Cyanogen CEO wants you to “calm the f*$! down” regarding delayed OnePlus One Lollipop update

OnePlus made some lofty promises for those who opted to buy their phone: Lollipop would be here by March 27th for those wanting OxygenOS, and March 31st for those who wanted CyanogenMod 12S. Looking at today’s calendar shows that it’s April 1st and neither updates are out, meaning they weren’t able to meet those goals.

So when are they coming? We still don’t know. The hold up isn’t that the firmware isn’t ready to go — OnePlus says things are mighty stable right now — but they have to wait for lengthy certification processes to be completed before they can get the green light, and it’s something they didn’t foresee taking such a long time.

And you think they’ve had a hard time dealing with the backlash due to the missed promise? Cyanogen has it even worse: they’re being bashed for the delay even when they weren’t the ones who promised it. CEO Kirt McMaster even went as far as using his brash tone to get the point across:

@Mark_SC_ @Paddietastic @CyanogenMod @cyngn @getpeid @oneplus guys… calm the f down… it’s coming soon… when ready!

— Kirt McMaster (@cyanogenone) March 31, 2015

While we might have preferred something a bit more politically correct, it’s true: Cyanogen has always gone by the “it’s ready when it’s ready” mantra, and they probably don’t deserve the flood of hate rushing their way.

This was simply another case of a young company (OnePlus) learning a tough lesson — never, ever, give an ETA on the OTA. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take more than a couple of weeks to get everyone the goods they were hoping to enjoy by now.

PlayStation Mobile shuts down July 15th, be sure to download your games

PlayStation Mobile is coming to an end, folks. It was an exciting journey that brought one of gaming’s most iconic and exciting brands to those who prefer to game on their smartphones an tablets. Alongside a handful of PlayStation 1 classics, Sony used PlayStation Mobile as a driving platform for great mobile independent games that embody everything the PlayStation brand stands for.

So here are the quick details:

• Distribution of games and in-app purchases will cease on July 15th, meaning no new purchases can be made after that point.


• Games you’ve already bought can continue to be downloaded and accessed through September 10th.


• Games can be played after September 10th, but only if you activate your device.

So how do you activate your device? Simply open up the PlayStation Mobile app and launch any purchased content between April 10, 2015 and September 10, 2015. The activation / authentication process was always done each time you opened a game and has never been a permanent solution so you’ll want to make sure you get this done.

It’s a sad day, but Sony feels like there isn’t much more reason for them to continue down this road (especially with how nice Android’s library of games has gotten). Get everything taken care of on your end before it’s too late.

[via Sony]

Google is shutting down Softcard on March 31st

Rumors about Google acquiring Softcard, the carrier-backed mobile wallet system (formerly known as ISIS Wallet), started back in January. Last month those rumors became official when Google announced they had acquired technology from Softcard. Thanks to that technology Google Wallet will come preloaded on future Android devices from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

All of this is great news for Google Wallet users, but what about Softcard? Unfortunately, the service will be shut down on March 31st. This might not be a big deal for Android users, who have access to Google Wallet, but Softcard was available on other platforms as well. Windows Phone users will be left out to dry with no other mobile payment options.

The saga of Google Wallet has been bizarre to say the least. Just three years ago carriers were actively blocking it from devices, but now it will come preloaded. The mobile payment war is about to get very intense. The iPhone now has Apple Wallet, and soon Samsung devices will have their own mobile payment system. How will the new and improved Google Wallet fare?

Google cut down Android malware by 50% in 2014

A common and over-used criticism of Android is malware. People love to point to malware as a reason why Android is unsecure and shouldn’t be used. Of course, the malware problem that people love to talk about is not much of a problem at all. Google made that clear with their latest Android Security State of the Union address.

Google published a very lengthy 44-page report that you can read right here, but there are a few bullet points of importance.

• Over 1 billion devices are protected with Google Play which conducts 200 million security scans of devices per day.


• Fewer than 1% of Android devices had a Potentially Harmful App (PHA) installed in 2014. Fewer than 0.15% of devices that only install from Google Play had a PHA installed.


• The overall worldwide rate of Potentially Harmful Application (PHA) installs decreased by nearly 50% between Q1 and Q4 2014.


• SafetyNet checks over 400 million connections per day for potential SSL issues.


