Did Google Just Squash Android Skins?

A post on the Google Devs site just outlined standards that Google is requiring of OEMs that use ICS on their phones. The “Halo” theme that is used on the Galaxy Nexus is now required on ICS builds. Google is not implicitly requiring the Halo theme, but those devices that do not comply with Google’s wishes will find themselves locked out of the Google Market, and its 400,000 apps. That may mean that official Google apps might not be included, including Gmail and Google Maps and Google Nav, which is sure to discourage noncompliance.

We’ve made the inclusion of the unmodified Holo theme family a compatibility requirement for devices running Android 4.0 and forward. If the device has Android Market it will have the Holo themes as they were originally designed.

Google states that it has no desire to restrict companies like HTC from making custom skins. It looks like they have included framework to make it easier to incorporate, however Google is seeking a common theme across devices and it looks like this might be Google’s way of forcing ICS on devices in the future. 

Free and Fast Fix: Galaxy Nexus Can’t Hear my Ringtones/Notifications

The GNex is a wonderful piece of engineering, combining Google’s latest software, Android 4.0 and Samsung’s beautiful displays.

***I was able to find a paid version of this program for free directly from the app writer’s website: get it here.

It was delayed over and over again by Verizon, and it’s hard to get the unlocked version in the States, but the wait was worth it because this is one killer phone.  However there is a problem with it.

It is just too hard to hear the phone going off. Be it the phone’s ringtones, or text message notifications, they are often too quiet to hear. You could run your ringtones through a program like Audacity to make the mp3s themselves louder, or install a simple program called Volume +.

Volume + is a program that allows you to customize how loud the phone plays your ringtones and notifications. Think of it as a super powerful volume button that allows the phone to dial up the volume past what the phone is set to. (Crank it to 11!)

There are many apps out there that claim to do what Volume + does, but this is by far the best, and it does everything that need out of the box for free.

I love my new GNex and I will do my best to post my findings and musing as I get to know this wonderful phone.

Hughesnet…um what?

Hughesnet has a little thing called a FAP, where you get a tiny bit of internet metered out to you. If you exceed your allowance you are busted down to a crawl for TWENTY-FOUR hours! My plan is for 400 MB a day. That’s right 400 MB. Hughesnet is so nice, they threw in any extra 25 MB as a percentage. So my usual allowance is 425 MB. I’ve learned to live with that, and I check my allowance all the time. Imagine my surprise when I check ed my allowance and it was this:

HOLY FUCK a GB!

What happened? Are you guys seeing numbers like this? I am not complaining at all, but I can’t even touch that, I’ve been trained to avoid using the internet for so long…

Sad, but Determined

So the few of you that follow this blog do so mostly for advice on Xbox Live, and finding solutions to getting back online after moving somewhere that doesn’t have proper broadband. Please don’t stop asking questions, and know that deep down I really appreciate your comments and feedback! It makes me so happy to see that comments are posted almost every week and that people are finding help through the community. Although I will continue to support these questions (and any other tech questions you might have,) I am going to have to change the direction of this blog, and hopefully change it into something inspirational.

You see, I am really, really, sad.

Today, I went out with my wonderful wife to a place that I used to live. While I was getting dressed up, I noticed that I was having problems getting my shoes on. Like bad problems. My stomach is so big that I can’t even really get my own shoes on.

It’s time to get my priorities straightened out.

Does Xbox Live Work with Verizon 3G?

Hey everyone, and I am sorry that I have not posted for a long time. Its been a long time coming, and those of you that have asked questions about using Hughesnet on Xbox Live know the shame that comes with logging in to Live and not being able to link up with your friends online. There are so many great games coming out and most of them are online games: Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, and the list of older games like Halo: Reach and the upcoming Halo: Anniversary have a bunch of us chomping at the bit to jump online and get the old game-face on. So what works and what doesn’t? I am going to break it all down for you after the break.

E3, Microsoft and BF3

Today was a pretty big day for the geek in me, and I made sure to watch the Microsoft keynote today at E3. From Microsoft came news of some really neat Kinect integration with a brand-new dashboard, games galore using the world record holding hardware and a teaser from our favorite Spartain.

Xbox Live Labs on Hughesnet

If you have logged into XBL in the past week, you might have noticed a Labs program. It looks enticing, download the program, let it gather information on your internet connection and send it to Microsoft. (It is located in the community window on your dashboard.) Neat thing is, you don’t have to do anything to it. Just let the darn thing run. Always on the lookout for way to let Microsoft know that there are those of us out here that don’t have blazingly-fast interwebs, I went to download Labs.

Well, there is a huge problem here for those of us on Hughesnet. We all have the FAP to deal with, and there is a disclaimer that pops up saying that running labs is going to run through a lot of data. Well thanks for being vague, but really, we need a more concrete number than that.

Life Sucks Sometimes

I went from looking at a huge promotion to not having a job at all. If you know me, really know me, you know that this pattern has followed me my whole life. No matter what job I have, be it the US Air Force, or being a cook, I strive to do the very best that I can. I also know that I am pretty smart when it comes to leadership and have a really good head on my shoulders for most things. So I look to advance and move up the ladder, and something always comes along and smashes me to the ground.

So I am staying home with the baby, which isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. He is an awesome baby, and I dreamed about being able to watch him grow up while I was toiling away over a stove at work. Well, I got my wish.

Not sure where I am going in life, or what career I am going to get into. All I do know is deep down, I don’t like cooking and honestly, being a chef was going to be something that is not only hard on me, but hard on my family. What is hard is making it on one income and $115 a week on unemployment. What sucks is losing health insurance for my whole family. Although, looking at Japan, I think that I have things pretty good right now.

Life sucks sometimes, but I guess it is what we make of it that counts.

Maybe the forces that be have a bigger plan for me.

I just don’t know.

Verizon, Android, and the iPhone

Today, Verizon and Apple announced the CDMA version of the iPhone 4. So, what does this mean? The inclusion of such a popular phone can’t be ignored. Let’s take a look at the possible impact of the Apple and Verizon iPhone.

First of all, this isn’t a Verizon exclusive deal. Verizon never said that there isn’t going to be a Sprint or T-Mobile iPhone. Keep this in mind if you are on another carrier. The iPhone isn’t going to be announced on another carrier tomorrow, that would steal the thunder from Verizon, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see the iPhone on another carrier or two in six months or so.

Does Xbox Live work with Hughesnet Satellite Internet? *Update

Do they play well together?

*Updated, Fall 2010 Dashboard. *Update Xbox Live on 3G here! 

I never thought that in today’s day of age that there were people out there that didn’t have broadband. I was pretty much always plugged in playing on Xbox Live or World of Warcraft at all hours of the day and night. Then I got married and moved out into the woods. So the long and short of it, is that I went from some pretty kick-butt broadband to dial-up. Then I bought a USB modem from Verizon, but being too far from the tower meant frequent drops in the data stream. Then I got Hughesnet, and that is what I am going to focus on here.

Does Hughesnet work on Xbox Live?