Samsung Calls Up VP Of Android Engineering As Their First Defense Witness

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The latest trial between Apple and Samsung is of course still ongoing, as it’s scheduled to go all month long at the least. While this particular trial isn’t directed at Google and more so at Samsung for patent infringement with various software related features like auto completion of text, a Google executive took the stand today to answer some questions regarding the situation. The executive cited that Android too was the result of long hours of hard labor during long nights through out its early development, and continues to be a challenging project even today. While the Android operating system has come a long way since its early days, Hiroshi Lockheimer who is the Vice President of Android Engineering testified today that Android and the team that has made the operating system so robust and popular, like to have their own identity.

Hiroshi also testified that those long nights of grueling work haven’t ended, and that they continue to be a part of the hard work the team puts in to better the mobile OS, even today. We don’t think anyone but Apple would dispute the fact that many long hard hours were completed to bring Android to where it is today, and he intended to make that very clear as he took the stand as Samsung’s first witness as part of their defense. Up until now Samsung had been preparing for its defensive side of the case, and as part of calling up Google executives, Samsung is sticking to its claims that Apple’s patents were invalid, and there was no infringement committed.

In total there are 5 features that Apple is claiming that Samsung had infringed upon and is seeking more than $2 billion in damages. Apple’s last testimony was earlier today before Samsung called Hiroshi Lockheimer up as part of the defense plan, and we’d suspect that they have more than just the VP of Android engineering to call on for questioning. Lockheimer testified that the first time he saw a working demo of the Android OS was back in January of 2006, and he was so blown away by what he saw that by April he had joined Google to work on the project.

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Lookout’s Got Your Heart, Check For The Heartbleed Bug With Their Free App

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The details about the massive OpenSSL security flaw known as Heartbleed have been making the rounds through the web the past few days, and if you haven’t heard about what it is or what it does, the breakdown is that it affects a major security protocol known as OpenSSL which is used to encrypt web traffic. While all of this sounds alarming and in time affected websites will end up patching this bug, for now you can at least get a little piece of mind while browsing the web via your android devices. To do so all you’ll need to do is head over to the play Store and grab the app called Heartbleed Detector from Lookout Labs-the same developer who makes the popular virus scanner/security app for android devices-and let the app run its course.

It doesn’t do much but it also doesn’t cost anything, as Lookout wants to do users a solid and help them determine whether or not their web browsing habits are safe or not. The app helps you detect which OpenSSL you’re running and whether or not it’s been affected by the Heartbleed bug. The unfortunate downside is that the app only serves a purpose of notifying the user of whether or not the bug has affected your system, and does nothing to be able to give it a clean slate. That part of the battle is being taken on by Google, who is reportedly working as we speak to get rid of the bug by sending out updates which have patched the bug.

Basically, the app will just make you more aware of what’s going on and can help you to avoid excessive web usage if you’re worried about it. The app does however do one more thing than letting you know if your device is affected by Heartbleed or not, and that’s informing you of whether or not the vulnerable behavior is enabled. Updates are sure to start hitting carriers as soon as possible we imagine, and for those on wifi only tablets the updates will be coming straight from Google and the OEM. You know where to check for updates to the OS, so make sure to tap in there often and update as soon as you can.

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The Gold HTC One M8 Does Exist, And It’s A Shiny One

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Is HTC worth its weight in Gold? T-Mobile CEO John Legere seems to think so, which is proven by his tweet showing off a brand new HTC One M8 that is plated in 24K gold. I’m not a huge fan of the gold colored phones myself, but this device finish looks awesome, which Legere points out in his Twitter post. Last years HTC One also came with a gold plated model, so we’d be foolish to think that HTC wouldn’t take the opportunity to make the same thing happen this year. The downside for anyone who might be looking to try and get their hands on one of these is that it is reportedly bound for the middle east only, so unless you plan on making a trip there to pick one up or try to have it imported-undoubtedly raising the already high cost- you’ll have to settle for just looking.

If you happen to be the rockstar of the US wireless industry however that seems to net you your very own gold model as a gift. While the gold is borderline too flashy for most, it does have a certain quality about it that makes it stand out and garner some looks of astonishment. At least that’s what we’d expect if we were holding this thing in our hands while walking down the street. other than the gold plating on this device, it has virtually all the same things as the original color models of the HTC One M8.

We’ere sure that we’ll see more photos of the gold M8 to come as they get their release in the region they’re meant for, and we wouldn’t put it past John Legere to tweet some more pics of his own. This is one color of the M8 that you wouldn’t want to cover up with a case, although if you find yourself to be rather clumsy with your stuff a nice gold case could keep the color theme going while still protecting that beautiful gold finish. You definitely don’t want scuffs on this bad boy. We’ve heard that if you stare long enough into the gold plating that something magical happens.

