Show Notes

* Android News

* Android P will add call recording tone support so you can record phone calls lawfully

* Android P will reportedly feature even deeper Google Assistant integration, possibly major aesthetic change.

* Android x86 7.1 now available.

* Contextual Visual Responses now available on Chromecast

* App News

* Google testing app called Reply, which adds smart replies to other messaging apps.

* VLC 3.0 released, adds Chromecast support, Android Auto with voice actions, expanded compatibility and more.

* In Other News

* 911 Fees paid by phone customers stolen by states to fill budget gap

* Lawsuit alleges Project Fi charged for wi-fi use.

* Mozilla offers a new way to control your smart home with a Pi

* The Raspberry Pi

Z-Wave is the simpler, but ultimately a proprietary protocol, with chips only available from one company. Zigbee is the more flexible, open protocol with chips available from multiple manufacturers, and can be configured for any short-range wireless task, but it uses the crowded 2.4GHz band.

The new Echo Plus includes a built-in Zigbee hub, perhaps for that reason. Hue, for example, uses the Zigbee standard, so other devices supporting this can work alongside them, such as Tradfri, the Ikea lighting system.

*  Android News

* Android Distribution numbers…Nougat is now the largest single distribution at 28.5% and Oreo clears 1%

* Introducing Android KTX

* February patches available for Pixel and Nexus devices.

* App News

* Add Any Widget to Android Auto

* In Other News

* Google Home will play white noise.

* Ajit Pai uses data from before he became FCC Chairman to indicate that the net neutrality repeal worked.

MQTT

MQTT is a subscription protocol, as opposed to HTTP, which is a request based protocol. If you want to send information/commands over HTTP, you would make a request, and an HTTP server would respond with the information. In an MQTT environment, information is published to the MQTT broker and a client has to keep a constant connection to it to observe events. It is ideal for limited systems, designed for low bandwidth and high latency.

If you are interested in installing an open source broker, you can try Mosquitto, EMQ, or Mosca. MQTT does support access control through a username/password system as well as access control for specific topics. You can bridge multiple brokers, to republish messages on one to the other. You can also bridge your broker to Amazon IoT or an external MQTT server if you want a presence outside of your house. There are advantages to distributing your messaging. If you want to experiment, CloudMQTT offers a free tier.

* Android News

* Years old issue may finally be fixed with National Roaming toggle

* App News

* New owners of BeyondPod have not kept up with development

* Google Voice preps VoIP calling functionality

* Google launches test of hyperlocal news app called Bulletin

* In Other News

* Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Ikea, dead at age 91

 

* Project Fi adds Bill Protection

* Android App News

* Google may be continuing work to allow Google sign in for Duo

* Allo might be making way for multi-account support.

* Wine for Android now available, but not fully baked.

* Android Wear update includes all black theme

* GBoard adds support for smart replies to messenger notifications

* Street View now prompting people to connect a 360 degree camera and record while driving.

* Alexa App updated with voice controls

* In Other News

* Naomi Parker Fraley died at age 96, the individual who likely inspired the Rosie the Riveter poster.

* Less than 10% of Google accounts use two factor authentication

* FCC won’t lower Broadband speed standard…claims Net Neutrality stifled development with no documentation.

* Google Home has undocumented API

Show Notes

* App News

* YouTubeAuto brings YouTube to Android Auto

* Duo now lets you call people who don’t have the app installed

* SMS Backup+ sees first update in 2 years

* Home Automation

* New Smart Home Chip lets devices have 10 year battery life

* Happy Bubbles Presence Detection

* In Other News

* Google now offering official Home Mini mount in the Google Store

* Google Cast causes router instability in some cases.

* Credit card companies doing away with signature requirement.

* New Pi Zero WH comes with the headers lovingly pre-soldered.

Android Buffet decides to try its hand at Home Automation starting next week.

Show Notes

* Android News

* New Android Distribution Numbers, Oreo 0.7%, Nougat 26.3%, Marshmallow 28.6%…

* Google Assistant coming to new places

* Like Android Auto

* Android apps on Chrome OS will soon be able to read files from USB drives

* Android Pay, Google Wallet etc merge into Google Pay

* Lenovo and Google have created their own version of the ‘Echo Show’

* New Products powered by Android Things

* App News

* Google Assistant gets proper web directory for all possible integrations and services

* In Other News

* WPA3 protocol announced.

* Jerry Van Dyke, actor, dead at age 86.

* John Young, astronaut, dead at age 87.

* Cassette tape sales had best year since 2012.

* Roku gets into the Assistant business.

Apologies for the technical issues in this episode…fixed issue.

Show Notes

* Guru’s Android Auto finally starts working

* Android News

* Pixel 2’s Portrait Mode ported to some non-Google devices running Android Oreo

* Wireless Android Auto arriving in 2018

* Motorola and HTC confirm they don’t throttle older devices

* App News

* Experimental Android Auto support added to tinyCam Monitor Pro beta

* KeePass2Android Beta updated with AutoFill support in Oreo

* Telegram now supports up to three unique accounts

* In Other News

* Google’s new text to speech system sounds convincingly human

* GE previews C by GE line, a ceiling light and a light switch with built in Alexa and Google Assistant

* PostmarketOS inches closer to letting you breathe new life into old phones

* Rose Marie dies at age 94

Show Notes

* The traditional end of year predictions

* Year End Baggage

* The Android Buffet website – suggestions for improvement

* Jere needs a new bio

* The Live Stream has been dead a long time.

* Android One Moto x4 getting Oreo…not yet for Guru.

* Guru gets Android Auto..not.

* Android News

* Happy Birthday to LineageOS

* Mandrake Linux founder forks Android and creates eelo, which uses only free and open software.

* App News

* Other News

* The Library of Congress will no longer archive every tweet.

* The first real 5G wireless standard is official

* Eric Schmidt stepping down as Executive Chairman of Google parent company Alphabet

* What Would Have Entered the Public Domain in 2018.

* New York State tries to pass bill to only do business with net neutrality following ISPs

Show Notes

* We got an OGG response…from someone who didn’t know we had one.

* Android News

* Improving App Security and Performance for Years to Come

* App News

* Facebook Messenger Lite hits 100 million installs

* In Other News

* Do you charge your phone while you sleep?

* These cities lean on wifi usage the most according to Open Signal

* Net neutrality dies.

Back after two weeks

Show Notes

* Black Friday

* 7 downloads of OGG vs 1100 MP3. Time to discontinue OGG?

* Guru’s Moto X Pure finally gets Nougat a year late, after no updates since September 2016.

* Android News

* Android Stats for December, Oreo to 0.5%, Nougat to 23%,

* Android 8.1 Developer Preview 2 is now available for Pixel and Nexus devices

* Google is being questioned by regulators over location data collection on Android devices.

* Google rethinks banning apps using the accessibility api.

* Google bans lock screen ads unless the app is a lockscreen app.

* App News

* Gboard adds Handwriting Keyboard

* Swiftkey adds location sharing and ‘quick paste’ option.

* Android Wear 2.6 adds a lot of improvements to the platform.

* Google enables button to switch to a Duo call during a phone call.

* Maps offering real time updates for transit travel.

* Google Assistant adds command for syncing Smart Home Devices

* Chrome adds parallel download option to accelerate speed

* Action Launcher celebrates 5th birthday

* Niantic to release update to Ingress called Ingress Prime.

* Google releases Files Go! A file managing app.

* In Other News

* Googlers build tool to determine if someone is looking over your shoulder.

* Google Finance gets redesigned and dumps Adobe Flash

* The Substitute Phone is designed to help smartphone addicts cope in its absence.

* Youtube won’t be