Motorola Keylink makes it easy to find your phone, and vice versa

Looking for an easy way to keep track of your keys? Motorola has your back with its new Keylink.

Simply put, the new device lets you find your keys from your phone via an app, or find your phone from your keys thanks to a button on the device that will ring the phone. Additionally, the Keylink works as a security token for Lollipop devices, letting you unlock your phone without a password or pin as long as the Keylink is within range.

If this sounds familiar its because we first heard about such a device in August, thanks to a set of FCC documents. At the time it was known as the next-gen Moto Skip, but for whatever reason Motorola held off its release and ended up rebranding it. It’s also worth noting that Motorola did release the semi-similar Power Pack Micro in September for $40, a keychain power pack that also doubles as a key/phone finding device.

The Motorola Keylink might not have a power pack built it, but it’s fairly affordable at $25 and has a standard coin cell battery that is said to last about a year. For those looking to pick it up right now, we have some bad news. The Motorola Keylink is currently sold out already on Motorola’s website, though it is expected to arrive to T-Moble stores “shortly”.

What do you think, anyone planning on picking these one up as soon as you can get your hands on it?

Google Play may be coming to China

For those in major markets like the United States, we tend to think of Android as a Google-powered OS that is centered around the search giant’s services like Maps, Google Play and many others. However, a good portion of the world actually runs Android in its AOSP form or a modded version of the experience, completely devoid of Google apps and services.

Back in October we reported on a claim from The Information that Google was looking to slow AOSP Android’s growth in emerging markets by making it easier for smaller players to get their devices Google certified. In a related story released today, it seems Google is also taking aim at China.

Google officials and Chinese government reps have been in informal talks over such matters off and on for years​

Right now, Google Play and other Google services aren’t officially supported by the vast majority of Chinese mobile devices, except for a small minority bought from the gray market and other similar sources. Several people with knowledge of Google’s plans have revealed to The Information that Google is hoping to change this by introducing an official Google Play app to the Chinese market.

Considering the Chinese government and Google haven’t always been on the best of terms, it’s unclear whether China would even approve such a release, although it is worth mentioning that Google officials and Chinese government reps have been in informal talks over such matters off and on for years.

Autumn Leaves in HD Live Wallpaper – Indie app of the day

What is Autumn Leaves in HD Live Wallpaper?


Autumn Leaves in HD Live Wallpaper is, obviously, a live wallpaper that shows you autumn leaves. It uses parallax effects along with your gyroscope and home screen scrolling to show you a bright, colorful autumn scene that look really good. There are free and paid versions in the Play Store. The paid version goes for $0.99.

It works like pretty much every other live wallpaper. You download it, install it, and then change your wallpaper to start it up. In the free version you get three background images and two foreground themes which lets you try out the app to see if you like it. The paid version contains nine background images and six foreground themes. The app also boasts being 100% ad free and requires no permissions to run in both the free and paid versions.

The live wallpaper itself is quite gorgeous. It uses a little bit of camera trickery, your gyroscope, and home button swiping to create a parallax effect that is surprisingly enjoyable. There is a gentle wind that will move the leaves for you which adds a sense of realism you don’t generally see even if other well done live wallpapers. Most of the effects can be adjusted in the settings on both the free and paid version.


Damn this is one sexy live wallpaper.

PROS

• Gorgeous, high quality wallpaper.
• Parallax effects are marvelous.
• Free and paid version available. Neither one uses permissions.
• Perfect for fans of autumn.

CONS

• Not perfect if you don't like autumn.
• While it is beautiful, it is seasonal so by the time winter rolls around you'll probably be looking for another wallpaper.

9.0
Overall, this I wish I had found this back when autumn first started. It’s a great wallpaper with amazing visuals, no permissions, and the free and paid versions both hold great value. There’s very little wrong with this app for most people. It’s a solid all around experience if you enjoy the colorful leaves of fall. You can pick up the free version by clicking the button and you can access the paid version by clicking here.


Check out the last indie app of the day: Payback 2
Join us in the Apps and Games section of the Android Authority forums! Just don’t forget to read the rules first!

Chinese officials continue to push western technology out

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In China, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is one of three antitrust regulators whose job is to investigate corporations over alleged “anti-competitive” behavior based on a 2008 anti-monopoly law. But now at least 30 foreign corporations from around the world are complaining about the treatment that their representatives are receiving from Chinese officials during such investigations.

As the New York Times wrote last week:

“Now China is using its growing economic and financial muscle to dictate new terms, as dozens of American, European and Japanese businesses face scrutiny for corruption, monopolistic practices and, most recently, tax evasion.”​

When corporations send their foreign lawyers to China to meet with NDRC officials, they are routinely met with numerous behind-the-scenes tactics. In some cases, corporate officials are personally threatened, banned from meetings and browbeat into admitting things that aren’t true.

