Previewing Android L on Nexus 7 2012 through MultiROM!

Disclaimer: Before you start anything, you must know that I take no liability for anything that would happen to your device as a result of you following this guide and/or any of the instructions from the links that will follow.

The new Android L (5.0) has been recently announced by Google, and if you own a Nexus 7 2012 tablet, than this is your chance to try the newest version of Android on your device. Please note that this is nothing official, it is just an port from the Android L emulator with the proper Android 4.4 binaries included. Therefore, you should expect frequent force closes, poor performance overall and lots of other problems.


Here are the general steps you need to follow:

1) First of all, the tablet must have an unlocked bootloader, with a custom recovery installed on it. This is a great guide that'll help you achieve that: link.

2) Then, you must install MultiROM, it will allow you to boot multiple ROMs on your tablet so that if you feel Android L is too unstable, you can easily boot the other ROM: link.

3) Finally, download the Android L files and gapps, and flash everything in MultiROM by following these instructions: link.


If you see a .zip file named repacked-something (repacked4.zip at the time of writing this article), then it needs to be flashed in MultiROM, unless the last link states otherwise. Do not follow what other websites or articles say (they are not even giving direct links to the original authors, which is unfair), some of them advise to flash repacked4.zip directly through recovery, that will not work and you risk bricking your device that way.

So that was all I had to say. I am currently running Android L myself, it is unexpectedly stable, I've seen relatively few force closes, but performs poor in terms of speed. There is probably barely any acceleration whatsoever (YouTube videos won't start at all). The animations are probably accelerated at less than even 30 frames per second and with more than several programs in the multitasking menu, you are going to see huge performance issues.

For the apps that are not available (Chrome, Facebook etc): go on Google, and search, for example, "Chrome apk". It will give you the apk for that app, which can be easily installed. Yes, it can be altered/have malicious code injected but.. this is the only way you can get these apps.

Good luck!

mysms SMS application seems to be very promising, brings many useful features over Whatsapp.

A few days ago I've presented you Whatsapp (here), a great messaging app available for a lot of mobile platforms which gives you the possibility to send free messages over the internet to all the users who have Whatsapp installed on their device. One of the disadvantages of Whatsapp is that you must be on your phone to send the messages, so you can't register on your phone and then send the messages from your computer or anything like that.

However, with mysms SMS application, it becomes possible to send messages from your computer to all of your friends from all the other platforms, using the mobile phone number you register with before. Moreover, mysms comes also as a standard SMS client, having the ability to handle all the SMS functionality of your phone's default SMS application. More specifically, you can send and receive standard SMS messages directly through mysms, without having to open the stock application separately (you'll have the option to send messages via mobile carrier or via mysms, in case your friends have it). I don't know whether this works or not on iOS because of Apple's restrictions, but on Android it works quite well.

One problem which I found is that I can't send messages through mysms from the browser (Chrome), maybe this functionality is currently unavailable, but it's still a great product. At 700 messages a month from my carrier contract, I think that it's still worth using it, considering that I don't even need to access my phone in order to view or send messages. And the ICS/JB design is a big plus over Whatsapp.

Visit the official website for more information http://www.mysms.com/, or search directly in App Store/ Google Play for "mysms".

Chrome 20 might be the most unreliable browser to use on Ubuntu.

I'm a big fan of Google's products, and of course that this includes Chrome, but Google's lightweight browser is not worth being considered as the best one from all the available ones, at least on Linux. Ubuntu (because that's the OS I use most of the time) comes with Firefox for this: even though it is not as fast as Chrome, it is rocket-stable and fully usable (free of bugs). But Chrome has been having bugs since a long time ago and it has some even now. And what's worse, Chrome 20 "features" more bugs than ever.

First of all, there are huge issues with Flash. Most of the content from YouTube still uses Flash (please note that YouTube is also owned by Google), and one of the most used ways make a video start again is to refresh the page. And I have to do this because I simply can't click on anything that's Flash related, for I-don't-know-what reason. Moreover, Samsung's Chromebook computer, which runs on Chrome (there's nothing else to choose) has the same problems with Flash.

