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“Stalk” Santa with Google’s Santa Tracker feature and app

As December 25 draws nearer, chances are your children are pretty much excited for when Santa will finally come down the chimney and deliver their Christmas gifts (wink, wink). To stop yourself from going crazy answering how many days it is until Christmas, Google has once again come up with a Santa Tracker, to keep kids occupied until D Day with games, features and even programming lessons as well.



Aside from the tracker, the page also has a calendar where you can see when the features will arrive. They'll get games (Play), videos (Watch) and "lessons" (Learn). Don't worry, the lessons part is actually pretty neat, with the first one being trivia about how other children in other countries celebrate Christmas. And later on this month, there will be lessons for kids (and maybe for you who don't know anything about it) on how to use Javascript and other basic programming info.


So far, aside from the lessons, you have a Rudolph racing game and a video showing people becoming elves when passing through airport security checkpoint. Plus, if your kids access the internet more through mobile, there's also now a Google Santa Tracker app. There's also a way for you to send voice messages for your kids, like reminding them to be nice not naughty or to tell them how much you love them (aaawww).


While this Google Christmas treat is designed for kids, of course this will not stop us from enjoying these games, videos and lessons even though we know that Santa is.....coming to town soon (this post is spoiler free, don't worry). So download the app from the Google Play Store or go and visit the site daily.


tracker6 tracker5 tracker4 tracker3 tracker2


VIA: SlashGear


Samsung Mobile CEO not losing his job

Is Samsung going down? No, not yet. The South Korean giant is just going through a downtime with worst earnings and performance in three years. Its Mobile Communications Business for Samsung Electronics president, J.K. Shin, is still staying despite the rumors that the board would be dropping him because of the bad numbers.



Samsung had an annual reshuffling but most of the key leaders kept their jobs. Consumer electronics head Yoon Boo-keun and semi-conductor business chief Kwon Oh-hyun will remain in their posts. Thanks to the son of group patriarch, Jay Y. Lee, who decided to keep the key leaders in their positions to consolidate his own position and ensure stability according to analysts.


Research firm Chaebul.com’s head Chung Sun-sup said, "With Samsung undergoing major changes in the midst of the succession process, like selling affiliates and listing units, it would have been too unsettling to change leadership.”

"And without a signal that Chairman Lee Kun-hee has stepped back for good, it might have been too much for Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee to change the people his father put in position," Chung Sun-sup added.


Corporate watchdog CEO Score Park Ju-gun also commented that Lee junior might need more time to shore up his position in Samsung. "It was too soon for him to take a big risk at this point," Park exclaimed.


Shin is still doing good. He is considered as one of Samsung Electronic’s major contributor to making it big in the mobile and handset business. Lee June, Samsung Group Senior Vice President, noted that Shin would still be given a chance to turn Samsung’s mobile business around as needed.


So what happened to Samsung’s performance? Aside from Apple working non-stop and harder to bring the iPhone on top of the game, there’s Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi Technology who has been making it big in the industry with low-cost but high-specced smartphones.


VIA: Reuters





PuzzlePhone is Another Android Modular Phone in the Works

puzzle phone modular standard

Over the last two years, there’s been much talk about Google’s Project Ara, a modular phone concept with various hot-swappable hardware components. This means that you can easily replace, let’s say, the CPU, or the battery, or the screen, once they’ve become damaged, old, or slow–without having to purchase a new phone entirely. Now it seems like there may be more than one modular phone concept in the works designed in Nokia’s hometown: PuzzlePhone.


PuzzlePhone is designed by a Finish company called Circular Devices, and offers up their own take on how a modular phone should look like. The design of the device is made up of three modules based on different parts of the human anatomy: the spine, the heart, and the brain. The spine consists of an LCD screen module, as well as the main buttons, speaker and microphone. The heart contains the battery and secondary electronics. And the camera as well as the main electronics such as the CPU is, aptly, located in the brain. Gathering from its promo video, these individual modules are intended to not only be replaceable, but also have some aesthetic and cosmetic customizable. As for the software, Puzzlephone will be running a forked version of Android OS.


Just like Project Ara, Circular Devices hopes to bring this modular device to fruition and ship in the second half of 2015 with a mid-range price tag, having worked on it since 2013. An ambitious concept and timeline, the company purports that Puzzlephone will last you a decade thanks to its design. If you want to find out more, visit the PuzzlePhone website for more information.