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Rumor: Amazon Smartphone Slated For Fall Release With Early Summer Official Announcement

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With the recent release of the Amazon Fire TV and it’s already stellar reputation so far, Amazon has no plans of slowing down their momentum as it would appear that they are taking steps to announce their fabled smartphone sometime this summer around June. If that were the only rumor detail that we knew about the Amazon smartphone then we’d be happy, but there is another rumor surfacing that cites Amazon is not only planning on announcing the phone in June, but planning to release the phone in the fall in the month of September. This rumor also states that the Amazon smartphone will come carrying a display that has a type of 3D technology that users wouldn’t have the need for glasses to enjoy. This wouldn’t be the first device to try and implement this technology, but lets hope that Amazon can do it right as none of the previous offerings have done an amazing job with it.

According to the sources that are familiar with the matter, Amazon has been doing more than just telling people about its plans for official announcements and release dates. They have apparently been making their rounds in Seattle and San Francisco showing off what sounds like working prototypes of the device to developers, which if true could suggest they’re on track to meet the time frames we listed above. If the phone gets a launch in the fall, it’ll be arriving just in time for the biggest shopping day of the year, where Amazon likely sees a huge drive forward in sales from their site.

According to the same sources who listed off the window of the launch date, the 3D technology is said to be made up of retina tracking technology to make images appear like they are actually 3D. There aren’t any sort of confirmed details coming from Amazon, but as far as specs go the device is rumored to be carrying a display size of 5-inches, and come powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. It’s also rumored to have six cameras total on the device, one of which would be the rear camera used to take pictures and one front one aimed at video chat, with the remaining four dedicated to creating the 3D effect discussed above.

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Samsung’s Surround Shot Compatible with Galaxy S5, Feature Requires Download

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Those of you ripping open Galaxy S5 boxes today might be pleased to know that Samsung’s latest flagship is compatible with the company’s Surround Shot feature. Surround Shot, which first made its debut on the Galaxy Note 3, follows in the footsteps of other photosphere camera apps that came before it, allowing users to take 360-degree images. It’s a neat little feature to be sure, but there’s one small problem for users eager to try it out: it isn’t available out of the box.

Instead, users who are interested will have to head over to Samsung Apps and download it to their device. Once the plug in has been downloaded, it will appear with the other camera apps the Galaxy S5 offers. From there, users will have a bunch of blue space to fill in with pictures as they rotate around a 360-degree space, snapping image after image to eventually make one all-encompassing picture. Once you’ve made all of your captures, you’ll be able to exit the app while it continues to process the image in the background. After processing has been completed, the image can be shared to Google+.

Basically, if you’ve used Surround Shot on the Galaxy Note 3, you’ll know what to expect this time around, only now you’ll get to take advantage of the Galaxy S5′s 16 megapixel camera. The bump up in sensor quality doesn’t go unappreciated in Surround Shot, either, as Android Central says it was able to produce 360-degree images that offered a “huge amount of detail.” In the end, Android Central that Samsung is providing “one of the best implementations of this feature,” and when it’s coupled with the Galaxy S5′s camera, it isn’t hard to believe that Surround Shot can produce some very impressive images.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 launched in 150 countries around the world today, with carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and MetroPCS offering it over here in the US. Not only that, but the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit – smartwatches that have largely been advertised as companion devices for the Galaxy S5 – went on sale today, too. Essentially, it’s a rather exciting day if you happen to be a fan of the devices Samsung puts out. Are you picking up a Galaxy S5 today?

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When Too Many Tabs Bog you Down, These Seven Chrome Extensions Can help

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We’ve all been there, that moment when you’re browsing through the web and all of a sudden things are moving slower than normal. You think to yourself maybe I should clear out my cache, and delete my history and cookies. That age old tip for helping to speed up your browsing experience does in fact work, but it isn’t always the answer to your problems. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the issue at all. Once in a while when I go a little crazy and forget to keep myself in check while browsing, i’ll glance up at my Chrome browser bar looking for the next bookmark to hit and notice that I have an ungodly amount of tabs open. That’s right, too many open tabs can mean death for the speed of Chrome, which is the main reason I use it in the first place over other browsers. I like the simplicity of it but it also functions extremely quick. That is, until I enter Tab overkill. That’s where this list of seven different Chrome extensions can help you manage your tabs so this doesn’t happen.

