You’re invited to submit an app to the Google Fit Developer Challenge

With the recent launch of the Google Fit platform, we hope to spur innovation in the world of fitness apps and devices that encourage users to have a more active lifestyle. To expand the ecosystem and help users get a more comprehensive view of their fitness, we’re excited to announce the Google Fit Developer Challenge in partnership with adidas, Polar, and Withings.
We’re inviting you to create and showcase an app, or update an existing app, that integrates with Google Fit. The submission deadline is February 17, 2015. Our selected judges will choose up to six new apps and six existing apps for Fit, as the winners. The judges are looking for fitness apps that are innovative, fun to use, keep users coming back, offer users real benefit, and meet the Android design and quality guidelines.

Challenge winners will be featured on Google Play in front of Android users around the world. Runners-ups will also receive prizes, in the form of smart devices from Google, adidas, Polar, and Withings, so that they can continue to tinker and improve their fitness apps with the latest hardware.

Check out the challenge website to find out how to enter*. You will also find some helpful resources to find inspiration. We encourage you to join the Google Fit Developer Community on Google+ to discuss your ideas and the challenge.

* The challenge is open to registered Google Play developers in the US, UK, France, Germany, India, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan who are over the age of 18 (or the age of majority in their country). For the full terms and conditions, read the official rules.

Posted by Angana Ghosh, Product Manager, Google Fit

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rms:

a,week,with,the,htc,one,m8,by,kevin

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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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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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HTC Sense 5 5 busted! True screenshots of the incoming HTC UI

Its been some time since we have had HTC Sense 5.0 on the market. In the past few weeks this, considered by many as the best Android UI, also has been released for HTC One X and HTC One X+.

We already know for a few months, that HTC has already been working on the next version of their famous UI - HTC Sense 5.5. Some of the Sense 5.5 features are already present in the latest HTC One Android 4.3 build, however they are currently disabled in the framework.

Today, we present to you the first screenshots of the incoming HTC Sense 5.5 interface. If you are going to share this great news, please dont forget to include the source link too!

Home screen - now you can disable or enable HTC BlinkFeed easily.

Android Quick Settings - now you can re-arrange the content of the QS panel.

Improved HTC keyboard with possibility to add more emoticons.

Improved camera - "Dual capture" and "Panorama+", Storage and Recent Apps panel.

New HTC BlinkFeed categories, custom topics tab and minor changes to alarm clock.

Many more changes are of course under the hood, so expect improved performance and overall UI smoothness. Many bugs are also fixed, so the incoming HTC Sense 5.5 should bring a lot of joy for all HTC fans!

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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New Rooting Tools 1 0 for the HTC One M8 3 28 401 9

Here it is! Newest Rooting Tools 1.0 for the HTC One M8 3.28.401.9 system software just arrived. Dont want to flash any custom ROM but looking for a root access on your HTC One M8? No problem - its what Rooting Tools are for! Whats included?

• [boot.img] disabled ro.adb.secure and ro.secure
• [boot.img] disabled USB debugging icon on statusbar
• [boot.img] enabled USB debugging by default
• [boot.img] init.d scripts support (system/etc/init.d)
• [boot.img] removed trigger command to execute install_recovery.sh to prevent stock recovery from being re-installed after each system reboot
• latest SuperSu application (Superuser.apk) and binaries (su, daemonsu) (chainifre)
• proper init.d script to run daemonsu binary as a daemon
• special wp_mod.ko kernel module to disable HTC system RW protection (flar2)
• proper init.d script to insert the wp_mod.ko module into the kernel
• busybox
• sysrw/sysro binaries for quick system partition re-mount

Device rooted with the above method should have no problems installing latest official OTA update because:

a) OTA update checks for files integrity, but it doesnt check if any extra files were added to the system partition.
b) OTA update doesnt check the integrity of the boot.img, so you can flash a custom kernel if you want.

boot.img source: 3.28.401.9

target device: HTC One M8 (0P6B10000)

target device OS version: 3.28.401.9

Download:

Rooting Tools are available for download here. More details and discussion about Rooting Tools can be found on my XDA thread.

If you are a power user and a custom ROMs flasher, you can also grab the latest Android Revolution HD based on the 3.28.401.9 update with many extra goodies under the hood.

All above files can be accessed via Downloads Page on my blog.

