It’s only been roughly a few days since we’ve been graced with Chrome’s arrival, but it’s all we needed in order to see the first two (of hopefully many Easter Eggs) cracked. The first one involves the number of tabs opened in the browser. If you’ve noticed, there’s no limit of the number of tabs being opened as there are in other web browsers. So what happens when you have 99 tabs opened and want to open the 100th? The 100th turns into a smiley emoticon. Pretty clever there Google.

The second one is a real doozy too. This involves what happens when you look at the page showing all your tabs. You generally can swipe up and down to flip through the stack of tab windows, but when you’ve flipped to the top, the tabs then poke out to highlight they won’t go any farther. However, if you swipe up five times in a row, the whole stack does a animated flip. This is perhaps one of the specific reasons why Chrome has decided to unleash the beta for Android 4.0+ users only— the use of hardware acceleration in order to see the stack do an animated flip. Moreover, when looking at the back of the stack as it flips around, you can then see an embossed Chrome logo. Very cool.

You’ve read about the Easter Eggs now. So why don’t you check out Chrome doing a backflip in the video below? You’ll be glad you did.

Click here to view the embedded video.

source: cnet

Would you look at that? The MIUI 4 ROM is now available for the Amazon Kindle Fire. In addition to the sexy Android 4.0-based UI, the ROM includes full support for both the Android Market and the Amazon App Store. Keep in mind the ROM is a work in progress, so the following features are not working at this time:

• Tethering via USB
• Hardware accelerated graphics
• Static wallpaper
• Themes

MIUI 4 kind of makes that old Kindle Fire feel new again, doesn’t it? If you’re brave, ambitious and love to tinker, be sure to root the Kindle Fire and hit up the MIUI forums at the source link below. Happy ROMing folks!

Click here to view the embedded video.

source: MIUI Forums
via: Phandroid

With the announcement of Google Chrome for Android earlier today – to a resounding cheer of the Android community – Adobe has stepped in to (indirectly, of course) take a little of that excitement away. Standing by their previous announcement, the Adobe Air and Flash team released a statement on their blog stating that they have no intention of developing a flash plugin for the new Chrome for Android browser. Disappointing? You bet.

However I don’t think this signifies anything more than the necessity to inconvenience yourself with switching browsers for Flash content. With HTML 5 dominance and standardization on the horizon, mobile users will soon be forgetting about the Flash Player days anyway. I do believe that this is a pretty premature move though, since Flash content is all over the web and Adobe has yet to release any HTML 5 alternative for viewing it (though they do note that Adobe AIR will be bringing this in the near future). The full statement follows after the break.

Today Google introduced Chrome for Android Beta. As we announced last November, Adobe is no longer developing Flash Player for mobile browsers, and thus Chrome for Android Beta does not support Flash content. Flash Player continues to be supported within the current Android browser. Adobe is committed to innovating with Flash. We’ll continue enabling content developers to produce rich and immersive applications on mobile devices and PCs via Adobe AIR, and through PC browsers via Flash Player. Flash is uniquely positioned for creating and publishing advanced gaming and premium video content, and that is where we’re focusing our future investment. We recently released hardware accelerated support for 2D and 3D graphics for Flash Player on the desktop and will soon bring these same capabilities to mobile apps via AIR. Together with recent advancements in hardware accelerated video decoding, compositing and content protection, these capabilities provide the richest platform for game developers and video publishers to reach over a billion users across PCs and major mobile app stores, including the iTunes App Store and Android Market. At the same time, we’re actively working to move HTML5 forward via our ongoing collaboration with Google and other members of the Web community. Adobe’s proposal for CSS Regions, which allows sophisticated, magazine-like page layouts on the web, is now shipping in the Chrome browser. We’re collaborating with Google and other members of the Web community on a proposal for CSS Shaders to enable cinematic, visual effects via HTML5 and we’re exploring the potential of its Shadow DOM proposal, which would enable the integration of rich user interface components in web pages. We continue to work on ways to make the Web more expressive, drawing on our experience with Flash. Adobe has always been about enabling content developers to produce the richest content possible and we remain committed to that end across platforms and technologies. Bill Howard, Flash Platform, Product Management

Let’s face it, we love our CM9 ROMs and want to keep abreast of the latest news regarding any developments or updates, right? That’s why the developers of the great ROM wanted to give the masses a status and progress update on where the ROM stands and its future. Among the items highlighted is how much Android 4.0 has changed from previous platforms and the various changes requires updated graphics drivers. The relevance of the need for updated graphics drivers is that the drivers are almost always closed-source… meaning they don’t appear until a device or devkit is released with them. They’ve been able to make some workarounds, but are blocked on some subsystems like the camera.

Moreover, the developers decided to start off with a fresh codebase from Google and are forward-porting features from CM7, keying in on design and better integration by cleaning house on some unnecessary features. For starters, they’ve thrown out the CMParts app, instead electing to add the developer’s custom features directly into the main settings. In addition, the developers realized CM7 had many options that weren’t used, so they’re now taking a “just works” approach— meaning it should achieve a good balance between tweakability and a great out-of-the-box experience.