The first one up is called Too many Tabs, and it gives you a great way to manage all of the tabs you have open by allowing a fast glance view of the number of open tabs. You can fully manage your tabs with this extension, from color customization to fit your taste, to switching between tabs and even closing or suspending them. The Suspension feature in particular is cool because you can basically remove the tab from your bar like it was closed out, but you have easy enough access to get back to it at a later point if need be. The next extension that you’ll want to check out is Tabman Tabs Manager. This extension works pretty much like Too many Tabs, and gives you quick access to view your open tabs from a drop down menu button that lies just to the right of the address bar where all your other extension may sit. You can also undock the drop down menu and dock the list to the side of the screen if you wish.

Tabs Outliner is what you’ll need if your constantly using more tabs at once than any one person should in a given day. Instead of giving the user a drop down window of the information of every tab you have open, the list of open tabs is ported out to its very own window separate from Chromes, and the list is broken down so that every open Chrome window you have is sectioned off with the tabs that are open in that particular window. Think about the way your PCs files manager looks. It’s powerful, yet can be a little much for anyone who isn’t using multiple tabs with multiple windows all the time. Tab Manager is your number four solution to managing and keeping track of your open tabs. You’ll find the same basic functions here as the first two, but instead of putting all the information of your open tabs into a drop down list view, things are displayed in more of a grid with just an icon of the tab. This can be changed to show the text as well if you wish, as the icon is the default view for the extension. The icon-only option makes for a nice clean look, so if you’re trying to achieve great tab management that still has a nice aesthetic approach, Tab manager is for you.

Moving right along, we have TabCloud. As the name suggests, you can save your open windows of tabs here in the Cloud which does require your Google account to be signed in, and not only allows you to save your tabs for later, but just like any of Google’s official cloud supported apps, you can access the tabs from any machine so long as you sign in with your Google account there too. Tabs are sectioned off by window here as well, kind of like Tabs Outliner but with a more clean look. FreshStart is the next extension and works pretty similarly to TabCloud, in that it lets you save your Tabs as sessions that are sectioned off by window for use later on when you need to get some more work done. FreshStart has one very awesome feature here that almost has me choosing to use this over all others, and that’s the crash protection feature. Crashes don’t happen to me often, but more than once is enough for me. The crash protection feature can be set up to save all your open sessions at a designated time interval-for example, every ten minutes-so you’re safe even if things go south and the browser shuts down on you. Lastly there’s Modern New Tab Page, which takes the home tab of sites you visit often and completely replaces it with a more Windows 8/Metro livetiles design. As one would expect with this extension, the live tiles actually are live and they do update, so things can look as much like Metro as you want. It doesn’t quite have the tab management that the others are offering, but it has the nicest design and still allows you to see recently closed tabs and sites you visit often.

Now that you have a good set of options to help you manage your tabs within Chrome, it’s time to go out and see if any of these would actually work for you, and if so which ones work best. I myself am shooting for trying out the TabCloud or FreshStart, as I am keen on the cloud save feature for saving sessions and could use the crash protection. Hopefully these extensions help some of you keep your tabs in check.

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Third Party Dotview Style Cases Begin Showing Up For The HTC One M8

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HTC’s new Dot View case for the HTC One M8 is pretty sweet, and our own Alex Maxham seems pretty fond of his. If you don’t particularly care for the design of the official Dot View case from HTC, some good news for you is that there are some third party case manufacturers that seem to be working on their own version of a Dot View case that looks just a little different but provides the overall same functionality as the original. I still stick to my guns in saying the HTC One M8 would not get any love from a case in my hands, but others prefer to do the absolute most that they can to ensure that there phone is protected, no matter how good it looks without a case on it.

Now you don’t necessarily have to go with a case that acts like the Dot View, but if you want that easy to glance feature that it provides for quick views of information, this new third party case from a company called Nillkin is worth a look. It’s called the Fresh Slide Flip, and instead of turning the whole front face-which we think is the coolest part about the Dot View-into a viewing screen of notifications, time, and missed calls, the Nillkin Fresh Slide Flip case has a small viewing screen towards the top, similar to the Flipview covers for the Samsung Galaxy devices. From the looks of things it only displays the time, but its stated at the companies website that the case also provides the user with a caller ID function for when you get calls.

The case is made of a faux leather and comes in Black, White, Blue and Red, and will only set users back around $12.80 on Amazon as opposed to the $24.99 from Nillkin themselves. It may not provide as much information as the Dot View but it certainly has a more friendly price tag associated with it. As you would expect of any case, all the buttons and port connections are accessible and use of the camera isn’t hindered. If you’re still on the hunt for a case to cover up your brand new HTC One M8, see if these cases from Nillkin fit what you’re looking for.

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