Sense 5 Toolbox the best customizer for HTC Sense 5 based ROMs

If you havent used it yet - you really should. Im talking about the "Sense 5 Toolbox" application, made initially for Android Revolution HD. In the last few weeks the popularity of this application reached an unexpected level, and we believe its a reason to celebrate.

More details about the Sense 5 Toolbox can be found on this blog, under "Sense 5 Toolbox" link on the right panel. Or, just click here.

Why Sense 5 Toolbox?

The application is an answer for 2 basic issues: many users wants to customize their OS as much as possible, but currently available solutions similar to Sense 5 Toolbox are very limited when it comes to the possibility of using them on most custom ROMs.

Android Revolution HD is known to be a "stock-looking" ROM, which was always the most important aspect for many users, who were looking for a stable and well known custom ROM. However, having a custom ROM with such popularity brought our attention to many users, who were looking for a stable custom ROM, but also with a little touch of customisation features - like displaying the battery percentage, or being able to re-order or re-design some part of the UI. This leads to two different approaches:

1. having a custom ROM full of many more or less advanced features coded into the framework, which always ends up with all sort of issues, bugs, waiting a long time for a new ROM version based on freshly released official OS update etc; or
2. having a custom ROM like Android Revolution HD, close to stock with just a few changes under the hood to make Android users life easier, combined with a standalone application like Sense 5 Toolbox.

The result is what most users are looking for: stock looking by default, a stable and optimized custom ROM - but with the capability to change many things inside the OS.

With Android Revolution HD and Sense 5 Toolbox you have:

1. fast updates when a new OS is released/leaked,
2. a stable custom ROM,
3. the capability to customize your OS,
4. great performance because of the tweaks under the hood,
5. many features not available on the stock ROM.

The Sense 5 Toolbox is under continuous development. More and more features are coming with each new release and the "to do" list is quite large.

In the background, another project is still alive and under heavy development too. Im referring to the "Revolution Toolbox" application, announced in this post few weeks ago. Its still being tested, however we are getting close to the first public beta. Just one little secret I can say out loud now - Revolution Toolbox and Sense 5 Toolbox will "connected" in a particular way. Cant say more for now, stay tuned!

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

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Learn about Google Translate in Coffee with a Googler

Posted by Laurence Moroney, Developer Advocate

Over the past few months, we’ve been bringing you Coffee with a Googler, giving you a peek at people working on cool stuff that you might find inspirational and useful. Starting with this week’s episode, we’re going to accompany each video with a short post for more details, while also helping you make the most of the tech highlighted in the video.

This week we meet with MacDuff Hughes from the Google Translate team. Google Translate uses statistics based translation. By finding very large numbers of examples of translations from one language to another, it uses statistics to see how various phrases are treated, so it can make reasonable estimates at the correct phrases that are natural sounding in the target language. For common phrases, there are many candidate translations, so the engine converts them within the context of the passage that the phrase is in. Images can also be translated. When you point your mobile device at printed text and it will translate to the preferred for you.

Translate is adding languages all the time, and part of its mission is to serve languages that are less frequently used such as Gaelic, Welsh or Maori, in the same manner as the more commonly used ones, such as English, Spanish and French. To this end, Translate supports more than 90 languages. In the quest to constantly improve translation, the technology provides a way for the community to validate translations, and this is particularly used by less commonly used translations, effectively helping them to grow and thrive. It also enhances the machine translation by having people involved too.

You can learn more about Google Translate, and the translate app here.

Developers have a couple of options to use translate:

• The Free Website Translate plugin that you can add to your site and have translations available immediately.
• The Cloud-based Translate API that you can use to build apps or sites that have translation in them.

Watch the episode here:

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Android 4 3 update for HTC One

HTC One finally received official Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update from HTC. So far the update is available for only 2 CID/MID variants:

• x.xx.709.x for Asia TW (Taiwan) - from 2.24.709.1 to 3.18.709.2
• x.xx.1540.x for Developer Edition - from 1.29.1540.17 to 3.22.1540.1

Both OTA updates are around 550 MB so its pretty large update. Keep in mind you cant flash particular OTA update on the device with different CID/MID. That said, international users (WWE x.xx.401.x) still needs to wait for proper OTA package.

