Episode 178 – SIM Card? You Don’t Need No Stinkin’ SIM Card

By | December 16, 2013

Nexus 5

Jere tries to deal with Sprint, Guru plays with Ting.

Show Notes

  • In Other News
    • Canada’s postal service ending home delivery over the next five years.  Mail will still be delivered to community, grouped, lobby, and rural mailboxes.
    • Doom celebrates its 20th anniversary. On December 10th, 1993, id Software uploaded the first version of Doom.
    • CTIA, FCC come to agreement on cellphone unlocking terms. This will include disclosure requirements, postpaid and prepaid unlocking policies, response time, and more.
    • Qualcomm wants your next budget phone to have LTE…new chips look to lower the chip price of LTE.
  • Ting, one week in.
  • How Can I avoid Using Too much Smartphone Data?
  • Platform News
    • EFF criticizes Google for removing secret Android app permission manager. Tool which allowed individual permissions to be turned off was an experimental feature.
    • Is Google close to publicly releasing the Chromecast SDK?
    • Google Play holds its first annual Players’ Choice Awards for best apps and games.
    • Chromecast now works with Google Play Music, Movies, and TV from the web.
    • Google to show email images by default in gmail without compromising security and privacy.
    • Google removes Gallery App from new Google Play editions, must use Google+ Photos instead.
    • Google Enables Overflow button on all devices, even if there is a dedicated menu button. By the way, Menu Button vs Recent Apps button?
  • App News
    • Cover, the smart lockscreen, now out of private beta into public beta. (Play Link)
    • Skype introduces floating PiP view for tablets and more.
    • Google+ app updated with better performance.
    • Minecraft Pocket updated with Minecarts, Increased View Distance, etc. (Play Link)
    • Gmail 4.7 to add vacation autoresponder, cloud printing, archive downloading, and better performance.
    • Spotify on mobile goes free. (Play Link)
    • Android Device Manager Application now on Google Play. (Play Link)
    • Google announces 10 new Chromecast apps, including VEVO, Red Bull TV, Songza, PostTV, BeyondPod, Revision3, Plex, Avia, and Realplayer Cloud.