Chrome for Android is out of beta

I wrote about Chrome for iOS earlier but forgot to mention that Chrome for Android is now out of beta.

So yeah, Chrome for Android has now shed beta from its name and is available for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or later devices. The latest version comes with some stability and performance fixes and some minor adjustments to the UI especially for tablets. Grab it from the Google Play Store now if you’re interested!

As an added note, it seems like the Nexus 7 has Google Chrome as its default browser. This could mean that Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in its entirety may be switching over to Chrome for its browsing muscles. We’ll see when updates for other devices start getting rolled out. Until then, let’s enjoy the release of Chrome for Android!

Microsoft details Windows Phone 8 Marketplace, in-app purchases

According to  a Windows Phone Developer Blog post the Windows Phone 8 Marketplace will be open to developers from 180 countries at launch! Of course, consumers from those areas can take advantage of that as well by being able to browse and download apps from those markets. Finally the Philippines is supported by the App Hub! I can now sign up as a developer! I am really stoked by this! Yay!

Additionally, as mentioned in the Windows Phone Summit, besides advertising and app sales, devs can now take advantage of monetizing their investments through in-app purchases – a boon for game devs! Kaching!

For now we wait for the developer tools for Windows Phone 8 which is apparently the same for Windows 8.

More information on the link provided above. You may also see the full list of supported markets after the break (it’s quite long!):

The Nexus 7 is a tasty slab of Jelly Bean

The rumor that a $199 Nexus tablet from Asus was spot on. Named Nexus 7, Google announced the new 7-inc tablet which runs Android version 4.1 Jelly Bean in the first day of Google I/O 2012. So what does the Nexus 7 have under its sleeve?

I wish I could have played with one myself but alas I’m on the other side of the globe from San Francisco. My opinions will then be based upon multiple sources and my experience with similar devices when it comes to size and materials involved. As for the software, I will also refer to my sources and to my experience to Ice Cream Sandwich which it appears to be most similar to.

Native Firefox browser for Android looks fresh, adds Flash and HTML5 support, and is faster

Google might have released Chrome for iOS today but Mozilla also brought out something good a few days ago – native Firefox 14.0 for Android! Sorry, I forgot to blog about it! My bad…

The new mobile Firefox is faster, supports Flash and HTML5, and has a new look as well. You can, of course, sync your bookmarks, tabs and other settings with your desktop Firefox installation.

Interested? Get it now from the Google Play store. If you’re like me who had trouble downloading this app into my ICS-encrusted Galaxy Tab through the Google Play store – seems like the Galaxy Tab is not listed as a compatible device despite mine running CM9 – you may download the APK from unofficial sources which you should be able to find quite easily with a simple web search.

Videos to showcase the new browser after the break:

Google Chrome is now available for iOS

One thing I hated about iOS is Safari. Call me whatever you want but I just completely and thoroughly hate it and only used it when I really need to. I don’t really surf the web much on my iPad anyway so it’s not such a big deal for me but I still wish I had a better alternative. I tried Dolphin HD but I was never fond of it even on Android (I love real dolphins though but that’s not really important right now). I use Chrome on my PCs alongside Firefox and IE (9 and 10 in my case since I’m using either Windows 7 or Windows 8 Release Preview). I use Chrome 90% of the time though and have been using Chrome for Android for quite a while now. I love being able to easily sync my bookmarks and opened tabs back and forth with the browser I use most often so I was stoked when I learned that Google has now released Chrome for iOS. I downloaded it immediately! You may grab Chrome for your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch through the App Store. Oh! And here’s a promo vid:

CyanogenMod 9 RC1 is out for the Galaxy Tab and numerous other devices!

CyanogenMod 9 has now release RC1 for a huge number of devices including my trusty one-and-a-half-year old Galaxy Tab! It is a lot more stable and everything seems to work now including Facebook integration in Accounts & sync which did nothing before. If you want a taste of CM9 Ice Cream Sandwich in its RC1 flavor head on to CyanogenMod’s RC downloads page and search for your device. Galaxy Tabs are marked as P1 (based on the model number of P1000). Other variants of the Galaxy Tab would have letters at the end such as P1l and P1c (P1000l and P1000c respectively) so make sure you’re getting the correct ROM by looking at your device’s model number which is found at the rear of the Galaxy Tab and other devices without removable back covers or under the battery in others.

Don’t know how to flash your device? Refer to my former post that will point you to some resources on how to do so.

Enjoy your CM9 Ice Cream Sandwich while we patiently wait for CyanogenMod to port Jelly Bean to our devices!

Bing Maps get updated, is now 165TB better

Bing Maps just updated their aerial and satellite images! I can finally see my house which used to be a vacant lot in the older Bing Maps even though my house has been up for years!

Anyway, the new images span around 38 million square kilometers updating images of places from all over the globe. They have also captured 160 “Areas of Interests” that include landmarks, monuments, and places people might like visiting. Why not try Bing Maps World Tour if you’ve got some time to spare? Who knows, maybe you’ll find your next vacation destination there.

My new 155 gallon aquarium! (video)

I’ve been busy setting up my new fish tank. It’s a whopping 155 gallons – the largest aquarium I have ever had in my room. My first and largest tank before was a 45 gallon and it was a wonderful heavily planted tank. Unfortunately, it’s broken now and has been decommissioned many years ago. Sadly, I also don’t have any photos or videos of that aquarium as I didn’t have a camera back then.

This new tank is still rather boring. I’m hoping to add tons of live plants whenever I have the opportunity. I need money to buy them but most of all they’re quite hard to get by here in Saudi Arabia. I wish I was back home in the Philippines where they are widely available and cheaper too – including fish. My hobby is obviously expensive in a desert country which is kinda sad.

I currently have two small angelfish, a school of eight black tetras, seven guppies and two mollies swimming in my tank. The livebearers (guppies and mollies) were borrowed from another smaller (16 gallon) tank in our living room. That tank has some goldfish at the moment.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rather boring video of my new aquarium. I’m going to make my tank a lot prettier in the coming months and I’ll be posting updates along the way. 🙂

Honey, Nintendo has Blew Up the 3DS!

Nintendo has done something they seem to like doing a lot lately – making their portables bigger. The Nintendo 3DS now has a bigger but not entirely badder sibling which will be known in Japan as the Nintendo 3DS LL – North America and the rest of the world would know it as the 3DS XL. The device was revealed by Nintendo’s head Satoru Iwata last June 21 on Nintendo Direct – yes, I’m kinda late in writing about the news. Sorry about that.

Make your Galaxy Tab new again: Flash ICS!

A screenshot from my Galaxy Tab showing an Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich nightly ROM provided by CyanogenMod9.

If you’re a new visitor of my blog you probably didn’t know that back in late 2010 I was chosen by Samsung to be one of their Galaxy Tab Ambassadors in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. I received a P1000 unit just before the year ended and that’s when I started promoting the first Samsung tablet which I became quite fond of. I still use it today but it has gone through a huge facelift.