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Capture the essence of the Ubuntu lockscreen with Ubuntu Live Wallpaper

I don't use live wallpapers traditionally. I find that too often there's a trade off in device performance and or battery life to make it worthwhile. I've made an exception to try this one out, and I'm pretty happy with it. Ubuntu Live Wallpaper tries to capture some of the feel of that great looking lockscreen on Ubuntu for Phones, in a live wallpaper for your Android device. And, while it isn't an exact replica, it's pretty close, and looks great. Currently still in beta, the developers describe it as their "hobby." But for a beta product, it's very well done. 

One of my biggest annoyances with live wallpapers as I mentioned is performance and battery life issues. Even on high end devices, too often things become jerky and the battery life has just been sucked dry. So far, on the Nexus 4 at least, this hasn't been the case with Ubuntu Live Wallpaper. Battery life doesn't seem to be any less than usual, and scrolling through the homescreens — in my case with Action Launcher — is as smooth and speedy as ever. 

There's a couple of features baked in too worth mentioning, and some due to arrive in future updates. A double tap anywhere on the wallpaper brings up the option to display either time, or remaining battery percentage. Coming in the future will be the ability to switch between 12 and 24 hour clocks, repositioning the circle, scaling and color change. 

Remember though that this is still a beta product, and the developers are all to aware of performance issues affecting some devices. But, it's free, and worth a look if you're looking for a little flavor of Ubuntu for Phones without getting too deep. You'll find it in the Play Store at the link above, and click on past the break for some screenshots. 

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Siri Strikes Out for the iPad

But is it too soon for the beta product?

The blogs have been whirring with speculation that Siri will come soon to the iPad. It all began with a 9to5Mac report to this effect. The site

Logitech: the Revue launch was a

The Logitech Revue was overpriced, underserving, and disappointing in terms of both sales and consumer satisfaction. The Revue was such a let down that Logitech has absolutely no plans to develop another Google TV product once its inventory runs out in fiscal year 2012.

At a recent meeting with investors, Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca called the Revue launch a “mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature.” Logitech believed that consumers would flock to purchase a Revue box and overproduced units that sat on store shelves. The company was too aggressive and overestimated what consumers wanted out of an Internet-meets-TV device. De Luca said he would make the Revue again if given the chance, but would do it with a “significantly smaller and more prudent approach.”

In a statement to investors, Logitech even said that it “executed a full scale launch with a beta product and it cost us dearly.” In Logitech’s eyes, Google TV was not ready for mass consumers when it launched in 2010, and the facts seem to back-up that blunt assessment. Reviewers called it in an interesting product that lacked any must-have features and cost too much in comparison to rivals. Consumers didn’t embrace it, content and network blowback limited its power, international expansion didn’t materialize, and the Android apps that were supposed to revolutionize television still haven’t arrived on the Revue.

De Luca views the Logitech Revue as a product that the world wasn’t ready for. Following it’s $99 price cut, the set top box is “actually doing fine,” but not enough to make the company want to continue Google TV development. Despite calling the merging of TV and Internet “inevitable,” De Luca says that Logitech will devote resources elsewhere until Google TV as a platform is more successful.

via Logitech, Seeking Alpha, The Verge

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Google Maps Navigation will now automatically route you around traffic

If you’re not the sort of person who explicitly trusts GPS and mobile navigation, move on. For everyone else, Google’s just flipped the switch on a cool little feature for Google Maps Navigation (which we’re reminded yet again is still technically a beta product). Now, when you’re driving and using a Google Maps Nav route and have traffic up ahead, the app will automatically route you around it. And you don’t have to touch a thing. From the Google Mobile Blog:

You don’t have to do anything to be routed around traffic; just start Navigation like you normally would, either from the Navigation app or from within Google Maps. … Starting today, our routing algorithms will also apply our knowledge of current and historical traffic to select the fastest route from those alternates. That means that Navigation will automatically guide you along the best route given the current traffic conditions.

Hey, whatever keeps us from having to ask for directions is a good thing. Full deets at the source link. [Google Mobile Blog]

Google Maps Navigation will now automatically route you around traffic posted originally by Android Central

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