Google's Sundar Pichai says the Nexus programme will go on, Guest modes for Android is important and explains the Windows Phone YouTube app issues!

   Google's Sundar Pichai is the man in charge of both of the Android and Chrome divisions at Google and he is also in charge of Google's Chrome operation too. That was why the honour of confirming the HTC One Google Edition fell to him earlier on today and that announcement together with the Google Edition Samsung Galaxy S4 have had people wondering about the future of the Nexus program.

   Turns out we shouldn't be worried because Pichai said today at the D11 conference that these Google Edition devices are similar to the Nexus program, but they're not the same:

"The goal with Nexus was to push forward hardware with partners. That will continue as well."

So theoretically that means we will still have hardware which will be sold at cost from Google and their partners in the coming months!
 
   It's not just the hardware which Google are working on at the moment either with Pichai revealing that software enhancements are the order of the day too. Google are said to be looking for ways in which Chrome-like privacy can be brought to their Android operating system.

"When we did Chrome, we invested in incognito mode. Now you can do that on the phone [through the Chrome app]... You're completely not signed-in, and we don't know anything about you. We do want more things like that, though. From a security, child safety, etc. standpoint. Chrome OS lets you be a guest user. We're working on things like that on Android."

   There was also a mention of the hoohar which Google and Microsoft have had lately over the lack of an official YouTube app from Google for the Windows Phone platform! The reason Google haven't made an app already is said to be down to a lack of "a critical mass of users... It's simply a function of reach," and instead Google were hoping originally that Windows Phone users could enjoy the "great HTML5 experience," which YouTube offers.
Via AllThingsD, PocketLint and TheVerge.

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Google working on blimps to give mass network coverage.

   We already know that Microsoft are working hard to bring new technology and investment to Africa, but it seems that they aren't the only tech giant with their eyes on developing regions. Google are said to be testing new ways to get internet to some of the hardest to reach places and areas where there is very little infrastructure. The solution to this problem in Google's mind is to create a series of blimps which will bean WiFi signal onto communities to give them access to the net!

   According to the guys over at Wired, Google is working on "high-altitude platforms," that will have the ability to connect more than a billion more people to the Internet. The blimps are aiming to offer signals as far as a few hundred miles away from the position of the blimp. As we know Google has been testing the signals on TV White Spaces in South Africa and this is likely to be part of the same project.

   According to Google's blog post they said:

"White Space technology is gaining momentum around the world. In the US, it is already available for licensed exempt uses. In the UK, regulator Ofcom is working on a model regulatory framework based on a licence-exempt or ‘managed access’ use of television white spaces spectrum. We hope the results of the trial will drive similar regulatory developments in South Africa and other African countries." 

   This sort of network will become more popular in the coming years and we fully expect there to be as much competition in these long range mobile networks as their is in the current mobile arena!
Google Via Wired.

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LG confirm the White Nexus 4: Coming around the world in the next few weeks.

   We've been hearing about it for weeks, but it's finally official! LG has finally confirmed it will launch a white variant of the Nexus 4. As LG have said in their press release, this is the exact same phone which was saw last year with the same overall experience, but just in a nice new colour.

   LG's DR Jong-deok Park said:

“Nexus 4 set the standard for Android 4.2 Jelly Bean smartphones... Nexus 4 White delivers the same Google experience to consumers in a stylish and attractive colour option.”

   Just like the black version the Nexus 4 White is rocking the same 4.7-inch 1280-by-768 IPS Plus display and there's the same quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and 2GB of RAM. That means we have to assume that the storage options will remain 8 and 16GB which is a little bit annoying because of the lack of an SD Card slot.


   LG have said that the roll out of the white device will start in Hong Kong on the 29th of May and after that the phone will roll out globally. That means that it'll arrive in Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East in the coming months.
LG Via TheVerge.

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Microsoft and Google finally work out the YouTube App issue for Windows Phone: Working together on one!

   It's not often that we feel sorry for Microsoft and we have a feeling some others amongst you might share that feeling, but with the troubles they're having getting people to make apps for their Windows Phone platforms, we do feel a little bad. There was a whole situation which came to a head during the week where Microsoft were essentially forced to announce an unofficial YouTube app which played without any ads or anything!

