Chromecast and Canada

Chromecast at its best. Slight delay but solid quality.

Sony begins rolling out Android 4.3 update to Xperia T, Xperia SP and others

Though we mainly hear about its flagship devices, Sony releases myriad Android phones each year under the Xperia umbrella, and today is making good on its promise to keep them updated.

The Japanese OEM promised that Android 4.3 Jelly Bean updates for the Xperia T, TX, V and SP would follow the rollout for newer devices like the Xperia Z, ZL, Z1 and Z Ultra, and those codebases are finally ready to launch.

Google doodle competition features 4 Nova Scotia students: Students asked to describe an invention in a Google doodle

Four Nova Scotia students have made the semifinals in a contest by Google to design a new doodle with an idea for an invention.

David Isaiah Jeans of Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School in Yarmouth, Felicitas Vician of Bedford South School in Bedford, Lucy Wilkie of Horton High School in Wolfville and Sally Wilkie of Evangeline Middle School in New Minas have been chosen as semifinalists in the Doodle 4 Google Canada contest, launched in October.

To enter the contest, students had to submit ideas for an invention in the form of a Google doodle.

A Google doodle is when the company changes its logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, world events and the lives of artists, pioneers and scientists.

People can now vote for their favourite Google doogle. Voting ends at midnight on Feb. 14 and a semifinalist from each region will move on to the national finals.

The winner will be announced Feb. 25 and will receive a $10,000 scholarship, a $10,000 grant to their school and have their doodle featured for a day on the Google.ca homepage. The winning doodle will also be part of a special doodle exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in March.

Here's a look at the four Nova Scotia seminalists:

David Isaiah Jeans, Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School

"If I could invent anything, I would invent a machine that could reverse the aging process. An old person would go in one end and when they come out they would be young."

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Felicitas Vician, Bedford South School

"For my Google doodle I was thinking of doing "life on Mars." My most favourite planet is Mars. So I would like to do something special. My brother Michael taught me a lot about Mars and he told me that people from NASA are trying to get people to Mars, and that they are exploring Mars right now. I dedicate my Google doodle to my brother." 

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Lucy Wilkie, Horton High School

"My invention is reality reading; books that allow people to enter and temporarily live in the world of story. It would be so exciting to meet your favourite characters and take part in their adventures! What book would you choose?"

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Sally Wilkie, Evangeline Middle School

"My invention is a large bridge crossing the Atlantic Ocean and connecting Canada and Europe. I chose this invention because it would be an efficient way for people without money to buy a plane ticket to travel and see the world."

Product Review: Google Chromecast Canada

I have been using Google's new $35 Chromecast dongle for just over a month now, for those of you not aware Chromecast is a WiFi enabled dongle that plugs into any HDMI TV and allows you to stream content from various devices(PC, Laptop, Tablet, Phone), until recently Google had not released the developer package to allow for Apps to take advantage of the device, and had limited its ability to a few selected apps, such as Netflix, Youtube, Songza, etc... Chromecast works fantastic with these supported apps. The picture quality and frame rate i have experienced are quite amazing. The ability to cast from the Chrome Browser has been hit and miss, my Chromebook works well when casting but my wife's Windows 8 laptop has been a different story working poorly when at all. Google is planning on adding support for "Casting" from the Android Chrome Browser a feature that I feel will make the device that much more valuable and on more of an even field with Apple TV. The other feature we are asking Google for has been the ability to "mirror" your entire device to your TV screen via the Chromecast. When Chromecast was announced this was one of the major features announced that has yet to materialize.

In the end $35 is totally worth it, for the ability to share youtube videos on the TV, and

with Google releasing the developer package we should start to see alot more apps with Chromecast support really soon!!!

Google Science Fair 2014

 

What if you could turn one of your passions into something that could change the world? Today we're calling for students ages 13-18 to submit their ideas for the fourth annual Google Science Fair. Past winners have submitted projects like an anti-flu medicine, more effective ways to beat cancer and banana bioplastics—and now it's your turn. Learn more: on Google+ Google Science Fair 2014

BlackBerry brings BBM Voice and Channels to Android and iOS, adds Dropbox sharing for good measure

BlackBerry has unveiled its latest version of BBM today, bringing the newer iOS and Android versions of the messaging and sharing app closer to feature parity with its BlackBerry 10 counterpart. Two main additions — BBM Voice and BBM Channels — are flanked by other seemingly minor, but together significant, features: location sharing using Glympse, Dropbox file sharing support for larger files stored in the cloud, and the expansion of the built-in suite of emoticons.

Honest Android Games attempts to separate the great from the greedy

You don’t often associate Android with the word “curated,” but a newly-launched site called Honest Android Games is attempting to change that idea. With a goal of convening the best and least rapacious games on the platform, the site uses categories and tags to direct users to content that is either substantial and ad-supported, or substantial and available with a cost. None of the submissions fall into the “cash-grab freemium” of Candy Crush and Clash of Clans fame, which tend to clog up the top games lists on Google Play.

Thankfully, the site also highlights developers that take advantage of newer Android features like Immersive Mode, which is often hard to glean from the app descriptions alone.

While the site itself could use some polish, it’s proving to be a valuable resource for avid Android gamers looking to avoid getting swindled.