Mobile

Lessons in Vendor Lock-in: Google and Huawei

What happens when you're locked in to a vendor that's too big to fail, but is on the opposite end of a trade war? The story of Google no longer giving Huawei access to Android updates is still developing, so by the time you read this, the situation may have changed. At the moment, Google has granted Huawei a 90-day window whereby it will have access to Android OS updates, the Google Play store and other Google-owned Android assets. After that point, due to trade negotiations between the US and China, Huawei no longer will have that access.

Now Is the Time to Start Planning for the Post-Android World

We need a free software mobile operating system. Is it eelo? Remember Windows? It was an operating system that was quite popular in the old days of computing. However, its global market share has been in decline for some time, and last year, the Age of Windows ended, and the Age of Android began.

A Look at Google's Project Fi

Google's Project Fi is a great cell-phone service, but the data-only SIMs make it incredible for network projects! I have a lot of cell phones. I have iPhones (old and new), Android phones (old, new, very old and funny-shaped), and I have a few legacy phones that aren't either Android or iPhone. Remember Maemo? Yeah, and I still have one of those old Nokia phones somewhere too. Admittedly, part of the reason I have such a collection is that I tend to hoard nostalgic technology, but part of it is practical too.

UserLAnd, a Turnkey Linux in Your Pocket

There comes a time when having a full-fledged Linux distribution within reach is necessary or just plain useful. And, what could be more within reach than having that same distribution on a computing device most people have with them at all times? Yes, I'm talking about a smartphone—specifically, an Android-powered smartphone. Enter UserLAnd.

Facebook Live Magic Button

Facebook Live is simple to broadcast from a mobile device. Simply click"go live", and you're broadcasting on your timeline. Unfortunately, if you want to use a desktop computer with a webcam or remote IP camera, the process is a little more complicated.

A Virtual Android

My phone is dead. I'm not exactly sure what happened to it, but for some reason, my beloved Sony Xperia Z5 Compact no longer turns on. Granted, it's not my main work phone, but it's my personal phone and also my audiobook player. The biggest problem is that when I'm exploring new Android apps, the Sony is the device I use for testing. Thankfully, there are other options.

YouTube on the Big Screen

For years I've been jealous of folks with iOS devices who could just send their phone screens to their Apple TV devices. It seems like the Android screen-mirroring protocols never work right for me. My Sony Xperia has multiple types of screen mirroring, and none of them seem to work on my smart TVs or Roku devices.

If Not This Then Stringify

I love IFTTT (If This Then That), but although it usually works well, it's more and more common for triggers to fail. Sometimes they don't fail, but take several minutes to activate. When you want a light to turn on as you enter a room, several minutes of delay clearly can be a deal-breaker.

Read a Book in the Blink of an Eye!

I love reading. Sadly, the 24 hours I get per day seems to be inadequate for the tasks I need to accomplish. That might change as my teenagers turn into college kids and then begin to start families of their own. For now, however, between drama class and basketball practice, it seems like it takes about 30 hours to accomplish a 24-hour day.

Android Candy: My World, in a Lock Screen

It feels weird to mention a Microsoft product in Linux Journal. But to be honest, there are some cool things coming out of the Microsoft Garage One of those things is "Next Lock Screen", which is an Android app that brings interactive tools to the lock screen.

All Your Accounts Are Belong to Us

Last weekend my work phone suddenly stopped working. Not the phone itself, but rather all service stopped. I first noticed (of course) due to an inability to load any web pages. Then I tried calling someone and realized my phone was disconnected. In fact, when someone tried to call me, it said the line was no longer in service.

Android Candy: Exploding Kittens!

I don't very often play games. I know that seems odd, because I do often write about gaming. Honestly though, I very rarely actually take the time to play video games. Recently, however, there has been an exception to that rule.

Analyzing Videos for Fun and Profit

People's phones and all of the various sensors that may be built in to them is a source of scientific data logging that almost everyone carries around. Although the selection of sensors varies from phone to phone, they almost all have a camera. In this article, I take a look at a piece of software called Tracker that can be used to analyze videos you take of experiments.

Low Tech High Tech

Google Cardboard should be terrible. Really, it should. It's literally made of cardboard. I remember as a kid some cereal boxes came with spy glasses you had to cut out of the box itself—and they were terrible. But Google Cardboard is amazing. Granted, you need to add your $750 Android phone to it, but that's already in your pocket anyway.

Android Candy: the Verbification of Video Chat

People who study the history of languages probably will look back at our current time and scratch their heads. We keep inventing verbs! First, Google became the verb we use for searching. Then, "Facebooking" someone became a viable way to contact them. Heck, I forgot about "texting" someone. It seems we just keep taking perfectly good nouns and making them verbs.

Listen to Me Cheaply

I listen to a lot of books. A lot. And honestly, although I've written about the "Listen" app for audiobooks, I tend to use Audible more than anything else anymore. Part of the reason is the Android app finally has more fine-grained speed settings. (I prefer around 1.4x speed.) iPhone people don't have that seemingly simple feature. Just saying.

Android Candy: Landing on the Moon, with your Thumbs

I do a lot of system administration with my thumbs. Yes, if I'm home, I grab a laptop or go to my office and type in a real terminal window. Usually, when things go wrong though, I'm at my daughters' volleyball match or shopping with my wife. Thankfully, most tasks can be done remotely via SSH. There are lots of SSH clients for Android, but my favorite is JuiceSSH.
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