   Obviously that wasn't exactly what Google wanted to hear, because that means no ad money for them and it was a little bit naughty because they knew they weren't meant to do that, the usual procedure is to link people to the mobile web version of YouTube, but by releasing the app Microsoft forced Google's hand. Google complained and outlined the changes which had to be made to the app and Microsoft implemented some changes to show that they were willing to collaborate.

   That's why from today the pair will be working together on an official YouTube app for Windows Phone! Google have said:

"Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube’s API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks."

   To be fair to Microsoft have said all along that they're happy to put ads into the app they've made assuming they're provided with an official API and with the week that's been it seems that Google gave Microsoft permission and all is now rosy in the battle of the tech giants.

   In the meantime though Microsoft will "replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time," which sucks a little bit for Windows Phone users, but it is good to know that there is finally something official on the way!
Via TheVerge.

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Google's Easter eggs all but confirm Android Key Lime Pie!

   It seems that Google didn't want to leave I/O without giving us a little teaser of what's to come and at the end of a couple of their sessions they teased the two pictures which you can see above and below!

   Obviously both of these suggest at a version of Android called Key lime Pie and it's not unlike Google to put these little Easter Eggsa round and about. 

   One thing we don't yet know is whether or not there will be an update to the OS in the near future and reports are currently suggesting that we could see the next version of Android as early as June the 10th! We'll have to wait and see on that one!
Via DroidLife.

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Google merge Gmail, Drive and Google+ photos storage, whilst allowing all developers to respond to comments on the Play Store!

   Google's suite of email, online storage through Google Drive and Picasa or Google+ photos, depending on which you prefer, has been separated out and people have been awarded storage based on each service in turn. From today though, things will be changing.

   Google will now bundle the free 5GB of storage which comes with Google Drive together with the 10GB of storage which comes with Gmail, so that you'll have a total of 15GB of storage to divide up across the services however you fancy!  

   If your 15GB of cross-storage proves to be too little then now you'll have to fork out a little more to extend your storage, as Google has dropped the plan which gave you 25GB of extra Google Drive space for $2.49 a month. Instead, your cheapest option is now 100GB for $4.99, whicnto be fair to Google is half of the price of the 100GB plan which Dropbox offer. Don't be alarmed if these changes haven't happened to you yet because they're rolling out over the next few weeks.

   One thing which definitely will be changing from today though is that all developers on Google Play will be allowed to respond directly to comments on their apps. There's not too much to add on this, but it should help developers eradicate spam comments and genuine issues should probably be a lot easier to resolve now!

Google (1) and (2) Via TheVerge and Engadget respectfully.

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YouTube launch paid subscriptions: Don't worry free content won't disappear!

   Over the past few weeks we've known that YouTube are busy working on the paid options for channels, but we weren't necessarily expecting it quite so soon. Nonetheless here we are with a brand new paid subscription model on your favourite streaming network!

   At the moment though things aren't necessarily just your typical YouTube stars, instead they're the sort of shows which you would normally see on TV. Among the current line-up there's mostly children's television shows; things like Jim Henson's Family TV, National Geographic Kidsand Sesame Street, along with a sports set which includes UFC Select and TNA Impact Wrestling amongst other things. There's also the more unique things like comedy, documentaries, Spanish TV shows, LGBT and just for the giggles there's a woodworking channel which you can pay to view too!

   Naturally YouTube doesn't expect you to pony up your cash for nothing. On every channel there's the option of a 14-day payment free trial and then you can choose to pay yearly or monthly, obviously the latter will work out cheaper in the majority of cases! When it comes to TV series such as Sesame Street then you can choose to watch per episode or you can pay for the full season.

   These new premium channels aren't necessarily something to be too concerned by, we won't lose the ad-supported channels, but some YouTubers may choose to offer people ad-free viewing through subscriptions at some point in the future. YouTube will also ensure that it's only the very top 5% of popular content on the network which is allowed to offer paid subscriptions. The best way to think of this is how the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal charge to see their premium articles, this is very much the same.

   If you're interested in the first few paid channels then you can check them out here! And don't be afraid to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Via PhoneArena.

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LG said to be working on OLED phone screens and a Nexus 5 as they draw closer to Google!

  Things are starting to look up for LG lately; yes their phones are a bit like Samsung's, but they're also very good. Take a look at that Nexus 4, it's certainly not the case that LG don't know how to design a good looking phone. It seems like the guys want to take their phone business a bit further and today there's been a fair few rumours about upcoming phones as well as a shift in their technology plans.

