Amazon’s 2012 Kindle Fire HD Gets Some Love From CyanogenMod

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Although the Kindle Fire HD from a couple years ago is already an older device, that doesn’t mean we can’t breath some new life into it. In fact, if you’re an owner of a Kindle Fire HD and are looking for a way to bring the tablet back from the dead, it looks as though we might have a way for you to accomplish just that. Among other things, the Kindle Fire HD has plenty of potential to be great. The issue is that it can’t access the wonderful nature of things that Android has to offer in its true form simply because it doesn’t run a regular version of Android. Although it is an Android tablet, it’s Amazon’s own re-worked version and for some of us there’s just no replacement for something as awesome as Android the way it was meant to be. The good news for you if you feel the same way is that the Cyanogenmod community has take it upon themselves to get a version of the aftermarket Android firmware running and ready for the Kindle Fire HD, so the awesome hardware can take advantage of truly awesome software.

Before we delve any further into this a couple things should be noted, this is slated for compatibility with both the 7-inch and 8.9-inch models of the tablet, so no worries there, but the software is more or less in a beta or alpha testing stage at the moment. Meaning it’s experimental, which could and most likely does mean bugs. Now onto the fun stuff. First off, this is a version of Cyanogenmod 11, so yes, you would in affect be bringing your Kindle Fire HD forward into the modern age of Android software builds. If you have messed with Cyanogenmod 11 at all before on any other devices, then you already know how awesome of a ROM it is, and will most likely be plenty happy to get it installed on your device.

As expected, your Kindle Fire HD will have to be rooted of course to do anything with this software, and if it isn’t already done we would suggest flipping over to a place like XDA to look up some processes on how to correctly root your Kindle Fire HD, they shouldn’t be too hard. Once that’s all said and done come back to these links(Kindle Fire HD 7-inch, Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch) and grab your downloads, then proceed. Make sure you have at least 200 MB of space left for you to work with, and you should be good to go.

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LG Puts out Connect SDK and wants Chromecast Functionality on their Smart TVs

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LG has been working with Google a lot lately, and it appears they like how the Chromecast works and everything. LG has now open sourced the Connect SDK for their smart TVs, built on WebOS for the recent ones. Basically how LG’s Connect SDK works is it combines all the other technology out there including DLNA, Google Cast, and DIAL. According to LG it’s an abstract layer.

“The Connect SDK currently supports webOS, Roku, Chromecast, Fire TV and older LG smart TVs. LG wants to add support for Apple TV and Samsung devices soon.”

This makes us wonder why LG is making technology that allows us to connect with other set-top boxes that LG is NOT selling. Usually companies want you to buy their products and not use anything else. So why is LG doing this? They’ve basically realized what other companies need to realize. Is that we are using all of these devices. Whether it be the Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, Apple TV, etc. They are all in our living room and being used at one point or another. LG decided to open source it to get the industry going, and lead the way, which is exactly what I believe LG is doing here.

What’s interesting here is that LG isn’t stamping their brand all over the Connect SDK. What they are looking to do is to get everyone out there working together. Which is exactly what the Connect SDK is for. Connecting all your set-top boxes together so you can have a seamless experience. It sounds amazing, and I definitely can’t wait to see how well it works from LG. Obviously it’ll take some time to get it perfect though, but it definitely sounds promising. LG stated “we want to drive the whole industry forward”.

How many of you already own an LG TV? Let us know in the comments below.

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Amazon App Store Has Easter Egg Hunt Sale On Games And Apps

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In the spirit of Easter, and egg hunts, and the two of them together, Amazon is having an Easter egg hunt to be had in their app store in celebration of the day to come. During this celebration of sorts which goes through tomorrow, there will be sales and discounts on apps and games with rewards like Amazon coins for purchasing certain apps. More expensive apps will obviously net more Amazon coins, so buying something for a few bucks will reward you with more coins than something that only costs a dollar. There are a number of different apps that are part of the Easter sale, and some just might catch your fancy.

