I see this question every now and then and have worked with people at my office getting this working. Unfortunately, there isn’t a straight forward way to do this… Trust me, it’s a process. As least with Office 2010, which is what this article is based on (YMMV).
Continue reading View Outlook Calendar On Your PhoneCategory Archives: Android
RCS Privacy Vs OTT apps
Ok, we’ve all heard that RCS isn’t end-to-end encrypted (even though it is encrypted to and from the carriers), but I just read an article at The Register that begs the question “is RCS privacy legally required to be better than OTT apps?”
Continue reading RCS Privacy Vs OTT appsRCS-UP Timeline
The RCS-UP (Rich Communication Services – Universal Profile) specification has been around for a while. Here’s a timeline of some major RCS Universal Profile announcements.
Continue reading RCS-UP TimelineRCS Carrier Interoperability
Rich Communication Services Universal Profile (or Chat as Google likes to call it) is all about interoperability. The end goal would be for ALL carriers world wide, to standardize on RCS as their carrier provided messaging platform (instead of SMS / MMS). There are a lot of moving parts that will have to come together for this to happen, but some of those parts are starting to come together.
Continue reading RCS Carrier InteroperabilityRCS Is designed to be Inter-operable – It shouldn’t be news that Google and Samsung are doing it.
Maybe Google and Samsung are working together to make RCS inter-operate, but they shouldn’t HAVE to! And even if they ARE working together, that shouldn’t be the news here! We should be focusing on the fact that Rich Communications Services (RCS) Universal Profile (or Chat as Google wants to call it) is INTENDED to inter-operate between clients AND carriers!
Google Fi Dialer Codes
Here are a list of dialer codes that can be used with Google Fi. These codes shouldn’t be used unless you are aware that they may impact the way your Fi phone switches between carriers.
Continue reading Google Fi Dialer CodesFi on a non-Google phone is like mowing your lawn with a weed eater….
UPDATE: As of the 11/29/2019 Google Fi announcement, this article is pretty much old news but I’m leaving it here for reference.
I’ve seen the “can you use Project Fi with an XYZ model phone” question over and over. Invariably someone (or several someones) will reply “yeah, it works”. And while this answer is kind of / sort of technically correct (with caveats), it’s misleading! When I see this I imagine quotes around the word works… it “works” – unfortunately, a lot of people take it at face value. Continue reading Fi on a non-Google phone is like mowing your lawn with a weed eater….
Project Fi – What is a “Key” and why should I care?
What does the “KEY” mean?
I’ve seen several new (and some not so new) Project Fi users asking “what’s a key?” So I thought I would take a crack at explaining what it is and why you should care. Continue reading Project Fi – What is a “Key” and why should I care?
Android WebKit Car Analogy
Google throws nearly a billion Android users under the bus” and “Why Google won’t fix a security bug in almost a billion Android phones” but what I haven’t seen is an article that explains the situation in a way that people who WANT to blame Google seem to be able to understand so I’m going to try to explain this using an automobile analogy.
Imagine that Google makes automobile motors that many auto manufacturers use in the cars they sell. Some manufacturers want higher performance motors, so they replace the standard intake and cam with “improved” versions. Other manufactures want more creature comforts in their cars, so they strap on AC units and other accessories.
Now it turns out that there was a problem with the motors that Google provided to manufacturers 18 months ago. To make things more interesting, the manufacturers didn’t actually have to pay ANYTHING to Google for the motors Google provided. Additionally, Google has offered to replace all of their previous models at no additional charge twice since the faulty motors were shipped.
The manufacturers have chosen to not replace the faulty motors because they thought they were “good enough” and they would have to apply their chosen modifications to the replacement motors before sending them out. Besides, if people really want a new motor, they need to buy a new car. Right?
Keep in mind that this analogy is flawed. For instance it implies that Google is actually providing hardware. They aren’t. A more accurate analogy (but one less likely to be understood) is that Google is providing the software for the car’s computer. All of the mechanical parts (including the electronics for the computer) are produced by the car manufacturer, but there is a bug in the code that Google made available to the manufacturer. Google doesn’t even know what kind of computer the manufacturer has chosen to install in their car.
My question to you is: when you buy a car and it has problems with the motor (or computer), who do you go to for service? I expect the vast majority of people would say the manufacturer (or it’s dealers) but many of these same people seem to want to put 100% (or more) of the blame on Google for the webkit issue. Logic seems to elude some people….
Is Google responsible for the bug? Sure, it was in their code. Is Google responsible for the bug not being fixed in your phone? Nope! They fixed the bug in later releases and your phone manufacturer choose not to release that fix.