A fresh new Android 4.4 KitKat build is available for the all Nexus 7 models, the recently released KRT16S firmware version.
A few days ago, Google rolled out KitKat version KRT16S to address several bugs including an encryption bug that could have affected devices in the future – apparently devices would have remained undecryptable in the unfortunate even the users entered the wrong password after an update...
Read the full story here... Source: Android Authoity
Apple today announced the winner of its "50 Billion App Countdown" promotion that saw the company pass that milestone on Wednesday afternoon.
Word game Say the Same Thing from the band OK Go was the milestone download, with Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio making the winning download. Ashmore will will receive an iTunes Gift Card worth US$10,000. For the first time, Apple also gave the fifty downloaders after the big winner US$500 iTunes Gift Cards.
Apple ran similar promotions for ten billion and twenty-five billion downloads, in January 2011 and March 2012 respectively.
The App Store took just under five years to hit the fifty billion download mark, though the rate of downloads has been accelerating and is now at more than 20 billion app downloads per year.
Source: Mac Rumours
MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Facebook is releasing a new version of Facebook Home, the social network's software suite for Android, the company announced at its headquarters here Thursday.
The new product will go live on Google Play at 1 p.m. Thursday as an update to the Facebook Android app, but users probably won't see it till about 3 p.m., Facebook said.
Facebook VP of Engineering Cory Ondrejka said the company is planning on several improvements to the product in the coming weeks, but today's update will have bug fixes. Also, for any Android devices that don't support Home, Facebook won't block users who want to transfer Home -- in a process called sideloading -- from supported devices. More than 10,000 people were using this method to get Home on unsupported devices shortly after Home launched, Facebook said...
Read the full story here. Source: CNET
Let's say you bought a pair of cartridge-based games to go with your Nintendo 3DS, but you're embracing our all-digital future and want to replace them with downloadable copies. You won't have to toss all your game progress at the same time: a newly available 3DS firmware update includes a tool to move save files from a retail copy to its downloadable version. The transfer is strictly one-way, though, so there's no falling back for gaming Luddites. Nintendo offers a bonus if you're fully in step with the online world, though -- background downloads can now start just by closing the lid while the eShop is running. Both elements of the update are simple on the surface, but they could go a long way in helping us ditch a legacy of plastic game libraries.
[Source: Engadget]
Google CEO Larry Page published a letter earlier today alerting the world that Andy Rubin, the company’s head of Android, is stepping down. There was a bit of golden information in that letter, however.
Page also noted that more than 60 manufacturers currently sell devices powered by Google’s mobile operating system, and that since the OS launched there have been more than 750 million Android devices activated around the globe. That figure includes tablets, smartphones and other connected devices. Page said that consumers have downloaded more than 25 billion apps from Google Play, too.
Just over a year ago Google’s Andy Rubin said that there were more than 300 million Android devices activated and that 850,000 devices were being activated daily. That means the figure has since doubled in just over a year.
[Source: TechnoBuffalo]
The Wall Street Journal has posted an article covering the meteoric rise of the App Store, from its inception just a few years ago to its current state of almost $25 billion in annual sales. But while the App Store is growing like crazy, it's also presenting more problems for developers as well: Finding a significant crowd of customers is getting tougher and tougher, and just making a name for yourself in such a huge market isn't always easy.
And it doesn't help that customers are flying through apps extremely quickly. Mobile analytics firm Flurry tells the WSJ that while users do now spend about two hours a day on apps, the apps they use don't stick around for very long. About 63% of the apps in use today weren't used daily a year ago, and most customers focus on about eight apps at a time, according to the research. That makes sense: In such a huge market, with so many apps to try, why focus on just a few?
But it also means that the app market is going to have to mature. The WSJ cites ESPN for shuttering one of its apps while focusing on the more popular Scorecenter utility, and they also mention Shazam, an app that has found all sorts of functionality (and more revenue streams) as it has matured in the App Store. Apple's App Store marketplace has gone from zero to billions in just the past few years, and no one's got an exact road map for where it's headed next.
[Source: TUAW]
Well that was fast. Canonical, the parent company behind Ubuntu, recently announced itsintentions to provide Ubuntu for tablets, in addition to its goal to launch Ubuntu smartphones in 2014. Good news, tinkerers: the developer preview of Ubuntu Touch is now available for download.
Ubuntu promises the software, which is available for the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, will provide support for WiFi, GSM network connections, functional cameras and the shell and core applications needed to experience the software in full. You’ll need to have some coding chops to get started, however, since there are a few commands required. You also have to make sure your device is unlocked so that Ubuntu can access the bootloader.
Thankfully, if you don’t dig the experience and want Android back, it’s as easy as downloading the factory image and reflashing it to your device. If you run into troubles along the way, you can join the company’s mailing list or head over to its IRC channel at irc.freenode.net and joining the #ubuntu-phone channel.
[Source: TechnoBuffalo]
We've heard some hardware numbers, but now we're hearing more how thePlayStation 4 will actually work in practice. Alongside connections to other Sony hardware, the highlight that caught our attention was that you'll be able to leap back into your game by pressing the power button. From off. Better still, there's also a secondary custom chip for uploads and download and with that, the PS4 will let you play your new titles as you download them. The rest of the game will continue to be piped into that ample hard drive. You can also share (with that new button) 10 seconds of video, trimming and uploading your own gaming highlights to your buddies -- heck, you can even stream it, with allies 'tagging' in and taking over the controller.
In fact Sony will make social networks far more integrated, with "real people", photos and companion mobile apps to augment this. In fact you'll be able to browse video remotely from the likes of your smartphone, tablet or Vita. The system itself will also learn your preferences and download content it reckons you'll like. Personalization is shaping up to be a big focus for Sony.
[Source: Engadget]
Twitter's been rolling out a number of changes lately, many resulting in negative reactions, but it looks like one feature long-requested by users is just around the corner: the ability to download all of your past tweets. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo spoke today at a conference for the Online News Association, and was asked when the ability would be coming to Twitter. According to both Alex Howard and First Post, Costolo replied that it would be arriving by the end of the year.