In a mean time we had some preview of whats coming along with Android 4.3 for HTC One in a leaked 3.17.502.2 software for Cingular US (United States). The reason why x.xx.502.x software was ready in a first place was the release of HTC One blue variant for U.S. AT&T network provider. You can find the latest Android Revolution HD 21.0 based on this software under this link.

If you dont want to wait for WWE update, there might be something special coming today for all HTC One users. Android Revolution HD 22.0 should be available soon in my xda-developers thread under this link.

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use the media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

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Google I O and whats next for work

Posted by Amit Singh, President, Google for Work

Google I/O, our annual developer conference, is wrapping up this afternoon. I always love this event because it’s our chance to shine the spotlight on our amazing global developer community – the creative coders who are building what’s next. As we think about developers, along with our own products and tools, we’re focused on the big opportunities of the future: provide the best-in-class mobile platform, help the next billion users by putting the power of the Internet in their hands and solving big problems to make people’s lives better through machine learning and access to great products. There were lots of exciting announcements this year, from Now on Tap to a completely new Photos experience. If you haven’t already, be sure to watch the keynote given by Sundar Pichai, SVP of Products and read the official blog post. For cool scenes and coverage from the floor, check out our Google for Work at I/O Collection on Google+.

I’m particularly excited that many of the announcements we made will impact the world of Google for Work and Google for Education. To highlight a few:

• Android M. Android’s latest release packs hundreds of performance improvements, including better battery life, easier app linking and streamlined permissions. And with our recent launch of Android for Work, the momentum for Android in the workplace is growing.

• Firebase. One of the key themes of this year’s I/O is empowering developers with the tools they need to thrive. To that end, Firebase makes building great mobile and web apps easier than ever. It manages the infrastructure on the backend on behalf of mobile developers so they can focus on the high-value stuff: delivering an awesome user experience on the front end. Firebase addresses key mobile use cases, including native support for offline usage when a network connection is unavailable, and automatic data synchronization in real time to the cloud and across diverse client devices. Nearly 200,000 developers rely on Firebase already, and I’m confident it will help accelerate development of mobile apps, including enterprise apps. Check out the team’s I/O Session to learn more.

• Inbox. Back in October, we introduced a new kind of inbox—one that works for you. In March we announced the Inbox early adopter program, to bring Inbox by Gmail to Google Apps customers. And while we’re still in the early stages, at Google I/O we announced that we’re expanding the early adopter program so any Google Apps for Work customer who wants to use Inbox can. We also announced new ways Inbox can help save you time and stay organized, with Undo Send to take back emails you realize are a mistake, even from your mobile phone, and something many of you requested: custom signatures.

• Places API for iOS. We launched the Places API for Android in April, along with an iOS beta. Now the Places API for iOS is officially available for all developers with all the same features as the Android version. This means you can integrate Google’s database of 100 million places worldwide into your app experience. Check out the announcement post to learn more and read customer experiences.

• Google Expeditions. Expeditions is a new educational tool that lets teachers take their classes on virtual field trips to anywhere using Google Cardboard. It’s a great, inexpensive way for the next generation of creators to experience their world.

We know that technology works best when it gets out of the way and helps people get stuff done from anywhere. These announcements are a step in that direction: new approaches to managing email, powerful tools for developers to build great apps and an updated version of Android. The future of work is bright, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

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Saving a life through technology Coffee with a Googler

Posted by Laurence Moroney, Developer Advocate

In this week’s Coffee with a Googler, we’re joined by Heidi Dohse from the Google Cloud team to talk about how she saved her own life through technology. At Google she works on the Cloud Platform team that supports our genomics work, and has a passion for the future of the delivery of health care.

When she was a child, Heidi Dohse had an erratic heartbeat, but, without knowing anything about it, she just ignored it. As a teen she became a competitive windsurfer and skier, and as part of a surgery on her knee between seasons, she had an EKG and discovered that her heart was beating irregularly at 270bpm.

She had an experimental surgery and was immediately given a pacemaker, and became a young heart patient, expecting not to live much longer. Years later, Heidi is now on her 7th pacemaker, but it doesn’t stop her from staying active as an athlete. She’s a competitive cyclist, often racing hundreds of miles, and climbing tens of thousands of feet as she races.

At the core of all this is her use of technology. She has carefully managed her health by collecting and analyzing the data from her pacemaker. The data goes beyond just heartbeat, and includes things such as the gyroscope, oxygen utilization, muscle stimulation and electrical impulses, she can pro-actively manage her health.