To find the apps and games that are part of it all you have to do is navigate over to the main page of the Amazon app store in your browser, and then find the egg that has Amazon coins emerging from it, and clicking on that will take you to the page with all the participating apps and games. Some of the apps and games were already to free to begin with, while the ones that cost money like Minecraft Pocket Edition for $6.99 should score you a good little bit of coin. The sale actually seems to contain mostly games, but there’s nothing really wrong with that.

If you find yourself in need of some Amazon coins than this sale is a great way to stock up especially if you were planning on loading up on a few games for the weekend. We did however find at least one game that is quite a bit cheaper in the Play Store than through the Amazon app store, which was Need for Speed Most Wanted. It costs $4.99 through Amazon but is only $0.99 in the Play Store, so if you don’t really care about the Amazon coins aspect than you might as well just save yourself a few bucks. Everything else though seemed to be the same cost in both places, so if you were in the market for a few more titles, you might as well get some free stuff out of it right?

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Deal: Mpow Portable Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Stereo Speaker for $45.99

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Mpow’s newest portable Wireless Bluetooth speaker is on sale today. It’s on sale for just $45.99. That’s about half of the normal price. This speaker has Bluetooth 4.0, so it’s pretty good on battery for both the speaker and the device that you are using with it, i.e. your smartphone. As far as battery life goes, it will last about 8 hours of continuous use. Also it’ll shut off after 10 minutes of no activity. Which is good for those that forget to turn off their speaker. On the side it has the on/off switch as well as the 3.5mm jack and a microUSB port for charging the speaker. It’s a really nice looking speaker. While I haven’t reviewed this speaker from Mpow, I have reviewed another smaller one – which is priced at around $25 normally – and it was amazing. So I’d expect the same out of this one. You can buy it by hitting the link below.

Mpow® Portable Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Stereo Speaker with AAC aptX for CD Quality Sound and Support Hands-Free Calls

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These Unadvertised Galaxy S5 Features Will Make The Phone That Much More Enjoyable

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Samsung may have opted to highlight only a few of their best features with the newest flagship device, the Galaxy S5, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t tons of other useful functions that one might stumble onto that Samsung is proud of. Admittedly, there are actually a bunch of great little features that Galaxy S5 owners might find useful or just downright awesome. We’ll go through ten of some really cool features that Samsung didn’t really advertise but they’re definitely worth mentioning to users. First up is the Kids mode feature. This has infinite useful capabilities to the parent who loves to share their tech with their kids. No longer will you have to worry if they’re getting into things they shouldn’t be. This is especially great if you want to limit them to certain apps and games.

Priority senders is another really cool feature that we found to be handy. It’s kind of like favorites in the stock android people app, but it takes things a bit further by adding in some extra functionality. You can basically prioritize your top 25 people that you tend to contact the most, and make it so they appear at the top of your messaging list when going in to send a text, thus eliminating the need to scroll through your contacts. It also lets you see recent interaction you’ve had with any of the people that are designated as a priority contact when you call them and see their recent G+ posts. Definitely one of the cooler features that many people might not know about is the ability to use a regular pencil as a stylus with your galaxy S5. It’s an option called increase touch settings, and can be found inside display settings if you want to toggle it on or off.

One of the best things about smartphones now a days is the vast capabilities with music. With the Galaxy S5, you can have the phone pop up a list of similar songs to what your listening to in the music player just by tilting the phone a little while it’s in landscape mode. If you don’t really listen to music on the device but you do shoot a lot of pictures, than you might find the virtual tour with snapped photos useful, and it’s always nice to have quick access to the camera to take pictures in the first place, which you can set up by simply adding a camera button option to the lock screen. That one in particular is nothing really new, as plenty of Android phones already have that, but it’s cool nonetheless and a useful feature to have for on the fly moments.

