HTC One in Red!

At the press conference today the press shots of the HTC One only had 2 color options, the black and the silver.

Well if you head over to http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one/#overview you will see the third color option which is red.

 






It looks like HTC has a liking for the color red and I am pretty sure the red One will sell like hot cakes if it is ever released.

SOPA app for android. Fight SOPA with the boycott SOPA app

As alot of you know today is "Blackout SOPA" day, where a lot of websites are letting the government and world what sites could look like if SOPA and PIPA pass.  I don't ever ask people to download an app but I am asking now.  Please download this app and let the companies that support SOPA know how we feel about this crap!  I think more people should be aware what SOPA is and what this could bring to ALL of us internet users.  My daughter was asking her Facebook friends what Sopa was and I  believe a lot of people don't know what it really is!  Anyhoo....  enough ranting and more about the app.

The app allows you to scan barcodes of items, which it will then tell you whether or not that product or company is in support or related to the bills in question. A simple, yet effective means of showing your distate for the legislation. The app is pulling data about companies and the bills from the developer's website and will be updated frequently.




Download link from the Android Market

Description (from the developer)

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) if passed will drastically change the internet for the worse. This app will help you avoid SOPA supporting products to show your displeasure with the bill and help get it voted down! Read more about SOPA here.What it is: A free android application that you can use to scan bar codes to help identify if products are either created by or intimately related to SOPA supporting companies. There are currently over 800 brands/companies on our list. The list currently being used by the application is available on our website listed below.
This application will help you identify goods of companies which according to publically avaliable sources appear to have been supporting SOPA as of approx. January 5th 2011, but the list will be updated as we go.
It is intended as an aid to identifying such products but should not be relied upon. You should carry out your own check in case of any product this app indicates is a product of a company supporting
SOPA is not.
Please visit our site at www.nomoresopa.com for more information
Donating: We’ve had questions about donating, if you want to donate go here: http://nomoresopa.com/wp/?page_id=25 Donations will go to pizza and beer for long nights improving the application.
IMPORTANT: To all the folks asking why it requires other permissions- this app ONLY requires internet permissions. It does require the barcode scanner app made by the ZXing (google/open source) team to be installed on your phone, and nothing else - this app does the image processing to decode the barcode. If you'd like, you may use Google Goggles instead of ZXing and it will work fine. Our app makes one request over the internet to our server to find if the product is a SOPA supporter. We do not access any other data.
Update: We're working to incorporate the great feature requests that people have asked for. We're implementing a second version of the app right now, which will support multiple boycotts, a contact the company feature, and has a more sophisticated search functionality so accuracy will be improved. Thanks for all the interest and bear with us while we get a newer, fancier version out.

MIUI on your phone with out flashing a thing (well kind off)

Theme your phone with MIUI with out rooting, flashing or any of that scary stuff with 2 simple apps.


We recieved an email from someone yesterday asking if there was any way to get MIUI on their phone with out rooting or flashing anything.  The answer is NO but.....  you can get it to look pretty darn close to MIUI with a launcher and a widget.  There are other apps you can pile on to make it look alot more like MIUI but these 2 are a good starting ground.
Here are some screen shots from my Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G (mouthful there) using the MIUI.ADW.Launcher app and the MIUIDark Digital Weather widget from the Android Market.  No rooting or hacking nessesary and if you find you don't like the whole IOS feel you can uninstall them and go back to your stock look.  These apps work with pretty much any Android phone or tablet.

As you can see the home screen and app drawer have an iPhone look to them.  This is not everyone's cup of tea but the emailer is one of many that want to have the MIUI look and feel on their phone with out doing a little hackery.

Just a quick lesson on launchers on your phone and from the market.  If you have an HTC phone it comes with a "Sense" UI and launcher, Samsung generally has "Touch Wiz", Motorolla has "Moto Blur" and so on.  When you install a custom launcher from the market like this MIUI ADW Launcher it just pretty much covers the launcher that comes stock on your phone and gives it a whole new feel and look.  Motorolla users generally don't like Moto blur so they will put another launcher over it with Launcher Pro or like the launcher I'm writing about here.  It's all preference!  Also in a lot of cases a launcher can actually make your phone smoother.  The head writer over at our sister site Root Your Droid's main phone is a Motorolla Droid X2 and he feels that Launcher Pro makes his whole experience with that particular phone snappier and more customizable.  My main phone is the Samsung Galaxy S 2 and I personally can't stand Touch Wiz so I use a launcher by the name of ADW EX (I'll be doing a write up on both).