   First and foremost the Korean Times is reporting that LG have said, via their spokesperson, Frank Lee that:

“LG Display will produce an ‘unbreakable OLED display’, the first phase of flexible displays, at our AP2 line of the 4.5th-generation plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The move is aimed at taking a lead over rivals in the race for next-generation displays.”

   This obviously marks a shift towards OLED displays and suggests that LG think they're the future too. The unbreakable bit just refers to the way that the pixels are glued to plastic instead of the glass like they are at the moment. The plastic is meant to make everything more flexible and in theory meaning that they won't break if they're dropped.

   Secondly, another report from the Korean Times suggests that LG and Google are set to work together on a successor to the Nexus 4, as well as the pair drawing closer on TV's, powered by Google and things like the Glass headset which Google are also working on at the moment. According to 'sources' the two companies:

“They exchanged views about the latest mega trend in the global information technology (IT) industry. They also discussed how to form an alliance in futuristic projects as part of the big picture.”

   One of the reasons for this drawing together is said to be the 'novel' way which LG has developed for using head-mounted displays, with web connected TV's, but we aren't given any details of what they are.

   The key thing to draw from this is, as the Korean Time's sources rightly point out, that, “LG needs help from Google to continue its business momentum in smartphones and TVs. That’s why Koo met Page.”

   What do you think? Do LG need Google or can they grow without their help? Or do you want a LG Nexus 5? Let us know in the comments below!

Via AndroidBeat and TechCrunch.

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Google's Matias Duarte doesn't hate Facebook Home: Instead thinks it is incredibly polished!

   A couple of weeks back when Facebook Home was introduced to the world, some people speculated how Google would take someone skinning their beloved Android. Some people thought they'd be annoyed, ourselves included, but when you think about it there's not really any reason for them to mind because Google's services drive everything except the Facebook messaging and networking which would've been done inside an app anyway!

   As TheVerge notes Eric Schmidt said Facebook's work was "a tremendous endorsement" of the Google's ecosystem. It seems Google's love is spreading now and Matias Duarte, the guy behind Android's looks and recent 'holo' design has had a few nice things to say about Home too!

   Duarte, who's official title is director of Android Operating System User Experience, said in a recent interview with ABC News:

"The new Facebook Home shows an incredible amount of polish and attention to design detail, and that didn’t come from a hardware manufacturer... With the Home experience, they did a nice job expressing the Facebook experience, but so much of the Google design experience with Ice Cream Sandwich [Android 4.0] was in there as well.”

   So it seems that Google don't mind people skinning their OS as long as they do a good job! Does that mean that we'll see more launchers from people like Twitter in the future? Who knows. One thing we do know is that Facebook's ChatHeads are one of our favourite changes to our phones in a very long time, although that's strictly not Facebook Home! Let us know your thoughts on the launcher and what, if anything, you'd like to see changed or done to it in the future!
ABC Via TheVerge.

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Google Glass specs discovered by enterprising owner as Google update their Play Store Terms to stop updates outside of their control!

   Google have been in the news a fair bit today! It seems as though they might have something being organised with Samsung in the OLED arena, but the guys have also revealed the processor and internals of their Google Glass headset as well as updating their terms and conditions on the Play Store to make sure that people can't update their apps without going through their marketplace!

   We'll start with the internals of Google's Glass, which haven't really been confirmed as much as they've been discovered by an enterprising owner who managed to get them to boot up on ADB! His investigations led him to find that Android 4.0.4 ICS is powering the device, with a dual-core OMAP 4430 processor being back up, by what we assume is 1GB of RAM because 682MB was available while the Glasses were running! We already know that there's 16GB of internal storage and a 5MP camera, which when all is said and done, makes this a solid mid-range Android device, but there's nothing too spectacular here except for the form factor of course.

   Secondly, it seems as though Google is none too happy that Facebook has been going behind their back and updating their apps without using Google Play to provide the updates. As a result Google have updated their terms and conditions to try to make sure that this doesn't happen any more!

