The Pixel C was probably never supposed to run Android

Was Android actually Google's third operating system choice for its new Pixel C tablet?

The Pixel C finally went on sale this week—but our full review notes that the convertible tablet feels like hardware in search of the software to make it a compelling product. Perhaps that's because, internally, Google engineers seem to have been searching for a compelling Pixel C software package for the last year and a half.

The contradiction between hardware and software is visible all over the tablet, so two examples will suffice. The hardware's keyboard and big screen would point to it being a productivity device, but the software's lack of a split-screen mode and apps optimized for the screen's size hamstring the Pixel C. The hardware seems geared for voice command functionality, given its array of four top-mounted microphones, but the software doesn't support Google's always-on voice commands.

It's also odd that the device hails from the Pixel team. Google has two big hardware brands: "Nexus," which covers flagship Android devices, and "Pixel," which denotes flagship Chrome OS devices. With the Pixel C, though, the Pixel team broke ranks and produced an Android tablet.

In our view, the Pixel C's irregularities all have a single explanation: the Pixel C was originally a Chrome OS device.

Back in July 2014, a new "Ryu" board (a "board" is just a reference to "motherboard"—a Chrome OS device under development) popped up in the Chrome OS open source repository. Further trips through the Chrome OS source code revealed that "Ryu" had a light bar, USB Type-C connectors, an Nvidia Tegra SoC, and wireless charging. That sounds an awful lot like the Pixel C (especially the wireless charging, which is used to charge the keyboard via the tablet's battery when closed).

Open up the Pixel C's software and take a look at Android's build.prop file—which lists all sorts of base information about the device—and you'll see "ro.product.name=ryu" listed in the properties. Based on this commit, it’s safe to say that at one point Google was definitely developing Chrome OS for its new Android tablet.

It appears that the Pixel C was planned as launch hardware for a new, all-touch version of Chrome OS which at some point got canceled—necessitating a switch to Android. The story is a lot more complicated than that, though. What follows is the best timeline we could piece together showing the Pixel C's troubled development history.

Plan A: Project Athena—Chrome OS' (canceled) touchscreen interface

We've long heard rumors of a "Chrome OS Tablet" being worked on at Google headquarters. Some of this touch work was clearly visible to the public. Since at least 2014, Chrome OS has had a semi-hidden virtual keyboard, which could be enabled via a developer flag. While most of Chrome OS' touch work could be attributed to the "laptop with a touchscreen" form factor of the Chromebook Pixel and a few other Chromebooks, a virtual keyboard would be mostly useless in a laptop form factor. This was destined for a tablet.
The Chrome OS team was actually working on a new interface called "Project Athena," which appeared to add a lot of functionality focused on touchscreen usage. In July 2014, right around the same time "Ryu" (the Pixel C) was introduced into the Chrome OS repository, the first references to Project Athena started to pop up.

The biggest addition we knew about was an experimental window switcher, which would have taken Chrome OS' window management UI from a taskbar-based interface to a cascading, scrolling thumbnail UI that looks a lot like what Android has today. Chrome OS' taskbar interface is great for a mouse, but the tiny buttons would make it a poor experience for touch users. No one from Google explicitly said this new thumbnail UI was for a Chrome OS tablet, but the change would provide much larger targets for touch use, and it would be less efficient for a mouse user because of the greater distance the mouse would have to travel. In our hypothetical Chrome OS Tablet world, we'd imagine that the cascading thumbnail window management would be for touch users, while the taskbar would stick around for mouse users.

Athena also added a few swipe gestures to Chrome OS. Dragging up from the bottom edge would enter "overview mode"—presumably the above thumbnail-based window switcher. Dragging in from the left edge would switch to the previous task (just as in Windows' touch UI), and dragging in and holding would enter a split-screen mode. Chrome OS is a windowed OS, so split-screen mode would seem redundant unless you consider that the usual mouse-based window resizing doesn't work well with touch. A "drag in" gesture like this would be great for our theoretical Chrome OS tablet.

Project Athena never shipped, though. In December 2014, about five months after the introduction of Ryu and Project Athena into the Chrome OS code base, the project was canceled.

Plan B: "Frankenboard"—The Chrome OS/Android Hybrid

With no touch interface to run on the 10-inch touchscreen and no mouse to drive the mouse-centric Chrome OS, the Pixel C was in a pickle. In March 2015, Android code started appearing in the Chrome OS Ryu device tree.

Chrome OS really can't run without a mouse, so apparently the team decided that making Ryu boot Chrome OS and Android would fix this. We know that Android wasn't a replacement at this point, because some of the work involved getting the Chrome OS boot loader to talk to Android.

