The volunteer team at VideoLAN have been working diligently on new features for its popular VLC media player for Android since it released the big 2.0 update in mid-2016. Today, it announced that it had launched a beta version of the upcoming 2.1 version, which includes a large number of additions and improvements.
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The 2.1 version includes support for playing 360 degree videos, and VLC is working to add support for VR headsets like Google Cardboard.
Hopes that Samsung will announce today their next superphone at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, were hopelessly shattered, as Samsung announced that their “special announcement” will actually be the (second) unveiling of Angry Birds Space, flavored with bits of exclusive content for Samsung Galaxy owners. From the looks of it, Samsung will use SXSW to heavily promote its Samsung Galaxy Note. Like the uber-expensive Superbowl campaign wasn’t enough… It’s still a 5 months old device you know, Samsung, so how about sharing some of the next-gen love anytime soon?
Earlier this week, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates gave an interview with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. During the interview, Gates discussed a lot of topics, including his late friend and sometimes-rival Steve Jobs, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and more. The interview was mostly a promo for his new book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.
However, Gates also found some time to talk about Android. Although it shouldn’t be surprising to learn knowing the man’s history, Bill Gates is an Android man, as he states here:
Back when the Moto X was first announced, many folks in Europe were disappointed to learn that Motorola would not be releasing the handset outside of the Americas. At the time Motorola promised that they still considered Europe a key priority for Motorola and that the Moto X was simply the first in a new product portfolio, hinting something new would eventually make its way to Europe.
Since then, most of the world has seen theimpressively priced Moto G, but it appears that Motorola isn’t stopping there.
Here’s some news that you don’t hear every day and is certainly an eye-opener. The Nokia N9 is getting Ice Cream Sandwich. A team of developers and modders are porting Google’s mobile OS to the Finnish manufacturer’s well-known phone. Known officially as Project Mayhem, this is the first attempt in bringing the Android OS to Nokia devices.
If you have a Nokia N9 and you have been dying to get some Android goodness to your device, then this is great news for you.
If you’ve been following Apple’s latest iPhone launch you’ll be aware that the start of sales hasn’t gone all that smoothly. Following six early reports of battery issues with the new iPhone 8 Plus, Apple has now launched an official investigation onto these cases to determine the cause of the problem, and whether these are just isolated issues or early symptoms of a wider problem.
The issue hearkens back to last year’s Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.
A new Android stability bug has surfaced online as users are reporting random app freezes and UI lockups (h/t: Android Police). The issue appears to affect Google Pixel devices mainly, but a few users with OnePlus and Xiaomi devices have reported the problem too, suggesting it could be more widespread.
A OnePlus user tried to highlight the bug in a screen recording. Check out the video they posted on Twitter:
As reliable as a Mac can be, there will likely be a moment when an app stops responding due to a bug, crash, or some other hard-to-predict glitch. Thankfully, you won’t necessarily have to restart your Mac to solve the problem. We’ll show you how to force quit an app on a Mac so that you can reload it — or at least, finish everything else you were doing.
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Android users with the Amazon app on certain devices can now access AR View through Google’s ARCore 1.0. Available to iOS users for awhile now, this new feature lets you view items on Amazon virtually in your home. Tens of thousands of items are already available to view, including Amazon Echo products. Tens of thousands of items on Amazon have an augmented reality (AR) shopping feature, including furniture, home decor, toys, and Amazon Echo products.
It took more than a year, but cars running Android Auto are finally hitting the road and Hyundai has the honor of being first.
Hyundai announced today that it’s the first automaker to ship Android Wear on production vehicles, starting with the 2015 model of the Sonata with Navigation. Current owners of the popular midsize car can get a free upgrade to Android Wear by visiting a Hyundai dealership or, starting “later this summer,” by downloading Android Wear, copying it to an USB stick, and plugging it into the Sonata’s USB port.