday, but the Pixel 2 XL was conspicuously absent until later in the day. Even when the OTA began rolling out, Google had not posted the files on its developer site. Now, those files are live and ready for sideloading. The Pixel 2 also has some new builds in addition to the ones from yesterday.
[Update: Winners] Win one of 20 free codes for Humble Bundle's Halloween or Herocraft bundle
Halloween may be over, but you can still get your fright on with some spooky games from Humble Bundle. We've got 10 free codes for the current Halloween bundle, which runs for another week. In addition, there are 10 codes up for grabs that unlock the previous Herocraft bundle. That's a total of 20 winners.
Sprint was happy to proclaim a few months back that it would have the exclusive on LG's new V30+. The exclusive didn't last long, though, as US Cellular got the phone a couple weeks later. Now, it's T-Mobile's turn to roll out the roomier version of the V30. This phone launches on November 17th on Tmo, but you might have trouble getting one.
The Galaxy S8 was launched simultaneously on all carriers earlier this year, but AT&T had a few months of exclusivity on the S8 Active. There have been rumors the Active variant would come to other carriers, and now that's official. The Galaxy S8 Active will be on Sprint and T-Mobile later this month.
Google's November system images and OTA files for Nexus and Pixel devices are (mostly) live [Update: Pixel 2 XL OTA rolling out]
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The month is getting underway, and that means it's time for Google to issue its monthly raft of Pixel and Nexus updates. The updates will filter down to phones in the next day or so, but the system images and OTA files for most devices are available now if you want to sideload. There's not a ton new here, but as this is a November patch level, you should have protection from the KRACK vulnerability.
Most of us collect email subscriptions over time, but we seldom get around to digging around in our inboxes to unsubscribe from them. Unroll.me is a service that does the hard work for you. It's been available on the web and iOS for a while, but now the app has come to Android. In just a few taps (and swipes) you can unsubscribe from the junk and keep the valuable stuff.