It’s the future of health care -- instead of seeing a doctor for an EKG every few months, with this technology and other wearables, one can constantly check their health data, and know ahead of time if there would be any health issues. One can proactively ensure their health, and pre-empt any health issues.

Learn more in the video.

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Protect your Google Account with Password Alert

Posted by Drew Hintz, Security Engineer and Justin Kosslyn, Google Ideas

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog.)

Would you enter your email address and password on this page?

This looks like a fairly standard login page, but it’s not. It’s what we call a “phishing” page, a site run by people looking to receive and steal your password. If you type your password here, attackers could steal it and gain access to your Google Account—and you may not even know it. This is a common and dangerous trap: the most effective phishing attacks can succeed 45 percent of the time, nearly 2% of messages to Gmail are designed to trick people into giving up their passwords, and various services across the web send millions upon millions of phishing emails, every day.

To help keep your account safe, today we’re launching Password Alert, a free, open-source Chrome extension that protects your Google and Google Apps for Work Accounts. Once you’ve installed it, Password Alert will show you a warning if you type your Google password into a site that isn’t a Google sign-in page. This protects you from phishing attacks and also encourages you to use different passwords for different sites, a security best practice.

Heres how it works for consumer accounts. Once you’ve installed and initialized Password Alert, Chrome will remember a “scrambled” version of your Google Account password. It only remembers this information for security purposes and doesn’t share it with anyone. Next, if you type your password into a site that isnt a Google sign-in page, Password Alert will show you a notice like the one below. This alert will tell you that you’re at risk of being phished so you can update your password and protect yourself.

Password Alert is also available to Google for Work customers, including Google Apps and Drive for Work. Your administrator can install Password Alert for everyone in the domains they manage, and receive alerts when Password Alert detects a possible problem. This can help spot malicious attackers trying to break into employee accounts and also reduce password reuse. Administrators can find more information in the Help Center.

We work to protect users from phishing attacks in a variety of ways. We’re constantly improving our Safe Browsing technology, which protects more than 1 billion people on Chrome, Safari and Firefox from phishing and other dangerous sites via bright, red warnings. We also offer tools like 2-Step Verification and Security Key that people can use to protect their Google Accounts and stay safe online. And of course, you can also take a Security Checkup at any time to make sure the safety and security information associated with your account is current.

To get started with Password Alert, visit the Chrome Web Store or the FAQ.

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Add Google to your iOS Apps with CocoaPods

Posted by Jonathan Beri, Product Manager

Today, we’re announcing that CocoaPods will be the primary channel to acquire Google SDKs for iOS. CocoaPods is a popular, free dependency manager for iOS that significantly simplifies the process of importing libraries and frameworks into Xcode. And it will help you manage your dependencies between our various libraries.

While there was a small but growing number of official Google Pods, as well as a few Pods written by other iOS developers, it was often difficult for developer to find the right SDK. With today’s announcement, some of our key libraries, like Google Cloud Messaging and the Google Maps SDK for iOS can now be found on the public CocoaPods service. Going forward, new iOS SDKs will be packaged and documented as Pods and published on cocoapods.org. You can find the full list of Google Pods and all supporting documentation at developer.google.com/ios/cocoapods.

If you havent used CocoaPods yet, now is a great time to give it a try. Add GoogleAnalytics to a Podfile to start counting new users. Or pod install your way to adding AdMob ads in your app. And check out pod try, a CocoaPods plugin that allows you to quickly launch our demo projects.

For more iOS developer protips and to learn more about Google’s iOS SDKs, please check out the Route 85 video series from Todd Kerpelman. We look forward to all the great Google-powered iOS apps you will create!

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HTC One M8 received Android 5 0 1 Lollipop with the HTC Sense 6 UI

The best smartphone of the 2014 – the HTC One M8 is already running Android 5.0.1 with the HTC Sense 6.0 interface. Thanks to the OTA update package from the 13th January HTC One M8 owners can already enjoy all the goodies that comes with one of the biggest Android platform update – Lollipop.

The UI is slightly refreshed, but it’s still HTC Sense 6.0 after all. However, HTC is already working on the HTC Sense 7 update that will become official together with the HTC One M9 premiere (if that’s the proper name).

