WEBVTT 00:00.031 --> 00:03.173 [SPEAKER_00]: a factual data creation facility production. 00:06.899 --> 00:10.363 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the first official Weekly Overflow episode. 00:11.224 --> 00:14.969 [SPEAKER_00]: The previous one was just a test, in case you were wondering. 00:15.450 --> 00:15.690 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 00:16.391 --> 00:23.800 [SPEAKER_00]: I try to limit the OF&T podcast to under 30 minutes, so some stories, though relevant, don't make the cut. 00:24.962 --> 00:33.953 [SPEAKER_00]: This weekly update will include those stories and tech news updates that happen to break in between this and the regular OF&T podcast. 00:34.220 --> 00:37.944 [SPEAKER_00]: That is, if I deem these items worthy enough to report on. 00:39.386 --> 00:43.090 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be dropping episodes of the weekly overflow on Wednesday evenings. 00:44.151 --> 00:47.474 [SPEAKER_00]: These episodes will be done fast with little to no post-processing. 00:48.095 --> 00:49.877 [SPEAKER_00]: So, excuse the audio. 00:50.778 --> 00:51.539 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening. 00:54.082 --> 00:58.947 [SPEAKER_00]: Before I get started, everything has been closed down in the area I live in since Saturday. 00:59.007 --> 01:01.830 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's the day the last storm hit. 01:02.468 --> 01:06.134 [SPEAKER_00]: Yesterday, the temperature managed to rise above freezing and snow began melting. 01:06.154 --> 01:06.234 [SPEAKER_00]: Yay! 01:08.678 --> 01:13.825 [SPEAKER_00]: Local stores have begun opening up again, and hopefully deliveries will once again start. 01:14.787 --> 01:19.474 [SPEAKER_00]: I have a couple of items coming from Amazon that were supposed to be here by now, but they haven't made it yet. 01:19.514 --> 01:23.841 [SPEAKER_00]: The delivery status was and remains as delayed. 01:25.263 --> 01:28.628 [SPEAKER_00]: By my estimates, we got about 10 inches of snow during the storm. 01:29.333 --> 01:33.479 [SPEAKER_00]: Sure, it's a lot, but back up in New York, this would have been dealt with very quickly. 01:34.701 --> 01:35.943 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's not the case here. 01:35.963 --> 01:40.069 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't even think the area I reside in even has a snow plow. 01:41.211 --> 01:46.660 [SPEAKER_00]: In my housing development, only a few households besides my own had bothered clearing their property of snow. 01:47.761 --> 01:50.545 [SPEAKER_00]: Of the residents here probably don't even own snow shovels. 01:51.467 --> 01:55.493 [SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully, last week's heavy snowfall, the last will see for a while. 01:58.072 --> 02:05.601 [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, here's this week's text stories that didn't make it into episode 306 of the OFNT podcast. 02:05.621 --> 02:11.649 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the many cool things about the Android operating system that I took advantage of while having an Android phone. 02:12.690 --> 02:15.073 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's see ability to change what's called the launcher. 02:16.355 --> 02:22.763 [SPEAKER_00]: If you didn't know that's the software you see when first opening your phone, and it's the main place to launch your apps from. 02:23.958 --> 02:28.134 [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, these days, most users just stick with the launcher that comes with their phones. 02:29.178 --> 02:33.816 [SPEAKER_00]: One of my favorite third-party Android launchers was the Nova Launcher. 02:33.965 --> 02:39.153 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometime last year, the creator of Nova was let go by the company that bought Nova from a years ago. 02:39.193 --> 02:44.380 [SPEAKER_00]: And while doing so, Roker promised me to him when closing the sale of the software. 02:45.141 --> 02:54.896 [SPEAKER_00]: That promise was the original owner would get back the source code for Nova Launcher upon his termination from the company that bought it from him, which was Branch Metrics. 02:56.117 --> 03:02.807 [SPEAKER_00]: This all took place back in September of last year, with Branch Metrics stating that Nova 03:03.901 --> 03:07.813 [SPEAKER_00]: Well as an article from Android Authority confirms, things change. 03:08.716 --> 03:18.265 [SPEAKER_00]: Users that, despite the bad news about Nova Launcher's lack of a future, continued using Nova anyway, and they started getting updates in November of last year. 03:18.683 --> 03:19.564 [SPEAKER_00]: good news, right? 03:20.466 --> 03:21.167 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, not really. 03:22.189 --> 03:33.146 [SPEAKER_00]: Branch metrics, instead of shutting down the app, sold off Nova launched it to a Swedish company called Instabridge, who planned on turning Nova into a subscription-based piece of software. 03:33.888 --> 03:36.492 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, previously was a one-time purchase. 03:37.674 --> 03:45.366 [SPEAKER_00]: To add insult to injury, a so-called free-tier was created, and that's what was rolled 03:46.308 --> 03:48.591 [SPEAKER_00]: This free-tier is, of course, add supported. 03:48.651 --> 03:59.344 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not only have users started seeing advertisements, but Nova Launcher has become unstable with the app randomly crashing in the disappearance of app icons. 04:00.666 --> 04:06.353 [SPEAKER_00]: Instabridge has pledged not to show ads to paid Nova Prime users, but this remains to be seen. 04:06.413 --> 04:14.323 [SPEAKER_00]: You can download the APK package for an older working version of Nova Launcher, but who knows how long that will last? 04:17.223 --> 04:17.744 [SPEAKER_00]: Oopsie! 