Roku is back with yet another update for the company’s tiny media streamers. This update adds a bunch of welcomed features to the Roku 2 and Roku LT including games and system enhancements.

Roku introduced games to its platform with its latest generation of streamers. But so far the only official game has been Angry Birds, which, you know, is also playable on your smartphone, browser, tablet, and probably some refrigerators. However, this update brings Downhill Bowling 2, Castle Warriors and Frisebee Forever and are all designed to work with the motion control Game Remote.

Update 4.2 also adds MKV playback from USB sources and improved WiFi performance. It also address the battery life of the Bluetooth Game Remote and intermittent audio drop-outs. Lastly, the new firmware paves the way for iOS and an Android remote with the former launching relatively soon.

The update is slated to roll out within the next 48 hours and notes in its official release that users can check for the update through the Software Update option in the Settings menu.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

iPhone jailbreakers should probably stay away from the latest Siri port, dubbed H1Siri, which brings Apple’s digital assistant to the iPhone 4. The new hack comes from a group of Chinese hackers calling themselves the “CD-Dev Team.” According to the team’s account on Weibo (a Chinese microblogging service similar to Twitter), the hackers had originally wanted to just run a small test, but the code was leaked. Now their servers can’t keep up with the demand.

But beyond server unresponsiveness, there are several other good reasons to skip this hack, including the fact that it seems to break people’s phones and involves running illegal code.

H1Siri (aka, Hi Siri!), for those of you tracking the Siri-hacking space, is a different hack from the one that emerged in October and the other arriving last month.

According to iDownloadBlog, which wisely advises readers to be wary of this new port after its own tests with H1Siri failed, the new port involves the use of copyrighted binaries from the iPhone 4S. Simply put, it works because it uses illegal code. Notable iPhone hacker @chpwn (Grant Paul), confirms this.

He also points out another good reason to think carefully before installing H1Siri on your iPhone 4: it gives the software’s creators access to your personal data:

Those are all very good reasons to avoid H1Siri, but if your Siri lust can’t be assuaged, maybe this last bit of info will: the darned thing doesn’t really work.

Numerous posts from brave (crazy) early adopters report various complaints after installing. For example, it has been said to cause random reboots, break the camera, brick the phone, mess up the Settings app, cause the phone to get stuck at the Apple logo and other such things.

Guys, seriously…Siri is cool, but it’s definitely not worth all this.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The much-anticipated Google TV update is systematically rolling out today. Sony Internet TV devices are first in line followed by Logitech Revue units shortly thereafter. But wait patiently. As with most major updates, the OTA update will not hit all the boxes at once, but rather at a selective pace. You can initiate a manual check under the About section in the Settings menu, but a notification should pop-up when your box’s number has been called.

It’s still not available on my Sony Internet TV but the update is already in the wild per a screenshot from AndroidCentral.

Google announced the big update last week. It brings to Google TV the Android Market along with a totally new user interface. Plus, the system is now built on the newer Android 3.1 release, which should make for a much smoother experience. Google TV has always shown so much promise and this latest coat of paint improves its draw even more. But only the consumer marketplace will decide if the overhaul ultimately spurs a GTV revival.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Facebook has just spilled the beans on its games-related announcement for today: A more streamlined, engaged App Canvas page, including a ticker for game updates (see below). Canvas Pages, for those unaware, are the “blank canvas” that apps get to occupy on Facebook.

With 200 out of 750 million users playing games on Facebook monthly, games are definitely one of the social network’s core strengths and design adjustments are a key step towards keeping users hooked. With the launch of Google+ Games earlier today the arena of gaming is poised to become a battle ground for anyone who has their sights set on social.

Changes for all users now include a game ticker at the top right of the Canvas Page where they can choose to receive updates on their friend’s game-related stories like high scores and achievements. Facebook says that users can control what stories they see by adjusting their Settings.