   When Facebook used the tactic it wasn't against Google's Terms of Service, but they've now been updated to read:

“An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism” Google Play Developer Content Policy

   This change has been made to Google's 'Dangerous Product' section of their policy, which is totally understandable because it'd be easy for people to 'spike' an app on Google Play that way. Google for their part reiterated that, "Google Play is a trusted source for Android application downloads, and we are committed to providing a secure and consistent experience" and that's what they had to do in this situation really. There's been no word from Facebook on the changes, but then again there's not much which they can say any more!
Via TheVerge and Slashgear.

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In Other News: 26/04/2013.

•  Intel CEO Paul Otellini has reiterated that he sees laptop prices heading down below $200 in the next few months! Apparently these devices will be running Android instead of Windows, which is why the price can get so low. The laptops are set to be powered by Intel’s Atom processors and apparently their Windows counterparts price points will be controlled by how much Microsoft chargers for their software! Does this mean that Google is working on something to make Android more suitable for non-touch devices? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Via Slashgear.

• Qualcomm have confirmed that mass production for the Snapdragon 800 processor will begin in May! The processor can run each of its four cores at different clock speeds or turned off entirely, so hopefully that will be much better at power management!
  Via AndroidCommunity.

• BetaWorks, the company behind Digg, has today announced that they have acquired Instapaper. Instapaper is a popular little app which saves articles from the internet so you can read them later. Apparently BetaWorks will expand operations, staff and they will seek to take the app further than its creator could have managed on his own!
  Via PocketLint.

• Microsoft has launched Bing Offers; it's a localised version of their Bing Deals program from before! If you want to check it out then click here!
  Via Engadget.

• Samsung's Galaxy S4 has been torn down by iFixit! Check out the full disassembly here!

• Google has acquired the news summary app Wavii and the first move has been to shut down to service to bring the ideas inside Google for the time being! Is this Google's reaction to Yahoo buying Summly? Probably!
  Via TheVerge.

• If you follow The White House on Twitter you would have seen this tweet pop up on your timeline! This is good news, we think?

Breaking: The White House is now on @tumblr (and there will be GIFs). at.wh.gov/ksJHi, twitter.com/whitehouse/sta…
— The White House (@whitehouse) April 26, 2013

•  LG have announced that they will be rolling out their cloud service in 40 more countries, unfortunately they didn't specify which ones they were just yet!
  Via Engadget.

• Forbes has published a list of the most reputable American companies! Intel came in as a surprise number 2 to the winners Disney! It's a pretty interesting list so head here to have a good read of it all!
  Via Hothardware.

• An Android app for Vine has been promised and is apparently on its way!
  Via Phandroid.

• A 17MB update is rolling out to Asus Transformer Pad 300's at the moment. The update brings fixes and improvements, but nothing too major!
  Via AndroidPolice.

And finally, we thought we'd bring you a bit of a different end to 'In Other News' today and we're going to show you just how slow things in the tech world are. We all think that things come to market quickly and well to some extent they do, but take the camera in the Galaxy S4. That was announced last August and it's just shipping in a device now! That's right around 9 months, which isn't quite so impressive and bear in mind that that's only the camera module!

Perfect example of industry lead times: The Sony IMX135, the camera sensor in the GS4, was announced in August 2012 sony.net/SonyInfo/News/…
— Stefan Constantine (@WhatTheBit) April 26, 2013

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Is there some sort of Google and Samsung OLED team-up in the wings?

    Samsung and Google have a habit of getting together to make great products. That Nexus 10 pictured above is the best example of their recent collaborations, but the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus, weren't too shabby either and the two companies are close in relation to a lot of big businesses out there. The pair rely on each other for the success of their mobile devices and their smartphone OS respectively, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their cooperation should end there. 

   In an interesting report from the Korean Times it seems as though Samsung are giving their best to try to get Google to partner in their OLED business! According to the report a recent meeting between Samsung Electronic's Vice Chairman, Lee Jay-yong, and Google's Larry Page resulted in the latter 'showing much interest' in the former's OLED operations and there's the suggestion that the two companies could team up. 

   Page supposedly met with Samsung execs and shared a spot of lunch after taking a tour of one of Samsung's OLED factories, supposedly Page was interested in some sort of deal in the future. Which led to Samsung saying that, ''We don't rule out the possibility to enter a new business partnership with Google in OLEDs. But more time will be needed for further details.'

