Oppo’s VP resigns amid rumors of building an online brand with Cyanogen Inc.

Recent years saw the birth of many new online brands in China, with Xiaomi being the most notable one with its complete ecosystem on top of aggressive pricing. And at last, it looks like local competitor Oppo wants a share of that pie as well. According to a rumor from just before the weekend, the company's VP Pete Lau (pictured above) will be developing a new online brand from scratch, and its first product will feature top hardware specs along with CyanogenMod -- the same renowned Android ROM that's headed to Oppo's flagship N1 and Find 5. More interestingly, Lau has just announced that today's his last day at Oppo.

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Source: Google+, Sina Weibo, Sohu IT

CyanogenMod creator Steve Kondik on the challenges of refining the ROM

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On the morning after the Oppo N1 launch, Steve "Cyanogen" Kondik was surrounded by several Oppo ambassadors and tech writers at a hotel lounge in Beijing. It's a far cry from where he began: toying with Android ROMs out of "boredom" about five years ago.

"When I started this thing, I had, like, no idea that people would actually care," said Kondik, the creator of CyanogenMod. "I was kind of watching out to see who was going to bring Linux to the first mobile device, in a way that it didn't absolutely suck."

In the end, it was Android that stood out with its open-source development, and Kondik saw the potential of adding his own enhancements to devices running on this OS. By day, the Seattle-based developer was a lead engineer at a bioinformatics startup in Pittsburgh; but during his free time, he worked on what later became CyanogenMod for the legendary T-Mobile G1, the world's first commercial Android device. And of course, he bought it on the day it came out.

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CyanogenMod 10.1.3 arrives with remote find and wipe capabilities

Good news is now at hand for CyanogenMod fans who like a bit of stability in their lives, because the general release builds of CyanogenMod 10.1.3 are now hitting server mirrors. As a nice bonus, support for CM Account is baked into this release (previously available only in the 10.2 nightlies), which allows users to locate and remotely wipe their missing devices -- a feature that's awfully similar to Android Device Manager. If all goes according to plans, CyanogenMod 10.1.3 will be the last of the Android 4.2-based builds, as the team is now investing the bulk of its work on CyanogenMod 10.2, which is based on Android 4.3. Once you have the latest version, perhaps you'll consider pairing it with the impressive Focal camera app.

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Source: CyanogenMod (Google+)

Focal camera app removed from CyanogenMod, launched as standalone beta

CyanogenMod's Focal camera app goes standalone following licensing dispute

Not everyone is happy with Cyanogen as a company. Guillaume Lesniak, the creator of CyanogenMod's Focal camera app, doesn't like that licensing changes accompanying the new venture would limit his control. Accordingly, he has just removed Focal from CyanogenMod and launched it as a standalone beta. The app includes all the features from its ROM days, including burst shooting, a panorama mode and an equivalent to Google's Photo Sphere. While the release is a mild inconvenience for CyanogenMod users, it's ultimately a win for anyone who wants to try Focal -- they can now give the app a spin regardless of the firmware they use. If you're curious, you can download Focal through Google Play.

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Via: Phandroid, Liliputing

Source: Google Play

Daily Roundup: iPhone 5s and 5c reviews, Cyber-shot QX10 review, iOS 7 now available, and more!

DNP The Daily RoundUp

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Cyanogen is now a company, aims to be third major mobile ecosystem

Cyanogen is now a company  and it wants to be the third major mobile ecosystem

CyanogenMod has grown unusually quickly in the past several months, polishing its custom Android firmware and introducing new services. We now know why the team has been so busy -- it's quietly been operating as a full-fledged company since April. The newly announced Cyanogen Inc., led by Boost Mobile co-founder Kirt McMaster, is devoted solely to building CyanogenMod as a platform. Some of the project's veteran developers are now full-time staff, including Steve Kondik (CTO) and Koushik Dutta (VP of Engineering). Read on to learn what the company has in store, including its hopes of eventually competing on the same level as heavy-hitters like Apple and Google.