Digitimes actually nailed this news a month before the commits became public. In February 2015, the site said Google was going to start pushing "2-in-1 Chromebooks" that would boot Android and Chrome OS. The device was going to be built by Quanta Computer, the same company rumored to manufacture the Chromebook Pixel for Google, and the report said it would be "Google branded," AKA a Pixel.

Just like with Project Athena, this idea lasted about five months—in July 2015, the dual-boot project seems to have been scrapped. A comment on a Ryu commit mentioned the cancellation while giving us more evidence into the device's hybrid nature, saying "Abandoned. frankenboard is dead." "Frankenboard" of course would be an excellent nickname for a device that was setup to boot Android and Chrome OS.

Plan C: Christmas is coming! Just flash Android and ship it

FURTHER READING


PIXEL C REVIEW—NEW HARDWARE IGNORES AN ANDROID TABLET’S CORE PROBLEM: SOFTWARE
A "productivity" device that can only display a single app at a time?
With Chrome OS now apparently out of the picture for the Pixel C, it looks like the decision was made to put Android on it and ship it out the door. In September 2015 at the Nexus launch event, Google announced the Android 6.0-powered Pixel C. This was just two months after the apparent cancellation of the dual-boot plans, leaving very little time to get regular Android up and running on the Pixel C.
At the launch event, the Pixel C immediately seemed like a rush job. The product's announcement was tacked on to the end of the high-profile Nexus 5X and 6P launch, where it was almost immediately forgotten about. While Google had about 30 to 40 Nexus phones set up for the attending journalists to try, there were a whopping two Pixel Cs set up at the event. The Nexus phones went up for pre-order the day after the event and shipped about 20 days later. For Pixel C customers, Google followed up the announcement with two entire months of radio silence, leaving many to wonder if the device was ever coming out.

Google's silence was only broken with a message along the lines of "Surprise! The Pixel C is for sale right now!" on December 8. The Pixel C's launch timing meant it missed the lucrative Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping period, a sure sign of a troubled launch. In fact, we're still not sure what the retail box for the Pixel C looks like—our review unit was luxuriously shipped in a plastic bag inside of a brown cardboard box.

A quick look at the Pixel Team's recent Reddit AMA shows that the team is scrambling to implement basic Android features like always-on voice recognition, promising that "Android N" will bring features that the device desperately needs (like a split screen mode).

The path to a Chrome OS and Android merge runs over the Pixel C

Connect all the dots from the public Chrome OS commits, and our timeline looks like this:

June/July 2014: "Ryu" (the Pixel C hardware) and "Project Athena" (touch-centric Chrome OS) are introduced into the Chrome OS repository.
December 2014: Project Athena is canceled.
March 2015: Commits for making Ryu dual-boot Chrome OS and Android are posted.
July 2015: "Frankenboard" (the dual-boot Ryu project) is canceled.
September 2015: Google announces the Android-powered Pixel C (code-named "Ryu").
So why did the first hiccup happen in the first place? Why was work on a Chrome OS tablet abandoned? Our guess is that it has something to do with Chrome OS and Android merging.

Introducing a new Chrome OS form factor, only to have it superseded by a crazy hybrid OS a year or two later, probably wouldn't be received well by customers. Chrome OS customers, a large portion of which are schools and businesses, would especially value platform stability. Convincing those customers to move over to the new hybrid OS will be hard enough, and creating and then killing a new form factor in the span of two years wouldn't inspire a lot of confidence in Google. It's about not further complicating what will already be a rocky transition.

This narrative explains why the Pixel C seems so lackluster today; it wasn't supposed to be this way! It was supposed to be a flagship Chrome OS tablet worthy of the "Pixel" name. It seems those plans were canceled, though, and what we're left with is the Android-powered Pixel C—just another Android tablet.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/the-pixel-cs-bumpy-road-from-chrome-os-concept-to-android-adoptee/

First Photo Of Billie Lourd In 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Makes It Clear She Is Her Mother's Daughter

Star Wars fans may need to sit down for a moment and contain their emotions before they look at this new picture from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The promotional game for the upcoming film has been on fleek, although, quite honestly, they could have just said, "Hey, new Star Wars movie!," and everyone would have lined up for weeks to get their ticket. We've seen much of the cast (well, the main ones, anyway) all dressed up and ready to save the galaxy, but now we've got a brand new shot that will give you so many feels. The first photo of Billie Lourd in Star Wars might not seem very telling to casual fans of the film, but even the most casual fan should know that Billie Lourd — currently famous for starring in Scream Queens — is Carrie Fisher's daughter. You know, Princess-now-General Leia? So, really, this picture is going to tug at your heart strings, because of how much Lourd resembles a young Leia.