   There could be any number of reasons for Google being interested in OLED displays, AndroidBeat suggested that this could be Samsung asking for a gesture of goodwill and as a way to keep them interested in Android, as they acknowledged though this could be for any number of reasons and then again we could be completely wrong! What do you think this is all about? Have you got any theories? Let us know in the comments below!
Via AndroidBeat.

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Google's Larry Page gives us a hint about where Motorola's upcoming phones will focus: Durability!

   Motorola have a pretty good history of doing something different with their phones. If you think of phones like the Motorola Defy and the Droid Razr and even the Razr Maxx. The Defy was one of the first phones to come to the West which was both dust and water resistant, indeed some of you might remember that advert in which the phone took a little bit of a battering at a messy pool party! The Razr was unique because it was ridiculously thin and the Razr Maxx was the champion of battery life. It was one of the first phones that would happily get you through a few days on a single charge!

   For whatever reason Motorola was struggling and so Google took them under their wing, but we're yet to see the real fruits of the two companies labours together. Larry Page doesn't want us to forget about Motorola though and at Google's earnings call yesterday, a transcript of which he kindly put on his Google+ page, he said:

"In today’s multi-screen world, the opportunities are endless.  Think about your device.
Battery life is a challenge for most people … you shouldn't need to carry a charger around with you to make it through the day.
If your kid spills their drink on your tablet, the screen shouldn’t die.
And when you drop your phone, it shouldn't shatter.
There’s real potential to invent new and better experiences -- ones that are much faster and more intuitive.
So having seen Motorola’s upcoming products myself, I am really excited about the potential there.  In just under a year they've accomplished a lot and have impressive velocity and execution."

   The key theme there is durability and making things last. It's true you want your phone to last the wear and tear it will experience on a daily basis over the normal period of two years and as we all know one of the most frustrating things is having to constantly find a plug to give your device enough juice to finish off those last few phone calls and emails!

   If Motorola can come through on what Larry has teased then they will have fantastic devices which will undoubtedly grab people's attention. Fingers crossed ey? What do you think? If there was one feature which you could have what would it be? For us it would be better battery life! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Via Phandroid.

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Rubin and Schmidt: Here's what they said about Android past, present and future from the Dive Into Mobile conference!

   If you're remotely interested in tech then it's almost impossible to avoid the march of Android that we're seeing at the moment. We already know that the OS powers a whopping 70% of the smartphones in the world, so when two of the people who are responsible for the direction Android takes put themselves up on the stage at a major conference, we pretty much need to tell you what they said!

   So what better place to start then right at the very beginning of the Android story? The operating system which now powered hundreds of millions of smartphones actually started its life tailored for cameras! Andy Rubin revealed the news earlier this week in Tokyo. While outlining Android's humble origins he said, "the exact same operating system we built for cameras…became Android for cellphones". Initially Andy Rubin connection to home PC's and then the subsequent option to connect to an “Android Datacenter.” The plan was supposedly only changed when the camera market was deemed to be a bit restrictive did Android's founders look to smartphones, just before they were snapped up by Google in 2005!

   Rubin added that Android's goal is still to get the OS into as many hands as possible and the next significant milestones will be Android 5.0 and the one billion activations milestone! Talking of those activations it seems Google's work is relentless! Eric Schmidt updated us on the Android landscape today at Dive Into Mobile. He said that daily activations of Android devices are now at 1.5 million! That's up again from the 1.3 million activations we were seeing per day back in the Autumn of last year. With that in mind the one billion goal is becoming a very realistic target which we can expect to see reached by the end of the year! Schmidt said that when devices start to come onto the market with an average price of $100 then the sales figures will look even better still!

   With so many sales it's vital that Google retains good relationships with their vendors and a key partner in this whole operation is Samsung. During the conference today the question and answer session turned to Google and Samsung's relationship, because there's near constant rumblings that Samsung could fork Android and simultaneously demolish Android's market share. We shouldn't worry about that for the time being though because Schmidt said the relationship between the pair was "very healthy". Schmidt said that he didn't see the relationship changing any time soon and he even went on to say how Samsung's partnership has helped to Google with their efforts and how he will "always appreciate their decision to go Android early on” because it has ultimately “helped to define Android.”