We know that other people picking up your phone and choosing to browse through it or play with it will sometimes be inevitable, which is why Private Mode is one of the better functions on the Galaxy S5. You can choose to designate media like videos or photos, as well as documents from prying eyes, and anyone who you just don’t want looking through your stuff. One of my personal favorites is the call pop up feature, which basically allows for the call notifications to come on the screen in a pop up window over whatever you’re already doing. This is great for someone like me who always plays games on their device, as I can continue playing without having to dismiss the call or close the game out first. The last feature, called toolbox, basically allows you to choose your favorite apps and place them inside the toolbox so that you can access them quickly from a floating menu, that can be opened from anywhere no matter what you’re doing. We hope the Galaxy S5 owners found this useful and enjoy some of the features as much as we did.

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Sprint Edits the Nexus 5 Software Update Page to Reflect no Android 4.4.3

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Earlier in the week, Sprint had posted on their support site that the Nexus 5 was getting Android 4.4.3 this week. In fact, it was supposed to come on Monday. It never did. Nor on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…you get the gist. So now when you go to the same software update page from earlier in the week, it now says that the latest update was Android 4.4.2 which was pushed out back in December.

So what happened here? We’re not sure. It could be a bunch of things. Could be that Sprint jumped the gun. Maybe Google had planned to push the update out this week and they found a bug. There could be a million reasons why. But we have heard from a few sources, reliable ones of course or we wouldn’t be writing this, that KTU84F is the last build for Android 4.4.3. And that it’s just about ready to roll out. Hopefully it comes sooner rather than later, since I know a lot of people are having issues with Android 4.4.2 on their devices.

Hopefully we’ll see Android 4.4.3 next week, although we’ll be saying that every week until the update actually rolls out. Watch Google push it out as soon as I hit “Publish” on this post. The update is said to be mostly bug fixes, and nothing really new with KitKat. We are expecting to see all the new goodies at Google I/O in June. Which we will be there to cover it. So make sure you follow us so you don’t miss a beat during those two days in San Francisco.

How many of our readers are waiting on Android 4.4.3 for their Nexus 5? What kind of bugs are you experiencing on your device? Hopefully Google fixes them all in this update. Let us know in the comments down below.

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Smart Glasses? How About Smart Headphones with 3D Audio and GPS Support?

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We’re all pretty familiar with Google Glass and other smartglasses that are on the market. We also have lots of options for other wearable devices like smartwatches and similar accessories. But what about a smart headset? The concept is not one that we’ve seen from a lot of companies yet, but it seems pretty obvious. A Danish company called GN wants to introduce us to their new smart headset, called the Intelligent Headset. It can run apps and knows which direction you’re facing. It also plays 3D sound and can give you directions audibly, eliminating the need for a screen in front of your face all of the time. Sounds pretty cool, huh? GN has been hard at work on their Intelligent Headset, and they’re almost ready to introduce it to the masses.

The Intelligent Headset looks like a normal pair of over ear wireless headphones. You’d never know that they are packed with extra features and sensors. Lars Johansen is one of the developers of the smart headset. “It took us under two years to develop the headphones, which are based on our sister company Jabra’s Bluetooth headphones, upgraded with a gyroscope, GPS and compass integrated into the top band,” Johansen said. “They connect via Bluetooth to a smartphone or tablet and allow us to use 3D positional audio to give the wearer real-time audio feedback on their actions or location – they’re like an audio version of Google Glass.”

GN is not limiting their design to just GPS and guidance support, though. There is potential for lots of other uses. Apps could be developed for gaming, music, and other audio functions. They could even be used for accessibility for those who are vision impaired. GN has opened the Intelligent Headset up to third-party developers, and their current team is also working on new uses for them.

Johansen has already created a game called Zombie X that uses 3D audio to create a 360-degree area filled with zombies that the wearer must track down and eliminate using just their ears. More conventional uses that GN is demoing include audio-guidance for museum tours, enhanced with sounds that tied in with the exhibit the user is viewing.

Pre-orders for the Intelligent Headset are open now. The device is $420 and should ship sometime in July of this year.

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