Get Android 7 (Nougat) immediately with Nexus device #AndroidGeek

Android 7.0 is available immediately
for Nexus owners via beta signup.

Got a Nexus device?  If so, you can get Android 7.0 (Nougat) immediately without waiting for the over-the-air (OTA) roll out by opting your device "in" to the Android beta program.  As of today (8/22/2016) the opt-in option results in a wait time of less than 1 minute for the download notification to appear on your device.

Go to the beta opt-in page to see if your device qualifies.  If so, "opt in" to get an alert that the new Android version is ready for download.  The 7.0 release is 1,171.5 MB so make sure you're not already pressed for download and installation space.

Beta opt-in:  https://www.google.com/android/beta

One big caveat
If you later decide to "opt-out" while running a "beta" copy of Android your device could be wiped in the reversion process so choose wisely...

Android 7.0
Not familiar with what 7.0 is adding?  The big new feature is multitasking -- two apps at once side-by-side -- which has already been available in limited fashion in certain enhanced (non-stock) iterations of Android.  There are also security enhancements and optimizations aimed at longer battery life.

See the Android 7.0 feature page here:  https://www.android.com/versions/nougat-7-0

Reviews for 7.0 have been relatively positive so far.  I'm now updating my Nexus 5X and will post details of any major issues I encounter.

Fix Google Play app's music preview #AndroidGeek

Google Play App can't preview songs
following software update.

A recent round of Google Android software updates have broken the music preview capability of the Google Play Store app.  This is a bit of bad news as I like to peruse unfamiliar (to me) free and $0.99 albums routinely offered through the Play store.

A number of "try this fix" suggestions have been tossed around the net including clearing Play Store app cache, resetting the app, dropping the registered account and then adding it back, etc.  These are, at best, only temporary fixes for the music preview problem.

The REAL fix is to update your Google Play Store app to a more recent version.  The most recent version(s) must be manually downloaded and installed.  I have several Nexus devices (you know -- the line of devices that always get Android updates first?) and they have *not* gotten over-the-air (OTA) updates to the latest Play Store app version, yet.

Thankfully it's easy to get your hands on a fixed version from APKMirror, a trusted host of verified (and legal) APK files.  Note that the following link is to an official Google release, not some app variant someone cooked up at home.

Here's Play Store version 6.7.13 released on 6/1/2016:
http://www.apkmirror.com/wp-content/themes/APKMirror/download.php?id=87753

To install this you'll need to go into Android system settings and temporarily allow installation of APK files from unknown sources.  I've now tested this update on two different Android devices and have verified it corrects the music preview issue.

Google Maps without Street Names #GoogleGeek

Use Google Maps' API to get
maps without street names.

Recently I needed a map without street names. Google Maps is my typical go-to mapping solution for work projects and at home.  A quick check of the current Google Maps web interface revealed no options for hiding street names.

The Google Maps API options contained exactly what I needed and I will now share that simple solution with you...

Nexus 5X Teardown Notes #AndroidGeek

The new Nexus 5X began shipping earlier this month! My new Nexus arrived a few days ago so it's time to make some teardown notes.

If you already have or are thinking of buying this device then you'll likely be interested in my answers to a few questions like:

• Can I replace the (fixed) battery myself?
• What battery does the phone use and how much does it cost?
• Can I add wireless charging capability?
• Where is the IMEI located? (the physical tag)
• Can I add an internal metal plate for magnetic car mounts?

For those who still buy phone accessories at retailers such as Best Buy or even Amazon, I'll throw in a few money-saving tips:

• Get a full-size Nexus 5X screen protector for under $1 shipped
• Pick up a decent hybrid or hard-shell case for under $4 shipped
• USB-C cable solution on the cheap

Read on...

Google + Nest: My wish list come true? #GadgetGeek

Google Nest:
Chrome encased in chrome?

It seems hardly possible that Google could extend its reach into people's personal space even more than it already has.  Every web search, every email and nearly every step (via Android device location tracking) is already in Google's grasp.   Yet, impossibly, Google has managed to extend that reach by buying the right to know when people are home and, in some cases, even where people are in the home regardless of whether one happens to carry an Android device.