There's also a lot of different customizations you can do with this launcher, screen preferences, drawer settings, general behavior, UI settings and a whole bunch more.

The weather clock that is in the screen shot of my home page is a widget  from the market called MIUI Dark Digital Weather Clock (and it's free).  This widget IMo just gives it that final touch to give it a more of a MIUI ROM experience.

There you have it folks!  You can enjoy MIUI on your phone with out voiding your warranty by rooting or flashing anything.

One last thing before you go and grab this launcher.  When you first start the launcher it doesn't have an app drawer button (ala iPhone).  Just long press your home screen and press "Launcher Actions" then press "Open/Close App Drawer".  You can drag and drop it in your launcher bar and change it to any icon you want (long press the app drawer icon and edit it).

Thanks for the email!  I hope I answered your question :)

Links for these apps
MIUI ADW Launcher
MIUI Dark Digital Weather Clock widget

Google Pulls 'Official' Siri App from Android Market

Google has reportedly yanked an app masquerading as Siri, Apple's voice command personal assistant software, from the Android marketplace.
The move comes amid a deluge of Siri wannabes that have invaded the Android World since Apple introduced the Iphone 4S and its innovative features.
An app called Siri for Android, made by an outfit called Official Software, appeared in the Android market on Friday and was pulled from the bazaar by Google just hours after its arrival there.
Also, all other apps by Official Software disappeared from the market, as it appears that Google has pulled the software maker's account, which allows it to sell programs at the outlet.
The software company did a number of dubious things that appear to have prompted Google to act against the firm.
For example, it used Apple's Siri icon for the Official Software Android app. The word "official" was used in a way to make the app look like it was a true clone of the Apple app. When the Siri icon was tapped, all Official Software's app did was load Google's own voice command software, Voice Actions.
This isn't the first time something like this has happened.
A search for "Siri" on the Android Market by Android Fan Network revealed 131 hits, but less than a handful of the programs had more than 10,000 downloads. They were Vlingo Virtual Assistant (32,328 downloads), Iris (20,309), Skyvi (19,444) and Speaktoit Assistant (11,600).
While the Android world has been laboring hard to emulate Siri's functionality since Apple pulled the wraps off it, it hasn't quite made it there yet.
I've concluded that you can find decent virtual help on an Android phone, but the assistants available likely won't be as smooth and capable as Siri.

All HTC phones launched after September 2011 are now 'unlockable' from HTC Developer site

 

Here's the official release from HTC's developer page.  Great news for all of us HTC Android phone owners.



All HTC Android devices launched after September 2011 are unlockable. The website will be updated accordingly to reflect this in the coming weeks. We continue to work on models launched prior to September 2011, please check back often for the status of older devices.

BRING ON THE NEW YEAR!

Build your own CyanogenMod ROM 

If you're a Cyanogenmod fan and want to learn how to go about building your own ROM, then you may want to take a look at the Cyanogenmod compiler.  From what it looks like this may be the easiest way to compile and build your own CM rom to date.... I know what I'll be doing all weekend (sorry Megan and the kids).  Once you set up your computer (the instructions even cover that part), you can download a set of scripts that do all the hard work for you.  When it's all said and done, you'll have a nice little package you can flash via recovery, and have your own home-brewed CyanogenMod.

This may be the longest and hardest way to go about getting the latest CM build on your phone but may be the most fun.  This is the closest thing to a "one click" ROM builder that I've ever seen (and I'm ALL about one click anything).....  I could also see a few people getting their phones in trouble due to this nifty new tool.  With that all being said here are the step by step directions by lithid over at XDA.  NICE JOB lithid!

 Yesterday, 06:45 PM

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[CMC] Cyanogenmod Compiler [Alpha] [Dec 28 2011]

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Cyanogenmod Compiler (CMC)
Build cyanogenmod with a cli interface.