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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HTC One vs Apple iPhone 5s comparison part 1

The HTC One was released earlier this year a midst a fair amount of hype and anticipation. The handset has seemingly brought HTC back into the forefront of mobile technology, to the point where Robert Downey Jr. is now their marketing star. Apple has refreshed the iPhone with the 5s, and its popularity continues to rise year after year. Competition has grown substantially, with various manufacturers releasing great smartphones set to compete in every major market. So how has HTC continued to stand out against the crowd? With its build quality and gorgeous display.

HTC placed an emphasis on build quality, providing the same type of aluminium material found on the iPhone 5 and now the 5s. Without delving too deep into its multitude of features, below is a video comparison of the HTC One and Apple’s newest flagship, the iPhone 5s. Both phones provide unique experiences and are worthy competitors against one another. 

Check out more no nonsense tech at Technibility.com!

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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Google announces a new Accelerator for mobile startups

Posted by Roy Glasberg Global Lead, Launchpad Program & Accelerator

Available to startups around the world, Google Launchpad offers resources, technology and expertise to help developers design, develop and distribute their apps. The Launchpad program includes a number of activities: Launchpad Week supports early-stage companies and focuses on high-impact mentorship, while Launchpad Day and Launchpad Summits similarly serves later-stage developers. So far, these events have been hosted in more than 30 countries and impacted more than 8,000 startups.

To complement all these efforts and provide a more intimate experience for developers, were expanding Launchpad to now also include the Launchpad Accelerator - a program that offers six months of hands-on support and training to help high-potential startups in India, Brazil and Indonesia build high quality apps and successful businesses. As part of the program, developers will be connected with Google professionals, world-class mentors and equity-free funding (up to $50,000 per startup) to help them quickly scale and reach their true potential.

The first wave kicks off on January 18th in Mountain View, CA, where over twenty pre-selected startups will coincide for two-weeks of intensive programming. Afterward, each company will return to their home country where mentorship will be ongoing, both locally and remotely, for the remaining time of the program. The startups will also receive credit for a range of Google services, as well as free co-working space. In the coming month, we’ll expand Launchpad Accelerator to more countries.

We’re now accepting new applications for the next round of the program, which begins in mid-2016. If you’re interested in participating to accelerate your app to the next level, apply here!

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ion Loc"

samsung,pen,package,–,some,fundamentals

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HTC One M8 3 28 401 6 new firmware details

While the new OTA update for the HTC One M8 is still hot & fresh (HTC One M8 received Android 4.4.4 update with HTC EYE camera experience!) we decided to take a quick look at the new firmware package included in the 3.28.401.6 update. There are few interesting changes in there!

1. Bootloader (hboot)

The new bootloader version is tagged as 3.19.0.0000 (previously 3.18.0.0000) and one of the most noticeable changes is the new "Software status" text at the very top of the screen in the bootloader mode. There are 2 possible variants of this text:

*** Software status: Modified ***

and

*** Software status: Official ***

This new text apparently replaced the existing until now "TAMPERED" text (or some may call it "flag"). When the "Official" will change to "Modified"? It seems that there are 3 commons situations: flashing custom recovery.img, boot.img (both with no HTC digital signature) or modifying anything on the system partition.

• How often that component receives an update? Very often

2. ADSP drivers (Advanced Digital Signal Processor)

The OpenDSP version is now 46.2.2-00564-M8974_F0.0811 and it previously was tagged as 38.2.2-00542-M8974.0311. The Harman & Kardon ADSP drivers were tagged as 45.2.2-00542-M8974_HM.0422 so maybe HTC incorporated proper H&K code changes in the international HTC One M8 as well? Audio and video improvements expected!

• How often that component receives an update? Rarely

3. Boot.img

New boot.img has a few changes in the ramdisk and a new kernel (3.4.0-g222defb) inside.

• How often that component receives an update? With every update

4. Emmc_fw16.img and emmc_fw32.img

These are totally new. We can only guess that emmc_fw.16/32.img are suppose to update the eMMC (embedded Multi-Media Controller) storage firmware.

• How often that component receives an update? Never before

5. Radio.img

The new radio in the 3.28.401.6 firmware is tagged as 1.21.21331147A1.19_2G and it replaced the 1.19.21331147A1.09G version.