Then, there is the Blogger platform. You can write everything you want (just like I do now), but you can't put a title in the article (note: the article is going to have a title put on Firefox, just because Chrome can't do it for a reason or another). And here we are talking about two Google products. Blogger, a Google product, can't be properly used on Chrome, Google's browser. I am sorry, but this is something incredible, and Google should have taken action long time ago on this subject.

And there are other, not so serious, but still annoying bugs. On 9gag, portions of the bar from the top of the screen spread across the entire screen while scrolling. On YouTube, the same thing happens with the bar located just below the videos. And more that this, while watching something, you can't see what you type when you search for something else (on YouTube), it just displays what was searched before (it still searches, if you write something and tap enter you'll see it will return what you wanted, but it's annoying).

Of course that these aren't the only bugs, but with these I have to deal day by day. My girlfriend complains that she can't enter full screen while watching some TV series on the internet (don't know whether it's Flash or not), but there clearly are some issues Google have to take care about.

I can't simply give up using Chrome because, as I've told, I'm a big fan of Google's products, and I have more computers, so I need sync across all of them (bookmarks and stuff). Owning a Galaxy Nexus is also a strong reason for using Google's products. And I don't even want to give up using them, because they make the life a lot easier (Gmail, Picasa, Drive, Contacts, Calendar, Maps etc), I use them a lot and they help me everyday, but the idea is that some of the bugs really have to be fixed sooner or later.

I don't know if they are present only on Linux, because I rarely use Windows, and when I do it, I don't usually have a lot of time to spend on YouTube, 9gag or such websites. 

We'll probably have an alternative to iOS for the iPad soon, and that's the Chrome OS.

OK, I'm starting by telling that I have no idea about how popular "Hexxeh" is, but I never heard of him until now. And it seems that he isn't very popular on YouTube, as he has only a few thousands of views. But he did something really interesting, he succeeded to run the Chrome OS on the iPad. Yes, I'm sure you know, that OS created for netbooks by Google, running on the so popular iPad. So here's a video of what he did.



This seems to be quite real, because of two reasons: the first one is the pointer, which you can see that really moves when he clicks on something, and the second one is the speed of the OS, which shows that the Chrome OS might have been emulated on that iPad. Of course that there is a lot of job to do for Hexxeh, and one of the first things he needs to do is to improve the speed of Chrome OS (if he wants to release a official version of his work, of course).

Google Chrome 7 dev version is available for download.

Google launched their seventh dev version of Chrome, the browser which attracts many people by combining the minimal design with sophisticated technology, making it one of the fastest and one of the most advanced browsers available. I'm using it on both my Linux and Mac OS computers and, as expected, you won't see any important changes compared to the previous version.

Of course that there are many changes, but almost all of them are in the background, and they are not observable for the end-user. If you're on Mac, you'll feel that the loading time of the webpages was reduced, making it impossible for any other browser to keep up with it (Safari, Opera, or the so acclaimed Firefox). Most of the webpages load, literally, instantly, and if there are any delays, they are caused by the DNS or by the latency of the network.

Regarding the update, if you're on Linux and you used dev versions before and updated the system regularly, you already got Chrome 7 dev.

If you are a Mac OS X or Windows user (or a Linux user who needs the dev version), here is the official link where Chrome 7 dev is available for download: Google Chrome 7 Dev (it should automatically give you the version of Chrome according to your OS).

Chrome dev version fixes most of the problems.

You probably read my article about that stupid bug from Chrome, which keeps aleatory some windows unmaximized even if they are maximized, right? (more here). And you probably seen (or not) Andrew's comment from WebUpd8, who recommended me today to try the latest unstable version of Chrome, which is an Alpha one.

It seems that this version fixes this the bug that I had. It adds some updates to the interface. That loading signs from the tabs have changed colors, and the interface at tabs and at the buttons under them seems to be a little redesigned. Loading speed of webpages has been improved. However, remember that this is an Alpha version and it can crash when you need it more, so this version is more recommended for testing purposes.