[Via The Verge]


The post PuzzlePhone is Another Android Modular Phone in the Works appeared first on xda-developers.


Android distribution ending November: Kitkat sustains growth

Even at the height of the hype for the release of Android 5.0 Lollipop, Kitkat usage continues to grow as the version of Android that is being adopted the most. It might take a while before Lollipop starts to even be in the picture, so Kitkat is still THE go-to version of Android.



From the end of October, Kitkat usage was at 30.2 percent. That has grown by 3.7 percent – to 33.9 – by the end of November. We still expect more growth as people flock to the stores this holiday season and buy more Android devices – most of which will still be sporting a predominant Kitkat flavor.


distribution_nov

Jellybean usage continues to drop, this month to 48.7 percent from just a smidgen over 50 percent last month – we expect that trend to continue. Froyo versions account for less than one percent, while Gingerbread falls below 10 percent for the second consecutive month. ICS usage drops to 7.8 percent from last month’s 8.5.


We also expect that the numbers starting January will include Android Lollipop, as more and more people and manufacturers update their devices to the latest and greatest version. That will not be too long a wait, we presume.


SOURCE: Android Development





LG G3 Oversharpening Fix Just Got Simpler with Aroma Script

G3 oversharpening

A couple of days ago, we reported on a much needed and welcomed fix to the oversharpening issue LG G3 owners have been reporting about their screens. The issue seems to have manifested from the high resolution quad HD display of the device, which on the software side, has a noticeable sharpening effect (much like in software like Photoshop). This, just until recently, could not be removed.


This improved fix comes from the same creator of the originally reported fix, XDA Recognized Developer Skin1980, who explains that the original fix consisted of kernels built from source. This means that they weren’t as good as stock kernels, as evidenced by the issue of a long boot time. Hence, Skin1980 has come up with an AROMA script which seeks to solve iron out any issues the first fix may have had. All you have to do is flash the provided ZIP package through a custom recovery, choose how much sharpening you want on your screen, and reboot. Make sure however, to make a backup of your boot partition just in case something goes wrong.


This improved fix may also be compatible with all kernels, including AOSP, but this hasn’t been tested yet, so Skin1980 does welcome any feedback.


If you’re getting a bit sick of the oversharpening issue, head over to the G3 improved oversharpening fix thread to get started.


The post LG G3 Oversharpening Fix Just Got Simpler with Aroma Script appeared first on xda-developers.


LG G Flex 2 tipped to launch at CES 2015

It's hard to believe, but we are only a month away from the annual CES show in Las Vegas where hoards of new gadgets and electronics launch each year. With the show so close, the rumors are swirling about what products we may see at the show. One of the rumors says that LG will launch the G Flex 2 at CES 2015 next month.



The rumor doesn't bring much in the way of details about the device with word being that the G Flex 2 will be a major update to the original device. A higher resolution plastic-based OLED screen is tipped while the device will become smaller overall.


The original G Flex packed a large 6-inch screen and presumably, the screen size will remind the same. Full HD resolution is expected for the G Flex 2, lower resolution was one of the downsides of the original G Flex. The curved profile that gives the G Flex 2 its name will certainly be carried forward.


That flexible design allows the phone to be bent slightly without causing damage, something that can’t always be said for larger smartphones, I'm looking at you iPhone 6 Plus. With CES 2015 only a month away, we will keep an ear out for more details on the LG G Flex 2.


SOURCE: Android Authority


Heavenstrike Rivals is a free-to-play PVP fighting game

There wasn’t much fanfare about the new Heavenstrike Rivals fighting game that Square Enix released just a few days back that we almost missed it, but we didn’t (ha!). The game is a PVP (peer-vs-peer) style fighting game that allows users to challenge their online friends to fighting battles.



The game lets players pick from more than 230 characters available in the game – and these characters can be trained, they can fight in regular events, and enter in special competitions. Players can regularly fight with friends online so that their characters build up XP.


Of course, the game has AI fighters if you’re not the type to get into online fighting games with your friends – but trust us, the “beating your friends” part is one of the things that makes this game fun. The game’s artwork is designed by Ryoma Ito, the same one who directed the art for Final Fantasy Tactics.




Looking at the visuals, the game certainly looks the part. If you want to try it, the game is a free download from the Google Play Store link below.


DOWNLOAD: Google Play Store





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