06
Jun
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Light Flow LED Version 3.8 Adds Support For NinjaSMS, More Hangout Types, Fixes CyanogenMod Bugs

Posted by in Applications, News

Light Flow is the kind of app that best showcases Android's sensibilities: esoteric, amazingly customizable, and downright impossible on other platforms. The popular notification manager for devices with LED indicator lights has just had a big update to version 3.8, most notably bringing support for the popular NinjaSMS texting app. NinjaSMS users, make sure you're running the latest version of both apps, and enable Light Flow in the settings menu.

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Other changes to Light Flow include a tweaked notification system, in which persistent notifications are more, well, persistent. Devices running older versions of Android will have to do without persistent notifications, for reasons which the developer does not list.

11
Apr
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Barnes And Noble Equipping New Nook Simple Touch With Front-Lit E-ink Screen

Posted by in Barnes & Noble, News, Nook

Anyone that has ever spent any length of time with an e-ink based e-reader like the Kindle or Nook can attest to their uselessness in dark spaces. Now it looks like Barnes and Noble is going to be taking a crack at fixing that shortcoming of e-readers in an effort to gain some traction in its battle against Amazon. Leaked signage points to an updated Nook Simple Touch with a front-lit screen, and it might be here sooner than you think.

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Barnes and Noble will apparently be calling the technology GlowLight, and if you don't like the name, tough. The retailer is going to be pushing it as a major feature of its Android-based e-reader.

05
Apr
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[Video] Watch America's Got Talent Finalist Team iLuminate And Labrinth Rock The Socks Off Sony's Xperia S Launch Party

Posted by in News, Sony, Videos, Xperia S (Nozomi)

Team iLuminate, one of the most visually impressive and creative dance troupes who just happened to win be one of the finalists in America's Got Talent last year, recently joined Labrinth in this stunning performance at the Sony Xperia S party. There really isn't much to say here - just watch:

I've been a huge fan of iLuminate, and while this isn't by far their most original performance, it was still quite a treat. Plus, Labrinth isn't so bad either.

As a bonus, here are some videos you absolutely need to watch:

31
Jan
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LG's Oh-So-Secret G-Slate 3D Tablet Shows Up In A Random YouTube Video Yet Again, Shows Off Kickstand (?), Dual Cameras

Posted by in LG, News, Optimus Pad / G-Slate, T-Mobile, Videos

The G-Slate Honeycomb tablet, announced at CES, was never shown off to the public outside of this weak T-Mobile video which just embedded the official Honeycomb intro into a dark G-Slate frame. Last week, the tablet made a brief and fuzzy appearance in a random Korean music video, seemingly confirming previous rumors of a 3D camera.

Today, we are seeing it again in an even more random creation - a homemade video by MysteryGuitarMan. Dual cameras for recording 3D - check, LED flash - check (though only one), what looks to be a kickstand - check (seriously, nobody has thought of putting a kickstand into a tablet before?

20
Dec
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Miffed Over The Lack Of Notification LED On Your Samsung Galaxy S? Check Out BLN (BackLight Notification)

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, Captivate, Development, Fascinate, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant

Take a look around Google and you can see that people are seriously peeved by the lack of notification LED in the Samsung Galaxy S line of devices (excluding the Epic 4G). Developer and i9000 owner Michael R. - better known as neldar on the XDA forums - was annoyed enough by the glaring omission that he decided to come up with a solution. The result: BLN (BackLight Notification). 

The basic idea behind the app is quite simple: as there's no LED on the devices, the logical decision is to light up the soft-touch keys. Doing so isn't quite so simple as the layman might initially think, requiring a modified kernel to be flashed in conjunction with the BLN app.

06
Dec
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Also Missing From The Nexus S: LED Notifications Of Any Kind

Posted by in Google, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung

Talk about adding insult to injury - in addition to the news of the upcoming Google Nexus S missing any kind of external memory slots (microSD, etc), we’ve just found out that this supposed Nexus One successor is also missing LED notifications. What other essential system function is it going to lose next – a phone speaker?

I am excited about Gingerbread, especially everything it is bringing under-the-hood, but the whole Nexus S situation is turning out to be a disaster. Even Reto Meier, the Android engineer who confirmed the absence of any LED notification, is saddened by it:

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We'll update you as we know more.

29
Sep
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Lucky XDA User Gets His T-Mobile G2 Early, Discovers Trackpad LED And Posts Videos

Posted by in Devices By Manufacturer, G2 (Vision), HTC, News

Over at XDA-Developers, Hitorii just got his sweet new T-Mobile G2. Naturally, before even opening the box, he went and told everyone about it. Wouldn't you? I am super jealous, anyway.

He also made a neat new discovery that we had not heard of before: the trackpad has an LED surround, which glows white on new notifications. He wasn't able to get it to glow any other colour, even using apps that do have coloured notifications, so it looks like the LED is not the same as the RGB light of the Nexus One. It's still a nifty looking feature, and must have been a pleasant surprise.

29
Jul
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[App Of The Week] ExtendedControls, A Power Control Widget On Steroids + Giveaway For 50 Licenses!

Posted by in App Reviews, Applications, Contests / Giveaways, Reviews, Videos
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

This contest is now over. We have selected the winners - see if you are one of them towards the bottom of the page.

ExtendedControls - Power Control On Steroids

Do you like Android’s native Power Control widget? Are you unable to go through the day without using it more times than you can count? Do you wish it had a few more buttons (for things like Airplane Mode, or a flashlight) and that they could all fit in one row? Then you’ll probably be very interested in ExtendedControls—an app which takes the wonderful idea that is the Power Control widget, and turns it into a supercharged multi-tool.

30
Jun
Samsung Galaxy S Launch Event Recap, Photos, And Q&A

Our Samsung Galaxy S Launch Event Report, Photos, And Q&A

Posted by in AT&T, Captivate, Epic 4G, Fascinate, News, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Vibrant
Last Updated: July 23rd, 2010

Last night, Samsung officially announced their Galaxy S smartphone family at a swank New York City party after several weeks of blurrycam shots, spec sheets and rumors. Spanning all four major US carriers - Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile - the Galaxy S flavors stand to be a surging juggernaut in the HTC dominated Android world.

Incidentally, I was at the event and had the pleasure of doing a live blogging session, followed by some hands-on time with all the phones.

Galaxy S Line

The Galaxy S line in the US consists of the following devices:

  • Verizon Fascinate
  • T-Mobile Vibrant
  • AT&T Captivate
  • Sprint Epic 4G

All four phones run Samsung’s skinned Android 2.1 OS variant (TouchWiz) and feature Samsung’s new Super AMOLED multi-touch screens.

02
Jun
Forget Using Your HTC EVO 4G's Screen As A Flashlight - Use Its Blinding Dual LED Flash Instead

Forget Using Your HTC EVO 4G's Screen As A Flashlight - Use Its Blinding Dual LED Flash Instead - Also Works With HTC Desire

Posted by in Applications, EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, Tips & Tutorials
Last Updated: June 6th, 2010

The EVO 4G, which is coming out in only 2 days on June 4th, comes with a pretty decent 8MP camera. One of the best things about the camera is that it in turn comes with a shockingly bright for a cell phone dual LED flash. Here it is:

Forget Using Your HTC EVO 4G's Screen As A Flashlight - Use Its Blinding Dual LED Flash Instead

Wouldn't it be perfect if you could use these LEDs on demand, turning the EVO into a bright flashlight? You can do that with some other phones, and EVO's little sister HTC HD2, which has essentially the same body but runs WinMo, even includes a native app to do so.