If you want to install it and you already had a version of Chrome installed, I recommend you doing it via Synaptic Package Manager, in order to avoid any conflicts that might occur from installing the latest version over the previous one. If you didn't have Chrome yet, go on SoftPedia here and download the latest version corresponding to your OS. Please note that the latest version on Linux is 6.0.453.1 dev, so try to search the same version for your platform.

Google Chrome Beta has at least one serious bug.

I observed this bug several times over the last few days, and I decided to tell you about it. It happens randomly (I haven't observed to occur regularly on a certain website) when you're trying to maximize a window while being unmaximized. The page simply remains unmaximized, even if the window is in full screen. I took a screenshot to get an idea about how something like this looks like.

If you get here, what you have to do is to copy the link and open it in another tab. Unmaximizing and maximizing the window or refreshing the page does not work.

This happens on Ubuntu, with the latest Beta version of Chrome installed (5.0.375.86).

Latest stable version of Google Chrome is here.

Many new features were added to Google Chrome in the last period, almost all of them being available only in unstable, Beta releases. The most notable feature here is the synchronization between bookmarks, settings, preferences, and even themes, on all your computers, with the help of your Google account.

But what's new is that this feature, together with better implementation of HTML5 and support for Flash 10.1 (support is there, but Flash is not yet there as it is not ready), is that all these features are now "pieced" together in a single stable release, 5.0.375.55 (for any platform). Even if Google didn't mention anything about possible updates to speed and security, I'm sure that they also included some.

You can download the latest version from http://www.google.com/chrome.

Google Chrome speeds up on V8 JavaScript engine.

Google uploaded an interesting video a few days ago, showing that their browser is faster than anything else. They've tested its speed against a potato which.."explodes", against sound waves, and against lighting, and the results are quite impressive. Google developed a new JavaScript engine, named V8, which is written in C++, and makes Google Chrome incontestably the fastest browser on earth. Here is the video.

The tests were done using a MacBook Pro with a Windows installed on it, connected on a Asus 24" monitor, and it was filmed using a Phantom v640 High Speed camera at 1920 x 1080 camera capable of filming up to 2700 fps, on a 15Mbps Internet connection. You see the color of the screen changing gradually, because this is the actual speed of pixels on the monitor which has been used.

The latest Chrome version on all platforms is 5.0.375.29 beta. Download it from the official site at http://www.google.com/landing/chrome/beta/.

Put Google Chrome buttons on the left (for Ubuntu 10.04).

Even Ubuntu changed its theme and putted the windows buttons on the left, Chrome is still using its own buttons designed by Google, which are on the right. This might create a lot of confusion for the users who updated to 10.04, because sometimes they have to work with the windows on the left (for almost everything) and sometimes with them on the right (for Chrome), and it's not pleasant at all, trust me.

So, if you need to change the buttons from Google Chrome from right to left, all you have to do, is to go on Chrome's settings (click on the tool icon from the right and click options). Here, go on the "Personal Staff" tab and check "Use system title bar and borders". This is all. Google Chrome should now be looking like this:

Problems with drag-and-drop gadgets on Blogger.

The problem is simple. You just can't move the gadgets from your blog. I've had this problem in the past, but now, no one of my browsers from my MacBook is capable of moving gadgets. I've tried with Chrome (5.0.307.5 dev), Safari 4.0.4 (5531.21.10) and Firefox 3.6, and the moving of gadgets is impossible. I've never expected something like this from Google...which "has" both Chrome and Blogger services.

Are you experiencing similar problems? How does drag-and-drop functionality work on Internet Explorer? I'm pretty disappointed of Google...

View YouTube videos into a dark environment, like in a cinema.

Another good extension for Chrome is, again, made for YouTube. It will make the white area from the browser darken, so you will have the sensation that you're in a cinema. I really like the feature. Try it by searching "Turn Off the Lights" in extensions (extensions homepage is here) and selecting the second result (Mac users goes here). It has a button, on the right part of the address bar.

Here's a screenshot of how it looks like:

Chrome extension for viewing YouTube always in HTML5.

