New Site

Ive moved my blog to my new site https://kashifkhan.org

Nvidia Shield Video Loss Issue

I recently got the excellent NVIDIA Shield and quickly hooked it up in to my existing Home Theater Set up (Shield -> 4k Receiver -> 4K TV) . I noticed that whenever I increased/decreased the volume on the receiver, the Shield would lose the video signal for a good 2 seconds or so and this would happen whether there was a video playing or not. After a lot of searching on Reddit and the shield forums I learnt that there is a HDMI handshake issue with Sony receivers  and that nothing could be done about it other than replacing the receiver or just setting the volume before playing any video.

After some days I plugged my HTPC back in and noticed it was doing the same thing !!! So I turned off the last thing that I turned on the Samsung TV which was UHD Mode. That did the trick, no more loss of video when I changed the volume. Switch over to the shield, the issue was still happening so I went in to the display settings. This is where I remembered another thing : I hate the soap opera feel on movies so I had set the refresh rate of TV at 4k @ 24fps . The shield was set was 4k @ 60 hz, so i lowered it down to 23.976 hz and no more flickering, everything was working fine !!

So if you have the NVIDIA Shield with a Sony Receiver make sure they are set to the proper settings for the display.

Google Building An Echo Competitor

I wonder what took them so long. This was such an obvious thing for them to do esp with the always listening feature on Nexus and Moto devices. They really missed a huge opportunity with the onHub routers but im hoping this is a surprise release during IO

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11298426/google-building-amazon-echo-rival

Android Mid Month Security Patch

Its stories like these that make the case for Nexus phones even stronger. It does seem like Android N is trying to get a grip on the "fragmentation" issue but till that is truly fixed my recommendation to family and friends is the Nexus line of devices

http://source.android.com/security/advisory/2016-03-18.html

Telegram

Ive been using Hangouts for years but have felt that over that same time it hasnt gone anywhere. In terms of features it seems years behind the current crop. For the past week or so I have been using telegram and absolutely enjoy using it. Something as simple as link previews just makes the sharing experience between friends that much better......Google better whip up something fast for messaging else they wont have a race in this horse at all

LG G5 - Modular Phone

Going by the video from Android Central LG has the winner here. The phone looks different and in a good way. If this phone is a preview of things to come from Project Ara then Google has a real winner with the modular phone concept. 

It should be interesting to see what Samsung reveals in a few hours with the S7 series but LG has done something innovative here

Samsung Galaxy S7

Again thanks to evleaks, look like Samsung will have the best looking phone this year again 

HTC M10

Courtesy Evan blass we get a sneak peak at the HTC iPhone M10...

It looks hideous, an odd mix of the Galaxy phones and iPhone. 

The Amazon Echo

It puzzles me how Google still doesn't have anything that competes with the Amazon Echo....Amazon seems to be running away with this one to capture mind share in peoples homes

http://www.androidcentral.com/amazon-echo-will-now-talk-your-ecobee-thermostat-help-keep-your-home-warm

MSI Cubi HTPC Set Up

I recently purchased the MSI Computer PC Barebone . Its a Broadwell i3 with an integrated Intel HD card that is capable of playing 4k video.

I had some trouble with a previous i5 model where it would not recognize the hard drive at all making it a brick. I had no such trouble with this one but wanted to outline the steps to get it all set up because the documentation around it is really sparse.

To get 4k video playing smoothly, you need two sticks of RAM. This machine is quite picky about the RAM you install, I went with Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 which has worked fine. Before you can do that though, you can only install Windows ( or your operating system of choice ) with one stick of RAM. The device wont even post if the second ram has been installed.

Once that is done you have to flash the bios from the files provided on MSI's site using a bootable USB drive (remember to turn off Windows 8/8.1 features in the bios else you wont be able to boot in to DOS). After that is done it will recognize the RAM in the second slot and windows will be able to access it.

Figuring out this bit was quite annoying and I spent a lot of debugging this than I thought. After that however the machine runs like a dream and plays video smoothly which is what I need from the HTPC.

Hopefully this helps out other people who have purchased this and cuts down set up time. If you have questions post in the comments below

Facebook for Android Battery Life

I have a Nexus 6p and so far battery life has been excellent in my usage. The phone lasts all day with ease but when I read Russel Holly's article on how you can get some more juice out of your battery I decided to remove the app and go with his approach (I still kept messenger)

While I cant claim to have notified any speed differences in the phone the battery usage is  a lot better. I'm setting the phone to charge at least an hour or two later I'm the day than I used to which is quite impressive. I wonder what happened to Facebook's internal quest to have an amazing Android app where employees were using the app on Android devices and making improvements.

