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Here’s how to manually access a public WiFi login page on Android

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If you’ve ever used public WiFi before, you’re probably familiar with one common problem that just about everyone runs into every once in a while. You’ve selected the theoretically open WiFi network that you want to join and your phone tells you that you’re successfully connected, but when you head to Chrome and try to load up a page, you get nothing. In the Android WiFi settings menu, you may see a message along the lines of “Connected. No internet”. I ran into this problem myself a few times just this week, but now I’ve found the solution…


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OnePlus releases OxygenOS 1.01 for One owners with touch screen issues

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Many OnePlus One owners have been settling lately, and it looks like OnePlus — after many attempts — is still trying to finally put the phone’s touch screen issues to rest. A new build of Cyanogen OS was pushed just a couple of days ago to fix issues for those on that OS, but now OnePlus is pushing out an update to its OxygenOS as well, bumping it to version 1.01.

The announcement post, sadly, doesn’t have a full change log. It only mentions this one touch screen fix that many OnePlus One owners have been waiting for. You can head over to the OnePlus forums to grab the firmware. The company did, however, mention a new tool that lets those on Cyanogen OS easily flash a build of OxygenOS without losing your data:

In addition, our friends over at Fastboot Mobile and XDA actually worked on a migration tool that will allow those of you who haven’t tried OxygenOS yet to easily flash from CM 11 or 12 without losing your data. The tool is in beta but we thought it was pretty cool so why not share it and let you play with it.

Proceed with caution and follow the instructions carefully. It’s beta so it’s not guaranteed to work 100%.

Prerequisite:

Tool download:
http://eu-oxygen.cust.fastbootmobile.com/OnePlusOneMigration-logging-Beta1.zip

Steps:

  1. Unzip the above into its own folder
  2. Copy the flashable OxygenOS zip and MD5 into the “download” folder contained in the above
  3. On the device go to Settings > Developer options and uncheck Update CM Recovery (CM has this checked as default which causes issues)
  4. Make sure the device is plugged into the computer
  5. Run the “OnePlusOneMigration.exe” file as Administrator
  6. Accept any prompts to confirm the drivers – they are ours and are signed
  7. Follow the prompts (as prompted) and you should end up with OxygenOS installed. The ADB sideload process can take awhile to finish.

If you found moving to OxygenOS daunting before, this might be your opportunity to try out OnePlus’ almost-stock OS.

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Chromecast extension causing auto-playing YouTube videos in Chrome, fix coming today

Wondering why all the YouTube videos in Chrome seem to be auto-playing on their own all of a sudden? It turns out the problem seems to be a bug with YouTube and the Chromecast extension for Chrome installed by users of Google’s $35 HDMI stick. 

AndroidPolice point us to the issue being reported to Google and a note from the YouTube team confirming a fix is rolling out today:

The YouTube team confirmed that there was a bad push yesterday which caused this issue to be triggered.  There is a fix being qualified and that is scheduled to be pushed today that will correct this issue… Closing this issue for now, since there’s not a Chrome issue here in any event.  Thanks to everyone for reporting this issue.

In the meantime, you can remove the Chromecast extension (Window>Extensions) to temporarily disable the auto playing videos until the issue is fixed. 

Google working with Glass owners affected by latest software update

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Last week Google released its XE16 software update for Glass that was recently followed by a stability patch known as XE16.1. Since the latest firmware push, some Glass users have been experiencing performance issues, with some even encountering boot loops making the $1,500 wearable unusable. While this may be discouraging for some, all hope is not lost. Google is aware of this situation and posted a message in private Glass community forum advising users that it’s working to resolve the issue.


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Android 4.2.1 OTA update fixes December bug for some Nexus devices

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Google’s LG Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 devices are now getting an over-the-air update to Android 4.2.1—just in time for December.

The update brings the Jelly Bean build to JOP40D and fixes the December bug that wouldn’t allow users of the People app to select a date in December for a birthday, anniversary, or similar event.

There isn’t much else different in the software release, and it is unknown at this time if this latest version of Jelly Bean will also land for the Nexus 7 or Galaxy Nexus. However, like most OTA updates, 4.2.1 is rolling out in phases. So, it could take a few days before it is available to all.

The OTA update link is below.


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Google fixing spam from Google+ Events feature following complaints

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[tweet https://twitter.com/Scobleizer/status/218486102720393216]

When Google announced some updates to Google+ during its I/O keynote this week, perhaps apart from the new iPad compatible tablet version, the most talked about new feature was the Facebook-like invitations called “Events.” While Google calendar integration in the Events feature was supposed to be a big selling point, Google unfortunately did not provide users with control over which invites were added to their calendars. The issue led to massive amounts of spam in the form of notifications and calendar entries—most notably for Google+ users with large followings. Robert Scoble outlined the problem in a Google+ post:

Hey, +Vic Gundotra the way you rolled out the new Google+ events feature was — by far — the worst social launch ever… Not only did it spam the crap out of my notifications and my Google+ events page but it added events — hundreds of them — onto my calendar…My calendar is MINE. Not yours. You should NEVER put anything on it that I don’t approve of… I have turned down every event and they are still on my calendar so now I have to delete them one-by-one… By the way, I’ve been asking for noise controls since day one and you guys simply aren’t getting it. Amazingly bad service here folks.

As noted by Scoble, another avid Google+ user, Will Wheaton, highlighted the issue and received a response from Google’s Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra:
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HTC’s software found in many of their devices has a HUGE security hole

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The fine folks over at Android Police have discovered that many HTC devices have a huge security hole due to a recent Android update. The results are pretty shocking, and HTC has no one to blame but themselves. In a recent update, HTC included a set of logging tools that logs users email accounts, last known network and GPS connection, phone numbers that have been recently dialed, encoded SMS data (probably can be decoded), and system logs.

Okay so HTC logs all of this, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that any app that requests android.permission.INTERNET can get their hands on this information. Phones include the Thunderbolt, Evo 4G, Evo 3D, and more.

As of now, the only way to patch this hole is to root your device and remove /system/app/HtcLoggers.apk. If you’re not rooted, stay away from sketchy apps. As Android Police points out, even a high-quality app could still get their hands on this information. Android Police has all of the technical details.


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Here’s an AT&T Galaxy S II security flaw that you need to fix

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9tXDLyeoBE]

BGR has discovered a pretty big security flaw in AT&T’s version of the Galaxy S II, which hits shelves tomorrow. For users who have a unlock pattern or pin set, they can simply bypass it by waking up their screen to unlock and then let the screen timeout to go black. Then simply, the user can wake up the phone once again and they’ll no longer have to use a pattern or pin to access the phone. BGR shows how simple it is in the video above.

Samsung offers a temporary work around, while they work on a permanent solution, after the break:


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