It got so bad for one wireless patent developer, InterDigital Inc., that their CEO publicly refused to send executives to China for talks with the NDRC for fear that they may be threatened and arrested. Some corporations are so tired of the harassment that they are telling Reuters to soon expect “the end of a golden age for foreign business in the world’s second-largest economy.”

Considering that the NDRC has all but forbid some foreign corporations from bringing in foreign lawyers (due to the NDRC wanting local attorneys that they could intimidate and manipulate), it isn’t hard to see why InterDigital would be worried.

Recently, the NDRC has been in the news for their investigation of Qualcomm. According to news reports, China is rumored to be assessing whether to impose a $1 billion against Qualcomm. The NDRC is specifically investigating whether Qualcomm is price-fixing their Snapdragon mobile chip-sets which have been very successful in China. At the moment, Qualcomm is projected to remain the sole chip-set provider who can support both 3G and 4G handsets in China for the first six to nine months of 2014.


Bloomberg

Except, this is where the questions begin. Why is it that Qualcomm still hasn’t even been informed for whether they have violated the anti-monopoly law? The obvious answer would be that maybe the NDRC isn’t actually investigating Qualcomm. But Xu Kunlin, the head of price supervision at the NDRC, has publicly stated that they have obtained “substantial evidence” against Qualcomm.

Also, is it a coincidence that the NDRC is targeting Qualcomm when China’s three largest telecoms are state owned and plan to invest close to $17 billion in LTE expansion across the country next year? Then there is the fact that Chinese organizations have been busy purchasing any local mobile chipmakers (Spreadtrum & RDA Microelectronics) whose technology directly competes with Qualcomm.

Chinese authorities are simply pushing foreign companies to cut prices and punishing them with large fines.​

Let’s also not forget that the Qualcomm investigation started due to complaints from “unspecified Chinese industry associations and companies” according to Xu Kunlin.

So, it isn’t that hard to see why so many foreign corporations are a bit suspicious at this so-called anti-trust investigation all the while China’s government continues doing whatever they can to gain an technology advantage against foreign competitors.

As the New York Times summarized, Chinese authorities are simply pushing foreign companies to cut prices and punishing them with large fines. GlaxoSmithKline, Volkswagen, Chrysler, Mead Johnson, Samsung, Johnson & Johnson and other companies have been charged with million dollar fines this year, while Microsoft and Daimler are also under investigation.


Financial Times

If there is any good news, it may be that Xu Kunlin, the strongest advocate of harsh action against foreign corporations, has been transferred to run a separate price regulation division. Although there has not been any official comment from China, as the New York Times notes, the transfer “came right after foreign businesses and governments had complained bitterly to senior Chinese officials about the anti-monopoly investigations.”

To be fair to China, it should be noted that Qualcomm’s past is far from squeaky clean. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has recently opened an investigation into Qualcomm. But Qualcomm claims that the investigation is centered on their patent licensing business.

Samsung’s streaming video service is available to U.S. Galaxy phones

Eight months ago, Samsung released their Milk streaming music service in order to compete with Spotify and other streaming music services. Now, they are trying to take on YouTube and Vimeo.

Today, Samsung is introducing a video service that allows consumers to find and share videos online. The service, deemed Milk Video, is available in the U.S. to Samsung Galaxy owners. Several online networks and brands have joined with Samsung to add their videos to the service including Condé Nast, Funny Or Die, Red Bull, Vevo and VICE, among others.

Users will be able to follow friends, like, repost and dismiss videos. Facebook and Twitter are also allowing Milk Video users to see if friends on the two social networks sites are using Milk Video. Unfortunately, Milk Video users will not be able to download videos to their Galaxy devices. This means that offline video is not part of this release.

The Milk Video service is available right now through Google Play and is currently compatible with the Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy Mega, Galaxy S III, Galaxy S 4, Galaxy S 4 mini, Galaxy S III mini and Galaxy S 5 devices.

Cerberus 3.0 update brings Material Design and tons of new features to beta program

Cerberus, if you’ve never used it, is one heck of a security app. You can do everything from controlling your device from the web, locking your device, remotely wiping your internal/external storage, or even record audio from the microphone. Basically, it’s the ultimate way to keep bad guys from getting into your phone, and the newest update will make it even more difficult for that to happen.

First and foremost, the app is receiving a much needed update to Google’s Material Design guidelines, complete with a nice new hamburger menu, a more flattened overall look, and more.

Now, let’s talk about some new features. There are a lot of them. We’ll run through a bunch with you, but you’ll need to see the Google+ post for them all.

• Block Power Menu – allows the user to disable the ability to turn off the device while on the lock screen
• Protect Device Admin – requires a username and password to remove Cerberus from Device Administrators
• Prevent USB Debugging – option to disable USB debugging (only pertains to system apps)

There are also some handy new commands that have just been added.