Anyone else seeing any difference ?

http://www.androidcentral.com/it-turns-out-uninstalling-facebook-android-pretty-great

Yahoo WTF

The headline :- Marissa Mayer Just Fired Dozens of Yahoo Employees By Accident

Steve Harvey has some competition

http://fortune.com/2016/02/01/yahoo-mayer-layoffs/

OneDrive 15 GB Storage

A good reminder if you are using OneDrive for storage that the 15GB bonus space is expiring tonight. I am planning to move everything off OneDrive this following weekend and make copies across local and other cloud providers

http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/31/10878544/microsoft-onedrive-free-storage-claim

Inbox by Gmail and Gmail

I spent some time going back and forth between Inbox and Gmail before sticking with Inbox. The AI along with the look and feel make Gmail look extremely dated at this point.  How long before we start seeing Gmail merge in to Inbox?

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2016/01/inbox-by-gmail-find-answers-even-faster.html

Overhauling Google Hangouts

Its no surprise that everyone is looking to create their own messaging platform. People share their vacation pics, keep in touch with family & friends over group chats or video and pretty much anything else one could do on a social website like Facebook. Its no surprise Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion right from under Google's nose.

Google has had no shortage of messaging applications with the latest iteration being hangouts and rumors saying a new one is around the corner. I use Hangouts a lot second to only WhatsApp but when you compare it against the competition it is nowhere close to the feature set. The biggest plus point is that it is cross platform, it works on the web and syncs across any device that you might have (iOS or Android). it does video chats are reliably and the quality is great.

With that said here are some of my must haves/pain points that I hope Google addresses with Hangouts (ver Next) to bring it at par with everyone else:

Reliable Notifications : Figure out why notifications aren't sent reliably I have heard about and experienced cases where a message was sent on Hangouts and no notification was sent out, resulting in delays in response. While it does work well for a majority of the time, the couple of times that it fails really makes for a bad experience.

Make Adding People Easy: Adding people is again one of those basic tasks that a messenger should be able to do. How often have you added people on hangouts, sent an invite to let the other person add you and then be stuck in not knowing what happened ? This also ties back to the earlier point of no notifications, sometimes the invite to add a person just gets lost.

Lack of Search: This one is obvious. For a search company the app doesnt have a search feature enabled. The only way to search hangout messages is to use the Gmail app on a device or the web. For some odd reason Inbox by Gmail doesnt search hangout messages. Why this is still a problem is bizarre

Add Voice Notes, Send Video Messages : Not being able to send a video file or message is just something I now expect a messaging app to have. The fact that voice notes, video messages are still not part of Hangouts puzzles me.

I hope Google overhauls Hangouts soon or delivers a stellar new messaging app because right now ,compared to the options out there its not as compelling. There is absolutely no reason why at this point in Androids life cycle that hangouts isnt the "iMessage" of its ecosystem.

My 2015 Homescreen

I had posted a list of my apps from 2013 and forgot to do one last year, so lets see if I can keep it going from this point forward.

In terms of arrangement, logically nothing has changed. These are all apps that I use on a daily basis. Newsblur replaced GoRead & Flipboard, Official Twitter app over TweetLanes.

The interesting addition is the Messengers folder. In it I have WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Signal and Google Messenger. While Hangouts remains on the bottom bar I wouldn't be surprised if WhatsApp takes its place by the end of this year. In terms of usage WhatsApp has just eclipsed every other messaging app for me and the group chats are essentially micro social networks. Its no surprise why everyone is trying to own this market and Google is trying yet again with a supposedly new messaging app.

I also feel that Foursquare and Swarm might not make it to the end of this year. I have been using Google Places a lot more and like the timeline feature that Maps has built in. Even with points and gamification back Swarm has just lost what made it special in the first place.

SMS Relay with Hangouts

Ron Amadeo has done a fantastic in depth write up on the announcements that we might see at Google IO 2015 by analyzing various leaks and start up purchases Google has done this year.

While I was planning to do a wish list of items that I wanted to see ( I still might at a later point), I wanted to hit on one item quickly and that is Hangouts.  While id like to see some of the smart features pointed out in the article, the game changer for me would be SMS relay over Hangouts to all my devices that support Hangouts. Yes I know you can do that already with Google Voice, but I havent used that in ages and have stuck with my carrier number since a lot of people have that with them.

Id like the ability to use my carrier number and have text messages sent to my phone, show up everywhere Hangouts is. The implementation wouldn't be too different from existing applications where your phone receives/sends the text messages and then syncs across various devices. The ability to send an SMS from a browser or tablet would definitely help in the adoption of hangouts as well. Why this hasnt been introduced in the app from day one is still a mystery.

