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Cyanogen Inc. rebrands, now has ‘screw’ logo

What is Cyanogen? As the company grows, they’ve likely found themselves asking the same questions. After incorporating last year, making themselves Cyanogen Inc., many felt they would abandon the open source nature that got them where they were — but they never did. As they gain official hardware partners and diversify, the company has rebranded themselves anew, with slight tweaks to the color scheme in each iteration.




Three guiding principles still shape CyanogenMod: Customization, Security, Open Source. Saying their new logo and branding is meant to harken back to the “tightening of screws as you put together a project”, Cyanogen is keeping all three behaviors front and center.


And as for Cid? He’s still around, with Cyanogen noting he’ll be involved int he Open Source side of the equation. Like any good Open Source project, Cyanogen notes “Cid belongs to the community, he is yours, not the company’s”.


The rebranding effort is meant to guide the company into the future, and evoke feelings of strength and trust. Not only do they look really cool, they offer Cyanogen a way to branch out, diversify, and keep those efforts under one umbrella. It seems like that’s exactly what they’re doing as they look to build their mobile OS and brand from the ground up.


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Source: Cyanogen Inc.





Nest halts sale of smoke detector amidst safety concern

Nest has halted sale of their smoke alarms amidst fears it could be malfunctioning. A feature allowing users to wave at the device to stop an alarm from sounding is the culprit here, with Nest finding the issue internally. Though it’s not clear if the problem exists for users, Nest has remotely disabled the feature for the time being.




Though Nest says the issue happens “unintentionally”, it’s a major safety concern nonetheless. In a statement, Nest had the following to say:



During recent laboratory testing of the Nest Protect smoke alarm, we observed a unique combination of circumstances that caused us to question whether the Nest Wave (a feature that enables you to turn off your alarm with a wave of the hand) could be unintentionally activated. This could delay an alarm going off if there was a real fire. We identified this problem ourselves and are not aware of any customers who have experienced this, but the fact that it could even potentially happen is extremely important to me and I want to address it immediately.



This also calls into question concerns others have about connected homes, in which a device and features can be remotely controlled. The device is polarizing for its price, and these instances will only serve to perpetuate the polarity of the product. To their credit, Nest has also stopped sale of the devices until a successful patch has been implemented.


Source: Nest





Facebook Messenger gets WiFi calling feature in update

An update to Facebook Messenger is rolling out to users right now, offering a few interesting tweaks you may want to take advantage of. We previously mentioned some of the group chatting features, but this update also offers WiFi calling. That’s right, Facebook is now offering VoIP.




For Android, this may be the largest chat service to offer WiFi calling. With about one billion users, Facebook likely has someone you speak to regularly available for chat. This is a service not yet available for the chat service of note for Android in Hangouts.


The gorup chatting feature is pretty simple, in that it offers you the opportunity to create groups for a chat, then pin them to a separate page within the app. You can even quiet the chat for periods of time, which is useful for those noisy members who you just wish would stop. It also keeps group chats tucked away form individual ones,offering a nice organizational twist.


Messenger is available via the Play Store now, with the update rolling out incrementally. Now that Facebook Messenger has a beta program, we’re likely to see rapid improvement of the app, with these changes being among the first major features added since inception.





Vine updated to allow for direct video messages

Vine updated their service today to afford us the luxury of sending short video messages directly to each other. The service has been made available for Vine users to send messages to non-Viners as well, but comes with a few security features and profile tweaks.




Your inbox will be separated into two categories: friends and other. Friends are for those you follow on Twitter, Vine, or are in your address book, while “other” is really just anyone else who sends a message. Profiles are also getting a color options.


To thwart odd messages or advertorial content being pushed to you, Vine ahs a few features implemented on launch. You can choose to have just your friends message you, which should take care of some strange, unknown folk sending you creepy video messages. If that’s not enough, you can still choose to block individual users from sending a direct video message.


Vine made a big splash on launch, but the form factor leaves many users wanting. Six seconds isn’t a long time, and for any kind of direct video message, it’s likely inadequate. We’ll see how this takes off, but we’re not holding our breath that this is the silver bullet for Vine. You can send video to those not using Vine, but that’s likely meant as a way to entice people to join. Socially, Vine also falls short. Sending a message to multiple recipients is available, but they’ll only see their response.