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Source: CyanogenMod Blog

CyanogenMod resurrects OTA updates for latest CM10 nightly builds

CyanogenMod adds 'pull' OTA updates to latest CM10 nightly builds

CyanogenMod ROMs give Android users the latest Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean treats to their otherwise-neglected smartphones, and it's mostly open-source except for one piece: the boarded-off ROM Manager. To remedy that, the modding organization is bringing its OTA updater back from the CM5 and 6 graves, letting users pull updates straight to their devices. Notice we say "pull," because pushing would require the Google Apps framework, which the CM updater won't have. However, as the screen above shows, you'll be able to set a timeframe to check and grab the latest versions directly from CyanogenMod's servers, and after flashing yesterday's CM10 ROM, we can confirm that the software is working on our Galaxy S. That'll bring a much-needed dose of simplicity to upgrading CM firmware and make all that modding slightly more mainstream.

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CyanogenMod resurrects OTA updates for latest CM10 nightly builds originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 07:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Android Police  |  sourceCyanogenMod Nightly Builds  | Email this | Comments

TouchPad gets an early taste of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean courtesy of CyanogenMod 10 (video)

TouchPad gets a taste of Android 41 Jelly Bean courtesy of CyanogenMod 10 video

Want the latest version of Android on your device? Sure, we all do, and despite HP having put the TouchPad out to pasture long ago, the modder community isn't giving up hope. One brave soul over at Xda Developers who goes by the handle Jscullins can (and should) be thanked for bringing bargain tablet lovers a dose of CyanogenMod 10. It's still a preview build lacking, among other things, sound and video acceleration, but if you absolutely have to get a buttery smooth UI on your tablet right now hit up the source link for the download. Or, you could just check out the video of it in action after the break courtesy of Liliputing. It's probably safer.

Continue reading TouchPad gets an early taste of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean courtesy of CyanogenMod 10 (video)

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TouchPad gets an early taste of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean courtesy of CyanogenMod 10 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Liliputing, Slashgear  |  sourceXda Developers  | Email this | Comments

CyanogenMod developers slap Jelly Bean on an Optimus 4X HD, tease CM10 (video)

CyanogenMod developers slap Jelly Bean on an Optimus 4X HD, tease CM10

That didn't take long. The boys behind CyanogenMod promised a quick turnaround for its upcoming JellyBean-based update and are already teasing workable CM10 ROMs. CyanogenMod's Ricardo Cerqueira tossed a video of an early CM10 build on his YouTube page, declaring "it lives!" The early build is running on an LG Optimus 4X HD, and runs through unlocking the screen and recording and playing back a video. The build is still having some trouble with Google's revamped search integration, but considering Android 4.1's source code was released only days ago, the quick development is promising. Check out Cercuiera's quick demo for yourself after the break.

Continue reading CyanogenMod developers slap Jelly Bean on an Optimus 4X HD, tease CM10 (video)

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CyanogenMod developers slap Jelly Bean on an Optimus 4X HD, tease CM10 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhoneArena, AndroidCentral  |  sourceRicardo Cerqueira (Google+)  | Email this | Comments

CyanogenMod plans a quick leap to Jelly Bean for version 10, existing devices likely to tag along

CyanogenMod new logo

Whenever there's a new version of Android, Steve Kondik and the CyanogenMod team tend to swing into action almost immediately with plans for a major revision of the fan-favorite platform overhaul. For Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, that swing will be faster than ever. The crew's early looks suggest that there will only be a few minor tweaks needed to merge Google's latest with the custom Android code, making CyanogenMod 10 a relative snap to produce. The update's release is still very much up in the air without the Android Open Source Project code available to modify; that said, device compatibility also isn't expected to be an obstacle. Any device that can run CyanogenMod 9 should run version 10 when it's released. As long as we're willing to wait for a stable 9.0 to emerge first, there are few barriers to making Jelly Bean that much sweeter.

CyanogenMod plans a quick leap to Jelly Bean for version 10, existing devices likely to tag along originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCyanogenMod (Google+)  | Email this | Comments