• “Persistent” option in “Display Message” Command – shows a message that never leaves the center of the screen
• “Backup Data” Command – make a backup of SMS/MMS, call logs, contacts, photos, and videos to your Google Drive or Dropbox account
• “Start Shell” Command – open a remote shell (SSH-like) to your device

They’ve also added a nice new feature called AutoTask, which is very similar to Tasker, but specific to Cerberus. It allows your device to do certain things in certain situations. (You can find more specifics on the G+ page) We should be seeing these updates coming to the Play Store within the next few weeks. If you’d like to get them now, you can join the beta program. Join the Google Group, then head to this site to become a tester… and that’s it!

How are you liking the new features? Pretty nice, huh?

MK802 iii bricked - Errorownload IDB failed

MK802 iii bricked - Errorownload IDB failed

Hello!

Ok, I think I bricked my MK 802 iii. My last hope is that you guys have the ultimate advice for me 

What did I do?
I tried to install a different Linux ROM on a SD-Card, where I wanted the MK802 to boot from. It is the following one:
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/4145...i-ug802-mk808/

There is a recovery.img, which has to be flashed. I did so, booted the device to android and did a "reboot recovery" command but the boot process to Linux didnt work. I could boot to the stock android anyway, no real problem so far.

But now I think i did a terrible mistake:
I thought if i flash the recovery.img into the boot partition, it should boot straight from the sd-card, without booting android at first. I just wanted to try if this works. And from there the device doesnt boot anymore.
It always starts in "mask rom" mode directly. So i tried to recover my device by flashing a stock rom with RKBatchTool (v 1.7.) but it ended up with an error: Download IDB Failed.
And now this Error is what every try to recovery my device ends with.

What did I try?I tried to flash many different ROMs with many different Tools: FinlessROM 1.7c and Finless 1.4a with ROM FlashTool. Stock ROM old version and new version with RKBatchTool (v 1.7. & v 1.5.).
I googled like hell, found different hints to short circuit different pins: 6&7 (which brings the device in mask rom, no help, my device starts in mask rom anyway). 8&9, the peds next to the nand, i even tried to study the datasheet of the nand chip (toshiba TC58NVG6D2GTA00), but im not really an expert so it wasnt a help really.
I tried different USB ports, different USB cables, a different PC with WIN 7 (im using win 7 on my too), even a different pc with win 8. No help... 

The Error in the logs of RKBatchTool:
Code:
22:03:28 010    <Layer 1-2> Download IDB Start
22:03:28 023    <LAYER 1-2> ERROR:WriteIDBlock-->memcmp failed
22:03:28 038    <LAYER 1-2> ERROR:WriteIDBlock-->memcmp failed
22:03:28 053    <LAYER 1-2> ERROR:WriteIDBlock-->memcmp failed
22:03:28 055    <Layer 1-2> Download IDB Fail
The Logs of ROM Flash Tool:
Code:
22:02:53 462    INFO:Rewrite IDB£¬times(9)
22:02:53 462    INFO:MakeIDBlockData start
22:02:53 462    INFO:MakeEccSpareData start
22:02:53 468    INFO:WriteXIDBlock start
22:02:53 469    INFO:Writeing the 1th ID Block£¬Pos£º00009216(SEC)
22:02:53 470    INFO:Writing sector 00009216 ~ 00009231 ...
22:02:53 473    INFO:Reading sector 00009216 ~ 00009231 ...
22:02:53 476    INFO:check start
22:02:53 476    ERROR:WriteXIDBlock-->Check failed
22:02:53 477    ERROR:WriteXIDBlock failed,Errcode(1)
22:02:53 478    INFO:Rewrite IDB£¬times(10)
22:02:53 478    ERROR: WriteXIDBlock failed,Errcode(1)
22:02:53 478    Errorownload IDB failed
22:02:53 480    ERROR:MaskRomThread failed
22:02:53 481    ERROR:Run failed
RKAndroidTool:
Code:
21:36:33 183    INFO:Rewrite IDB£¬times(9)
21:36:33 183    INFO:MakeIDBlockData start
21:36:33 183    INFO:MakeEccSpareData start
21:36:33 183    INFO:WriteXIDBlock start
21:36:33 183    INFO:Writeing the 1th ID Block£¬Pos£º00018432(SEC)
21:36:33 183    INFO:Writing sector 00018432 ~ 00018447 ...
21:36:33 183    INFO:Reading sector 00018432 ~ 00018447 ...
21:36:33 199    INFO:check start
21:36:33 199    ERROR:WriteXIDBlock-->Check failed
21:36:33 199    ERROR:WriteXIDBlock failed,Errcode(1)
21:36:33 199    INFO:Rewrite IDB£¬times(10)
21:36:33 199    ERROR: WriteXIDBlock failed,Errcode(1)
21:36:33 199    Errorownload IDB failed
21:36:33 199    ERROR:MaskRomThread failed
21:36:33 199    ERROR:Run failed
Does anyone have another idea what to try??