The purchase of Nest means Google has added in-home motion sensors (and light sensors and smoke sensors and CO2 sensors) to its growing belt of people-monitoring tools.  Privacy advocates are -- and rightly should be -- concerned over such a wide-ranging and intimate ability to snoop and monitor.  At the same time, however, such an integration of tools makes for some geekily exciting possibilities.  Oh, to heck with privacy -- let's talk about my "Nest Wish List"...

Google Glass in Austin #GadgetGeek

Austin was Google's third stop on its nationwide Glass tour which aims to get Glass into the hands of more than just a priviledged few, if only for a short period of time.  Google is attempting to reach out and build enthusiasm among a consumer base that still doesn't quite know what to make of the product.

If the event in Austin was any indicator, Google is on the right track:  the event was well-managed with just enough time for every attendee to see live demos, play directly with Glass and ask plenty of questions....

Android Studio - get it here! #DroidGeek

Google excited much of its Android developer base with the announcement of Android Studio which replaces Eclipse as Google's recommended Android IDE.  While there were plenty of news outlets touting this announcement most failed to provide info on where to grab a copy of the new IDE -- probably because Android Studio has not been officially released.  You can, however, get a copy of the "early access preview"...

Hosted jQuery fallback plan #WebDevGeek

It's estimated that jQuery is employed by over half of all "major" websites. "Major" means highly-trafficked-sites such as NBC, Amazon, Twitter and ESPN. Close to one-in-four of these sites use Google's hosted jQuery library files (a.k.a. Google's "Content Delivery Network" or "CDN") rather than serving local copies of files. There are some great reasons to deliver jQuery via a CDN -- namely a better end-user experience and less server and network loads thanks to CDN content originating from localized source servers and end-user web browser caching of commonly-served files. Employing a CDN, however, introduces an external dependency that can cause sites to seriously malfunction if the CDN becomes unavailable.

The easy solution is to dual-source those critical jQuery files: attempt to load from a CDN and, if that fails, load from a local source instead. The code for this is super-simple and is being used more and more often as websites feel the bite of unexpected CDN service interruptions...

iOS: Four Walls and No Gate #MobileGeek

iOS vs. Android? 
Consider the roads...
 

Van Baker, an analyst from Gartner (the world's largest technology research and advisory company) who analyzes Apple products, was recently quoted on the iOS-versus-Android smartphone debate as saying Android is heralded mostly by "technologists" while iOS is more often supported by "fans". The implication is that Android proponents have concrete, technical reasons backing their choice while iOS proponents are more simply driven by fandom.

I agree with the "technologists" part of the assessment but, taking a few steps back, I also doubt there would be any serious complaints if iOS had remained the only game in town. Why? Let's compare mobile technology to US roadways...

Enhance your phone for free via Google Voice

I've been using Google Voice since mid-2009 -- not long after Google acquired the company that originated the service, GrandCentral.  Google Voice adds features to most any phone not already linked to an IP-based phone service.  Because it's been around for several years and has proven to be dependably good, useful and free, I'm often surprised when I mention "Google Voice" to tech-savvy people and get blank stares in return.  Why haven't more people caught on to this under-appreciated service?...

JSON bigger than XML??? #MarkupGeek

Continuing to chip away at my little Android programming projects, this week I put together some code to consume data from a JSON-formatted web feed.  JSON is more streamlined than XML and also happens to avoid certain cross-domain security roadblocks.  This means JSON is often a great choice for encapsulating objects and data that are destined for transport via web services over cell phone data plans.  It was a surprise, therefore, when I unexpectedly ran across an example of XML that was less verbose (smaller!) than its JSON equivalent...

Android programming with Basic4Android

Moving along from my initial foray into creating Android apps with Google's nifty but somewhat impractical AppInventor, I sought out other free (or nearly free) products that boasted a visual designer. Enter "Basic4Android", an IDE built using LUA to abstract the underlying Android JAVA classes and present a language very similar to Visual Basic...

Android programming with Google AppInventor

This year I finally got around to joining the ranks of proud Android device owners (so long, Windows Mobile 6.5!) It was therefore only a matter of time before I dipped a toe into Android app development...