[SPEAKER_00]: a factual data creation facility production. [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the first official Weekly Overflow episode. [SPEAKER_00]: The previous one was just a test, in case you were wondering. [SPEAKER_00]: No. [SPEAKER_00]: I try to limit the OF&T podcast to under 30 minutes, so some stories, though relevant, don't make the cut. [SPEAKER_00]: This weekly update will include those stories and tech news updates that happen to break in between this and the regular OF&T podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is, if I deem these items worthy enough to report on. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be dropping episodes of the weekly overflow on Wednesday evenings. [SPEAKER_00]: These episodes will be done fast with little to no post-processing. [SPEAKER_00]: So, excuse the audio. [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening. [SPEAKER_00]: Before I get started, everything has been closed down in the area I live in since Saturday. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's the day the last storm hit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yesterday, the temperature managed to rise above freezing and snow began melting. [SPEAKER_00]: Yay! [SPEAKER_00]: Local stores have begun opening up again, and hopefully deliveries will once again start. [SPEAKER_00]: I have a couple of items coming from Amazon that were supposed to be here by now, but they haven't made it yet. [SPEAKER_00]: The delivery status was and remains as delayed. [SPEAKER_00]: By my estimates, we got about 10 inches of snow during the storm.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, it's a lot, but back up in New York, this would have been dealt with very quickly. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's not the case here. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't even think the area I reside in even has a snow plow. [SPEAKER_00]: In my housing development, only a few households besides my own had bothered clearing their property of snow. [SPEAKER_00]: Of the residents here probably don't even own snow shovels.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully, last week's heavy snowfall, the last will see for a while. [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, here's this week's text stories that didn't make it into episode 306 of the OFNT podcast. [SPEAKER_00]: One of the many cool things about the Android operating system that I took advantage of while having an Android phone. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's see ability to change what's called the launcher.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you didn't know that's the software you see when first opening your phone, and it's the main place to launch your apps from. [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, these days, most users just stick with the launcher that comes with their phones. [SPEAKER_00]: One of my favorite third-party Android launchers was the Nova Launcher. [SPEAKER_00]: Sometime last year, the creator of Nova was let go by the company that bought Nova from a years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: And while doing so, Roker promised me to him when closing the sale of the software. [SPEAKER_00]: That promise was the original owner would get back the source code for Nova Launcher upon his termination from the company that bought it from him, which was Branch Metrics. [SPEAKER_00]: This all took place back in September of last year, with Branch Metrics stating that Nova [SPEAKER_00]: Well as an article from Android Authority confirms, things change.
[SPEAKER_00]: Users that, despite the bad news about Nova Launcher's lack of a future, continued using Nova anyway, and they started getting updates in November of last year. [SPEAKER_00]: good news, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Well, not really. [SPEAKER_00]: Branch metrics, instead of shutting down the app, sold off Nova launched it to a Swedish company called Instabridge, who planned on turning Nova into a subscription-based piece of software.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, previously was a one-time purchase. [SPEAKER_00]: To add insult to injury, a so-called free-tier was created, and that's what was rolled [SPEAKER_00]: This free-tier is, of course, add supported. [SPEAKER_00]: It's not only have users started seeing advertisements, but Nova Launcher has become unstable with the app randomly crashing in the disappearance of app icons.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instabridge has pledged not to show ads to paid Nova Prime users, but this remains to be seen. [SPEAKER_00]: You can download the APK package for an older working version of Nova Launcher, but who knows how long that will last? [SPEAKER_00]: Oopsie! [SPEAKER_00]: Android Police.com is reporting that Google unintentionally leaked a video of its new Alluminium computer operating system on the company's Chromium Issue Tracker website.
[SPEAKER_00]: Alluminium is a marriage between Chrome OS and Android that's set to replace Chrome as Google's computer operating system. [SPEAKER_00]: We can see from the now taken down video, is an operating system that [SPEAKER_00]: The coding visible during the league shows Google considers aluminium OS as an offshoot of Android, and even refers to the new operating system as Android 16.
[SPEAKER_00]: While the folks over at Android policy seem kind of happy about this, the folks over at Android Authority.com have expressed concerns about it. [SPEAKER_00]: The author of the article is all in on Chrome OS and the Chrome laptops that run them. [SPEAKER_00]: Meaning that he uses Chrome OS as his main operating system for work and casual use. [SPEAKER_00]: His first complaint is that, like Android, the top bar the UI is always there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thus taking up screen space, his opinion is that the whole desktop environment appears to be 99% Android, which he considers great for phones, but not proper for a desktop environment. [SPEAKER_00]: Also, the version of the browser running on aluminum is apparently a mobile version of Chrome. [SPEAKER_00]: Not the powerful desktop version that Chrome OS is based on. [SPEAKER_00]: Chrome is known for its powerful screen capture capabilities.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the author points out that the video shows Android screen recorder utility, which is much less powerful than the full version from Chrome OS. [SPEAKER_00]: Chrome OS is also the home of a powerful productivity features, and they appear to be missing on this version of Aluminium. [SPEAKER_00]: To sum up, it appears that Aluminium OS is just a desktop version of Android, with some Chrome OS features sprinkled in.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I mentioned on Episode 306, there's been rumors that Apple would like to do the same by having iOS replace Mac OS. [SPEAKER_00]: I guess this is the future. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, at least for Google and Apple. [SPEAKER_00]: Linux is becoming more appealing as time goes on. [SPEAKER_00]: Don't you agree? [SPEAKER_00]: Leading Smart Ring Company or a, finally released an accessory users have been asking about for some time now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that would be a charging case for their smart rings. [SPEAKER_00]: The R ring comes with a charging plug which is fine for home use, but is slightly inconvenienced for traveling. [SPEAKER_00]: I've been using a Norris Smart Ring since version 2, but the $100 price for this case makes it a no-go for me. [SPEAKER_00]: Or also released a statement last week, confirming that the company will continue charging a monthly fee, in order to use all of the ring's features.
[SPEAKER_00]: Currently, this fee is $5.99 a monthly, or $69.99 a monthly. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, being that aura considers me a legacy user, I don't have any extra fee for accessing all of my ring's features. [SPEAKER_00]: Apple has recently closed a $2 billion deal for AI firm Q.A.I. [SPEAKER_00]: This is the second largest acquisition behind the Beats purchase in the company's history.
[SPEAKER_00]: Seems that what Apple was after was Q.A.I.' [SPEAKER_00]: 's patents for AI-powered optical sensors, which brings the dream of fleet augmented reality glasses that much closer. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's in my uneducated opinion. [SPEAKER_00]: And finally, Bloomberg's Mark German stated on his power on newsletter Sunday that Apple is planning a clamshell-style format foldable phone. [SPEAKER_00]: My lovely wife will be overjoyed about this news.
[SPEAKER_00]: German also claims that Apple is looking into making an even larger book-style folding iPhone in a future. [SPEAKER_00]: This product is probably what Leekers incorrectly thought was a foldable iPad. [SPEAKER_00]: I remember seeing those rumors early last year. [SPEAKER_00]: At the time, I wondered what was the point of a foldable iPad? [SPEAKER_00]: What we'll see if Apple's entry into the foldable form factor Fonerina will bring this so far niche product into the mainstream.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well that will do it for this inaugural weekly overflow episode. [SPEAKER_00]: You can always reach me at orphantpodcast at gmail.com. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll see you on Sunday. [SPEAKER_00]: Take care, and I hope you have a great rest of the week!