Note to users: This is simple enough. Using bash, I created a cli interface to control and manage your repo, add/remove a few things, and compile cm. I am only able to test this with my phone. So I am putting this out here for others to test with as well. It is not fully optimized, code is being actively worked on daily. There most certainly will be bugs, but I have been trying to find as many as I can by myself. Looking for some help from the community for feedback and support.

If you are wondering how you can use this software its easy. You can clone my repo for now. and run the CMCompiler script:

Code:

git clone https://github.com/lithid/CMC.git
cd CMC
./CMCompiler

Features:
- Check for repo installation on startup / or create a repo
- Add and remove devices quickly and easily.
- Remove all non english languages.
- Remove live wallpapers
- Remove cm wallpapers
- Check if adb is running or not.
- Update the repo
- Compile cyanogenmod
- Built in color themes. > http://goo.gl/cED8t
- Plugin support. (More information on this to come)
- local config file for saving settings or manually editing them.
- Odex plugin built into the package. This will take your connected cyanogemod installed phone and odex the rom on the phone.

Known Issues:
- There is nothing under the menu option 99. This is a placeholder for information about me and the compiler. If you select it it will just exit you out of the script.
- There is no checking for installed software. You will need to install the needed packages on your own to compile. Check post 2 for needed software.
- I have only tested this with ubuntu 11.04.
- Removing the CM wallpapers from the build only works with gingerbread for now. Everything else is working as expected for me.
- I don't check for open ports on your network, so there might be issues connecting to the repos and syncing. I have not built error checking for that.

Features to come:
- Check for installed tools and tell you which are still needed
- Installer/Remover
- Updated information about CMC and plugin support.
- Pure AOSP via plugin
- Adb installer
- Better error checking support.
- Check for errors during compile and point to places to fix.
- Edit the name of your kanged rom!
- I will also take requests!

Please any issue that should arise, I apologize in advanced. Please let me know with as much detail as possible to replicate the issue and I will resolve it.

You can follow me on google+ I tend to talk about it a bit on there as well.

__________________

Software for compiling on ubuntu:
32 bit:

Code:

git-core gnupg flex bison gperf libsdl1.2-dev libesd0-dev libwxgtk2.6-dev squashfs-tools build-essential zip curl libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev sun-java6-jdk pngcrush schedtool

64 bit:

Code:

g++-multilib lib32z1-dev lib32ncurses5-dev lib32readline5-dev gcc-4.3-multilib g++-4.3-multilib

If you are on ubuntu 11.04 or higher please keep this in mind:

Originally Posted by Novek   lib32readline5-dev has been replaced by lib32readline-gplv2-dev on 11.10
And "gcc-4.3-multilib g++-4.3-multilib" aren't used from 11.04 and up - not needed.

Samsung Galaxy S III going 3D?

Alright, so we know Fridays’ “leaked” renders of the Samsung Galaxy S III turned out to be nothing more than fan-created concept art but now we’re hearing rumblings around the net that Samsung could be planning to introduce the device at MWC 2012. Okay, so that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given Samsung’s yearly refreshes, but the kicker is that a Korean website is reporting not only will the GSIII be unveiled but that Samsung may incorporate 3D into the device. This would help give Samsung a leg up on the iPhone and also complete their 3D ecosystem adding functionality with their 3D televisions. And here you thought you’d seen the last of 3D smartphones.
When it comes to specs, nothing has been confirmed but I’ll go ahead and play along. Rumors place the device at the “uber-high-end” bracket of Android devices with a Super AMOLED Plus HD display, quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, LTE connectivity and of course, running on Android’s latest Ice Cream Sandwich firmware (with TouchWiz). Still unclear is if the 3D functionality will be available on all Galaxy S III devices or if it will come as a variant (Galaxy S 3D). That being said, to keep costs down, if the 3D model becomes a variant, it could share specs more along the lines of what’s already offered with the Galaxy S II.
Given the hate with 3D devices, would you guys be terribly upset to find out the Galaxy S III was a 3D capable device?

Should I Root my Phone?