Facebook has also decided to give select games like Cityville, Monster World, Mystery Manor and others the option of “Fluid Canvas” or increased real estate on the Canvas Page in order to better fit a user’s browser. In addition users can now bookmark their favorite games both on the Canvas Page and the Facebook homepage.

While Facebook sent us a brief earlier highlighting the accomplishments of smaller game publishers in preparation for this announcement the changes seem to apply to anyone who runs an app on Facebook and not just game developers. Maybe there’s benefit in the long tail and promising smaller developers more ways to market themselves to users? According to Facebook, its top 80 games have at least 1 million monthly active users.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The Droid X2 is one of those phones that you learn to quickly stop judging by its bezel. Despite having nearly identical hardware to its less powerful predecessor, the handset shipped with some pretty notable under-the-hood improvements. But one thing was still missing: Gingerbread.

Luckily, Verizon has released the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update this morning so the Droid X2 can continue to masquerade as a 2010 handset while performing like its fresh out of the box.

Of course, improved copy and paste, faster performance, and more detailed battery information are all in tow as part of the overarching Gingerbread update, but Motorola has baked in some goodies of its own, too. The MotoBlur UI will now sport new colors and widgets, and the software-based keyboard has been enhanced with multitouch. The camera app will now allow geo-tagging of photos and the calendar app has also seen some improvements.

The update notification should appear automatically on the Droid X2, but if you’re feeling antsy go ahead and check for an update manually in the System Updates portion of your Settings app. But be sure to tap into a WiFi network first, or you may be waiting a while: the update is 101MB.

[via Android Central]

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

So, we just exposed the awesome secret that Facebook’s iPad app is actually already out there, hidden inside of the iPhone app. Now it’s time to show it to you.

I’ve been playing with the app for much of the night, and it seems solid. Of course, there’s no

About a month ago, we covered HeyTell, an iPhone/Android app that made me feel like a kid again. Why did it make me feel like a kid? Because it turns your iPhone into a walkie talkie. Yeah. Awesome.

But the app is also a serious business. Created by

Facebook recently changed the options in its news feed settings so users either “Show posts from: friends and Pages you interact with the most” or from “all of your friends and Pages.” Some users have unknowingly been defaulted to the first option, causing lot of content to be hidden from them without their knowledge.

It’s not exactly clear what determines which default users receive, though newer accounts appear more likely to only be seeing content from a subset of friends. Previously users could select exactly how many of their friends they saw posts from.

Users can manually configure this setting by scrolling to the very bottom of their news feed and clicking the “Edit Options” link. This brings up the “Edit Your News Feed Settings” window where users can select from the two “Show posts from” options. They can also manage the list of  friends, Pages, and applications they’ve hidden from their news feed by clicking the ‘x’ button next to one of their posts and choosing to “Hide all by [author]“.

Facebook’s news feed settings have become much simpler over the past few years. In 2007, users could manipulate sliders for each type of story to control how often they appeared. In 2008, users could increase or decrease prominence of specific friends in-line from the news feed.

Before the current interface, users defaulted to seeing posts from their 250 closest friends unless they increased the maximum. Its possible that this change was related to the December 2010 user profile redesign.

The reduction in granularity of control contrasts with the increasing granularity available in Facebook’s privacy settings. Facebook may have decided that setting a specific number of friends to see was too arbitrary.

When making the decision of whether to see posts from all or only some friends and Pages, users should think about how often they skim past uninteresting updates in their feed. If its only a few especially noisy friends that are cluttering their feed, they should just hide those users. If they are frequently bored or think there’s too much to read, they should select to only see a subset.

However, if users want the most comprehensive news feed possible, they should go into their settings and ensure that they’re seeing posts from all friends and Pages.

[Thanks to Kellie Mairs for the tip.]

Article courtesy of Inside Facebook

There’s actually only one key difference between the Verizon iPhone 4 and the AT&T iPhone 4 (well, besides the network, obviously). But it’s a big one: Personal Hotspots. Yes, the Verizon iPhone will come with this killer feature that will allow it to become an internet hub for up to 5 WiFi devices to connect to.