The last big updates to Hangouts alluded to infrastructure changes for some cool changes ahead and Im hoping SMS relay is one of them

PS :- Also please add the ability to send videos over hangouts

Popular movies I haven’t seen in the last 15 years

Marco Arment had a fun post about popular movies from the past 15 years that he has not seen ( a mix of Academy Award Best Picture Nominees and top 10 highest grossing films). I thought I saw a lot of movies but here is a list of the ones I haven't seen. The ratio overall improves after 2008.

Key: Seen it, Haven’t seen it

2000

• Gladiator
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Traffic
• What Women Want
• Meet the Parents
• Chocolat
• Erin Brockovich
• Mission: Impossible II
• Cast Away
• Dinosaur
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• The Perfect Storm
• X-Men
• What Lies Beneath  

2001

• A Beautiful Mind
• Monsters, Inc.
• Ocean’s Eleven
• Gosford Park
• In the Bedroom
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• Moulin Rouge
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
• Shrek
• Pearl Harbor
• The Mummy Returns
• Jurassic Park III
• Planet of the Apes
• Hannibal

2002

• Spider-Man
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
• Men in Black II
• Die Another Day
• Minority Report
• Chicago
• Gangs of New York
• The Hours
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• The Pianist
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Signs
• Ice Age
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding

2003

• Finding Nemo
• The Matrix Reloaded
• The Matrix Revolutions
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Lost in Translation
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Mystic River
• Seabiscuit
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Bruce Almighty
• The Last Samurai
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
• X2
• Bad Boys II

2004

• The Incredibles
• Ocean’s Twelve
• Million Dollar Baby
• The Aviator
• Finding Neverland
• Ray
• Sideways
• Shrek 2
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Spider-Man 2
• The Passion of the Christ
• The Day After Tomorrow
• Meet the Fockers
• Troy
• Shark Tale

2005

• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
• Crash
• Brokeback Mountain
• Capote
• Good Night, and Good Luck
• Munich
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• War of the Worlds
• King Kong
• Madagascar
• Mr. and Mrs. Smith
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Batman Begins
• Hitch

2006

• Little Miss Sunshine
• Casino Royale
• Cars
• The Departed
• Babel
• Letters from Iwo Jima
• The Queen
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
• The Da Vinci Code
• Ice Age: The Meltdown
• Night at the Museum
• X-Men: The Last Stand
• Mission: Impossible III
• Superman Returns
• Happy Feet

2007

• No Country for Old Men
• Juno
• Ratatouille
• I Am Legend
• Atonement
• Michael Clayton
• There Will Be Blood
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Spider-Man 3
• Shrek the Third
• Transformers
• The Simpsons Movie
• National Treasure: Book of Secrets
• 300

2008

• The Dark Knight
• Quantum of Solace
• WALL-E
• Slumdog Millionaire
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• The Reader
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• Kung Fu Panda
• Hancock
• Mamma Mia!
• Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
• Iron Man
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

2009

• The Hurt Locker

• Avatar
• The Blind Side
• District 9
• An Education
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious
• A Serious Man
• Up
• Up in the Air
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
• 2012
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon
• Sherlock Holmes
• Angels & Demons
• The Hangover

2010

• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• The Kings’ Speech
• 127 Hours
• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone
• Alice in Wonderland
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
• Shrek Forever After
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
• Iron Man 2
• Tangled
• Despicable Me
• How to Train Your Dragon

2011

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris

• Moneyball

• The Tree of Life
• War Horse
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

• Transformers: Dark of the Moon

• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1

• Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Fast Five
• The Hangover Part II

• The Smurfs
• Cars 2

2012

• Skyfall
• Argo
• Amour
• Beasts of the Southern WIld
• Django Unchained
• Les Misérables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty
• The Avengers
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Ice Age: Continental Drift
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2
• The Amazing Spider-Man
• Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
• The Hunger Games
• Men in Black 3

2013

• Monsters University
• 12 Years a Slave
• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• Her
• Nebraska
• Philomena
• The Wolf of Wall Street
• Frozen
• Iron Man 3
• Despicable Me 2
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• Fast & Furious 6
• Man of Steel
• Thor: The Dark World

2014

• Birdman
• American Sniper
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Selma
• The Theory of Everything
• Whiplash

• Transformers: Age of Extinction

• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

• Guardians of the Galaxy

• Maleficent
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1
• X-Men: Days of Future Past
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• Interstellar