   The final thing to note from today was that with the relatively recent acquisition of Motorola, Google will have a lot more influence in how the company's phones look, fell and perform and Schmidt also touched on the future devices. He said that we can expect Motorola's new devices to be "phones plus" (or should that be phones+?!) and the new devices will be 'phenomenal.'

   Any one else excited for what's to come? And in case you were wondering no Andy didn't tell us what he's working on now!
Via Phandroid (1) and (2) and AndroidCommunity.

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Microsoft, Nokia and others file antitrust complaint against Google's Android app bundling with the EU!

   This one is going to hit Google where it hurts! A conglomerate which includes Microsoft, Nokia, and Oracle has gone to the EU with a new antitrust complaint which says that Android gives Google's apps an unfair advantage on the platform!

   The companies which have teamed up are calling themselves Fairsearch Europe and the complaint centres on the way that Google offers their OS for free, but they Google wants OEM's to give their home-grown Maps, YouTube and Play store apps a "prominent default placement on the phone."

   Thomas Vinje, the lead counsel for the complaining companies, described Android as a "Trojan Horse" which had the intention to deceive partners, monopolise the mobile market, and control consumer data. The guys used the statistics that Google fulfils 96% of mobile internet searches and that they shop 70% of smartphones with their OS on board to reinforce their 'monopoly' claims.

   It's quite amusing that Microsoft are heading up the complaint given their recent antitrust woes, but then they probably feel that Google should feel the same 'pain' that they have endured. The Verge received a statement from Google which said they couldn't comment on specifics, but that they will "continue to work cooperatively with the European Comission."
Via TheVerge.

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In Other News: 03/04/2013.

• There's an interesting set of stats on the infograph from Skype today! You can check out the link in the tweet below for more details or you'll come across the infograph at the bottom of this post!

Did you know?@skype now handles 2 billion minutes of calls per day spr.ly/6016n436Blog & infographic -
— Microsoft News (@MSFTnews) April 3, 2013

• If you use BB10 then make sure you're careful! It turns out that the BBM feature that shows off your music and video activity also shows off your internet video history, if you know what we mean! Just something to bare in mind!
  Via TechEye.

• You know them lovely Google pie charts we bring you from time to time showing how many users are using which version of Android? Well Google will soon be changing the way they work that info out. So instead of counting Android phones when they connect to Google’s servers phones will only count when they open the Play Store. This is better news for devs but it doesn't give quite as wide a view on Android as a whole any more. For more info on what this means to Android's version usage check here!
  Via AndroidBeat.

• You might have played Angry Birds Friends on Facebook before, but it seems that Rovio will be taking the game mobile so you can have your weekly tournaments on iOS and Android soon!
  Via TechCrunch.

• Asus have confirmed that the Transformer Pad Infinity is receiving an update to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean at the moment! There's a host of new features and you can find the roll out confirmation on Asus' Facebook page here!
  Via Phandroid.

• Amazing Alex from Rovio is now available on Windows Phone! You can get it here!
  Via Coolsmartphone.

• HTC's Chinese version of the HTC One looks to be rocking dual-sim card slots, a micro-SD card slot and a removable back. Unfortunately the battery is still sealed! HTC why can't we have that too?
  Via Engadget.

• Apple has finally stopped blocking Microsoft's SkyDrive app and it is now available for iOS in version 3.0. This brings with it support for the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini!
  Via TheVerge.

• Samsung has officially launched the Galaxy Pocket Neo and Galaxy Star! They're mid-range smartphones and you can see full details here!
  Via SamMobiles.

• Rumours of a Nexus 7 successor with a Qualcomm processor at its heart refuse to go away!
  Via PCAdvisor.

  And finally, @EVLeaks appear to have got a render of the three colours they expect the new HTC-build Facebook phone to arrive in tomorrow! Check out the picture below for the low-down!
Via DroidDog.

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Facebook Home details revealed by APK teardown!

   Remember this 'Facebook Home' thing that we've been hearing so much about lately? Well it turns out that Android Police have managed to get their hands on a developer preview of the APK and they've been able to have a look at how things are shaping up.

   The APK has some juicy details inside it too! There is confirmation that there will be a Facebook phone revealed and it will have a Facebook-ified version of Google's mobile OS. If we start with the phone then there is confirmation that there will be an AT&T-compatible device made by HTC Myst which will feature a 4.3 inch display, 1GB of RAM and a dual-core MSM8960 Qualcomm SoC. Add on to that a 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.6-megapixel front option, Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi and we have a solid mid-range phone which will appeal to teenagers everywhere! That phone will rock Android 4.1.2 and Sense 4.5 in parallel, with the Facebook app taking centre stage and acting as the devices home screen!