And while there is no word on pricing yet (neither Apple nor Verizon would budge or slip-up when asked repeatedly — but note the “Additional usage charges may apply.”), we were able to see it in action in the demo room following today’s event. As you might expect from Apple, it’s super simple to set up and use.

As you can see above, there’s a new “Personal Hotspot” area in the Settings app that’s a part of the new iOS 4.2.5. Clicking on this will launch the screen below. Here, you can turn it “on” as well as set a password if you choose to set it up for Wi-Fi use.

But you don’t have to connect using Wi-Fi. You can also set the Personal Hotspot up to use Bluetooth or USB. Obviously, the latter two are for one-to-one connections. Essentially, it looks like this replaces the “tethering” option found in the current iOS build. An Apple rep I talked to believed this was the case as well.

If you click the button to turn the Wi-Fi “on”, you’ll see the screen below pop-up making sure you want to turn the Wi-Fi on (presumably this will eat up more battery life).

And if you turn it on, you’re done. As you can also see in the “Network” area, the Personal Hotspot is set to “on”. You simply open your computer network settings and choose “iPhone”.

Apple would not say if this feature will find its way to the AT&T iPhone as well.

More Coverage:

• Verizon And Apple Began Working Together To Make The CDMA iPhone In 2008
• It’s Official: The Verizon iPhone 4 Is Coming On February 10th
• So What’s So Special About The Verizon iPhone? Personal Hotspots.
• Why No LTE iPhone For Now? “Design Compromises” Apple Would Not Make.
• The Verizon iPhone Product Pages And More Are Alive For Your Ogling
• Hands On With the Verizon iPhone
• Bottom Line: Should You Buy The Verizon iPhone?
• One More Thing: The Verizon iPhone Runs iOS 4.2.5

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The latest update to the Facebook for iPhone app includes links to a user’s Account Settings, Privacy Settings, and the Help Center. The links open these areas of the Facebook web interface through the app’s internal web browser, and allow users to alter all of their sharing, security, and other settings. Having easy access a one’s mobile settings, such as the hours of the day during which you receive text messages from Facebook, will be important as users begin having their Facebook Messages routed to SMS.

Facebook released a significant upgrade to its iPhone app last week, which included Groups, Deals, and enhanced Places functionality, but which prevented users from uploading photos to a specific album. Version 3.2.3 fixes this bug, allowing users to click an ‘+’ button while viewing an existing album to add a photo to it.

Earlier this year, Facebook added a lock icon to the iPhone app’s status composer, allowing users to set the distribution parameter for that update. However, until now users had to access rudimentary privacy controls via m.facebook.com, or manually navigate to Facebook’s web interface using a mobile browser to alter the distribution of new or existing photos, change what parts of their profile are visible to who, or edit block lists. When Facebook updated its privacy controls in May, we said that offering these controls to mobile users was a crucial next step.

Now, where users previously saw a logout button in the top left of the app’s home page, they’ll see an “Account” button which reveals options to logout, or visit Account Settings, Privacy Settings, or the Help Center. Access to privacy controls should encourage users to share more frequently by restricting content to fewer people. Notification settings access will make it easier to quiet Facebook if a user is receiving unwanted mobile or email alerts.

Facebook’s new Messages product delivers email, Facebook Messages, Facebook Chat, and text messages to whichever channel a user is currently using, including their phone via SMS messages. However, it’s possible that users who’ve connected their mobile phone number to their Facebook account won’t be aware of the volume of SMS they’ll begin to receive, or the charges associated with these messages. Therefore, giving iPhone users quick access to their Account Settings->Mobile where they can turn off SMS from Facebook, alter which actions trigger SMS messages, or set a daily limit will be helpful for mitigating any ill will against Facebook stemming from the charges.

While the settings panels are only linked to and not full integrated into the application, they make Facebook for iPhone practically a standalone version of the site. For those who don’t often sit down with a computer to access Facebook, the update should lead to a safer, more customized experience.

Article courtesy of Inside Facebook