Google kills Christmas (and all of December) with Android 4.2 bug

A bug in Google's Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) mobile operating system has caused the entire month of December to disappear. But fear not: Google has recognized the issue, which we hope means a fix will arrive soon.

Sorry, kids, Christmas is cancelled this year – at least, that’s what Google’s Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) mobile operating system is telling users. As first reported by AndroidPolice on Saturday, Google accidentally left out the entire month of December in its most recent Android update. Fortunately for users, a fix is likely coming soon. (We hope.)

The absence of December in the Jelly Bean calendar is especially disruptive to the People (contacts) app, since birthdays, reminders, or any other notes related to the month of December cannot be added (since December does not currently exist). The flaw comes built in to the new Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 devices, as well as new or upgraded versions of the Nexus 7 tablet and Galaxy Nexus smartphones.

The no-December flaw was first noted in an Android bug-tracker forum on November 14. It has since been confirmed by a number of users from around the world. But it wasn’t until Saturday, November 17, that Google acknowledged that December 2012 was missing from Jelly Bean.

All said, this is a relatively minor bug – more a source of mild annoyance than catastrophic mayhem. (If, on the other hand, Apple had left out December in iOS, there would surely be nothing short of Hell to pay for the Cupertino giant.) Alas, Google’s roll-out-fix-later modus operandi has likely saved it from too much wrath, if not a dose of embarrassment.

Still, Google has yet to comment on when a fix is due. But we would guess that an update will arrive before December does.

Image via Jeff Cameron Collingwood/Shutterstock

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Top Cloud Innovations of 2012

This year the cloud has grown—have you kept up?

Assuming the world doesn’t end at the end of December, this year might just be remembered as the “Year of the Cloud”. Everyone knows about online storage applications, and why they’re a good idea, but what else has rained down to us from up there? Well, this year the Cloud has seen a lot of innovations, broadening its relevance from every day consumers, to multi-billion dollar companies, and it’s doing it by becoming:

1. Social

With companies like CloudApp that are utilizing and promoting open source code and giving out their API to developers to utilize in their own applications, Cloud companies are making it easier for both larger and smaller companies to tailor cloud based applications to their specific needs.  On the more personal end of the spectrum, Waze is an app for your mobile devices (iOS, Android, Windows, etc) that allows users to update their cities with traffic information, with the net result that users can see live updated information about their commute, city or highway construction, and even events like street fairs.

2. Mobile

Waze is just one of many companies utilizing the cloud in a mobile environment. DropBox, Box.net, Github, Google, and many more are releasing full featured mobile apps, many for free. It’s now become easier than ever to synchronize your documents, files, and media between all of your devices. So whether you’re syncing your latest iPhone 5 photo, jotting down notes on your ultra light laptop, or rendering and sending out video from your new desktop, it’s never been easier to keep them all connected.

While some applications still have a way to go (I’m looking at you Google Drive) others have really stepped up their game. Box.net for example have consistently been upgrading their app to include features like Customizable synchronization and uploading files to discreet folders. Other companies like Romanian startup SkinScan, are legitimately trying to save people’s lives with mobile apps that can alert them of potentially cancerous moles.

3. User Friendly

The cloud isn’t just a business term any more, and it’s not just some techy phrase with a description as ethereal as its name. Companies like Spotify are changing how we feel about the cloud, and are making it much a part of everyday life. Audiobox.fm is in the same genre, but has allowed users to stream the music they already own, to any device they have.

Operating systems are even becoming more Cloud oriented. Windows 8 for example is heavily cloud integrated, meaning that with a few clicks, you can set up your computer to store everything securely in the cloud, all connected via your Windows Live ID, making it easily and safely accessible from anywhere.

4. Functional

Evernote has made the cloud indispensible for students, as it gathers snippets from websites you’re reading, or applications you’re using, and categorizes them so that information can be synced and searched from multiple devices. Services like Hojoki have taken the concept of linked in and the usefulness of the Salesforce messaging application, and combines them to allow you network with people you know, and the people they know, to collaborate on awesomeness.

5. The Future

Everything is in the cloud now. The phrase has become prevalent in conversation it’s becoming cliché to even say it. Really, it’s just becoming redundant to say “it’s in the cloud” because everyone already knows it is… even if they don’t know it is. Your photos are all online, your documents can be shared easily, you can listen to your music from wherever and whenever, and you never have to leave your daily routine to find everyone and everything you’ll need to accomplish whatever project you’re about to undertake. Everything is in the cloud, or maybe it’s more accurately stated that, the cloud is everything.