Currently only the HTC One M8 Developer Edition is getting Lollipop OTA and it’s tagged as 4.16.1540.8. WWE Edition (.401) is around the corner too, and it should appear later this week. It will be tagged as 4.16.401.8. But don’t be disappointed, you can already have Android 5.0.1 Lollipop running on your device, even if it’s not the Developer Edition. Just head to this thread and install the latest Android Revolution HD 30.1 based on the 4.16.1540.8 update. It should work on most variants of the HTC One M8, except the U.S. models.

One of the biggest changes in Android 5.0 is ART (Android Runtime) - an application runtime environment used by the older Android mobile operating system. ART replaces Dalvik, which is the process virtual machine originally used by Android, and performs transformation of the applications bytecode into native instructions that are later executed by the devices runtime environment. ART brings improvements in performance, garbage collection, applications debugging and profiling. Among with a tones of security fixes and other major changes, Android 5.0 Lollipop also contains major new platform features for developers, with over 5,000 new APIs added for use by applications.

Its definitely one of the most important system update in the Android history. And since HTC One M8 is the best Android device up to date, its a must have update for every HTC One M8 owner.

Android 5.0.1 Lollipop with the HTC Sense 6.0 for the HTC One M8 (4.16.1540.8) - link

Do you have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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Custom email apps and more for Google Domains

Posted by Ben Fried, VP and CIO

(Cross-posted on the Google and Your Business Blog.)

Last year we introduced Google Domains in the U.S. to make it easy for your business to get online with a domain name and website. We wanted to make finding, buying and managing domains for your business simple, and we partnered with best-in-class website builders like Blogger, Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly and Wix to help you create your site – no technical experience required.

Since then, weve helped people register hundreds of thousands of domain names and create tens of thousands of websites, many of whom are businesses like yours looking to build and expand their online presence. Through your continued feedback, today we’re introducing upgrades to improve the Google Domains experience by adding:

• Custom email addresses – create an email address like, you@yourdomain or sales@yourdomain via Google Apps for Work.
• Over 90 new domain name endings – purchase domains with new endings like, .life, .world, .business, .cool, .pizza, .gifts, and .football (here’s the new full list).
• Domain ownership transfer – allows you to always make sure the right person is managing the right domains (learn more here).

Custom email addresses are a key part of building your online identity. Email addresses such as you@yourdomain help you establish credibility when you communicate with customers. Setting up a custom email address with Google Domains is an optional service for $5/month/user, and with that you’ll also get the full Google Apps for Work productivity suite. Google Apps for Work includes helpful business tools like video meetings, shared calendars, online document editing and 30 GB of file storage.

New domain name endings offer more choice and flexibility as you pick a memorable address for your business website. New endings are continuously opening up to the web, like .legal, .accountant and .services, and can help you create a name that matches who you are and what you do. Check out some of the people on Google Domains already using these new domain name endings: sublimation.kitchen, smilesnap.social, thecooler.ninja, and marcblair.photography.

It’s our mission to help your business easily get online and succeed with a domain name, and we want to make sure we continue to offer you the best tools and experience possible in our beta. So, if you have any input, questions or feedback, please don’t be shy!

See you online at www.google.com/domains.

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Mobile Doc Scanner MDScan Apk v3 1 1 Patched

Extremely useful mobile tool gives users the power to scan any type of document, transform it into PDF format and share it right from your device.
With MDScan users are free to scan any type of document, ranging from receipts to text pages and almost everything in between, on the go anywhere and anytime.
A perfect companion for busy users, MDScan allows anyone to transform everything from invoices to whiteboards and classes notes, magazine articles and more into a PDF format in order to easily export them, share and e-mail it to others, or for any other reason they can come up with. MDScan automatically detects borders, corrects distortion, and equalizes brightness to create clear, legible documents at a very high speed for your convenience.
Going above and beyond other mobile scanning solutions MDScan offers Batch shooting mode for a super fast scanning so users can easily scan within seconds multiple pages and save scanned files for batch processing later.
The app shines in terms of uploading as well as all document conversion is performed locally right on users device. This means that you can upload documents to cloud storage services, including Dropbox, Google Docs, or Box.net, email services, or Facebook and Twitter that is guaranteed to go off quickly, without a hitch, and without risk of any potentially sensitive information becoming compromised.
Simply put theres enough for you to worry about without having to go out of your way to scan and convert files into PDFs should the need arise, and now with MDScan its one worry you wont ever have again.
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Main advantages and benefits
========================
? Transform any image into PDF format.
? Automatic, high quality document edge detection and perspective correction.
? Manual free Advanced image processing to enhance poor quality images and documents.
? Quickly scan and manage multi-page documents on the go
? Scan, upload or send any document quickly, including receipts, news and magazine articles, invoices, coupons, posters and much more
? Cloud storage and social network integration for accessibility and sharing
Don’t hesitate to contact us at any time and send your suggestions or questions to our support email. We try to do our best to answer to your comments as soon as possible.
This software is registered by Russian Federal Institute Of Industrial Property # 2013619506