• How often that component receives an update? Rarely

6. Recovery.img

As always, recovery images has also been updated (f.g. with a new kernel). Not many use stock recovery anyway.

• How often that component receives an update? With every update

7. Rpm.img

This component is responsible for a chipset firmware, voltage tables, etc.. Its one of the most crucial firmware parts.

• How often that component receives an update? Almost never

8. Sbl1-1, sbl1-2, sbl1-3 and sbl1-4

These are probably related to the bootloader security mechanisms. Sbl1-1, sbl1-2, sbl1-3 are updated in the 3.28.401.6 OTA package and sbl1-4 is a brend new one.

• How often that component receives an update? Almost never

9. Sensor_hub.img

The sensor_hub.img is the firmware for the sensor hub. A sensor hub is in itself a chip with its own LowPower microprocessor that can control the sensors in the device.

• How often that component receives an update? Almost never

10. Splash1.nb0

This is a splash-screen animation that appears right before you see the regular boot-animation.

• How often that component receives an update? Almost never

11. Tz.img

Tz.img is responsible for so called Trusted Zone: DRM keys at stuff. Its another crucial firmware part, better not to play with!

• How often that component receives an update? Rarely

12. wcnss.img

Also known as Wireless CoNnectivity SubSystem (thanks to tonokeemon @XDA for the info!). Its responsible for a Wi-Fi module firmware. Better dont mess with it!

• How often that component receives an update? Almost never

As you can see, the 3.28.401.6 update is not only based on Android 4.4.3 --> Android 4.4.4 change. It contains a fundamental changes in the device firmware too. 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.

You can download the new firmware from this thread: HTC One M8 firmware collection for different CID/MID.

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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HTC Desire HD looking for a new owner!

Its been a great adventure since 14th November 2010, when I started my first Android Revolution HD thread. The first officially supported device was HTC Desire HD. In three years this thread reached almost 15 million visits and more than 70 thousand replies. Thats probably the most popular thread on the entire XDA Developers Forum.

I have many devices laying in my closet, so I decided to sell some of them. Every electronic device loses some of its value with each passing year. I have two options: I can sell my HTC Desire HD for some regular market price (around $150) here in my country, or I can send it outside my country, to a person who will decide to pay more as a kind of donation to support Android Revolution HD project.

The device itself is in perfect condition, fully working and without any scratches. You can see the actual pictures of the device in the gallery.

If you would like to get the first Android Revolution HD device, please offer your price by sending an e-mail to android.revolution.hd.app@gmail.com

Thanks!

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Stream mobile contents to your TV using new Samsung Android App

Yes, finally Samsung made it real. You can watch your videos recorded in your Android phone on your TV! The reverse is also possible, you can watch TV programs on your mobile, also you can use your phone as a remote control. Play your favorite games on your TV, control the game using your phone!

This feature is available only in Samsung Galaxy S II, but will be enabled on other Samsung smart phones soon including Samsung Galaxy Tab.

You need a TV Model greater or equal to LED 7000 from Samsung:

UA46D7000LM
UA55D8000YR

These models are capable of connecting to the the network and the Internet using a wired or WiFi connection and steam content from internet, news, videos or social media whatever it is!

Download Samsung Smart View from Android Market

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Going Google just got easier

Posted by Rich Rao, Head of global sales, Google Apps for Work

Word processing and spreadsheet programs are the mainstay of office productivity software. Let’s face it: without a great way to write memos, crunch numbers and flesh out ideas, you can’t get any meaningful work done. For a long time, productivity software was a bit like a midsized sedan: sturdy, dependable, loaded with features and a little dull.

Nine years ago with Google Docs, we saw an opportunity to build something that would enable people to work together in new ways. Fast forward to today and Docs is a productivity powerhouse. Now’s a great time to give it a fresh look if you want to take advantage of its unmatched collaboration tools. We’ve made it easy by covering most of the features some claim to be missing and adding nifty new stuff like Voice Typing and Explore. All in all, we think youll find it’s the perfect tool for work.

In fact, were so confident that Docs has all the features you need, without the ones you dont, that were making it even easier to give it a try. If youre worried about switching to Docs because you still have an enterprise agreement (EA) with another provider, well cover the fees of Google Apps until your contract runs out. Well even chip in on some of the deployment costs and set you up for success with one of our Google for Work Partners.