04:18.344 --> 04:28.076 [SPEAKER_00]: Android Police.com is reporting that Google unintentionally leaked a video of its new Alluminium computer operating system on the company's Chromium Issue Tracker website. 04:28.977 --> 04:35.765 [SPEAKER_00]: Alluminium is a marriage between Chrome OS and Android that's set to replace Chrome as Google's computer operating system. 04:37.047 --> 04:43.635 [SPEAKER_00]: We can see from the now taken down video, is an operating system that 04:44.729 --> 04:55.303 [SPEAKER_00]: The coding visible during the league shows Google considers aluminium OS as an offshoot of Android, and even refers to the new operating system as Android 16. 04:56.144 --> 05:04.855 [SPEAKER_00]: While the folks over at Android policy seem kind of happy about this, the folks over at Android Authority.com have expressed concerns about it. 05:04.915 --> 05:10.703 [SPEAKER_00]: The author of the article is all in on Chrome OS and the Chrome laptops that run them. 05:11.290 --> 05:16.377 [SPEAKER_00]: Meaning that he uses Chrome OS as his main operating system for work and casual use. 05:17.559 --> 05:22.586 [SPEAKER_00]: His first complaint is that, like Android, the top bar the UI is always there. 05:23.567 --> 05:37.146 [SPEAKER_00]: Thus taking up screen space, his opinion is that the whole desktop environment appears to be 99% Android, which he considers great for phones, but not proper for a desktop environment. 05:37.413 --> 05:43.384 [SPEAKER_00]: Also, the version of the browser running on aluminum is apparently a mobile version of Chrome. 05:44.125 --> 05:47.451 [SPEAKER_00]: Not the powerful desktop version that Chrome OS is based on. 05:49.074 --> 05:51.979 [SPEAKER_00]: Chrome is known for its powerful screen capture capabilities. 05:52.780 --> 06:02.037 [SPEAKER_00]: But the author points out that the video shows Android screen recorder utility, which is much less powerful than the full version from Chrome OS. 06:02.995 --> 06:09.931 [SPEAKER_00]: Chrome OS is also the home of a powerful productivity features, and they appear to be missing on this version of Aluminium. 06:10.773 --> 06:19.452 [SPEAKER_00]: To sum up, it appears that Aluminium OS is just a desktop version of Android, with some Chrome OS features sprinkled in. 06:19.904 --> 06:27.511 [SPEAKER_00]: As I mentioned on Episode 306, there's been rumors that Apple would like to do the same by having iOS replace Mac OS. 06:28.492 --> 06:29.613 [SPEAKER_00]: I guess this is the future. 06:30.434 --> 06:32.136 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, at least for Google and Apple. 06:33.237 --> 06:35.879 [SPEAKER_00]: Linux is becoming more appealing as time goes on. 06:36.380 --> 06:37.000 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't you agree? 06:37.060 --> 06:47.110 [SPEAKER_00]: Leading Smart Ring Company or a, finally released an accessory users have been asking about for some time now. 06:47.191 --> 06:49.856 [SPEAKER_00]: And that would be a charging case for their smart rings. 06:51.198 --> 06:57.810 [SPEAKER_00]: The R ring comes with a charging plug which is fine for home use, but is slightly inconvenienced for traveling. 06:59.012 --> 07:06.465 [SPEAKER_00]: I've been using a Norris Smart Ring since version 2, but the $100 price for this case makes it a no-go for me. 07:07.492 --> 07:15.022 [SPEAKER_00]: Or also released a statement last week, confirming that the company will continue charging a monthly fee, in order to use all of the ring's features. 07:15.843 --> 07:21.490 [SPEAKER_00]: Currently, this fee is $5.99 a monthly, or $69.99 a monthly. 07:21.511 --> 07:30.242 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, being that aura considers me a legacy user, I don't have any extra fee for accessing all of my ring's features. 07:32.922 --> 07:37.447 [SPEAKER_00]: Apple has recently closed a $2 billion deal for AI firm Q.A.I. 07:38.528 --> 07:43.214 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the second largest acquisition behind the Beats purchase in the company's history. 07:43.254 --> 07:47.539 [SPEAKER_00]: Seems that what Apple was after was Q.A.I.' 07:47.519 --> 07:54.627 [SPEAKER_00]: 's patents for AI-powered optical sensors, which brings the dream of fleet augmented reality glasses that much closer. 07:54.667 --> 07:59.132 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's in my uneducated opinion. 07:59.298 --> 08:08.312 [SPEAKER_00]: And finally, Bloomberg's Mark German stated on his power on newsletter Sunday that Apple is planning a clamshell-style format foldable phone. 08:09.614 --> 08:12.499 [SPEAKER_00]: My lovely wife will be overjoyed about this news. 08:13.781 --> 08:19.289 [SPEAKER_00]: German also claims that Apple is looking into making an even larger book-style folding iPhone in a future. 08:19.350 --> 08:25.339 [SPEAKER_00]: This product is probably what Leekers incorrectly thought was a foldable iPad. 08:25.673 --> 08:27.897 [SPEAKER_00]: I remember seeing those rumors early last year. 08:27.917 --> 08:32.425 [SPEAKER_00]: At the time, I wondered what was the point of a foldable iPad? 08:33.407 --> 08:41.582 [SPEAKER_00]: What we'll see if Apple's entry into the foldable form factor Fonerina will bring this so far niche product into the mainstream. 08:41.642 --> 08:48.475 [SPEAKER_00]: Well that will do it for this inaugural weekly overflow episode. 08:48.742 --> 08:52.603 [SPEAKER_00]: You can always reach me at orphantpodcast at gmail.com. 08:53.387 --> 08:54.393 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll see you on Sunday. 08:54.433 --> 08:57.992 [SPEAKER_00]: Take care, and I hope you have a great rest of the week!