WHATS NEW
Improved Lolipop (new API) Camera
Share multiple PDFs
Share PDF from list of scans by long click
Export scan as separated JPEG files
Minor interface improvments
Minor bugs fixes

This app has no advertisements

Download APK:
click here
Additional Server:
click here
Google Play Store:
click here

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HTC One variants update

Image taken from smart.com.ph

In my article here I was writing about HTC One GSM/LTE (UL) and GSM (U) versions. The question if ROM based on UL firmware can be flashed on U device is still valid, but now we have some more details about these variants.

It turns out, that UL version of HTC One (having both GSM & LTE radio) will be available mostly in the Europe and North America. Model ID (MID) of this version is PN0710000.

U version (GSM radio only) is going mostly to Asian markets. Model ID (MID) of this version is PN0711000. There is also WL variant, which will be the Sprint version of HTC One. I dont know MID number of this version yet.

In the past we had similar situation with slightly different MIDs numbers of the same device. HTC Sensation had PG5813000 and Sensation XE had PG5813001. Both devices can use the same custom ROMs. HTC Desire HD has PD9810000, while Telus variant had PD9814000 and HTC Inspire 4G (U.S. version of HTC Desire HD) had PD9812000. Again, one custom ROM can be flashed on all 3 devices.

There are also some more details that leads to the conclusion, that most probably users with HTC One U variant will be able to use their device with no issues after flashing custom ROM based on UL RUU. This is surely a very good news for both users and custom ROM developers. However, this will probably not enable LTE modem on U devices. So if you want to use LTE and your carrier supports this technology, make sure you will buy HTC One UL.

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) down this post!

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My fight with Samsung part 1

It is a common knowledge that the theory is one thing and the practice is sometimes completely different. Today Ive felt on my own skin how Samsung is trying to fool its customers. Keep on reading and please share this on any of your social network.

Some time ago I bought a Samsung tablet – Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition). Few days ago I realized that the S-Pen stylus is no longer working. The touch screen simply didnt react when I was trying to write anything on the front panel. So I took the device to the authorized Samsung service in Krakow - "W&K Wlodarski ?ukasz". 

How much I was surprised when I received a text message after 20 minutes that my device is ready to be picked up. When I came back I was told that the warranty is voided because of "unauthorized software integration". Lets now point out some important technical details.

1. In ODIN mode: CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official
2. In ODIN mode: SYSTEM STATUS: Official
3. Current OS: official P605XXUCNF2
4. Kernel: official
5. Recovery: official
6. ROOTED: no!

So... what the f... hell? Where is the "unauthorized software integration"?

I asked the technician for some more details. He wasnt able to answer any of my questions. He wasnt able to show me this "software integration" and what would that be.

Lets now focus on the legal part. Warranty terms attached to my device do state about software modifications, but its a crucial ability to read it with understanding and a proper interpretation.

What does it mean? The key word in this part is "due to". So basically, there has to be a causal link (a cause ---> effect relationship). So if the modified software caused the failure, the warranty does not cover it. But if the modified software has no relation with the failure, then YOU MUST FIX IT, DEAR SAMSUNG!

The other very important thing is the burden of proof. The burden of proof is the imperative on a party in a trial to produce the evidence that will shift the conclusion away from the default position to ones own position. In simply words that means: if you say something - prove it! It is not MY obligation to prove that I havent modified the software. If you, dear Samsung claim that my warranty is voided because of software modification, you need to prove this software modification.

To sum up this first part:

1. Samsung service didnt prove their statement that I made an unauthorized software integration.
2. Samsung service didnt demonstrate a causal relationship between the unauthorized software integration (if there was one) and the device failure.
3. Samsung service refused to fix my device and the worker said "Sir you have no chance, just give up and leave".

Few minutes ago I wrote a long e-mail to Samsung support centre, explaining the whole situation. What comes next? Lets wait for a part two...

