Communication between Android and Arduino, NFC on the cheap

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Near field communication aka NFC is a technology that will allow you to exchange data between devices. If you don’t have the ‘Pure Google’ phone, Nexus S (4G) you probably don’t have NFC capabilities with that Android device you have in your hand. Yea, look at it. Nope! And you know you wish you had the capability after reading all about the latest service to come from the search giant, Google Wallet.
You could take a shot at fixing that problem, or just commend the guy that made the following video for his efforts. He’s put to together a little project he likes to call the “Poor Mans NFC”. Joe Desbonnet has recorded video of his device communicating with an Arduino. By using this micro-controller and some magnetic wire strategically placed and this app as the interface, he was able to send data to his compass enabled HTC Desire . This wouldn’t be practical to set up your device with NFC this way, but sure is cool to see someone take the initiative. If you have the desire to look further into this check out his blog and instructions.
Check out the You Tube video after the break.

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Microsoft gets paid, Android brings in more dough than Windows Phone

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This morning a report was released stating that Android puts more money in Microsoft’s bank than Windows phone. HTC, which runs Android on a number of its devices is required to pay Microsoft, $5 per unit sold, due to an out of court settlements involving patent violation. That being said, if HTC sells around 30 million devices, that would mean they would be paying Microsoft a grand total of (I’m sure our reader can do the math) $150 million. Now that’s a good chunk of cash just from HTC that’s going straight to company that owns the mobile platform, Windows Phone.
Now if you take the above information that was released by Citi analyst Walter Pritchard and compare it to Window Phone’s position, Android seems to be the money maker. Microsoft’s information says that Windows Phone has sold 2 million licenses. So at $15 a license, that would total to $30 million. Not quite the cash cow that Android seems to be.
Microsoft is making truck loads of cash from HTC, so it only make sense they would go after all the other Android device manufacturers, looking for a per unit fee, so as to get a cut of the profits across the board, as also reported by Walter Pritchard.

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Final Droid X Gingerbread Build Available for the Impatient

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Well we knew that the official Gingerbread update is starting to be rolled out to a small number of lucky Droid X owners, but now the update has been made available for those of you who don’t like to wait. Naturally you’ll have to be rooted with a recovery from which you can flash the upgrade, so if you’re not you’ll have wait for Verizon to push the update OTA.


The update is the official Verizon and Motorola approved Android 2.3 upgrade for the original Droid X. The upgrade, as previous leaks have indicated, brings Droid X owners a revamped version of Motoblur, skinned over the 2.3.3 version of Gingerbread (as opposed to 2.3.4 which is currently only on the Nexus phones).
To flash this, as I mentioned before, you’ll need to be rooted and have ClockworkMod’s Droid X Recovery Bootstrap, so if you’ve been waiting for the official update because you weren’t rooted this isn’t for you. If you are rooted, and were just waiting for the official release, head over here and give it a go.
[via MyDroidWorld]

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Amazon AppStore updates to v1.14 with fixes and New two step purchase method

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Early this morning I got an update for the Amazon AppStore on my device and it seems they’ve added a few updates worth noting. Mainly some bug fixes and things of that sort, but they have also implemented a new two-step purchase method where you must click twice. This should avoid accidental purchases for those unlucky enough to have done it by mistake. We didn’t hear anything regarding this til now, but it was a nice surprise.


This update also bring an improved compatibility check for the App of the Day amazon features, as well as some much needed improvements to the support for older devices running on Android 1.6 because apparently some still do. They also mention overall stability improvements.
It is nice to see Amazon keeping up to date with their popular new App Store, I have a feeling they will continue to improve it right up until they launch a few android devices of their own. So update your Amazon AppStore and feel free to get the latest free app of the day. Today it is Yoo Ninja.

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Motorola Droid X Gingerbread is rolling out in a “soak test”

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Earlier this week we mentioned that the Droid X would be starting the Android Gingerbread 2.3 update Friday the 27th. It looks as if this time the date given has actually came true, sort of. According to sources the OTA update for 2.3.3 Gingerbread is rolling out in what Verizon is calling a “soak test” or a test run to put it plainly. It looks as if a few users are starting to see the updates on their devices.


From what we are seeing the update rolling out is in fact Android 2.3.3 and not 2.3.4. It is the same version as earlier leaks but obviously a higher build number and should run plenty stable, but that is what the “soak test” is for. Hopefully no issues are found that will stop the update and it will go out to everyone.

We are not sure how fast Verizon is planning to roll this update out, past updates usually hit most devices within a week but this may be different if they are only pushing it to a select few first. We will follow the update and report back if anything should arise. Start checking for updates on that Droid X of yours and you might be a lucky one and get it tonight. Oh and don’t worry the leak above as well as this new version has already been rooted so fear not, hit that update button!
[via AndroidCentral]

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