No tags for this post.
Source : techtalkafrica[dot]com

UpTo Calendar comes to Android: Hands on with the social calendar

The Mayan calendar ended on December 21, 2012, but if those guys had UpTo, the calendar would never end. UpTo is a social calendar app that made its mark on iOS and has now moved to Android. We go hands on with the app to see if it's worthy of celebration.

One of the more popular apps for iOS devices has made the transition over to Android, as UpTo popped up in the Google Play Store Monday. The social calendar promises to make your future more interesting by highlighting events you might be interested in and aggregating your friends’ schedule into your planner so you won’t miss anything they’re up to (get the name now?). It has a lot of potential to fill your calendar with awesome events, or turn you into the ultimate party crasher, depending on how you use it.

To hook with UpTo is that it always looks toward the future. Facebook is like a collection of things that have already happened; Twitter is like a stream of what’s happening at the moment; and UpTo tells you what’s going to happen. It does this by taking your existing calendars and placing all of the shows, parties, and special occasions into a Twitter-like stream. Linking your Facebook account will draw in all of the happenings from your Events page. Using a Gmail account will pull all of the Google Calendars’ events. It pulls events from all kinds of services together into one feed. To the app’s credit, the feed works well. Everything looks very unified even though the information is coming from multiple locations, and interaction with an individual event is easy. It’s a visually pleasing app. It makes something pretty plain – a calendar – look sleek and modern.

Of course, what fun are all these awesome occasions – or mundane tasks – if you can’t tell your friends all about it? That’s where the social aspect of UpTo kicks in. By adding friends from your email contacts or Facebook, you’ll be able to see what’s on their agenda as well. This makes sharing event information easy. Then again, if your friends are terrible people, they may use that information against you. As such, you don’t have to share every event you’re planning to take part in and neither do your friends, so information can be kept private. That way your business partners won’t know about the pedicure that you took a half-day off to get.

Social events don’t just stop at your friends as UpTo has amassed over 800 event streams that you can “Discover,” subscribe to, and include in your calendar. Fans of most professional and college sports can add the entire schedule of your team of choice; Movie and TV buffs can add lists of major release dates and premieres; and citizens of major cities can subscribe to see the biggest events that are coming through town. When the creators of the streams update their events, like if the team you follow makes the playoffs, the new happenings appear automatically on your calendar. You can then comment or like those events to make your thoughts known, allowing you to socialize with people all over that are interested in the same occurrences as you.

As solid in its execution as it is in appearance, UpTo lives up to everything you’d expect out of it. It’s quite the task to make a calendar interesting, but UpTo manages to do so in a way that doesn’t stray too far from the initial purpose of keeping track of events. The social aspect is sure to be great for party planners and those who are looking for some extra company for a show or concert. It strips away a lot of the unnecessary details of events on other platforms, keeps only the most pertinent of information, and makes it easy to manage in your personal schedule or send out for others to join in. UpTo is an app worth checking for the event planner in you.

You can download UpTo for free from the Google Play Store. It is also available for free on iPhone.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle, Stranded in Holland, Released on Texas Coast

Image: National Park Service. 

They named her Flip — a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle found last December, stranded on the coast of Holland.  She was injured and stunned by the cold.

But the scientists and animal lovers who rescued her took advantage of a key fact about Kemps’ Ridleys — that while they’re endangered, they are also among the world’s great long-distance travelers.  Specialists nursed her back to health, and released her into the water today — off the coast of south Texas.

“We couldn’t have asked for it to go any better,” said Iain Scouller, the general manager of Sea Life Aquarium Grapevine, based near Dallas-Fort Worth.  “We set her loose at high tide, and off she went.”

A lot of effort went into the rescue of a single four-year-old turtle, but Scouller said it matters for a species very much in danger of disappearing.

“It’s as much symbolic as anything,” he said.

His colleague, Karen Rifenbury, joined in. “One turtle makes a great difference because of the number of eggs she’ll lay in her lifetime.  We hope she will help revive the species.”

Flip was found on the rocky Dutch coast last December, about 5,000 miles from her likely birthplace in the Gulf of Mexico, and slowly nursed back to health by staff members at a Dutch aquarium.  She was then flown from Amsterdam to Houston — the aquarium staff is quick to thank KLM, the Dutch airline — in a special container that kept the water around her at 22 degrees Centigrade (about 75 degrees Fahrenheit).  She was driven to Port Aransas, Texas, for today’s release.