Please share it.

Do you have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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Google Cast Remote Display Plugin for Unity

Posted by Leon Nicholls, Developer Programs Engineer

Today we launched the Google Cast Remote Display plugin for Unity to make it easy to take your Unity games to TVs. The Google Cast Remote Display APIs use the powerful GPUs, CPUs and sensors of your Android or iOS mobile device to render a local display on your mobile device and a remote display on your TV.

Unity is a very popular cross-platform game development platform that supports mobile devices. By combining the Google Cast Remote Display technology with the amazing rendering engine of Unity, you can now develop high-end gaming experiences that users can play on an inexpensive Chromecast and other Google Cast devices.

Games Using the Plugin

We have exciting gaming apps from our partners that already use the Remote Display plugin for Unity, with many more coming shortly.

Monopoly Here & Now is the latest twist on the classic Monopoly game. Travel the world visiting some of the world’s most iconic cities and landmarks and race to be the first player to fill your passport with stamps to win! Its a fun new way to play for the whole family.

Risk brings the original game of strategic conquest to the big screen. Challenge your friends, build your army, and conquer the world! The game includes the classic world map as well as two additional themed maps.

These games show that you can create games that look beautiful, using the power of a phone or tablet and send that amazing world to the TV.

Add the Remote Display Plugin to Your Game

You can download the Remote Display plugin for Unity from either GitHub or the Unity Asset Store. If you have an existing Unity game, simply import the Remote Display package and add the CastRemoteDisplayManager prefab to your scene. Next, set up cameras for the local and remote displays and configure them with the CastRemoteDisplayManager.

To display a Cast button in the UI so the user can select a Google Cast device, add the CastDefaultUI prefab to your scene.

Now you are ready to build and run the app. Once you connect to a Cast device you will see the remote camera view on the TV.

You have to consider how you will adapt your game interactions to support a multi-screen user experience. You can use the mobile device sensors to create abstract controls which interact with actions on the screen via motion or touch. Or you can create virtual controls where the player touches something on the device to control something else on the screen.

For visual design it is important not to fatigue the player by making them constantly look up and down. The Google Cast UX team has developed the Google Cast Games UX Guidelines to explain how to make the user experience of cast-enabled games consistent and predictable.

Developer Resources

Learn more about Googles official Unity plugins here. To see a more detailed description on how to use the Remote Display plugin for Unity, read our developer documentation and try our codelab. We have also published a sample Unity game on the Unity Asset Store and GitHub that is UX compliant. Join our G+ community to share your Google Cast developer experience.

With over 20 million Chromecast devices sold, the opportunity for developers is huge, and it’s simple to add Remote Display to an existing Unity game. Now you can take your game to the biggest screen in millions of user’s homes.

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Stock system dumps Android 4 3 with HTC Sense 5 5 for HTC One

Very important update is out since yesterday for HTC One user. Android Revolution HD 30.0 - the world first custom ROM based on Android 4.3 & HTC Sense 5.5 for HTC One is available for download on XDA-Developers thread. However, there is always one problem when it comes to HTC updates - no RUUs (ROM Update Utility) officially available for download for regular users (HTC One Developer Edition and Google Edition seems to be the only exceptions). Why RUU is that important to us? I already made a short explanation here, but lets remind that again.

RUU (.exe) files for MS Windows are installers of complete firmware, including for example system or data partitions. Not having latest RUU means:

1. users using custom ROMs cant download latest OTA from HTC,
2. developers have no system dumps they can work with.

Ad. 1) If you want to download and flash latest OTA, your device must have completely stock system partition and recovery. Every OTA update is checking MD5 of each file on system partition to ensure .apk patch can be applied. If even one of 1000 files wont match, OTA update installation will fail. In this case you need to flash the latest official update you can find (even one year old) and later download official OTA updates.

Ad. 2) There are few workarounds, however none of them is as good as having a RUU:

• adb pull /system in custom recovery mode*
• cp /system /data/media/dump in custom recovery mode*
• nandroid backup
• boot partition can be taken from inside firmware.zip inside OTA .zip package or it can be dumped using dd if=</path/to/boot/partition> of=/data/media/boot.img

* adb pull, cp or dd commands must be executed from custom recovery mode, otherwise system dump will be missing few important files or these files will have 0kb size. Also, keep in mind that adb features are heavily limited on stock un-rooted device. In case of dd command, root access (su) is needed to make such operation.