Once your current EA is up, we offer a simple contract with no traps or gotchas. For a lot of businesses, it’s cheaper, too. Our estimates suggest that businesses with basic EAs and no dependencies can potentially unlock savings of up to 70% by switching to Google Apps for Work.

There’s a new way of working, and we think that once you see Docs and the rest of Google Apps for Work in action, you’ll never want to go back. We want to help you experience it now, even if you’re locked into an existing EA. If you’re in the US or Canada, click here now to learn more and see how Google can work for you. If you’re outside the US or Canada, stay tuned – we’re actively working to bring this offer to our global markets as well.

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Give away! Win a brand new HTC One!

Edit: 9.10.2013

The contest is now closed. Im trying to reach the first randomly selected person to confirm if he (yes, its "he") has a Twitter account and he entered the contest properly.

If he wont answer me within next 24 hours I will pick another winner. Stay tuned and check your Google Hangouts ;)

Here comes another give-away! This time the winner will get a brand new HTC One. Previously, a brand new HTC One X+ in a limited white colour went to Barry.

This give-away is international, which means everyone from around the world can enter and win! HTC One is also supported by Android Revolution HD on XDA Developers Forum under this link.

Why HTC One?

Because its still the best Android device you can find on the market. HTC partnered with Robert Downey Jr. (RDJ) on a series of #HTChange videos that only he could come up with. To enter the contest, you need to visit first a short RDJ change video  available here - http://s.htc.com/1fKG6Rr

Rules

1. Watch this video - http://s.htc.com/1fKG6Rr
2. In the comments section beneath this post answer one of these two questions:
1. what would you like to change in the Android OS?
2. what was the most important change in your life? You might use just a few words, but you might come up with a whole story too.
3. Share this give-away announcement on Twitter (short link: http://goo.gl/Hfq5d2) using the #RevolutionChange hashtag - this is very important for us to see you actually entered the contest!

The winner will be picked randomly on Wednesday, October 9th 2013.

Prize

As mentioned above, its a brand new HTC One in a variant of your choice (GSM or GSM+LTE).

Good luck everyone!

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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Retirement of certain Google search APIs

Posted by Vijay Subramani, Technical Program Manager, Google Cloud Platform

Back in 2011, we announced the deprecation of the following APIs: Google Patent Search API, Google News Search API, Google Blog Search API, Google Video Search API, Google Image Search API. We supported these APIs for a three year period (and beyond), but as all things come to an end, so has the deprecation window for these APIs.

We are now announcing the turndown of the above APIs. These APIs will cease operations on February 15, 2016.

You may wish to look at our Custom Search API as an alternative for these APIs.

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New Rooting Tools 0 9 for the HTC One M8 3 28 401 7

Along with the latest Android 4.4.4 system dumps for the HTC One M8 we prepared an updated Rooting Tools 0.9 for the newest 3.28.401.7 system software. Whats included?

• [boot.img] disabled ro.adb.secure and ro.secure
• [boot.img] disabled USB debugging icon on statusbar
• [boot.img] enabled USB debugging by default
• [boot.img] init.d scripts support (system/etc/init.d)
• [boot.img] removed trigger command to execute install_recovery.sh to prevent stock recovery from being re-installed after each system reboot
• latest SuperSu application (Superuser.apk) and binaries (su, daemonsu) (chainifre)
• proper init.d script to run daemonsu binary as a daemon
• special wp_mod.ko kernel module to disable HTC system RW protection (flar2)
• proper init.d script to insert the wp_mod.ko module into the kernel
• busybox
• sysrw/sysro binaries for quick system partition re-mount

Device rooted with the above method should have no problems installing latest official OTA update because:

a) OTA update checks for files integrity, but it doesnt check if any extra files were added to the system partition.
b) OTA update doesnt check the integrity of the boot.img, so you can even flash a custom kernel if you want.

boot.img source: 3.28.401.7

target device: HTC One M8 (0P6B10000)

target device OS version: 3.28.401.7

Download:

Rooting Tools are available for download here. More details and discussion about Rooting Tools can be found on my XDA thread.

If you are a power user and a custom ROMs flasher, you can also grab the latest Android Revolution HD based on the 3.28.401.6 update with many extra goodies under the hood.

All above files can be accessed via Downloads Page on my blog.

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:

Read More..