Tag: Android

As expected with it being the first Monday of the month, Google has released the Android Security Update for October.  While there are still two patches that were released per the norm, they contain far fewer patches and fixes than normal.

The first updated, dated October 1st, is general Android fixes and contains a total of 8 patches and fixes, three of which are considered critical.  The second patch, dated October 5th, has 6 total fixes with 2 of them marked as critical.  As a reminder, the Google Pixel and Nexus devices will be getting the October 5th updates, which are cumulative to the 1st, and is aimed at hardware specific driver fixes for those devices.

LG has quietly updated their Security Bulletins page on their support site, dropping support for several older G-Series phones with the September update.  The G3, G4, G4 Stylus and LG Stylo have all been removed from the support list meaning that it is highly unlikely they will be getting updates going forward.

That isn’t too surprising.  The G3 for example was released in May 2014 so the fact that the company was providing updates to it at all some 3 years down the road was impressive.

Last week, I told you about the changes that are coming to Google Finance.  The financial site is getting a makeover of sorts and part of that is the retirement of portfolio management.  However, we could be getting a glimpse of how the new look is going to play out thanks to Google Search.

For a long time, you have been able to search for any stock within Google search and get pricing and other news related to that stock.  Previously, that was one long page within search once you found the stock of interest.  Quietly, over the weekend, it appears that Google changed this to be a tabular style look.

One of the more anticipated final phone releases of 2017 happens on October 16th.  That is when we will see the Huawei Mate 10 and P11 be released.  There are a lot of rumors floating about on both devices, especially the Mate 10, but it looks like two of these rumors are firming up.

First, Huawei is going to be putting a lot of emphasis on AI in their Android build for the Mate 10, EMUI 6, with a teaser video on Twitter suggesting that the phone will “see”, “think” and “learn” as it is used.

Delivering the ultimate experience, going beyond smart, using the transformative power of #AI. Welcome to intelligent. #HuaweiMate10 pic.twitter.com/u9yD1mhdYy

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) September 29, 2017

Huawei has been working on their AI for a while now and it is improving.  In the Mate 10 however, it could be their biggest leap yet.

Today’s Deal comes from Choetech on their durable USB-C cables.  Right now you can pick up a 3-pack of the nylon braided cables for $12.99 on Amazon.  That’s a $7 savings off the regular price.

The 3-pack of cables includes two 1m (3.3′) cables and one 2m (6.6′) cable, all of which support up to 5Gbps transfer speeds and USB 3.0.  All of the cables are USB-A to USB-C and are, of course, backwards compatible to older USB 2.0 and 1.1 connectors (but you lose the transfer speeds).

Microsoft Groove, the Redmond, Washington company’s music app and service, has a solid update rolling out for Android users.  The update is version 11.0925.1507 for those keeping score at home and brings two new features that, frankly, should have already been in the app.

The first new feature is the ability to search your music that you have stored in your OneDrive account and search it only.  Previously, the app would only bubble up music tracks that were in the Groove library itself.  That’s fine right up until you have that song or album that isn’t in the library.  Admittedly, it isn’t often, but that Indie band’s CD you ripped into OneDrive from the bar last weekend?  Yeah, that’s probably not there.  Now it is no big deal as you can search your own OneDrive library for songs.