Android - page 96

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac? Who cares? Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on with the competition. You know what they say: the best way to beat the enemy is to know which way they’re moving!

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac? Who cares? Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on with the competition. You know what they say: the best way to beat the enemy is to know which way they’re moving!/em>

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

With CES in full effect, it’s been an extremely busy couple of days for Android. In fact, I was so absorbed in CES news, I forgot to post yesterday’s Android roundup (I bet you thought it was going to go away). Good news is we’re still here, and for anyone interested in what has been going on in the world of Android, we encourage you to head over to Cult of Android. Here’s a recap of some of the news-making headlines today.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — Toshiba’s Excite X10, a tablet the company calls the world’s lightest and thinnest, is finally landing on U.S. shores, and we got our first hands-on experience with it at CES last night as Toshiba readies to release it here in a few months.

Laaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen, welcome to Friday Night Fights, a new series of weekly deathmatches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?

This week’s topic is one personal to both iOS and Android fans alike: is Samsung really copying Apple’s designs for its Galaxy series of Android smartphones and tablets? Samsung and Apple are brawling it out on pretty much every continent on Earth trying to get to the bottom of this issue, so it’s only fitting that we try to settle this one in the ring too.

In one corner, we have the 900 pound gorilla, Cult of Mac; in the opposite corner, wearing the green trunks, we have the plucky upstart, Cult of Android!

Place your bets, gentlemen! This is going be a bloody one.

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

There’s nothing like a family fight and one may be brewing between Android creator Google and the Kindle Fire, one of the few Android-based tablets able to lay a finger on the iPad’s overwhelming success. Although unconfirmed, a report suggests the Internet giant is planning to unveil its own tablet in early 2012 that could undercut Amazon’s price advantage. It brings tears of joy to the eyes of Apple fans.

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

The Android Market saw staggering growth in 2011 and thanks to some tracking done by Distimo, we have a better look at how the numbers play out in comparison to Android’s top competitor Apple. According to Distimo, the Android Market has now reached over 400,000 apps, which is still 100K shy of Apple’s 500K+ active apps available according to 148apps metrics. While Android still trails in overall apps, it’s really the rate at which it’s growing that is impressive.

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

I have some good news for all you Verizon customers who were as upset as I was over the whole “convenience” fee fiasco. Verizon has decided to jump ship on the whole “convenience” fee idea after receiving immense backlash from customers as well as oodles of bad press (probably the bad press that did it). At one point it even looked as if the FCC was going to get involved, and for good reason: Verizon was simply trying to nickel and dime its customers. It’s not often we get to score one for the good guys, and this news has certainly put a smile on my face. Kudos to everyone who voiced their opinions, eventually forcing Verizon to release the following statement:

Good ol’ Verizon, always passing the savings onto its customers. If you didn’t catch the sarcasm in that last statement, prepare yourselves for disappointment. Verizon apparently believes you should be charged a “convenience” fee for paying your bill. Yea, I know — what a convenience it is to shell out hundreds of dollars to a company that has three outages in one month. Okay, so the “convenience” fee really only applies to anyone trying to pay their bill online or over the phone with any method other than electronic check. You’re also safe from being charged a fee if you are enrolled in AutoPay.

Christmas day has historically been a record shattering day in terms of new device activations and app downloads. This Christmas was no different according to these recent stats published by Flurry Analytics. Using a baseline average taken from the first 20 days of December, Flurry showed that new Android and iOS device activations rose 353% on Christmas day. While averaging around 1.5 million activations during the month of December, activations jumped to more than 6.8 million on Christmas day. Ho, ho, ho — ly rising reindeer! That’s a staggering increase and to get a better feel for just how impressive those numbers are, only 2.8 million devices were activated last Christmas day.

With CES only a few weeks away, we’re preparing ourselves for what is surely going to be an Android extravaganza. With Android activations surpassing 700,000 devices per day, it would be unwise for any company to ignore its strong market presence. This leads us to believe CES 2012 will be chock full of Android goodness. We’re going to dive into a few products and announcements we expect to see this year, along with a few things we’re keeping our fingers crossed about.

Some people’s affinity for Angry Birds goes way beyond that of normal standards, as well as some people’s love for Christmas lights (Clark Griswold). The person who made this video seems to suffer from both. Introducing the Angry Birds Christmas light game.

Last night, Conan and Team Coco decided to roast (literally) the Kindle Fire for its various customer complaints. We’re not going to comment on the merits of such claims but we can certainly bask in the humor and wit of Team Coco. Watch the video after the break. Enjoy!

The NFL has announced that NBC’s broadcasts of wild card Saturday, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl will be available online as well as via Verizon’s NFL Mobile app. This will mark the first time said events were streamed through a mobile platform and it comes as no surprise that their partner Verizon gets the honor. Here’s what Hans Shroeder, NFL senior vice president of media strategy and development had to say about the news:

If you’ve been looking to get some great music at a ridiculous price, now’s the time. Google Music has kicked off their “Music Blowout Sale,” discounting over half a million albums to $4.99 and over ten million tracks for only $.49! Now that’s a deal worth listening to. I’ve already perused over a bunch of discounted tracks and I’ve found a plethora of alternative classics from Radiohead, Beck, and Nirvana.

The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled in favor of Apple and declared a ban on the import of many HTC devices in the US, including flagship phones like the Sprint Evo 4G and Verizon Droid Incredible. The ruling would effectively end HTC’s business in the US.

After a lengthy back-and-forth between the two companies, the ITC has ruled that HTC infringes on two of Apple’s patents. Should the President of the United States decide to let the decision pass through, the ban will be put into effect on April 19, 2012. HTC plans to implement “alternate solutions” to combat the ruling.

According to a report from App Data, Facebook for Android garners more daily users than Facebook for iPhone.  Android’s very own Facebook app boasts 58.8 million daily active users while Facebook for iPhone attracts 57.6 million.

Based on App Data’s projections, the Android adoption of Facebook’s app is accelerating faster than iPhone user adoption.

Remember the Motorola Xoom tablet, Google’s first attempt to compete against Apple’s iPad? It was only a bad dream. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is now promising a purely Android tablet “of the highest quality” in six months.

Earlier this month, Orbotix apologized for dropped the ball (all puns intended) on their shipment deadline of pre-holiday arrival. They blamed themselves entirely and promised to “ramp up” production. Thankfully they’ve gotten the ball moving and have rolled out their first batch of Spheros. We’re not entirely sure how many Spheros have gone out but some of you may have the opportunity to play with your balls right before for Christmas.

It isn’t easy being Android when you’re a fugly green humanoid robot and mad as hell. These protesters braved ridicule by dressing themselves as Google’s green mascot to bring attention to a thorny tech issue.

A new corporate accountability consumer group called SumOfUs wants Google to exit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. If the CoC sounds about as uncontroversial as Main Street and apple pie, think again.

The Android-clad activists want the Mountain View, California tech colossus to pull out of the Chamber, for a number of reasons, including because the CoC “aggressively supports” SOPA.