Thats why I created my own stock system dumps (as a custom recovery .zip packages) for some HTC devices. I believe this can save a lot of time for many XDA users and developers.

HTC One thread - HTC One *STOCK* ROM | 3.57.401.500 | Jelly Bean | HTC Sense 5.5

Download links can be found on this blog, under Downloads section - Downloads

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

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HTC One M8 received Android 4 4 4 update with HTC EYE camera experience!

While Samsung is still in love with Android 4.4.2 (Android version from 2013), HTC recently released Android 4.4.4 update for the HTC One M8. Even if the most recent software version up to date was Android 4.4.3 (still newer than Samsung), the number of changes in the new update is quite impressive. The new OTA update elevates the software version to 3.28.401.6 and apparently brings a lot of fixes, changes and improvements. Here are some of them spotted until now:

Support hardware video codec

Camera improvements

HTCs EYE Experience camera features

Bluetooth improvements

HTC car drive mode improvements

HTC backup improvements

Thermal system improvements

Many audio related fixes and improvements

Overall performance improvements

Updated kernel

There are many more changes under the hood, but what seems to be the biggest new feature is the HTCs EYE Experience camera features. HTC Desire Eye is the new "selfie-phone" released yesterday during the HTC Dual Exposure Event in the NYC. Some of the new camera features presented in the new HTC Desire Eye are now also incorporated in the new HTC One M8 update. You can read more about the new Eye Experience features here - HTC Eye Experience.

The 3.28.401.6 update brings also updated bootloader version (3.19). If you already downloaded the new OTA package from some un-official source and youre not sure how to install it, please read this simple guide - How to: Manually install an OTA update on your HTC device.

But if you are an flashaholic and Android Revolution HD user, we have a great news for you! Android Revolution HD 20.0 based on the latest 3.28.401.6 update is just about to be released. In a couple of hours you will be able to find the download link in my XDA thread or alternatively on the AndroidNow English board thread, where I keep all links to my custom ROMs.

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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Introducing Google Actual Cloud Platform

Posted by Greg Demichillie, Director of Product Management

(Cross-posted on the Google Cloud Platform Blog.)

At Google Cloud Platform, we strive to deliver innovative cloud computing technology to developers at low costs with massive scale. Currently, our cloud offerings are powered by best-in-class data centers, virtualization software and container-based applications, but as we consider the future of cloud computing, we realize there’s a major opportunity ahead that would allow us to deliver an unprecedented improvement in the power, efficiency and reliability of our infrastructure. We can elevate cloud computing like never before.

We’re answering the question that’s been in front of us the whole time: why isn’t cloud computing built in actual clouds? Well, as of today, it is. We’re excited to announce Google Actual Cloud Platform: all of our incredible services and products running in actual clouds in the troposphere.

Starting on April 1, Google Actual Cloud Platform brings with it a number of exciting new features:

• New compute zone: We’ve added a new compute zone, troposphere-1a, to make it easier than ever to provide your app with non-earth-bound availability. Now, you no longer have to make a choice between high availability and high altitude.

• New machine types: Alongside our current machine types, we’ve added a new category of “physical” devices: actual-cloud machine types. Choose from cumulus-16gb, cirrus-32gb and stratocumuliform-64g (created specifically for data intensive workloads).

• Stormboost: Drawing on charges from electrical fields during thunderstorms, we’re able to supercharge read/write performance on all persistent disks and offer 50% higher IOPS.

• CloudDrops: A new, game-changing content distribution system. CloudDrops can provide blazingly fast content delivery to all of your users using—you guessed it—rain drops.

• Weather Dashboards in the Developer’s Console: With new weather-dependent performance features, you need a way to monitor the atmospheric conditions of your servers. Now, you can monitor humidity/request, watch your app’s altitude and see a 7-day forecast right next to the rest of your stats.

• Bare-metal container support: Applications deployed on Actual Cloud Platform can run in containers too. The lightweight shared kernel model of containers makes them ideal for non-terrestrial deployments.

From all of us on the Google Cloud Platform team, here’s to clear skies ahead.