“It is likely that most individuals remain in the Gulf of Mexico for their entire lives,” wrote Donna Shaver of the National Park Service, in an email to ABC News. “However, some juveniles are shunted out of the Gulf of Mexico through the Gulf Stream and travel up the Atlantic coast of the U.S. to forage in nearshore waters and bays as far north as Massachusetts.”

Shaver has devoted much of her career to the preservation of sea turtles, and said it was rare, and risky, for a turtle like Flip to have gotten as far as northern Europe.  “There are only a few records of Kemp’s Ridleys being found stranded alive in this region. The waters there are too cold for their survival.”

Flip, at last report, is safely out in the warm waters of the Gulf, wearing an identification tag and a satellite transmitter glued to the back of her shell.  Turtles’ shells grow, and have a waxy protective layer over them, so the transmitter will probably come off at some point, but in the meantime it will provide useful data on Flip’s travels.  People will be able to track Flip at SeaTurtle.org.

“This is much bigger than a single turtle,” said Scouller.  “It shows that every one counts.”

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

UK Retailers warn of Samsung Ativ S and Ativ Tab delay, could be a case of first in, last out

The release of the Samsung Ativ S has been delayed in the UK, moving from mid-November to mid-December. A similar fate has befallen the Ativ Tab, Samsung's entry into the rapidly shrinking Windows RT tablet market.

Samsung was the first to announce a Windows Phone 8 device, when it revealed the Ativ S at a packed IFA 2012 event. It was also joined by a 10.1-inch tablet named the Ativ Tab, which runs Windows RT. Unfortunately, despite this early lead, it’s possible the Ativ S will end up being the last of this first wave of Windows Phone 8 handsets to arrive.

Since the Ativ S’s debut, other manufacturers have not only announced, but launched their Windows Phone 8 hardware, with HTC beating the competition on to the shelves with the 8X. Samsung was expected to put the Ativ S on sale very soon, with November 19 being accepted as the UK release date.

This has now changed, as according to UK online retailer Clove Technology, the Ativ S has been pushed back to the second week of December, with stock expected to arrive on December 10. A glance at Amazon UK’s page tells a similar story, with a five to seven week despatch date quoted.

In the US, the Ativ S — a phone which impressed us — hasn’t found a network interested in stocking it yet, but Verizon has been rumored to be coming up with a version named the Odyssey, and that it could possibly arrive in November. A look online reveals Expansys USA expects the Ativ S to arrive on November 23. We’ve contacted them to see if this still stands, and will update here if we hear back.

So, it’s not looking like good news for the Ativ S, and worse still, the Ativ Tab has also suffered the same delay. Clove has added the same December 10 date for the tablet, which makes the whole affair sound like supply or production issues, however it’s not the first Windows RT tablet to have its release pushed back.

Microsoft’s Surface tablet has caused problems for Acer and Asus, with the former deciding not to release its tablets at all, while the latter has cut the price of its Vivo Tab RT in order to better compete in the market. Is Samsung having similar concerns, and held its own tablet back while it considers its position?

Samsung hasn’t made any official statement about the Ativ S and Ativ Tab’s delay.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Newsweek to kill money-sucking print edition, go digital-only

Having seen the glowing light of the digital age, Newsweek will no longer be a real-life print magazine, as of December 31. Instead, the 80-year-old print publication will be available exclusively as a mobile app and on the Web — behind a paywall, of course.

After nearly 80 years, Newsweek will cease to exist as a print publication in early 2013, according to an announcement this morning from editor-in-chief Tina Brown. Instead, the company will expand its Web and mobile app offerings. The December 31 issue will be Newsweek’s last in the United States.

Founded in 1933, Newsweek’s “turn of the page,” as Brown calls it, comes just two years after its merger with Web-only outlet The Daily Beast. With the closure of Newsweek’s print edition, the publication will be renamed Newsweek Global, with a single edition created for the world market. Like The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, the majority of Newsweek Global’s content will only be available with a paid subscription, though select content will still be accessible for free on The Daily Beast. Newsweek Global will be available on e-readers, tablets, and on the Web (behind a paywall).

The transition to a digital-only comes amidst financial trouble for Newsweek, which has reportedly been losing about $40 million a year — an unnecessary cost, according to Brown, who believes readers have jumped head first into the digital era, and are ready to abandon expensive print versions of publications.

