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A commit that was discovered by the Chrome Story team suggest that Chrome OS could have the ability for administrators to sideload Android apps on devices.  Currently the only way you can sideload an APK to a Chromebook is if the device is in Developer Mode.  That mode essentially bypasses all of the Google security measures like boot loader verification.

If this Commit makes it through the gauntlet and arrives on Chrome OS, there would be a mechanism by which administrators could load apps that are not in the Google Play Store, currently the only way to install apps outside of the afore mentioned Developer Mode.  For now, it appears that this would only be an Enterprise level administrator feature in the platform.

The new Huawei built Honor 7X is now up for pre-order on Amazon.  The 5.93″ Full HD phone comes with 32GB of storage and will be priced at $199.  You can pick one up in either Black or Blue.  Pre-orders go now through January 25th when the device will be available to order and ship.

The 7X has an 18:9 display that is powered by the Kirin 659 SoC.  That is an Octa-core (4×2.36 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex-A53) and is coupled with 3GB of RAM.  It will come stock with 32GB of storage which can be expanded to up to 256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  It will ship with Android Nougat but there is a planned upgrade to Oreo.

With all of the concerns floating about around Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities in Intel processors, Google has been reasonably proactive in letting know users know if their Chromebook or Chromebox is going to be protected.  In that same list, there was another useful bit of information that may have been overlooked:  When devices will stop receiving automatic updates to the next version of Chrome OS.

The column in question can be found on the Meltdown vulnerability list and is marked Auto update ends (*=official).  There you will find the date for everyone Chromebook, Chromebase, Chromebox and Chromebit out there on when it will officially stop getting automatic updates.

The Android Oreo update for the 2016 HTC flagship phone, the HTC 10, has been released for the unlocked variant.  The update is build 3.16.617.2 for those keeping score at home and it is a hefty 1.5GB download.  You’ll certainly need to download it via WiFi.

The update brings all the goodness of Android Oreo to the HTC 10 with things such as Picture-in-Picture, App Notifications and Notification channels just to name a few things.  The update also represents the last major update to the 10.  It shipped with Android Marshmallow in 2016 and was upgraded to Nougat last year.  Kudos to HTC for offering the upgrade on the two year old phone when many other manufactures don’t do so.