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May

[New App] Saurik's Cydia Substrate Allows Any App To Be Modded, Frees Rooted Users From Flashing ROMs

Posted by Bertel King, Jr. in Apps/Games, News

Cydia by developer Saurik has been around the block a few times, beginning in 2008 as a means of installing and modifying software on jailbroken iDevices. A diverse ecosystem has sprung up around the platform, expanding what iOS fans can do on their usually restricted devices. Saurik's Cydia Substrate, a platform for modifying devices without flashing new ROMs, has now made its way over to Android.

Cydia Substrate does not do anything interesting on its own, but developers can use the platform to distribute extensions that modify software without requiring access to source code. Rooted users are free to load these extensions to pimp out their phones without having to go through all the hassle of installing custom ROMs.

Feb

[Update: TWRP Support Added] ROM Manager Adds Support For Delta Downloads

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Development, News

Update: Over the course of the evening, ROM Manager was updated yet again, to version 5.5.2.0 - this time adding support for the TWRP recovery, which is undoubtedly a feature many users have been wanting for some time. Just update ROM Manager in the Play Store and you'll have it.

ROM Manager, one of the most useful and versatile tools available for a consummate ROM-flasher, got an update today, bringing the app up to version 5.5.1.9. The update brings just two changes – a bug fix, and something much more significant: support for delta downloads.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, "delta downloads" are like the Play Store's smart updates, CyanogenMod's built-in update system, or the files users can download with CyanDelta – bite-size update files that only pack the things that have changed since your ROM's last build.

May

[Update] Google Appears To Have Backpedaled On Music Deauthorizations, Now Allowing More Than Four Devices To Be Removed

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

Well, that didn't take long. Earlier today, we reported that Google was limiting the number of devices that can be deauthorized from your Google Music account. The official limit on Google Music devices was 10 active devices, with the proviso that up to 4 devices could be removed from your account every year. As of this moment, the Google Music help page still echoes this, but Google might be back pedaling. We're hearing reports that some users are able to deauthorize devices after being told just this morning that they'd reached their limit. Cameron, who had already reached his limit this morning, tried it out and lookie here:

^{Earlier this morning (left), and around 3:30 EST (right)}

While it's unclear how Google's stance on this has changed (we've reached out to Google for comment), it does seem very clear that some customers are now able to deauthorize devices that, just hours ago, they could not.

May

Google Music Now Only Allows You To Deauthorize Four Devices Per Year

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

The problem with any account-based music streaming service, from a corporate standpoint, is that end users are a shared password away from getting access to free media. Really, who hasn't shared their Netflix account once or twice? In an effort to prevent this kind of abuse, Google Music (likely at the request of the music labels) has instituted a cap on the number of devices you are allowed to deauthorize: Four. Per year. It gets worse, though.

For the uninitiated, here's how it works: you are allowed a maximum of ten devices that can be associated with a single Google Music account.

Nov

Chainfire Does It Again – Mobile ODIN Lets You Flash Firmware Right From Your Device, EverRoot Keeps You Rooted Through It All

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Applications, Development, News

ODIN is a handy, yet powerful tool for Android-powered Samsung devices that allows users to flash firmware updates and kernels using a relatively simple interface.

Looking to channel the power of the ODIN tool into something a bit more, well, mobile, developer Chainfire has released Mobile ODIN, a tool that allows rooted users to flash firmware straight from the app's interface.

What's more, Mobile ODIN Pro comes with a tool called EverRoot, which will ensure that no matter what you're flashing, you'll maintain root privileges, even if you're attempting to update your device with a leaked version of official firmware.

Jun

[AtriX-Mas Continues] XDA Serves Up Gingerbread 2.3.4 For The Motorola ATRIX

Posted by Matt Demers in Atrix 4G (Olympus), Gingerbread 2.3, Motorola, News

As an Atrix owner, these past couple of days have been a bit of a "Christmas in (almost) July" celebration. First, we get confirmation that our bootloader will be unlocked with Android 2.3.4. After that, the phone is placed on sale on Amazon for one measly cent. Then XDA Developers say "screw that; we'll give you an unlock on Froyo!"

Now, in perhaps the biggest gift yet, the genius minds over at XDA have devised a way for users to install a pre-release build of Gingerbread 2.3.4 on their phones.

As with the bootloader unlocks, this flash is only available on the AT&T versions of the Atrix.