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Bring Android to work on your terms with Google Apps

Posted by Clayton Jones, Product Manager, Google for Work

With just the phone in your pocket, you can email your boss in Gmail and then ask your kids when they’ll be home using Hangouts. You can follow up with a new client in Salesforce and pull up your tax documents in Drive. Everything you do, whether its for work or your personal life can all be done from the device you always have by your side. That’s pretty powerful and can save a lot of time. But with great power comes great responsibility, and keeping that information secure requires some attention — whether it’s keeping your tax documents private to yourself or your email conversations secure within your company.

That’s why last week we made Android ready for work — making it easier for the more than one billion Android users out there to access the apps they need to be productive on their phones and tablets. Today we wanted to highlight the ways Google Apps Mobile Management let’s you take full advantage of Android for Work.

If you use Google Apps you already have a Mobile Management provider

Phones get lost. Tablets stolen. People leave the company. Things happen. We believe you should have the tools to keep your work data safe, and that this safety should just be built in to the applications you choose. That’s why mobile device management — across Android and iOS — is included with Google Apps and Google Drive for Work. Apps Mobile Management allows admins to see what devices are connected, require device passwords and remotely wipe data when necessary.

Security that’s easy to manage

As the domain administrator, with today’s launch, you can now choose the level of data separation that works for your organization. Whether it’s a personal device or a corp-issued one, with Android for Work, you can have all your employees create a Work Profile that isolates and protects work data from other activity on their phone. Or make it a choice, and let employees continue to switch accounts within Gmail and other Google mobile apps, while using the Work Profile for non-Google work related apps. Either way, all their work information is encrypted and can be remotely wiped.

The Work Profile keeps all work approved apps separate from the rest of the phone.

Easy to use

Google Play for Work makes it easy for employees to see what apps are approved by their company and install the apps they want onto their device. Once an admin enables Android for Work, anyone can choose to use the Work Profile, even if not required to. So their own information stays private while the company can enforce Mobile Management policies for work accounts if needed.

Install work apps from Google Play for Work and keep them on your homescreen.

With Google Apps Mobile Management, you can have choice and security at the same time. Your employees can choose the device they’re comfortable with that helps them get work done, and you have peace of mind that company information is secure. Android for Work and Apps Mobile Management is available for all Google Drive for Work and Google Apps for Work, Government and Education organizations. Learn more in the Admin Help Center.

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Samsung Chord SDK An Introduction

The Samsung Smart App challenge has motivated me to explore a bit more about the Samsung Chord SDK.

If you want to know more about the SamsungSmart App Challenge, please visit here  or to know more about the Android SDK – Here . There is a growing community for the android developer as well. 

Here is that I understand are the highlights of this SDK:

1.     It is a framework developed by Samsung for networking between devices – making it easy for people without network programming skills.

2.     It is not physical network connection that is created. It is application layer messaging protocol that uses the underlying TCP/IP network. i.e it is different from wi-fi or Bluetooth which work on a physical network protocol.

3.     Samsung also provides an add-in emulator to the standard eclipse development environment to test the networking of your apps.

4.     The Chord SDK allows creating a network of devices allowing for an n:n communication. It supports

a.     Synchronized content sharing

b.     Broadcast of messages to near by devices

c.      Data transfer between devices

d.     Multi-player games

5.     The Security features need improvement as any mobile with the same app on it can join the group or leave the group

6.      Chord supports only Android 4.0 and above

A bit about the architecture of the Chord SDK:

(This diagram is from Samsung SDK documentation.)

The application layer is where our imagination can be used to build innovative apps.

There are a few other basic aspects we need to understand in order to be able to use the Chord SDK.

1.     Channel Manager – This is the part of the software that manages all the mobiles in a network. The various devices are called nodes

2.     Messaging protocol – This is the part of the SDk that helps in exchanging of messages between the nodes

3.     File Transfer Protocol – This is the protocol used for file transfers between the nodes

4.     Discovery protocol -  This is the component that helps in discovering the various devices within range to for the logical group of nodes

5.     ZeroMQ – This is the underlying layer that helps with all the messaging and file transfers

A little bit more about Channels before we get into coding J

Chord has the concept of 2 types of channels for communication:

1.     Public Channel

2.     Private Channel

The Public channel is one one, which any device running the Chord SDk can join.

A private channel is one, which is created by nodes having the same chord SDK based application. 

So, if my mobile has Chord SDK app, I am part of a public channel. If I have an app A and an app B, I can be part of Channel A and Channel B respectively.

In the next article, I will talk about setting up the environment for developing using Chord SDK and later we will develop a simple app using Chord SDK.