The makeup department was pulling no punches here, dolling Lourd up like Leia straight down (up?) to the iconic hair. Her role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens has yet to be announced, but can we take this promotional photo as an indication that Lourd could be playing a teenage Leia? The actress has claimed in the past that she's, at least, not playing Leia's daughter, but that doesn't exactly get rid of the possibility that we'll be diving into more of Leia's past via flashbacks, and that Lourd will, thus, be portraying a young Leia before she grew into the hero that we've all come to know and love.

I mean, seriously, the resemblance is uncanny.

Which isn't much of a surprise considering they're mother and daughter, but I'm glad that the costume and makeup department aren't going to miss out on this opportunity to use this connection to its fullest extent in the new film. I mean, Lourd playing a young Leia will mean that we won't get the chance to make use of Lourd and Fisher's natural stage chemistry for scenes together, but I'm willing to let go of that to see flashback to Leia's childhood. Now that she's a General, she might be more introspective than before and, with J. J. Abrams making it a point to make this the most feminist Star Wars film in the entire franchise, deepening our understanding of Leia seems to go hand-in-hand with that mission.

Even if this photo was just a tease to remind us of Lourd's famous connection to the movie, I'm still all right with that because she looks amazing. The nostalgia feels are going to crush me long before this movie ever comes out, I swear.

Source: http://www.bustle.com/articles/128992-first-photo-of-billie-lourd-in-star-wars-the-force-awakens-makes-it-clear-she-is

Kendrick Lamar - How Much A Dollar Cost

Kendrick Lamar was asked about his new cosign from Barack Obama.

We aren't the only ones making year-end lists. The President and the First Lady are also marking down their official favorites of 2015, and Barack Obama's top track of 2015 happened to be a hip-hop number -- Kendrick Lamar's "How Much a Dollar Cost."

A TMZ photographer recently caught up with K-Dot as he was getting off a flight, and he asked Lamar how he feels about getting a cosign from the POTUS. "Man, that's great, man," replied Lamar, clearly in effort to get out of the airport as quickly as possible. That didn't stop the paparazzi man, though, who proceeded to ask the TPAB rapper about the deeper meaning behind "How Much a Dollar Cost."

"Do you feel that the policy with giving money to people on the street should be, like, to think of everyone like a test? Like everyone that you might run into might really be God?" asked the cameraman, to which K-Dot responded, "Help as many people as you can, man, if you want to live forever."

That shit deep. As for lady Obama, she opted for a more accessible choice, Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk." Though she's still got K-Dot's approval -- "that's a good one."
Source: http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/kendrick-lamar-responds-to-obama-naming-how-much-a-dollar-cost-his-favorite-song-news.19109.html

Crystal Pepsi returns through limited run promotion

Kids of the nineties rejoice—Crystal Pepsi is back for a limited time.

But you’ll have to win it to sip it.

Starting at noon today, members of Pepsi’s brand loyalty program Pepsi Pass who have at least 1,000 points will be eligible to win a free six-pack of the clear soda.

The rules are a little complicated but people can earn points just by signing up, by entering promotional codes or by "hanging out with friends who also have Pepsi Pass, referring friends or by visiting Pepsi Pass locations."

According to promotion details, 13,000 winners will be announced next week and should receive their Crystal Pepsi packs on Dec. 24.

"Fans have been asking for [Crystal Pepsi] for a while now," Linda Lagos, director of marketing for Pepsi, told AdWeek. "And here at Pepsi we're fans of pop culture in everything that we do. So, it was kind of a nice combination of everything, with the '90s coming back [into pop culture] and it being extremely relevant for Pepsi because of the fandom behind Crystal Pepsi itself."

The release of Crystal Pepsi comes on the heels of the company's much-hyped-- and partially failed-- "Back to the Future" Pepsi Perfect promotion.

Pepsi released a nostalgic promo spot featuring 90s-era Pepsi employees getting down to “Whoomp There It is.”

The Crystal Pepsi giveaway runs from 12 p.m. ET today until 11:49 p.m. tomorrow.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/12/10/crystal-pepsi-returns-through-limited-run-promotion/

Mets Acquire Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera, Reshaping Middle of Infield

NASHVILLE — A day after losing out on Ben Zobrist, their top free-agent target, the Mets refashioned their infield on Wednesday. They traded their fifth starter, Jon Niese, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for second baseman Neil Walker and acquired the free-agent shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, a two-time All-Star with the Cleveland Indians who played for Tampa Bay last season.

The acquisitions signaled the end of Daniel Murphy’s long tenure with the Mets and gave the team two capable 30-year-old switch-hitters who should add stability to the middle infield.

