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“This podcast thing might not be such a good idea Mike.”
Oh hey there, thanks for checking out another episode of our weekly Android show, Attack of the Androids. Mat Lee here joined this week by Eric Finkenbiner, Shane Brady and Mike Boudet. Join us as we talk about the week’s Android news including Google Hangouts additions, Swiftkey Tilt, the Facebook launcher, Android malware and Tibetan activists, some Chromebook Android rumors, Flash on Android, the OUYA, this week’s app picks and so much more. Thanks for listening!
Let’s start things out with a huge thanks to Google for adding more great stuff to hangouts. Because you know, we’re not distracted enough without the gong sound. We love it.
April Fools has once again come and gone. The only real cool Android April Fools I found was what Swiftkey did. It’s called Swiftkey Tilt. You can check out a video about it here on YouTube.
So what do you think about a Facebook phone? Of course they wouldn’t make their own hardware, but releasing a launcher, or Facebook’s Home on Android, and partnering with some major device manufacturers might be a step in the right direction. That is, if you are Facebook, and want more mind share on people’s Android devices. Check out the Android Police APK teardown here. The Verge also has an article about it here.
Mike is more of a Facebook fan than a Google+ user. It’s ok, we won’t hold his site-ist views against him. We try to please all of our listeners, on all of the platforms.
As a younger person, are you using Facebook or Twitter? Or, are you using some service that we old folks haven’t even heard of yet? Eric has a good point, maybe we should all just mind our own business for a while.
So the bottom line on the Facebook announcement is this. The Facebook Android app is NOT GOOD. It’s actually quite the horrendous experience. Especially on tablets. Why would you want Facebook extending it’s tendrils even deeper into your system? That’s right, we wouldn’t.
Here’s a great article on Forbes talking about how there’s more and more evidence that points to China as being the ones who have been releasing this Android malware. Apparently it’s only something you need to worry about it you are A. sideloading apps, or B. a Tibetan activist. You can check out the Android malware research done by Citizen Lab.
What do you think of the rumored Android Book? I really hope they don’t call it that. The name just rings weird in my brain ears. I would almost rather they call it a Chromebook Android or something, I don’t know. I would love a Chromebook Pixel running Android, but I definitely wouldn’t pay any more than $500 for one.
Here’s a list from Android Headlines of the top ten best Android devices of April. Which mind you, we are only about two or four days into April. Still a pretty decent list of Android devices if you are in the market for a new one.
Mike wants to know, how the heck do I get Flash on my new Android tablet. Well, it’s a process, and probably not worth the time. But you can do it. You just have to downgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich. I’ve always said Flash should only be used for games and cartoons, not for building sites. Oh well, you live and you learn right internet?
Let’s welcome fellow aNewDomain writer and Googler, Richard Hay. Instantly the harassment starts. Give us free stuff! We’re pretty shameless around these parts. I’m still waiting for my Pixel. Listen as we drill Richard about his work over at Google, and his thoughts on some of the items we discussed earlier in the show.
Eric mentions the OUYA has officially started shipping to some lucky people. Here’s the blog post. I will definitely get one of these. It’s about time I treated myself to a console.
Check out this poll over on the Cnet Prizefight page. I don’t usually watch these, but this was pretty entertaining.
Shane feels that because he purchased a G1, Google owes him a free Pixel. This kid is dedicated Google, cough one up.
Before we do app picks, let’s drill Richard on some cool new Google stuff. Nod your head and blink once for yes… Just kidding. He does share a cool story about free Google wifi and the city that turned it down.
Eric shares his dongle with us. I mean an article about a free dongle lawsuit against Asus. Remember when the Transformer Prime sucked and you announced the new better version at CES? Yea, we still remember. Never forget. Android Central has an article about it here.
AotA app picks for episode 76
Mike – Flash by Adobe
Shane – Forecast IO
Richard – GoPro App by GoPro
Mat – Feedly Google Reader News RSS by Feedly Team
Eric – RetroArch Android by Libretro
If you want to check out Mat Lee’s Escape Goats and The Blame EP you can get them free here on my music page, or on my SoundCloud. But if you want to actually pay for the music, you can donate some cash or check them out on Google Play.
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Check out the hangout video below. If you want to watch us live, check out AotA tv Tuesday nights.
