Author: Clinton

Good news for those of you who have the HTC U11 on Sprint here in the United States.  The Android Oreo update for the phone will start rolling out tomorrow according to HTC’s Mo Versi.

Sprint HTC u11 owners! Appreciate your patience, we have received technical approval from the carrier. Updates to Oreo OS will start on Monday! Enjoy!

— Mo Versi (@moversi) January 20, 2018

This announcement follows up the November 2017 release of the build for the unlocked variant of the phone.

It is one thing when a company gets an upcoming feature or product leaked.  It is another thing entirely when the company itself leaks the upcoming feature or product.  That appears to be what happened late on Friday with Google Play Books.

Both online and in the Android app, a banner in the Play Books store promoting the coming of Audiobooks to the store and a 50% discount on your first purchase.  I, unfortunately, didn’t capture the banner but the folks over at 9to5 Google did and you can see it here.

Following on the release of a new Dev channel build for Chrome OS, there is now a new Beta channel build too.  Build 64.0.3282.101 (Platform version: 10176.54.0) has been released for most devices and can be downloaded now, if you are in the beta channel, by typing chrome://help  in the omnibar in the browser.

The update has a laundry list of fixes and improvements that you can read here if you are so inclined.  Ultimately there are a lot of general improvements to the platform.

If you are paying for an Amazon Prime Membership on a monthly basis, it is probably time to consider moving to an annual subscription.  Starting next month, your monthly subscription jumps by nearly 20%.

Starting in the February billing cycles, those who have a monthly subscription to Amazon Prime will see the price increase from $10.99 to $12.99 per month before applicable taxes.  That, at just the membership cost, makes it just over $155 per year.  The one-time annual membership remains $99.

For developers and for those who like a good bug hunt, the Chromium team within Google has released a new build to the Chrome OS Dev channel.  The Dev channel is really aimed only at developers to give a sneak peak into what will be coming up.  In this case, it is the first build based on Chrome 65.  It is build 65.0.3322.0 (Platform version: 10315.0.0).

For those that aren’t familiar with the different Chrome OS channels, the Dev channel is essentially the alpha channel.  This can be a really rough experience with lots of weird behavior and bugs.  It is aimed at developers and those who like serious bug hunting to see what is coming up in the platform.  This channel is not recommended for daily use on your daily driver Chromebook.

Overstock, the online retailer of a wide range of personal and home decor items, has become the latest company to be added to Google Express.  That brings the total number of retailers you can buy from within the Express site or app up to 56, all with free shipping after a certain purchase level.

If you aren’t familiar with Overstock, they started life as a company selling equipment and other furnishings from startups that had gone bust.  But that quickly morphed into selling new furnishings, personal care items and home decor, some of which is now specifically manufactured for the company.