Of course many of you all are thinking “that’s great, but is my device supported??” Here’s the developers response to that:

“Currently, you can compile CM9 for a small number of devices- notably the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Wi-Fi and T-Mobile versions), the HP Touchpad and Motorola Xoom. The next devices to show up will likely be a whole array of Samsung phones (Exynos chipset), with devices based on the Qualcomm MSM8660 and 7×30 chipsets to follow. It’s still unclear if we can provide support for the QSD8x50 family of devices (Nexus One, HTC Evo, etc), but the answer almost always turns out to be “yes” for these kinds of things.”

There you have it folks, the status and progress of the CM9 ROM.

source: CM Blog

For those of you who don’t know Google dropped official “developer device” support for the CDMA (Verizon) version of the Galaxy Nexus last week. While a statement was released explaining why, it apparently required further explanation as it wasn’t officially explained in full as to what this drop actually meant. So without futher hesitation here is what the official Google Group’s post has to say:

“Hi, all! Thanks for all the questions. Here’s a quick omnibus to answer the questions folks have asked…

First, just to be clear this change is only related to AOSP support for these devices — that is, personal custom builds. These are obviously still officially-supported Nexus devices for everyday use, they will receive official software updates, and so on. Similarly, these are still fully-supported development devices for app developers.

Second, as I noted at the top of the thread, Nexus devices will still have unlocked bootloaders, and we’ll continue to make available as many of the closed-source binaries as we can. CDMA support in AOSP has always been more challenging than GSM, and this change is a reflection of that reality.

On that topic, here’s a quick clarification on the core issue. Every device has a number of closed-source software packages included on it. Though Google distributes some of these binaries for Nexus devices for use with AOSP, Google does not own the software. Rather, this software is variously owned by the device manufacturer, the carrier, and their suppliers. We try to get distribution rights for as many of these binaries as possible, but in some cases it is difficult or impossible to obtain these rights. (CDMA specifically has a tricky history of intellectual property.) Combined with the technical issues of needing to sign the apks correctly, this has prevented us from obtaining the distribution rights we need to support these devices in AOSP.

Finally, we will of course continue to work on improving support. If we can resolve these issues, we’ll certainly restore CDMA support to AOSP. In the meantime, we’ve updated our docs to be more accurate about the degree of support.”

For those of you worried that custom ROMs won’t work or that development has been halted this is simply not true. Usually developers take the time to pull the CDMA binaries straight from the device at hand. Even with Google not distributing them this should not be an issue. Given that Google doesn’t have license to use the binaries they can’t fully come out and say that the device is supported. The device will still get timely updates and is officially supported for every day use. Also it will come with an unlockable bootloader so it is still very much a Nexus device. If you want the technical break down you can also check out the link below. While some may still cry foul I feel that this can help the rest us breathe a sigh of relief. What do you think?

CDMA devices in AOSP: technical details – link

source: Google Groups

Well it appears Motorola is growing some stones in regards to its injunction against Apple’s iCloud and MobileMe software. Motorola is apparently looking into receiving 2.25% of Apple’s sales in return for licensing FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms) patents. Right now Apple is currently battling in its use of the Qualcomm-Mot0r0la license agreement for its defense. They are trying to show the court that the patent has already been exhausted, which would safeguard Apple from also being sued by Qualcomm. They just happen to be its supplier and a license already exists between the two. They are also trying to disclose terms of the agreement in order to prove that 2.25% is an exaggerated amount.

They are also asking for documents that contain the agreements between Motorola and other manufacturers, like Ericsson, HTC, LG, and Nokia. Apple hopes that these agreements show the court that 2.25% is exaggerated as was said before and that it exceeds the amount agreed upon with those other OEMs.  The ruling could go either way. One thing is for certain, Apple isn’t steam rolling over Android OEMs anymore in their patent suits.

source: FOSS Patents
via: PocketNow

An FCC application filed by Google, Inc. suggests the possibility of a Google entertainment device is in the works. The application requests permission for a six month window in which this mystery device can be tested at the Google HQ as well as in Google employees’ homes in four different cities: Mountain View CA, Los Angeles CA, Cambridge MA, and New York, NY. The description of the device and purpose of operation describes what sounds similar to Android @Home, which was announced at last years Google I/O. Excerpt from the application after the break.

Please explain in the area below why an STA is necessary:

Google is developing an entertainment device that requires testing outside the laboratory environment. The device is in the prototyping phase and will be modified prior to final compliance testing.

