Chrome 59 Released with Settings Now in Material Design

The Chromium team within Google has released Chrome 59, the latest major build of the browser for Windows, MacOS and Linux.  The update is rolling out now and if you have Chrome installed, the update should come to you over the course of the next few days.  If you want to force the issue, just type chrome://help in the browser and it will automatically download the update immediately.

There are two big changes in this update along with the normal raft of bug and security fixes.  The first is the injection of more Material Design.  The Settings page within Chrome is now by default in Material Design.  The ability to turn on this feature manually in Chrome has been there since Chrome 57 but it has required a manual flag change deep within the settings of the browser.  Now it is on by default in Chrome 59.

Android Security Update for June Released

As expected with it being the first Monday of the month, Google has released the Android Security Update patches for June today.  Like the past few updates, this month’s patch consists of two patches, one dated June 1st and the other June 5th.  The first patch deals with broader issues with Android in general while the second patch is more driver or component specific.

Perhaps the best news in this month’s update is the fix of a long standing Bluetooth vulnerability within Android.  There are three specific fixes that are in this update which squelch the ability of malicious apps to elevate permissions.  This issue has actually be in Android since the KitKat days.  Yeah, a long time coming.

Nextbit Robin Gets Android Nougat 7.1.1 and April Security Update

After a few months in beta testing, the Android Nougat 7.1.1 update for the Nextbit Robin is now available.  The 540MB update is rolling out to all Robins starting today and brings with it the April Android Security Update along with it.  The OTA update to 7.1.1 should automatically be checked for by your Robin but if you want to manually check, go to Settings>About Phone>Check for Update.

As most readers will know by now, Nextbit was acquired by Razer at the end of 2016 and the Robin, the San Francisco startup’s only phone, was discontinued at that point.  The company committed to keeping the device up-to-date through February 2018 but realistically, this will be the last major update for the phone.  It will likely only be security patches from this point forward.

LineageOS Adds The Pixel C and LG V20 Variants to The Portfolio

The team at LineageOS continues to shine with more new devices added to their supported device list this week.  The headliner of those new devices are the Google Pixel C tablet and the GSM unlocked and Sprint variants of the LG V20.  On the latter, with these two added, it means that the company now supports all US-based variants of the V20, a first for them.

The ROM builds for the Pixel C will be available starting on Monday, June 5th while the other ROMs for the other devices are now available.  The new devices include the BQ Aquaris U Plus and the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus while owners of the Motorola Photon Q and eEco Le Max 2 are now on the Android Nougat based 14.1 train.

New Paranoid Android Wallpapers from Hampus Olsson

Artist Hampus Olsson has released a set of six new wallpapers in support of the latest update to Paranoid Android.  For those who may not know Olsson’s work, he is the artist behind the colorful and creative wallpapers for OnePlus and Paranoid Android.  Chances are you have seen them, you just may not know the creator behind them.

The new wallpapers are available on his site and you can download them directly from there for all your devices, even if you aren’t running Paranoid Android.  He also has other artwork and wallpapers available on his site and a bit of history on his creative works.  You will also see the extensive list of clients he has who use his artwork.

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