I found this post on Android Forums and found it to be a very interesting point of view. What do you think? 
Are YOU one of those people wondering what a rom is? a rom is like an operating system its called a ROM because it installes to the ROM chip on your phones motherboardnow to the pros and cons of it all__________________________________________________ _________________Reasons you should not install a custom ROM:-You will void your warranty. The manufacturer or third-party warranty company will not be willing to repair a damaged phone that has been rooted or has a custom ROM installed. While the ROM may not be the cause of the issue, your warranty will still be voided.-During the process of rooting, something may go wrong. You could brick your phone. There are ways to unbrick it, but you could potentially need a new phone. Without your warranty (you just voided it), you will have to pay full retail price for a replacement.-Custom ROMs may cause you to experience odd issues. I once used a ROM that would crash every two to three minutes during phone calls. It was extremely frustrating.-Custom ROMs update quite frequently to fix bugs. (Sometimes causing more bugs, but that’s another story.) You’ll end up having to update every few days, sometimes even having to wipe your data and restore it later. This can be a good thing, because bugs are getting fixed, but it can also be annoying to have to update that frequently.-You may accidentally give a malicious app root access, allowing the app to do whatever it wants to do with your phone. It could potentially wipe all of your data, take your files, including private pictures, and send spam to your contacts.why you want itReasons you should install a custom ROM:-Tethering. While this does void your carrier’s terms of service, and I do not recommend doing it without a tethering plan, custom ROMs usually provide you with the ability to tether without a tethering plan. It is often the only reason people want to install a custom ROM. Again, I do not recommend this because you may eventually be caught and your service may be terminated. It is essentially stealing from your carrier. You’d be getting one of its services for free.-Battery life improvements. With root access, you have the ability to calibrate your battery, which usually will fix any issues you’re having with battery life. Some custom ROMs also under clock the CPU to reduce battery usage. With my ROM, I get a few more hours of battery life than I had with the stock ROM, and performance is actually better. If battery life improvement is all you’re interested in, I recommend that you try JuiceDefender. It’s an app that manages your wireless connections and disables them when your phone is locked to save battery life. It enables the connections once every 15 minutes so that you can still get notifications.-Apps. Some apps require root access. A good example of this is DroidWall, which lets you keep apps from using data while on 3G. This is great if you’re on a limited data plan and getting close to your limit. I’m also a fan of BatteryCalibrator, which is the app I use to calibrate my battery after flashing a new ROM.-Over clocking and under clocking. You can use an app, such as SetCPU, to over clock your phone, giving it better performance, but sacrificing battery life. This may be something you want to do if you’re having trouble running a game you really want to play. Some Custom ROMs are already configured to over clock your phone. You may also be interested in under clocking your phone. Under clocking reduces performance but increases battery life.-Newer Android versions. I’m excited to try Ice Cream Sandwich, but a release date for this update, for my phone, has not been announced yet. I believe that there are more reasons to install a custom ROM than to stick with the stock ROM, but I still don’t recommend it for everyone. You must be willing to deal with getting it set up, backing up all of your apps, restoring them after flashing, calibrating your battery, and updating very frequently.

Kindle fire hacked to run Ice Cream Sandwich

 

Good news for those of you with Kindle Fires and a penchant for tinkering with your gadgets.
Amazon's Kindle Fire has been a huge seller this holiday season, mainly because of its low price tag. With the majority of tablets out there going for upwards of $350, a $199 offering is an attractive option for many. Of course, there's also the fact that the Amazon Fire runs on a customized Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, so many are hoping they can snag themselves this cheap $199 Android-based ereader and then hack it to run a stock version of Android. However, it's unlikely new Kindle Fire users hoping for just that anticipated that the device would be hacked to run an early version of Ice Cream Sandwich, which most Android users are still waiting on.
Boy Genius Report reports that Kindle Fire users now have access to an unofficial Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update thanks to the members of xda-developers. Forum members recently announced that they had succeeding in getting a "pre-alpha" build of Android 4.0 running on Amazon's beefed up ereader tablet. Though users installing the update will lose all of Amazon's special Android customizations, those who purchase the tablet with the intention to update to a more traditional form of Android probably won't be too disappointed. That said, if you do decide to go ahead with this modification, know that this pre-release version isn't exactly bug-free and there are some issues to be ironed out. With that said, head on over to xda-developers to read up on the hacking process
Kindle Fire Running Android 4.0