“Currently, 39 percent of Americans say they get their news from an online source, according to a Pew Research Center study released last month. In our judgment, we have reached a tipping point at which we can most efficiently and effectively reach our readers in all-digital format,” wrote Brown. “This was not the case just two years ago. It will increasingly be the case in the years ahead.”

Of course, surging forward into the digital age means a number of Newsweek staffers will fall off the back of the wagon.

“Regrettably we anticipate staff reductions and the streamlining of our editorial and business operations both here in the U.S. and internationally,” wrote Brown.

For those of you wanting to jump ahead of the curve, Newsweek currently offers its magazine for iOS, Android, and Kindle e-readers.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Samsung learns from its mistakes, says only that 4.1 Jelly Bean for the Galaxy S3 is coming “very soon”

During its IFA 2012 press conference, Samsung confirmed that an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update would be coming to the Galaxy S3 "very soon."

The journey began in December last year, when Samsung announced it would be bringing the then latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, to a variety of its Galaxy smartphones and tablets in early 2012.

As one of those devices was the best-selling Galaxy S2, this news garnered plenty of attention, but sadly, Samsung’s less than precise timing caused all sorts of problems. Owners became frustrated at the lack of Ice Cream Sandwich on their beloved phones, and Samsung worked as hard to placate the masses as it did on the update itself.

Even the mid-March confirmation of the update’s arrival was mismanaged, as networks still had to test it, plus in some cases the usually first-on-the-list SIM-free device owners had to wait longer than those with locked phones. It was all a bit of a disaster.

No sooner was Samsung’s nightmare over before it began again, as Google announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean a short while after the flagship Galaxy S3 phone went on sale…with Ice Cream Sandwich installed.

Jelly Bean on the Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 10.1

Rumors of a Jelly Bean update for the S3 soon started to spread, and now, during the IFA 2012 press conference, it was confirmed that Jelly Bean was about to make it to the Galaxy S3 too. Not only that, but the original Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet will join it too.

But Samsung has learned its lesson, as there was no mention of it coming in the next month, before Christmas or even just “in 2012,” with the spokesperson preferring to say only that it’s coming “very soon.”

If Samsung is sensible, it won’t say anything else until the update is about to make its way to the networks, when it’ll be out of Samsung’s hands. Any speculation will down to the press to make.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is a modest yet interesting update, with a variety of features that should work well on the quad-core Galaxy S3, and you can read all about them in our guide here.

So when could “very soon” mean? Well, soon is defined as a short time, and the addition of very emphasizes this, which in Samsung’s world could mean between now and next year. As with all Android updates, patience is needed, but at least we know it’s coming.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Apple court hearing requesting ban of Samsung products set for December 6

Apple will have to wait until December 6 to see whether it can get sales bans imposed on a number of Samsung devices.

A US court will decide on December 6 whether Apple has justifiable grounds for a ban to be imposed on sales of eight Samsung handsets following the Cupertino company’s big win in the courts last week.

The devices, all smartphones, are:

- Galaxy S 4G

- Galaxy S2 AT&T

- Galaxy S2

- Galaxy S2 T-Mobile

- Galaxy S2 Epic 4G

- Galaxy S Showcase

- Droid Charge

- Galaxy Prevail

At the same hearing, Samsung will argue for the jury’s decision to be set aside, AllThingsD reports.

“Having considered the scope of Apple’s preliminary injunction request, the additional post-trial motions that the parties have already filed and will file, and the substantial overlap between the analysis required for Apple’s preliminary injunction motion and the parties’ various other post-trial motions, the Court believes consolidation of the briefing and hearing on the post-trial motions is appropriate,” Koh said in a written order released on Tuesday.

Last week Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages after a nine-person California jury ruled unanimously that the Korean firm had willfully infringed on a number of Apple’s patents.

The decision came at the end of a trial that lasted almost a month, with both sides accusing each other of patent violation. Unfortunately for Samsung, the jury ruled that Apple had not violated any of its patents.

Following the conclusion of the case, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a memo to his employees in which he said that the jury’s verdict sent a “loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.” Samsung, meanwhile, called the verdict “a loss for the American consumer.”

Before the December 6 hearing, the two sides will face each other in court again on September 20 as Samsung attempts to have a US-based preliminary sales ban lifted on its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, a product which was found in the recent trial not to have infringed on any of Apple’s design patents.

For an overview on what last week’s trial verdict might mean for Android users, head over to here for a piece by DT’s mobile expert Jeffrey Van Camp.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com