You have probably read my article about the new feature from YouTube, that one related to HTML 5 content (if not, go here). The extension I'm now telling you about, will try to deliver you the content from YouTube into HTML 5, instead of Flash Player. It is available for all platforms (Mac users goes here), and has no button, it only does what I've told you (in the background). It's an interesting extension, because you will know anytime that the content is viewed through HTML 5, if available.

Search it through extensions (https://chrome.google.com/extensions?hl=en-US) with the following name: YouTube HTML5-ifier .

Chrome 4.0 dev version for Mac.

Chrome 4.0 version for Windows has been recently launched, but there is no 4.0 version for Mac yet (officially). But I have Googled a little, and I found a dev version of 4.0 for Mac, which is very close to the official version. I've installed it, and the main changes are that it supports extensions (finally!!), and the webpages are loading promptly than before (before meaning 4.0 beta).

Screenshot:

Download link: http://www.4shared.com/file/208169285/4bdf0597/GoogleChrome.html

Why I recommend you Google Chrome.

Google's browser, Chrome, is getting more and more popularity every day, and it could be, in the future, a great rival for both Firefox and Internet Explorer. It offers a very simple and efficient interface, which looks nice on Windows Vista/7. I dislike it's interface on Windows XP, but this is it. The application moves very fast, which is very important for slower PC's. The webpages are displayed very fast too, faster than any other browser available in normal version (I'm telling you this because there is a pre-Alpha version of Opera 10.50 available, which seems to be quite faster; read more about Opera 10.50 pre-Alpha here).

Chrome is available for Windows, Linux and Mac. Its great extensions are available for Windows and Linux versions so far, but Google is planning to send them to Mac soon. I observed different problems for the beta versions (which you must have for extensions), like intense using of resources or unresponsive state, especially on Linux, and in generally after using it continuously for several hours.

Download Chrome (all OS's, Windows stable): http://www.google.com/chrome

Download Chrome (Windows-Beta only): http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/chrome/beta/

Google Chrome Extensions are amazing!

Since Google launched Chrome for Mac and Linux users, I have been using it as my default browser. I discovered about one week ago Google Extensions on my beta version for Linux (the only one available for Linux),and I have to tell you that they're making Chrome the best browser (without any doubts). But at that time, Google was making a big mistake. Extensions are working only on Beta versions (Linux or Windows, no Mac), but their link for Chrome Beta for Windows was invalid.

I'm sure that was fixed very fast, but I checked for that only today, and now it works. The extensions are nice, I've already added one that will auto-replay YouTube videos, other that will shorten my links via bit.ly, and other one that helps me posting to my blogger account. Yes, that Chrome is a Beta version (4.0), but it works exactly like the stable one (3.0), with little problems so far (these were found even on stable version).

Chrome Beta link download: http://www.google.com/landing/chrome/beta/

Chrome Extensions link download: https://chrome.google.com/extensions

Google Chrome OS on VirtualBox.

Even if Google Chrome OS is still not available for complete installation on regular computers, it can still be ran on virtual machines. A good and free virtual machine is called VirtualBox, and it can be downloaded from the official site here. Everyone should be able to install and use VirtualBox, since it is very simple and efficient.

By the way, you should start downloading the image of Chrome OS from here, while I'll tell you what else you need to know. The image archivated, so if you are under Windows I would recommend you to download and install WinRar, and when the image download is completed, you can unarchive (or dearchive, or how it should be told) it. Leave the image as it is. In the VirtualBox, Google Chrome OS should be set as a Linux operating system, then as version Ubuntu. Everything you need to do is simple, and for additional informations you can either visit this link:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/19/guide-install-google-chrome-os/, or you can leave a comment and i'll help you. You will have to login into OS with your Gmail username and password.

I've tested it on a Macbook with 2 GB of RAM and Intel Core2 Duo processor at 2.00 GHz, and it worked fine.

Attention!! Do not allocate to VirtualBox more than your current free RAM memory, otherwise the computer can become unstable or it can stop responding !! (it would be good if you save your work before starting the virtual machine)

Thanks to WebUpd8 for everything.