   So this Facebook home is essentially a new launcher from Facebook and subsequently the app will have more access to the system controls than the current Facebook app and it's been confirmed that the app can turn off the lock screen, start up when the phone boots and control your WiFi connection, among a few other things too.

   There's some pretty little icons embedded into the launcher too, so you can expect to have a slightly different look compared to other launchers and as you would expect Facebook Messenger integration is a key part of this too. Don't worry if you don't have the Facebook phone itself though because there's TouchWiz compatibility built into the home screen replacement and that means that you can install this onto other phones too! That means it'll probably be popping up in the Play Store!

   We'll have full details on Thursday when everything's made official!
 AndroidPolice Via Engadget.

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YouTube's 2013 April Fool says it was all an eight year competition!

   You've got to love April the 1st! For whatever historical reason there was we are allowed to play pranks on each other for a morning and boy do we get into it. Your favourite news station will have undoubtedly broadcast some complete gobble-di-gook which someone would have fallen for and tech companies are no different.

   YouTube, now that it's part of Google, joins a long historic line of internet based pranks and their latest is another excellent attempt. Essentially the guys at YouTube announced that they have had as many submissions as they think necessary and so they will employ a team of 30,000 people to sift through your home videos to find the best one! Along the way they noted that just because 'Gangnam Style' has the most views, it's not automatically the best!

   Anyways head down to the video below and have a little look! If you want to see some more then head past the YouTube April Fools for a round up of the best in recent years from MKBHD!

Via TechRadar.

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In Other News: 26/03/2013.

• Google is rolling out an update to their Chrome browser. The update improves spell-checking and it updates the dictionaries for all languages as well as adding support for Albanian, Korean and Tamil! The update will roll out to Windows, Linux and Chrome OS!
  Via Engadget.

• Samsung have updated their Galaxy Chat to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean!
  Via SamMobile.

• HTC have reportedly received 'several hundred thousand' pre-orders of their new HTC One, something which has supposedly far exceeded HTC's initial targets!
  Via AndroidBeat.

• Swiftkey have updated their Android keyboard and there is a full changelog available here!
  Via Swiftkey.

• Texas Instruments have reportedly developed new battery tech which allows for a 50% reduction in charge times and efficiency of above 90%! You can find out more info direct from TI here.
  Via Slashgear.

• Sweden's Language Council has supposedly dropped the term "ungoogleable" from its considerations after Google pressured them to go with something more flattering.
  Via TheVerge.

• Kaspersky have lowered the cost of their mobile solutions, the smartphone version is down to   $14.95 for the premium version and $19.95 for the tablet equivalent! You can see what else the update brings here.
  Via AndroidCommunity.

• Mozilla has announced that they are planning on holding workshops for Firefox OS app development.
  Via Slashgear.

• Were you wondering who that company was which bought a million Blackberry Z10's? Well it turns out that it was Brightstar, a reseller, who are likely to act as an intermediary to the American carriers.
  Via AllThingsD.

• The Verge have supposedly confirmed that the HTC 'Tiara' and the Samsung Ativ S (or a slightly remodelled version of the phone) will be landing on Sprint this summer!
  

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Andy Rubin dispels the Android and Chrome merger rumours for the time being!

   Reuters is reporting that Google's Andy Rubin has confirmed that Android and Chrome OS will not be merged any time soon! The report said that: 

"Google last week said Andy Rubin, the architect of Android - the world's top-selling mobile operating system - was moving to a still-undefined role while Sundar Pichai, in charge of its Chrome web browser and applications like Google Drive and Gmail, was taking on Rubin's responsibilities."

   So there we have it, no merger yet. In the longer term we still see the two becoming one, but for the moment Google is keen to keep them separate!

   Reuters also touched on Rubin's recent trips to India and Myanmar. India was a good point of call to clarify the law on who's responsibility it is as to what people post on the internet, as well as looking at the huge untapped market in the country. Myanmar similarly is considered as one of the few countries left in Asia which is untouched by big business! You can check out full details at the source link below!
Via Reuters.

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