• Android and Android partners responded to 79 externally reported security issues, and over 25,000 applications in Google Play were updated following security notifications from Google Play.

As you can see, Android malware is an exaggerated issue. Fewer than 1% of a billion devices had potentially harmful apps installed. In devices that only install apps from the Play Store than number drops to 0.15%. The moral of the story is the same that has been said for years, and it can be said for users on any platform: if you install trusted apps from trusted sources you will have no issues. It’s only when you start downloading from sketchy places that you will run into problems.

[via Google]

HTC CEO Peter Chou steps down, say hello to Cher Wang

Remember back at HTC’s Mobile World Congress event where they unveiled the HTC One M9? Peter Chou, the company’s rock star CEO, shared a fair bit of stage time with a woman named Cher Wang, who was then known as the Chairperson for HTC’s board of directors and the co-founder of the company. She helped Chou unveil the HTC One M9 with a degree of glee that only a truly happy woman was capable of showing.

And now we know why she was so happy: she’s been named the new CEO of HTC. HTC announced the news this morning as they looked to publicize some long-awaited corporate restructuring.

Before assuming this is some sort of backlash for Chou in the wake of what many of you consider a lackluster follow-up to one of 2014’s best phones, HTC reveals they’ve been working toward this transition for at least a couple of years. Wang had already been heavily involved in day-to-day management of HTC’s business, while Chou had taken a more hands-on approach with new product development.

That would explain HTC’s recent evolution from being just a smartphone company to being a technology company. They made the first move with the HTC Re Camera last year, and looked to capitalize on that with the launches of the HTC Re Vive VR headset and the Under Armour-powered HTC Re Grip fitness band a short couple of weeks ago.

As such, Peter Chou isn’t going anywhere — he’s still with HTC in a big way. He is heading up the future development labs for the company, and will continue to be the driving influence behind the phones, tablets and accessories HTC makes going forward.

As for Cher Wang, she will continue doing what she’s always done — be very good at business. Forbes ranked her as the 54th most powerful woman in the world recently, and she has been widely recognized as being one of the most influential women in tech. Her roles in creating and growing VIA Technologies and HTC a couple of decades ago should quell any fears (within HTC or otherwise) that she doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is now $2.99 on Google Play (down from $9.99)

Star Wars fanatics looking for a deep game to sink their teeth into have no reason not to take advantage of today’s deal. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic — one of the greatest Star Wars RPGs ever made — is now on sale for .99.

That price is down from its usual .99, so you’re getting a pretty good discount that you won’t want to miss out on. The game originally launched years ago on PC and Xbox, but it was ported over to Android for those who want their fix on the go. The awesome thing is that this is the full game as you’d have played it on the aforementioned platforms, with no compromises.

That said, the file size is a hefty 2.4GB, and you’ll want to be on WiFi before downloading it. This is the lowest price this game has been since its introductory promo price back when it launched in December, so if you’ve been waiting for better deals then this is likely as good as it’s going to get. Check it out at Google Play right here.

Sprint quickly backs down on ridiculous 600kbps video throttling

Yesterday, many of you expressed disdain for Sprint’s All-In plan. Not because the plan was bad or anything (it’s not terrible, we’ll put it that way), but because this plan seemed to enforce a special throttling clause that didn’t previously apply to any other Sprint plans.

That clause was that video streaming would be limited to 600 kilobytes per second at all times. To be clear, Sprint has always been upfront about having to throttle data usage, but the company’s previous policy was that this would only happen during periods of network congestion, a common tactic among all major wireless carriers.

Now, Sprint has decided against it. The company came forward with a blog post today saying they heard your cries and will no longer go through with plans to permanently limit video streaming speeds, though they were quick to note that they still may “manage the network” in times where things are clogged up.

The move comes at a time where the FCC is cracking down on companies for questionable practices that violate the net neutrality rules that were recently put in place (and more coming into effect down the line). Those rules don’t completely forbid Sprint from limiting speeds in situations where they deem it necessary to maintain network quality, but they do state that the company has to be upfront about it.

And, in defense of the Now Network, they actually were upfront. But they probably thought about that huge 0 million fine AT&T got slapped with not too long ago and thought it best to just avoid getting on the FCC’s bad side altogether.