Hasta La Gadget!

Updates have been coming fast and furious to Google’s Android Market for a couple weeks now, but this is the biggest shift yet — that rusty tab-based interface is out, replaced with a rotating carousel of downloadable content, and a single scrolling pane of info for each and every app. What’s more, it seems that Mountain View has heard the cries of game companies in particular, as it’s got a couple of very special changes largely targeted at them — the size cap on individual apps has been upped to 50MB, and Android Market’s famous 24-hour return policy is no more. You’ll still have 15 minutes to decide whether you want a piece of software or prefer a refund, perhaps long enough to give it a basic test, but there’s no longer enough time to finish a game in one sitting before slyly giving it a pass. There’s also a number of behind-the-scenes changes that should help make sure you only see apps your device can actually run, based on screen size, pixel density and OpenGL support. Google’s pushing the update to every Android 1.6-and-above device over the next couple of weeks, so you can expect your app purchasing world to turn upside-down in time for Christmas cheer.

Update: There are also two new categories being added: widgets and live wallpapers.

Update 2: Of course, no self-respecting hacker waits for an OTA to get what they can sideload right now, and so XDA-developers is now distributing the new Android Market APK — we’d suggest you give it a try too, but we’re hearing that some folks are having difficulty downloading apps at all after the update. Still, the folks at Android Police seem to have it working, and have taken a host of screenshots of the interface. Go give them a peek at our more coverage link.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Android Market update streamlines content, nukes tabs, dismantles 24-hour return policy to appease devs originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another day, another annoying distraction when you turn on your PlayStation 3. Prepare to be prompted to update your machine, version 3.55 hitting the internets and offering a single thing: “a security patch.” No word on exactly which holes are being spackled over or how long it’ll take for modders to drill them back out again, but be sure to pledge your allegiance and update today, so that you can be better prepared to update again tomorrow.

PS3 update v3.55 adds ‘a security patch,’ nothing else originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Macworld is reporting that Apple’s promising to roll out (at long last!) Apple TV 4.1 at the same time iOS 4.2 hits, at around 1PM Eastern today (roughly nowish). Sure, we could hit some last minute snags, but we want to believe. Especially after we reviewed the new versions of the softwares on our new-lease-on-life iPad, blasting AirPlay video all over the house like it was going out of style. In addition to being able to play video to your Apple TV from your iTunes-equipped PC or iOS-based device, the new Apple TV software adds VoiceOver support for spoken menus and meta data.

Update: It’s live, we’re downloading it now and basically just having the time of our lives!

Apple rolling out Apple TV 4.1 alongside iOS 4.2 today for perfect AirPlay harmony (update: it’s live) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid Incredible update starts rolling out, packs fixes and V CAST Apps originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple isn’t acknowledging any of the apparent issues with the new MacBook Air publicly just yet, but BGR is reporting that it’s heard from a source who says the company is at least now confirming some of the problems internally. That’s further backed up by some screen shots said to come from Apple’s internal support system, which tell Apple employees what to in the event of a buggy MacBook Air, and say that Apple is aware of the problems and is working on a software fix. Of course, that’s still far from a sure thing until Apple confirms it itself, but it does seem safe to assume that it at least knows something is going on.

Apple reportedly acknowledges MacBook Air bugs internally, promises fixes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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