Google disables Maps access to Windows Phone

Frustrated by the already irritating impending lack of access to syncing your Gmail accounts using Exchange?  Windows Phone users have one more reason to complain today, as Google just pulled the plug in Google Maps for Windows Phone.

Owners are reporting that when attempting to visit the web version of the map service, they are instead being redirected to Google's landing page.  This issue is effecting users with both Windows Phone 7 and 8.

It's not yet clear if Google is deliberately blocking Microsoft consumers from accessing Maps via mobile, or if this is simply a temporary issue.  It's no doubt that Microsoft is sweating, particularly after the email debacle:

"Like many, we are surprised and disappointed that Google wants to make it more difficult for customers to connect their accounts to their devices. If you want better email, especially for your phone or tablet, now is a perfect time to join the millions who have already made the choice to upgrade to Outlook.com. Windows Phone users will still be able to sync their Google email via IMAP."

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Google TV announcements coming next week at CES

Rev up the CES hype-meter - Google is promising to update and expand its fledgling TV experience.  According to Google, CES will bring "Google TV partners, updates from existing partners, and more content coming to the platform."

Asus, Hisense, TCL and others will show products with Google TV launching in the coming weeks. Existing partners like LG, Vizio, Sony, and others will show off the newest Google TV platform that makes finding what you want faster and easier. Combined, these set-top boxes, integrated TVs, and IPTV boxes with Google TV are available from 9 partners across 10 countries around the world.

Here's to hoping for a Google Fiber/Google TV expansion.

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"jOBS" Steve Jobs biopic hit theaters in April

Pen your calendars, folks: Open Road Films and Five Star Feature Films have just announced that the two companies reached a distribution deal for "jOBS."

Not to be confused by The Social Network/West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin's separate biopic, jOBS stars Ashton Kutcher as the late Apple founder.  The movie will cover the years 1971 through 2000.  jOBS will piece through the founding of the company, Jobs' initial ousting, the creation of NeXT & Pixar, as well has his eventual return to Apple after its acquisition

jOBS will preimere at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah at the end of January.  The movie also stars Josh Gad as co-founder Steve Wozniak, Matthew Modine as former Apple CEO John Sculley, Ahna O'Reilly (The Help) playing Chris-Ann Brennan, Jobs' girlfriend, and the mother of his daughter Lisa.  Also appearing in the film is film veteran J.K. Simmons and Kevin Dunn, who will play venture capitalist Arthur Rock and former Apple CEO Gil Amelio respectively.

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Samsung refreshes Chromebox to look less like Mac Mini

Perhaps to defuse what may have been a ticking lawsuit time bomb, Samsung has just updated their Series 3 Chromebox to look a little bit less like the Mac Mini.

The new Chromebox features a tiny white footprint, complete with the same dimensions and 1.9GHz Celeron B940 processor, 4GB of memory, 16GB of storage, and all of the same ports.

While not a workhorse, the Chromebox is a fully-featured and fun to use system, and Chrome OS is only continuing to improve.

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AP reports Google chairman Eric Schmidt taking private, humanitarian mission to North Korea

The Associated Press reports today that Google's chairman Eric Schmidt will be travelling to the embattled North Korea on a "private, humanitarian mission" led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.  This visit may come at a critical time - leader Kim Jong Un called a modern-day "industrial revolution" in a New Year's Day speech to the DPRK on Monday.  Kim aims to push sciences and technology to those living in the impoverished country as a means towards financial independence.


While it still remains unclear who Schmidt and Richardson will meet while in North Korea (which does not have any relationship with the United States) - but as an advocate of internet rights, Schmidt may just be the perfect individual to get the ball rolling.

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Apple responds to DND complaints; issue fixed on January 7th

New Year's Day brought a new bug to iOS users, causing the Do Not Disturb feature to enable notifications, and in a surprisingly fast turnaround, Apple states that the issue will resolve itself after January 7th.

In the meantime, Apple simply suggested to disable the feature.  Fingers cross that Apple won't have similar problems in 2014.

via Apple Support

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Ubuntu mobile operating system revealed, devices ship in 2014

Moments ago, Canonical removed the veil surrodining Ubuntu mobile, built using the existing Android kenel.  The difference between Ubuntu mobile and other competitors is that it doesn't use a Java Virtual Machine, giving the operating system significant power boosts.  Ubuntu's mobile solution will support both ARM and x86 processors, giving the OS an exceeding amount of compatibility.

Announced early last year, Ubuntu for Android is set to debut "sometime this year".  Although no carrier has been announced for the operating system, Canonical chief Mark Shuttleworth says support will be provided by a "high-end" Android device maker.


Ubuntu aims to separate itself from the crowd using several unique features.  Gesturing by way of thumb is shown to be one of the biggest pushes of the way the OS navigates.  For example, Canonical states that swiping from the left side of the screen reveals a dock full of your favorite apps, whereas a full swipe across the screen will open a task last.  Ubuntu certainly is doing its due diligence to separate itself from the existing Android, iOS, and Windows Phone architectures.

Ubuntu for Android's search feature is similar to both iOS's as well as webOS - start typing and a dialogue will search across the phone as well as the web.  Additionally, Canonical says that voice commands (as well as text) will function in any application.

The kicker here is that Ubuntu phone will be able to dock with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.  Ubuntu for Android does seem to be a product attempting to fill an unseated niche, that of a post-PC generation that increasingly relies on their mobile devices rather than the traditional desktop.  It remains to be seen whether Canonical will succeed where Motorola's webtop failed, but based on what we've seen so far, there's only good ahead.

Check out what users are already doing with a modified version of the desktop Ubuntu platform on mobile devices:

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