Walker is an equivalent hitter to Murphy and a better defensive player. Cabrera should be an upgrade over Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada, who shared the position in 2015. Cabrera, who agreed to a two-year contract reportedly worth about $18 million, hit 15 home runs in each of the last four seasons.

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Manager Terry Collins will be able to use Flores as a backup at three positions — third base, shortstop and second base — and mix and match his lineup depending on the pitcher, as he did last season once the Mets had acquired the veteran infielders Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe.

The Mets agreed to a two-year deal with Asdrubal Cabrera. Credit Charles Krupa/Associated Press
Shortly after the Walker deal was officially announced, the Mets’ conference room was raucous and celebratory.

“A guy we had on our shortlist but didn’t know if he’d be available,” said John Ricco, the Mets’ assistant general manager, who was surrounded by smiling staff members. “We view him as a real positive alternative to the deal we were looking to do the other day. He fits on a lot of different levels. Switch-hitter. Has got some power. Real good fit for our team.”

The Mets had reason to celebrate. In acquiring Walker, they traded from an area of depth (starting pitching), addressed a dire need (replacing the free agent Murphy) and gave themselves much more financial and roster flexibility than if they had signed Zobrist to the deal he reached with the Chicago Cubs: $56 million for four years.

Of the three players the Mets openly considered acquiring or reacquiring as their second baseman, Walker is four years younger than Zobrist and probably cheaper than Murphy. Walker is expected to make around $10 million through arbitration and will become a free agent after next season.

Walker is a better defender than Murphy, and although Murphy may hit for a higher average, Walker has more power. Last season, he recorded a .269 batting average, 51 extra-base hits and a .989 fielding percentage, the fifth-best mark among National League second basemen.

“Very dependable, reliable defensively at second base,” Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington said Wednesday before the deal became official. “Makes the outs that he’s supposed to make. Hangs in on the pivot. Very professional left-handed hitter. Obviously a hometown favorite.”

Huntington then smiled, knowing the backlash he would receive from Pirates fans. Born and raised in Pittsburgh and a career-long Pirate, Walker had become one of the faces of the franchise. But in the last year or so, negotiations for a contract extension stalled, and Huntington started looking to deal him.

Walker was running errands, having a “normal day,” as he put it, when his agent called him to let him know he might be traded to the Mets. Walker turned on MLB Network when he got home and was stunned to see his name on television.

“It’s definitely been a whirlwind day,” Walker said on a conference call. Asked if the Pirates were ever close to reaching an agreement on an extension, he said: “Uh, no. To put it plainly.”

For the Mets, too, it was an emotional deal. Niese and Murphy were both drafted by the Mets, made their big league debuts in 2008 and endured six consecutive losing seasons before finally reaching the World Series.

“A true pro,” Collins said of Niese. “And Dan, the same thing. They helped us even when things were tough here. They were two guys who stood out and played well for us. It’s always hard to lose guys you’ve become friends with.”

greensleeves 2 hours ago
I will miss Murphy. A lot. In a fairer world he would be a lifelong Met. He got us through an amazing playoff run with a power streak for...
Brian P 2 hours ago
The corner infield slots are weak defensively but probably won't change (I hope David gets better, hate to see him this way), so it is...
Brad 2 hours ago
One additional comment about Cabrera. Yesterday, Steve Phillips on MLB Radio said that he didn't understand the move because Cabrera has...
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With his play this postseason, Murphy outperformed what the Mets were willing to pay him. And with the Mets’ pitching depth, Niese had simply become expendable.

Ricco said the Mets could use Logan Verrett, Rafael Montero or Sean Gilmartin as their fifth starter until Zack Wheeler returned from Tommy John surgery, around midseason.

Or the Mets could re-sign Bartolo Colon, a 42-year-old veteran who has told the team he is also open to relieving.

Because Walker is making about the same amount as Niese would have, Ricco indicated that the Mets could use the money they did not spend on Zobrist to fill other needs: a center fielder, a few relief pitchers and veterans to fill out their bench and lengthen their lineup.

But saving money does not mean they will splurge on Yoenis Cespedes, their star free-agent outfielder, who is seeking a six-year deal worth more than $100 million.

The sequence of events in the last two days called to mind what happened at the trading deadline, when the Mets traded for Cespedes soon after their deal for Carlos Gomez collapsed.

“You get a little déjà vu from midseason,” Ricco said. “As I think Sandy Alderson pointed out then, I think we did learn something from that, in terms of not letting it get you too far down, because that’s the nature of the game. Things evolve. You just have to keep at it.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/sports/baseball/new-york-mets-jon-niese-neil-walker-asdrubal-cabrera-daniel-murphy-trade.html?_r=0