Acer A500 Custom ROM vs Google Play Services

Those who have flashed to the custom ROM will probably now be running afoul with Google's latest versions of its Google Play Services.  Check out TO forums for more info on this.

Google Play Books and Google Play Store

It was annoying that I could not clear my downloaded Google Books from the Play Store and recently, I discovered that to get rid of them, you had to download Google Play Books and then view your library.  You'll see all your books that you can then delete.  This clears up the recommended list that spams the Play Store.

Google Play Install Error Code "919"

I had problems with the Thomson tablet with installing some applications and was getting this error message.  A little bit of searching and I found out that this was a network issue.  Clearing the dalvik cache and Google Play cache is commonly suggested but that doesn't help.  What helped in my case was to go to Settings and Data Usage, then turn off Mobile Phone Data.  This fixed the install problem.

Error 207 (net::ERR_CERT_INVALID): Unknown error

Last night, I came across a curious issue with secure http connections to Google products on Chrome using my Vista laptop.  I could surf normally, but it would always go crazy when it'd go secure.  Researching online a bit for the issue, I've found that there are various causes for this.

The most common cause of this issue is the system date/time.  People advise to configure your date/time and timezone and sync it to time.windows.com.  I checked mine but it was already correct, so I kept looking.

Some of the other solutions being thrown around were clearing browser cache, playing with the SSL/TLS options on Google Chrome (via Under the Hood).  One serious suggestion was virus infections and a tampered hosts file (e.g. C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts), but I checked and there was nothing wrong with the file.

At the end of it, I found that Google, at one point, posted a note saying they fixed a browser bug, so I decided to update my browser.  Lo and behold, it fixed my issues.  But that doesn't mean it's the be all and all solution.

Random Thoughts: Google Hangouts and Dragon Age

Google forced the switch, abandoning Google talk in favour of this new Google Hangouts.  All I can say is that this app absolutely blows.  Suddenly, my chat list is populated by:

1. Acquaintances I don't chat with;
2. Mailing list e-mail addresses;
3. People I've only reached out via e-mail once or twice.

To make matters worse, the only way to fiddle the list is to go to another Google service and basically delete people you don't want to chat with.  The UI to get to the contact I want to chat with is also incredibly cumbersome.  Google?  This software is a piece of shit.  That is all.  Moving on.

Rune crafting sucks.  Don't like crafting.  Never did in any RPG.  To see that Dragon Age: Awakening doesn't have any vendors that sell armour runes better than novice ones suck.  Abso-freaking-lutely sucks.

While I'm at the 'This thing sucks' mode, I would like to say I never liked Dragon Age: Origins' cute puzzle to get the Sacred Ashes.  Awakening has a few optional ones, and I don't like any of them.  Still, BioWare did a heck of a game series and I'm still looking forward to Dragon Age 2 (despite the complaints of everyone who has played it).

Where's Google Play Store??

Interesting problem last night.  One of the Android tablets we own had its Play Store missing from the app drawer page, which was just baffling to me.  Noting that the Play Store is a preinstalled, you can't just uninstall and zap it to kingdom come.  After poking around and even going as far as downloading an apk for the Play Store (which didn't work), it turns out there's an easy fix for this.

Go to Settings > Apps and tap the menu button (3 vertical dots).  Then check Show Google Apps.  Why is this even an option?

Android ICS Irritation: Application Not Responding

I started getting some slow downs with my last few days of Honeycomb.  Launching apps had gotten generally slower.  The stock browser paused damn too much.  Everything was becoming a painful experience for me.  With that, I looked up Elixir 2 and Lookup Ad Detection to figure out just what was happening.  No matter how much I inspected the 'top' command output, I couldn't see anything that was really causing a bottleneck.  I then looked up the ad network apps that were in my system.  It was there I realized that there's a chock full of these that come with your freebie games.  Without hesitation, I proceeded to zap away the multitude of freebie apps that were hooked up in these ads.  Truth be told, I don't know which one did it, to be honest, but I could definitely sense a good change in speed.  It wasn't enough though.

Finally found gotten around to surfing with my Z!

Anyone who's handled the Zaurus SL-5x00 line of PDAs know how utterly useless the Opera browser is as viewing websites is a slow and painful process. Not to mention that trying to surf the web is an exercise of frustration from Out of Memory woes.

What I have stumbled upon and maybe I'm simply slow on using this PDA device is that the only way to make sure you get a good surfing experience is to keep your surfing experience to websites with mobile versions. They work wonders and don't kill your PDA memory resources with one or two clicks.

You should also use Google Mobile or the tool it relies on as it automatically converts the sites to display easier on mobile devices. It is also less resource intensive so this at least gives you some good surfing period without the Zaurus screaming for more memory. Hope this little tidbit helps.