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Refresh Roundup: week of July 11, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips [at] engadget [dot] com and let us know. Enjoy! HTC alerted users of the Desire Z that the handset's Gingerbread update is due in "the coming weeks." The update will likely be sent out in phases, but everyone should have it by the end of the month. [via AndroidCentral] A leaked screenshot indicates Bell may issue Gingerbread updates to several phones in its lineup this summer: Samsung Galaxy Tab and Vibrant, HTC Incredible 2 and Desire Z, and Motorola Atrix 4G. [via AndroidCommunity] A custom ROM update has become available for the original Motorola Droid, allowing users to enjoy Gingerbread. However, as this is an unofficial ROM, install at your own risk and be sure to follow all of the directions precisely. [via AndroidCommunity] File this one under unconfirmed, but the next version of CyanogenMod is rumored to offer a dual-boot setup. This would give you the option of two different operating systems when you boot up your device. [via Ultralinx] The Motorola Atrix 4G is about to undergo soak testing for its Gingerbread update, which likely means the full release is just around the corner. [via DroidMatters] Developer Coolbho3k has overclocked the HTC EVO 3D and Sensation 4G to 1.7GHz stable, without a kernel source or S-Off. [via Phandroid]
Nook Color finds its roots? Angry Birds say yes
We already knew the Nook Color was capable of something a bit more than its initial offering, having seen Angry Birds run fairly smoothly on a dev unit. In fact, it's exactly what we want in between chapters of Animal Farm, and the xda-developers community, right on schedule, are providing pictorial evidence of its rooting conquests. So far we've seen the aforementioned game / addiction, a few other additions to the extras menu, and even Launcher Pro (image after the break). NookDevs has a page going with instructions, but even it admits to being a work in progress, so we're gonna emphasis a little stronger than usual: don't try this at home unless you're absolutely sure what you're doing -- or don't mind a broken tablet or two. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Microsoft's Kin saves a Roots show: a touching recollection by Questlove
The Kin may be dead and buried, but you can bet that the legacy of Microsoft's biggest failure in the phone market will live long in the minds of technophiles. What you probably wouldn't bet, however, is how it'll also live long in the mind of famed Roots drummer Questlove. You heard right -- the same beat maker that was caught FaceTiming with our own Josh Topolsky during a recent sit-down on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has a special place in his heart for the fallen phone series, and he's taken the time to pen a memoir detailing the reasons why. Undoubtedly an avid visitor of the (temporarily down) Kin R.I.P. web memorial, Questlove was recently held up behind a team of brats at the airport. As the story goes, even arriving 75 minutes early to his flight wasn't enough to clear through on a flight to Canada, leaving him in quite the pickle. If he didn't hop on this bird, his band mates would be struggling to please fans sans a drummer. As is so often the case these days, Quest ran into a particularly perturbed airline agent who wasn't about to bend in order to get him onboard; rather than name-dropping himself, he simply agreed to have his photo taken with a smattering of fans who just happened to waltz by during his pleading. Suddenly, the light popped on in the mind of the agent: "OMG! You are the guy in the Kin commercial... I see that commercial all the time!" Needless to say, Quest's ego took a serious hit, but he did manage to catch his flight and make the show in the Great White North. He told his manager that it was the "Kin commercial he almost passed on" that got him to the show, and closed with a simple remark: "R.I.P. Kin." Hit those source links for the full skinny -- it's a compelling read, we assure you. Oh, and that aforesaid ad is embedded just past the break.
Roots and Douglas Coupland team up for 'Roots x Douglas Coupland' collection
Douglas Coupland may be best known as the author that popularized the term "Generation X," but he's also an artist, a designer, and a Canadian, so it makes a bit of sense that he would team up with that most iconically Canadian clothing retailer, Roots, for a new clothing line. The result of that collaboration is "Roots x Douglas Coupland," which is apparently inspired in part by Canada's history in telecommunications, and by Coupland's idea that "what really links Canadians together is that we're all far apart." Of course, that hardly means the collection is just for Canadians. After all, who can't appreciate a wireframe beaver t-shirt or a motherboard tube skirt?
Behold, the power of moonkin
I agree with myrch over on Livejournal-- there's been a spec creeping up in the DPS charts lately that we might not have expected to get there. Slowly but surely, these players have been finding a niche of gear, talents, and class choice and exploiting it to the fullest. While their class is known for the other two specs, a third is definitely coming to light as one of the best DPSers in the game. The class is druid, and the spec... is moonkin.Laugh if you want (and I certainly do when I see that dance), but moonkin (or Balance-specced) druids are doing well for themselves lately. Druid tanks have been getting all the press because of the new feral gear in Outland (and more recently, a few solid nerfs), but moonkin have been slowly building up their buffs, and using the best gear in both cloth and leather to max out their DPS. While the spec is really meant for PvP, it seems, they can definitely shine in PvE-- everyone loves Innervate, of course, but moonkin give that great crit bonus that adds a lot to any DPS raid group (definitely useful for Shaman, too, despite the Clearcasting nerf). They've got a nice armor bonus, so while they have to really be careful about managing aggro (they so far have no threat-reducing abilities), they can still take a few hits, and they have a few nice roots (Cyclone and the Tauren War Stomp, and Entangling Roots if they happen to be outside) that can hold things down until the tank intercepts. Not to mention that if need be, they're just a gear change and a shapechange away from becoming respectable offhealers, if not main healers.Myrch lays out what moonkin need to do to really shine-- they've got to really concentrate their focus and load up on the spell damage gear (a guildie of mine, a moonkin who routinely fights mages and hunters for the top DPS spot, often wears cloth just for the spell damage), add a little mp5 to the stuff they wear, and of course watch that aggro. But more and more, we're seeing that a well-geared, well-played moonkin is a really great class to have along in almost any situation.
iTMS introduces "New Rock Revealed" weekly band explorations
The iTMS has introduced an intriguing new service called "New Rock Revealed", where one band's music will be dissected each week to find who their roots and inspirations were, as well as similar sounds you can find today. This first week looks at Pearl Jam's new album (which rocks, by the way), and lists its tracks in the middle of the chart. On the left side is a list of "Roots & Influences", where songs from bands that inspired Pearl Jam are listed, track by track, matching up to the Pearl Jam songs where their influences can be heard. On the right side is the "Similar Sounds" list of bands who clearly were inspired by Pearl Jam. Each of the two lists (Roots & Influences and Similar Sounds) are available as mixes ready for purchase, priced at just over $12 apiece. I would imagine that price will fluctuate, depending on the length of the album New Rock Revealed dissects each week.This is a really cool idea, though I wish the iTMS could produce some more information along the lines of truly exploring a band's roots. I'd love to be able to read a little more into what exactly inspired Pearl Jam; where they got their sound, how they started out as a band living out of their broken-down tour bus and eating stale bread three times a day until they got their big break. With that said, I'm excited to see the iTMS whipping out clever new services like this to get people more interested in music, where it came from and where it's going.
