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The EOS NX bar replaces the three soft buttons on the Galaxy Nexus with a gesture-based bar. Swipe left to go back, swipe right to pull up the recent apps list, swipe up to show homescreen, hold on the circle in the center of the bar to pull up Google Search or any quick access apps you’ve set, hold elsewhere on the bar for the menu functionality in some apps. I’ve converted all the major functions of my phone to gestures so this fits in perfectly (as an example, I also have swipe up on the homescreen call up my app drawer via Nova Launcher).

about 23 hours ago on To root or not to root?

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I have no idea how it works beyond “it’s magic” but I find myself swiping phone and tablet screens ALL THE TIME trying to wake them up after using that app on my Galaxy Nexus. I don’t see how Google and Apple haven’t incorporated this functionality into their respective OSes—it’s so ridiculously intuitive, stable and doesn’t seem to have any negative effects like excessive battery drain as far as I can tell.

As for rooting, I will root every single device I own because I like to tinker. Tinkering obviously isn’t for everybody but you do miss out on stuff like Paranoid Android’s custom Halo (chat heads) implementation or Team EOS’ NX navigation bar (the latter is another piece of functionality I can’t live without).

1 day ago on To root or not to root? 1 reply

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The last time I had cable was from 2005-2009 when I had a roommate who wanted it more than I did. In that time, our bill for cable TV plus internet from Comcast went up about $30 (we never changed or added services in that time), topping out at around $142 a month before we went our separate ways. $6 a year might not sound like much but the overall percentage increase qualifies as ridiculous.

2 days ago on Live TV on the Xbox One: Microsoft learns nothing from Google TV's mistakes 2 replies

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Just gonna leave this here:

http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/cord-cutting-at-last-hard-evidence-its-really-happening-1200484321/

It’s not happening in droves by any measure, but it’s definitely happening. With cable prices increasing at ridiculous rates, it wouldn’t be surprising to see it continue to increase as people find cheaper ways to keep themselves entertained.

2 days ago on Live TV on the Xbox One: Microsoft learns nothing from Google TV's mistakes 1 reply 2 recommends

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Media Center integration.

I don’t have cable and record shows on an HTPC and use Xboxes as media extenders in different rooms. The PS3 can play HD files recorded on an HTPC using Windows Media Center but the video quality and interface is complete garbage compared to the Xbox 360 (the PS3 shows a huge list of episode titles with no obvious way to even sort by show title)—this shouldn’t be any big surprise considering it’s largely Microsoft ecosystem. Assuming Microsoft doesn’t rip out the extender part of the machine, there’s one reason to pick the next Xbox over the PS4 if you don’t have cable.

6 days ago on Microsoft planning Xbox dashboard UI and tile changes in preparation for next-gen console 1 reply 4 recommends

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To throw another ROM into the mix, I’m a TeamEOS guy on my Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7. I LOVE the alternate EOS navigation bar that replaces the soft buttons with swipe gestures.

I used Paranoid Android on my N7 for the longest time but the newer versions were inexplicably glitchy on my N7 for reasons unknown to me. I always install after wiping everything and never install a new version of a ROM over an old one so I’m not sure what the problem was. I have one of the older revisions of the N7 so maybe that had something to do with it.

13 days ago on AOKP vs CM10 vs PA: Help Me Choose!

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Palm—the only company who thought a Tamagotchi-sized smartphone would be a good idea.

17 days ago on Former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein joins Qualcomm board of directors 1 reply