Please explain the purpose of operation:

Testing throughput and stability of home WiFi networks using an entertainment device. Testing will include functional testing of all subsystems, including WiFi and Bluetooth radio. Users will connect their device to home WiFi networks and use Bluetooth to connect to other home electronics equipment. This line of testing will reveal real world engineering issues and reliability of networks. The device utilizes a standard WiFi/Bluetooth module, and the planned testing is not directed at evaluating the radio frequency characteristics of the module (which are known), but rather at the throughput and stability of the home WiFi networks that will support the device, as well as the basic functionality of the device. From this testing we hope to modify the design in order to maximize product robustness and user experience. Utilizing the requested number of units will allow testing of real world network performance and its impact on applications running on the device, so that any problems can be discovered and addressed promptly. All devices will be used by and registered to specific individuals (all Google employees), and Google will maintain a record of each device, so that they can be easily recalled at any time during testing and when testing is complete. The devices will be tested at Google facilities and within employees residences in the following areas: Mountain View, CA: 37.421265 N, -122.085314 W; Los Angeles, CA: 33.995388 N, -118.477035 W; Cambridge, MA: 42.362754 N, -71.088023 W; and New York, NY: 40.741872 N, -74.004579 W.

You can read the rest of the technical details of the application by visiting the source link below. If it isn’t Android @Home, what could Google possibly be cooking up now?

Source: FCC Application

This is a big day for ROM developers everywhere as Xiaomi, a Chinese technology company, has open sourced its MIUI ROM for Android. For those that live under a rock, MIUI gives Android an iOS flair in both look and feel and is based on both Android 2.3.7 and CyanogenMod 7 sources. MIUI 4 (based on Ice Cream Sandwich) is even being toted as extremely stable on the Galaxy S II. You can check out our review on an earlier version here. It’s even safe to say that it’s one of the more popular ROMs out there.

If you are wanting to take a stab at the code you can swing on over to the Github where you will find several application and ROM source codes uploaded. While it may not be all of them you can certainly bet we’ll see more source codes pop up in the near future. Enjoy!

- Compass
- File Explorer
- Notes
- Sound Recorder

source: MIUIAndroid 

While most of us aren’t surprised by this move, I’m certainly not, Google has dropped official support for the CDMA (Verizon) Galaxy Nexus as a developer device. They did the same for the LTE Xoom and Nexus S 4G as well. At first folks thought was in regards to Google Wallet not being officially supported by Verizon however it was for a more in depth reason. It was first discovered by Droid-Life earlier this afternoon and while everyone was in a buzz and crying foul about the change,  what we needed to do was wait.  After many tech blogs reached out for comment, Dan Morril, an Android engineer had this to say:

Hello! This is a quick clarification about support for CDMA devices.

For various technical reasons, recent CDMA Android devices implement core telephony functionality in .apk files provided in binary form by the carriers. To function correctly, these .apk files must be signed by the so-called “platform” key. However, when an individual creates a custom build from the AOSP source code, they don’t use the same signing key as these CDMA flies were signed with.

The result is that these files don’t work properly, and pure AOSP builds running on these devices can’t place calls, access mobile data, and so on. Because we aim to make sure that we are as clear as possible about the degree of support that devices have, we updated the docs over at source.android.com to reflect this reality.

We will still make available as many as possible of the closed-source binaries for these devices, and Nexus devices will continue to have unlockable bootloaders. And, of course, GSM/HSPA+ devices are still supported, as are any other devices we’re able to support. We’ve simply updated the documentation to be clearer about the current extent of CDMA support.

We are of course always working to improve support, and we’ll keep everyone updated as we make improvements. Thanks as always for your interest in AOSP!

- Dan

Well you have to give it to Apple. If anything, they are relentless. Rather than admit defeat in regards to their recent lawsuit in Australia against Samsung being overturned they’ve come at the Korean company a second time. This time, Apple is expanding its lawsuit to inclue 278 claims that spans across 22 patents and covers 10 new products.

This news was reported by The Australian and according to them, Apple has widened its claims in New South Wales Federal Court today. Samsung’s lead barrister confirmed that Apple expanded its patent lawsuit “enormously” from the three patents regarding features that were packed in the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Also the barrister, Neil Young, states that Samsung was only given a day’s notice of Apple’s legal bid against Samsung being amended to include over 200 claims against smartphones and tablets that haven’t even been seen in the country. Given the short notice Samsung won’t even be able file a defense against Apple until mid-May. 

Samsung is looking to turn the tables on Apple in attempts to ban the iPhone 4S because of Apple’s infringement of their 3G patents. They are requesting that the courts split the hearing into two parts in order to speed up the process and get their case heard later in February. Of course Apple is opposing this stating that the case would “become chaotic with witnesses being cross-examined while still preparing evidence for the second component of the case”.

In regards to ruling on the patent complaints, Justice Bennett has voiced her eagerness in settling both matters before the year is done. This is to match the pace of the cases in other courts across the globe and both companies are to deliver plans for hearing dates next week. So keep it locked here as we will surely update you on this never ending struggle between the two tech giants. As we saw another Apple defeat in Germany yesterday, things are certain to heat up!

source: The Australian
via: TNW