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Android Pie hits 10 percent adoption two months ahead of its ancestors
Google left people in the dark regarding Android Pie's adoption for more than half a year, but it's finally lifting the curtain -- and Pie is doing better than its predecessors. Updated stats supplied to VentureBeat show that 10.4 percent of active users were using Pie after eight months. That may not sound like much, but it took about 10 months each for Oreo and Nougat to reach the 10 percent milestone. Google's efforts to spur Pie's uptake appear to have paid off, even if it's not a night-and-day difference.
LG struggles to deliver on its promise of faster Android updates
Just over a year ago LG announced the launch of its Software Upgrade Center – a facility designed to give customers around the world "faster, timelier" operating system and software updates. But as ComputerWorld revealed this week, it's been 371 days since the center opened and it's done pretty much nothing.
Google: Android Pie will hit more devices in 2018 than Oreo did in 2017
Google has long been criticised for the long delays between Android upgrades. While iPhone users are merrily chowing down on regular OS updates, Android users have to wait for long intervals, with lower cost handsets never seeing an update at all during their lifespans. Google's update framework, Project Treble, seeks to rectify this, and the company has just announced that all devices launching with Android 9 Pie or later will be Treble-compliant. The picture above shows off a range of Trebled-equipped devices displaying the same Generic System Image.
Fairphone's ethical smartphone gets Android 7
Nearly three years after ethical smartphone company Fairphone launched its Fairphone 2 handset, the Dutch social enterprise has announced it's now compatible with Android 7.1.2, aka Nougat. This might seem like old news, given that most smartphones are now munching on Android Pie, but the time and money spent upgrading the phone to even this level is indicative of the sustainability challenges still prevalent in the smartphone market.
Sony explains why Android updates take so long
If you're like many smartphone owners using non-stock versions of Android, you're probably twiddling your thumbs waiting for your device maker to release an upgrade to Android 9 Pie. But have you wondered why you're waiting so long when your Pixel- and Essential-toting friends already have their upgrades? Sony can explain. In a blog post promising Pie updates for recent Xperia phones (the XZ Premium, XZ1 family and XZ2 series) in November, the company also provided an infographic outlining the steps between Google's OS release and seeing the new software on your handset. It's a simplified take on what's happening, but it does provide a good summary of what's involved.
Google is working on a fix for the Pixel XL's fast charging issue
On Monday, reports of a problem with Pixel XL devices' fast charging system surfaced after users updated to the latest Android operating system, Pie. As a result of all the reports, Google says it's aware of the issue and is working on a timely fix.
Google to let more app developers offer 'Instant' trials this year
Google's just released Android 9.0 -- aka Pie -- so it seems like as good a time as any for the company to reflect on some of the platforms achievements in recent times, and to consider what's on the horizon. In a blog post, director of Google Play, Apps & Games Purnima Kochikar has outlined some of the behind-the-scenes milestones Google Play has seen this year, and hints at a more "instant" experience for app developers in the future.
Watson made a simple apple pie complicated
'Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson' is a collaboration between IBM and the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. As part of an ongoing series, we'll be preparing one recipe from the book until we've made all of them. Wish us luck. When given the opportunity to prepare a recipe for our Cooking With Watson series, I picked Baltic apple pie because, hey, it's apple pie. You mix up some filling, dump it into a tin lined with dough, bake for 40 minutes and voila, you have a delicious dessert that you can even put ice cream on. Oh, the Baltic apple pie has pork in it? OK, forget the ice cream. But, a savory meat pie can't be that hard, right?
I would absolutely devour this Mac mini
A delicious Apple pie made to look like a Mac mini is a culinary geek's dream come true. Add to that the fact that the lattice work on the Apple logo was done with a laser cutter, and it's something beyond fantastic. [Photo credit: Lenore Edman]
Nike+Fitness Training 360 bundle now shipping, game downloadable on Dec. 25
Winter holidays are, statistically speaking, the very best holidays, due to their general abundance of twice-baked potatoes and various pies. But when every serving at every meal contains at least three sticks of butter, those extra pounds can really pile up.Nike and Microsoft recommend solving your tummy troubles by doing crunches in your living room while a virtual man watches, or as the system is commercially known, Nike+Kinect Training. They've even got an Xbox 360 bundle for it and everything, which includes a 4GB console, Kinect, Nike+Kinect Training, Kinect Adventures and a month of Xbox Live Gold for $250, as seen above. That price tag is only valid through January 5, we should point out. After that, the bundle is kicked up to $300.Microsoft has also announced that the game itself will be digitally available through Xbox Live on December 25, at a smooth $50/4,000 MS points.%Gallery-172691%
The Road to Mordor: Bits 'n' pieces
Three wolves. A full moon. One incredible cloak in the Lord of the Rings Online store. As a forum poster asked, is the Cloak of the Mountain Wolves too powerful and too intrinsically sweet? I think it is a distinct possibility. I already own six and have Sauron on farm status because of them. Forget piddly rings -- this is the one cloak to rule them all, and in the darkness, blind them. I'm a bit all over the place in today's column, so bear with me as I spew forth a 427-line stream-of-consciousness poem devoted to Aragorn's stubble. You totally know you want to hit the jump to read it. I triple-dog-dare ya. [Editor -- No, Justin, you have to write a normal column. Don't make me get the fire hose.] Darn.
The Daily Grind: What are you thankful for in MMOs?
Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, a time for celebrating with the family, eating copious amounts of dead birds, and giving thanks to the blessings and bounties that have landed in our lives. In the spirit of the holiday, today we'd like to ask you what you're thankful for in MMOs. Put aside bitterness and frustration for a day to reflect on what makes you thankful to be an MMO gamer and what makes you enjoy the plethora of titles out there. Are you glad that you've found a good guild to hang with, or perhaps you've made one friendship in a game that's changed your life? Have you recently accomplished a major goal in your game that's filled you with contentment? Are you enjoying a wide variety of MMOs and can't imagine being bored? Are you flush with gold, have you six mounts in the garage, and do you lack for nothing? Does the supreme master wordsmithing of Massively keep you excited about games? Today, be thankful. Today, share with us what makes you thankful about MMOs right now. And please have some pie -- we really made too much. Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: What's your most memorable MMO rite of passage?
They're not always easy to define, but every MMO has universal moments that every player seems to go through, find incredibly annoying/tedious/laughable, and then complain about to others. These rites of passage are what bond us together, strangers in name, united through a notorious experience. In WoW, it was accumulating enough Goretusk livers from liverless boars and searching in vain for Mankrik's wife. In Star Trek Online, it used to be playing hide-and-seek with Sulu. In my main game, Lord of the Rings Online, it's doing the pie delivery run, or attempting to swim the frozen waters of Forochel, or falling to your doom in Moria. What rite of passage do you remember (not so) fondly from your past and present MMOs? What experiences aggravated you when you went through them, and made you smile as you saw others go through the same thing and complain about it as you had? Where are those invisible lines separating the neophytes from the veterans?
WRUP: Cake or pie edition
Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW.com staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" (Otherwise known as: WRUP!) Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game -- and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too! This week in addition to the eternal question of what everyone is playing this weekend, we've asked the staff the almost-as-eternal question of cake or pie or death? It's been a battle royale in The Queue this week with Anne declaring her love for pie and Adam followed up with a cake versus pie poll in which cake maintains a solid lead. So today, we ask our writers. Their thoughts on the best bakery confections along with what they're playing for the weekend after the break.
An analysis of all the food and drink in WoW
Not long ago, a friend of mine from college asked me to resurrect his WoW account so he could get back into the game before Cataclysm comes out. The first week that he was back, he messaged me quite frequently with various questions about trends in raiding and PvP at level 80. I answered his questions without much thought until one afternoon, he sent me a different type of message. "Did you notice there is nothing but meat in WoW?" My thoughts stumbled over the question for a moment before he continued. "There is meat, fish and fruit, but no vegetables." (My friend became vegan since the last time he played WoW -- thus his sudden epiphany.) He then proceeded to tell me about a quest in Teldrassil where you gather spider meat for a kabob recipe. He said something along the lines of, "They're on a big freakin' tree, full of plants and they're eating spiders! Spiders!" I'll admit, he had a good point. Curious, I decided to start looking over the types of food in WoW to see just exactly what Azerothians eat.
Overheard@GDC: The Cliff Bleszinski Pie Analogy
[Flickr: Ephemeron] "Save your fork, there'll be pie. The game is the fork and the pie is the DLC." –Cliff Bleszinski After confessing to having a big appetite for Borderlands, the Gears of War developer used the pie analogy to explain to Joystiq how games without any sort of DLC "hooks" are becoming increasingly rare.
My bag of spice has everything nice
In each cooking daily you get a Small Spice Bag. The bag is one of the two ways you can pickup the essential Northern Spice, which is required for the major cooking recipes that are prevalent in Wrath*.The Small Spice Bag also has a certain chance to drop some other goods, including Old Spice, Baby Spice, and a recipe for a Delicious Chocolate Cake.The Old Spice, which is a reference to a brand of deodorant, makes you smell nice. The only result of it is a buff which lasts for five minutes and says "Smelling Great!"So you smell nice, congrats you stinking plate wearer.The Baby Spice is a fun buff you can apply to a target which shrinks the target by 50%.
Joystiq interview: Chasing pie in The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom
Everyone loves pie, and this year's IndieCade International Festival made our favorite delicious pastry even better, marrying it with time travel in The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, one of the event's more interesting finalists. A product of late night brainstorming and drawing more than a little inspiration from silent film, the game offers an unique blend of platforming and puzzle solving as players guide the mischievous Winterbottom on his single-minded quest for more pie. We recently jumped at the opportunity to speak with the game's creator, Matt Korba, and over the course of the interview we picked his brain on a variety of topics, from the title's origin as a thesis project to similarities with fellow indie time travel experiment, Braid. And of course, pie.
PIE United cranks out HD-0310 1080p Digital Photo Viewer
If you don't have quite enough set-tops sitting underneath your HDTV, we've got one more to fill that tiny gap over there on the right. PIE United has introduced a rather quizzical device aimed at folks who love to show off photos of their journeys around the world on the big screen. The HD-0310 1080p Digital Photo Viewer connects up via HDMI and supports 12 types of flash cards along with USB drives; in addition to photos, it'll play back video clips and MP3 files. Oh, and just in case you're fresh out of HDMI ports, this thing packs a single input in order to connect another HDMI device and switch between the two. Not too sure how much this will run the layman, but outfits looking to buy in bulk should be able to land a killer deal.
Joystiq hands-on: IndieCade games galore
One of the things we made sure to do at E3 this year was to spend a significant amount of time with the IndieCade folks. Then we sat on that info long enough for some of these games to get picked up, have a successful release, come out with sequels, spawn movies, novels, comic books, become part of the general pop culture bloodstream, and then fade into nostalgia, and for that we apologize. Actually, I'll apologize, I did it.But in all seriousness, a lot of the more fun and innovative stuff we saw at E3 wasn't actually being churned out by big studios and publishers, but being worked on by small groups with tiny budgets and just a love of gaming. Read on to find out all about the IndieCade games that we saw on display, and why you'll want to be playing them now.%Gallery-28162%