Source: Vine





White House takes issue with David Ortiz’s presidential selfie

David Ortiz of the Red Sox recently snapped a selfie with President Barack Obama. The initial moment seemed spontaneous enough, however judging from the quick retweets and follow-up statements from Samsung -- it seems this may not have been nearly as spontaneous as originally thought. Basically, there appear to be some similarities to the selfie Ellen DeGeneres took with other celebrities during the Oscars. Something reminiscent of a staged event.



Ortiz shared the image on Twitter after he took it, thanking the President for the selfie, and noting how it was an honor. Samsung then jumped in with mention about how they were "thrilled to see the special, historic moment David Ortiz captured with his Galaxy Note 3 during his White House visit." Samsung also touched on how "it was an honor to help him" capture that moment.


Those statements by themselves could be interpreted as Samsung just getting lucky that Ortiz happened to be carrying a Galaxy Note 3. But there is more going on here. Ortiz recently signed a deal with Samsung. This is where the White House seems to be taking issue with the image. White House press secretary Jay Carney said they object to the commercial use of the image.


Carney mentioned the White House rule about using the president likeness for commercial purposes. Ortiz did later say the selfie was not part of any deal. Samsung also chimed in with a comment about how they "worked with David and the team on how to share images with fans" but that they "didn't know what if or what he would be able to capture using his Note 3."


Bottom line here, it looks like Samsung has found themselves in the middle of another controversy -- which strangely, again centers around a selfie.


SOURCE: WSJ, Boston Globe, Twitter @SamsungMobileUS


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E.U. lawmakers phasing-out roaming charges by end of 2015

Taking your favorite Android phone on a tour around Europe is set to get a whole lot more affordable, with the European Parliament giving initial approval to legislation limiting roaming fees for voice, SMS, and data across the EU. The vote on the draft also includes a nod to net neutrality, with lawmakers voting to include rules that would prevent internet providers from blocking or slowing Skype or other VoIP services.



ISPs would "still be able to offer specialized services of higher quality" the EU clarifies, including video-on-demand and "business-critical data-intensive 'cloud' (data storage) applications." However, providing those services would not be allowed to have a knock-on slowing affect on others.


In fact, despite that flexibility, ISPs would have even fewer reasons to limit connection speed under the modified rules, which saw ministers pare back some from the "OK" list. In effect, deliberate slowing or blocking would only be allowed in order to enforce a court order, to preserve network security, or to prevent temporary network congestion.



"MEPs underline that internet access should be provided in accordance with the principle of "net neutrality", which means that all internet traffic is treated equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference, independently of its sender, recipient, type, content, device, service or application"



As for roaming charges, the EU wants any extra fees for placing a call, sending a text message, or accessing the internet to be done away with as of December 15th, 2015. That would apply to any cellphone account used in another European member state (though not, of course, to a device with North American service taken to Europe).


Capped charges could still be leveled if roaming services "are abused" it's suggested, but only in exceptional circumstances.


The draft "telecoms package" and roaming fee abolishment will now go forward to the next Parliament, with a new batch of MEPs expected to be elected in May 2014.


Cross-European parity on tech equipment and services has been a key push by the EC over the past years, also affecting how smartphones and cellphones are charged. Last month, the Parliament backed a universal charger connecting, opting for microUSB.


LG expected to sell 60 million device in Q2 2014

LG, now the third largest OEM in the US according to some metrics, has been forecasted for big sales figures in Q2 2014. An analyst firm is noting LG should end up selling roughly 15 million devices over the next three months, which puts them just ahead of their current pace. Though flagship devices like the G2 are popular, they aren’t what will drive sales.




The bulk of LG’s shipments are said to be mid-range devices; those from their F and L lineup. The shrunken Gs mini should also do well, but LG’s sales bulk will come from their lower end offerings. Those devices should also do well in emerging markets, where price is a much larger concern than it is stateside.


The analysts at Mirae Asset Securities Company also suggest that LG will sell around 60 million devices by the end of the year. This would indicate that tehy see a continued upward trend in sales for LG, as 15 million devices for Q2 puts them at roughly 5 million per month. LG currently sells about 4.4 million devices monthly, so an additional uptick over the lsat half of 2014 would be necessary to reach that 60 million device benchmark.


Though increasing in popularity, LG still takes losses quarterly. They’ve decreased the loss margin, but it’s still there for the mobile division. We’re not sure how their Android Wear device will affect these numbers, or if the analyst firm even took them into consideration.


Via: ZDNet





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