Holiday themed, Android-choreographed Sphero dance lights up on Union Square

Sphero, our second favorite little robot, is one of the most creative ideas for a smartphone in the past few years. Some really dedicated Android users in Union Square, New York wanted to test out what they could do with the little robot ball by choreographing an entire light and dance show with 28 Sphero balls. It’s impressive, to say the least. If you want to see the coolest light show this year accompanied by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, hit the break below for the video.

source: Phandroid

Official AdBlock Plus app now available in the Play Store

Blocking ads on your device is moral grey area, but it’s hard to argue that it has benefits. AdBlock Plus is one of the most popular ad blocking plugins for browsers available, and it works extremely well. And luckily for Android users, an official app has made its way onto Google’s Play Store.

Google+ now has direct download links for Play Store apps

There’s a cool little feature that’s just been implemented in Google+. Whenever a user links to an app in the Play Store on G+, that post will have a direct download link that users can download the app from without being redirected to the Play Store page. Not a huge feature, but little things like that make the user experience that much better.

Google+ has done an excellent job of setting up new ways to share content with friends and family, from music, movies, and now applications. And with Google+ naturally growing in size, it’s great to see Google trying to help it along and adding new features for users.

source: Google+

Verizon shutting down its App Store by March 2013

For nearly three years, Verizon has offered apps through its own app store on its BlackBerry and Android devices. I suppose it was a decent business model three years ago but it’s hard to imagine too much interest going somewhere else other than the Play Store to get your apps. Times certainly change rather quickly. Beginning in January 2013, Verizon will begin removing its app store from all its devices via a software update. They will continue through March 2013 at which point all Verizon devices will not have the Verizon app store installed any longer. Current owners of Verizon apps will immediately begin being notified of the changes and recurring charges will expire in December.

source:  Verizon

[App Review] AudioManager Pro is a useful, powerful volume management tool

Have you ever wanted to adjust your phone’s alarm volume while listening to music, but didn’t want to dig through settings to change it? Have you ever had your phone go off at school, work, or in any other inappropriate situation? Pretty sure that’s happened to everyone at least once. Want an app to fix all those problems? You’ll want to try AudioManager Pro ASAP, but first you’ll want to get a complete breakdown of why you should try it once you hit the break.

For something as simple as volume management, AudioManager Pro is packed with features. The first screen you’re likely to see is the volume panel. On this first screen, you’ve got easy access to the volume levels of everything on your phone: notifications, alarms, system volumes, everything. There are even toggles to change ringtones and alarms on the fly. It’s a quick way to access everything without sifting through several settings and menus.

Google continues push for better quality tablet apps with new checklist for developers

All of the buzz last summer about the Google Nexus 7 brought a double-edged sword with it. On the plus side, it helped generate interest in tablet apps for the Android ecosystem. On the down side, it made apparent the softness of the tablet-optimized app market. In a post on the Android Developers Blog, Reto Meier, Android Developer Relations Tech Lead, reveals Google has taken notice and wants to help address the issue. In today’s blog posting, Meier announced the availability of a Tablet App Quality Checklist to help guide developers in building better tablet apps for Android devices.

According to Meier, developers who use the new checklist can expect to reap benefits like increased user engagement, better monetization of apps, and more downloads of apps by tablet owners. These benefits can be achieved by working on focus areas included in the checklist, like optimizing layouts for larger screens, taking advantage of the additional screen real estate, improving resources like icons that are used in tablet apps, and adjusting font sizes and touch targets for tablet screens, among others.

Meier’s post includes a promise to provide tips everyday this week on developing better apps for tablet devices. He indicates Google is preparing to make some adjustments to the Google Play store to help highlight well designed tablet apps in preparation for the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Developers who want to look over the checklist or users who just want to know more about what Google thinks makes good tablet app design can hit the source link for more info and links to the checklist.