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Howdy, all, I'm Michael. If you've been reading Android Police for a long time, you might recognize me: I was part of the team between 2012 and 2017. I used to handle AP's weekly app and game roundups. Now I'm back as the site's News Editor.I'm more or less the same flavor of nerdy as you'll find in any tech writer circle. I've been an avid Android user since I picked up a Nexus One on launch day, and I still tinker around with a custom ROM or two. (Once I upgraded to a new build of CyanogenMod on the CES show floor.) I've also been getting more into Chromebooks lately, swapping between the Lenovo Duet and the Pixel Slate, because I have a soft spot for doomed Google tablets. My daily driver at the moment is a Pixel 5.
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I've worked at Android Police for over a decade now, and I'm proud of the team we've built here during those years (including members both current and former). AP has taken great care of me, and it's a place I look forward to working every day. Once again, we're looking to grow that team, and are hiring for a number of roles. I'll let the listings do the rest of the talking.
Taiwan's Pokémon GO Grandpa is back with 64 phones mounted on his bike
Forget the game, watch where you're going!
The legendary Pokémon GO Grandpa — known for biking the streets of New Taipei City, Taiwan, with his "peacock of phones" — has gone public with his biggest, baddest rig yet. In 2018, he had 15 phones mounted to his handlebar. This year, he's up to 64.
How to watch classic (and recent) NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB games for free
Major sports leagues offer up free content during the coronavirus hiatus
The coronavirus pandemic has caused tons of disruption to many industries across the globe, and major professional sports are no different. Public health is the number one priority right now, so the NBA, NHL, and MLB are all suspended for the time being while the US is undergoing a period of self-isolation and social distancing and the NFL is lucky to be in its off-season. This couldn't come at a worse time for sports fans who are stuck at home with little to do, but thankfully the big four sports have made a bunch of classic content free to watch.
Stressful, but necessary: How to follow coronavirus news (while avoiding fake news) without going crazy
Getting accurate, timely news is critical, but avoiding bad information is even more important
First off, I know: Android Police is a website about Android, and Google, and mobile technology. But it's also a website where millions of people get fast, up-to-the-minute news about those topics, and that's a reputation we've come to pride ourselves on over the years. When it comes to gathering the news and reporting the facts, we have a decade of experience as an organization, and today I thought we'd do a little community service in bringing that skillset to bear in a way that could be useful during these very unusual (and kind of scary) times.
You've been asking us for a dark theme for a long time, and now it's finally here. Android Police now has a dark mode, complete with an automatic mode and support for our AMP site!
We've been doing a weekly Q&A show on Twitch for a while now, where we hang out with readers and discuss recent news in technology in a more laid-back fashion than the podcast. However, all good things must come to an end, and this will be the last Q&A show. That doesn't mean we won't have fun, though!
The Pixel 4a doesn’t need 5G, you probably don’t care about Motorola phones that aren’t the Razr, and get ready for the ultimate Chinese app store app collection…. Semicolon… tech podcast producer Adam Doud joins us on the Android Police Podcast.
The spirit of DJ Roomba lives on in 2019. Although this one might not swear, enterprising developer Eddie Zhang has found a way to install an open-source Spotify client on his first-gen Xiaomi robotic vacuum cleaner. Thanks to the slightly garbage built-in speaker, an off-brand DJ Roomba 2.0 was born.
Android Police has grown a lot in the nine-plus years I've been here, and this year will mark a decade the site itself has been around. It's hard to believe where we are now compared to then, having since launched APK Mirror, completely redesigned the site, and introduced a number of new faces on the team. People I hired years ago - like Corbin, Ryne, Scott, and Richard - are still "the new guys" in my mind, even though they're all people I've come to trust intrinsically to do the work we rely on here every day. And that work isn't shrinking - it's growing, a lot.
Accelerated Mobile Pages, or 'AMP' for short, is a project Google has been working on for a few years that makes it easier for sites to create faster mobile experiences. You've probably seen most of your favorite sites add support for AMP over the past year or two, and now you can count Android Police (your favorite site, obviously) among them!
Google has been shaken by a couple of scandals lately. Through pressure from its employees, it had to let go of a custom censored search engine for China, and when the world got to know how poorly the company handled sexual harassment, workers orchestrated a global walkout to make their executives aware how unhappy they were with the situation. As a consequence, Google appears to be on the way to become a less open company, as an internal email made the rounds last Thursday where employees are threatened to be fired when they access classified information.
There's nothing like the sinking feeling of seeing your smartphone fall into the sea, with no hope of ever retrieving it. One moment you were happy taking photos on your boat cruise and the next, plonk! Forever gone. Unless you're the luckiest person on the face of the planet and a beluga whale swoops in, grabs your phone, and brings it back up to you, grins widely, and asks for nothing but a few gentle pets. This whale is the gooddest boy/girl ever.
We're primarily an Android blog, but we also cover plenty of smart home gadgets for our readers. And today, we've got something special. Some guy on the internet (Michael Reeves over on YouTube) tweaked a Roomba to swear when it runs into things stuff shit.
Microsoft's stock price rose this week, briefly seeing the company join the pantheon of trillion-dollar tech giants. MSFT opened at $121.05 Monday morning and peaked at $125.76 Tuesday, nudging the company's valuation over the $1 trillion mark. The price has since fallen.
We launched a Twitch channel last year as the new home of the Android Police Podcast. Since then, we've also launched a second weekly show, where we answer questions and discuss topics with live viewers. The Twitch channel is an affiliate, meaning you can support our live content with Twitch subscriptions - at no cost to yourself, if you have Amazon Prime.
On Google Maps, there are three map type options: Default; Terrain, which shows an approximation of the land's texture; and Satellite, which features real-life aerial imagery. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Maps co-creator Bret Taylor explained how the Maps team prevented Satellite view from shipping with a very silly name: Bird Mode.
Today is Valentine's Day, and whether you are single or in a relationship, everyone loves the hilarious e-cards that are posted everywhere around this time of year. Last year we had some fun making Android-themed cards, and this year, we've got more for you.
Ever since Marty McFly put on those self-lacing trainers in Back to the Future Part II, we've been waiting for them to become a reality. Nike's first attempt at such a sneaker in 2016 was the HyperAdapt 1.0, which laced automatically when you put your feet in. The 2019 Nike Adapt BB is the next generation.